Rock Monsters Romania

Roca Camp 2025 concludes at the end of this year as a comprehensive mentorship and artistic development program dedicated to emerging bands in the indie, alternative, and rock scenes. Initiated through a national open call launched in August, the project was built around the real needs of Romania’s alternative music scene and proposed a structured, step-by-step journey of training, production, and visibility.

Liquid Wednesday was one of the bands selected for Roca Camp 2025. With an international DNA, the project was originally founded in the United Kingdom in 2022 and later rebuilt in Bucharest in 2024. Blending alternative, hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive influences, Liquid Wednesday delivers a complex and dynamic sound that emphasizes technical skill, expressive versatility, and constant movement.

The band has already performed on festival stages across Romania as well as in Serbia, quickly building a dedicated fan base. Liquid Wednesday is formed by Alex G Shaman on vocals and guitar, Anna Maria Tudosie on bass, Vlad Ștefan Urziceanu on drums, and Daniel Thomas Mac on keyboards.

Liquid Wednesday has roots in the UK and was later reformed in Bucharest. How did this transition influence your identity as a band?

The transition resulted in a new lineup, and the stylistic shift came from the evolution of Alex’s musical tastes over time, as well as the new input brought by the current members, each arriving with their own set of influences.

Your genres range from alternative to heavy metal and progressive. How did you arrive at this mix, and which part of it defines you most strongly?

We always try to write songs with strong dynamics and contrast, heavy riffs alternating with softer, melodic sections, and that is where this blend of genres comes from. It is difficult to pinpoint a single defining genre. In today’s music, the lines between genres are becoming increasingly blurred, and artists are often labeled more by image and vibe than by the music itself.

Did you feel that Roca Camp pushed you beyond your comfort zone compositionally, vocally, technically, or on stage?

Definitely. The trips to Cluj and Iași tested the band’s limits. They brought some of us closer together, while others realized that they did not want to continue with the band in the long term, which is also a form of progress. There was also notable improvement in terms of vocal performance.

Is there an idea, a song, or a concept that was born at the camp and that you are eager to develop further?

Before the camp, we wrote our first song in Romanian because we wanted to have something new to present. It is a progressive rock piece about the harsh conditions in certain public institutions in our country, and for that reason we felt it worked better in Romanian.

What message are you trying to convey through Liquid Wednesday’s music, and how did the camp help you clarify your direction?

The message we aim to convey is that it is never too late to explore new directions and experiment with different musical genres. Participating in the camp helped us clarify our artistic identity and discover valuable branding ideas.

“River Calls Your Name (The Ferry Has Gone)” is our latest single, composed entirely of haikus. It tells the story of a man wandering through the afterlife, patiently waiting for his true love to join him. This song clearly illustrates the band’s current direction: a prog-rock sound, a hybrid between Porcupine Tree and King Crimson.

Roca Camp is a mentorship, training, and artistic visibility program dedicated to emerging bands from the alternative, indie, and rock scenes, organized by the Creative Industries Association under the Rocanotherworld umbrella.

Cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN).

This project does not necessarily reflect the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the way in which the project’s results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.

Interview by Ionela Barbu