Pinholes Celebrate 15 Years of Music with a Major Concert at Expirat on October 22
Fifteen Years of Alternative Music, Sonic Experiments, and Stories Turned into Songs
Pinholes, one of the enduring acts on Romania’s independent alternative music scene, will celebrate their journey on October 22 at Expirat in Bucharest. Their story began in 2011 in a living room in Iași and has continued for 15 years, through albums, tours, and hundreds of concerts. Opening the show will be Mock Surprise.
Formed in Iași, Pinholes have built their identity at the intersection of alternative rock, post rock, post punk, art rock, and shoegaze. Their music is shaped by contrasts: noise and silence, energy and melancholy, expansive passages and fragile moments. Their lyrics are just as important, with metaphors, subtle humor, and a sense of “tristesse” becoming part of the band’s DNA.
The band’s first milestones came in 2013 with the release of their debut album, “Zmei.” The record caught the attention of the alternative music scene and specialist radio stations, while songs such as “Avem un Loc” and “Poza” became defining tracks of their early period. That same year, Pinholes received two awards recognizing their debut, including Best Alternative Newcomer at the 2013 Metalhead Awards.
In 2015, they followed up with “Era Pietrelor Neșlefuite,” an album that continued the band’s explorations and brought the experimental side of their sound further into focus. While “Zmei” moved freely between rock and roll, ballads, and psychedelic influences, the new record placed a stronger emphasis on post rock, art rock, and shoegaze. The album was recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by the band members themselves.
The following years brought releases that also captured the energy of their live performances. In 2017, Pinholes released the EPs “Sputnik,” a collaboration with the band Nava Mamă, and “3 Moduri de Omorât Timpul.”
In 2019, “Dorumetru” was released, an album built around the idea of dor, a Romanian word expressing a deep sense of longing, and the attempt to give concrete form to an abstract feeling. The record continued the band’s interest in expansive musical structures and a lyrical world inspired by literature.
Following the pandemic, Pinholes returned with new songs, including “Atacă-mă cum am învățat,” released in 2023. Nearly eight minutes long, the composition is built around a powerful groove. That same year, the band also released “Flori de mucegai Partea 1,” a vinyl collection of some of their favorite tracks.
Throughout their 15 years together, Pinholes have remained a band that is difficult to define with a single label. They have, however, stayed true to several constants: a strong focus on lyrics, a fondness for contrasts, an embrace of melancholy, and a desire to create music without compromise.
The anniversary concert at Expirat will also offer a chance to look back at the band’s beginnings.
Tickets for the concert are available through the iabilet.ro network.
“It’s a strange feeling to look back and reflect on the last 15 years. Recently, we had one of those moments in our band group chat where we went, ‘Haha, look at us, so skinny and sad,’ as we flipped through old photos of a bunch of motivated, dreamy little badgers who hoped that one day we would manage to play ‘abroad!’ By abroad, we meant outside Iași, not outside the country.
I can’t help feeling grateful that we’ve made it this far. I look into their hopeful eyes and thank them for enduring so much hunger, frustration, and back pain, for all those miles traveled and all those bones broken on staircases while carrying equipment. It’s a kind of be careful what you wish for, little badger moment.
This music thing is hard, and if you have too many expectations, it gets really difficult. That’s something I don’t think I’ve ever truly learned: how not to have expectations.
We’re still planning our next step, with the patience of an avocado pit suspended by three toothpicks in a jar of water, forgotten on the kitchen windowsill.
15 years of Pinholes. WE MADE IT!”
The members of Pinholes said.
Full details are available on the dedicated event page: https://fb.me/e/7uBWIQ64t.
Media partners: Zile și Nopți, Munteanu Recomandă, Criticeyez, PRwave, Rock Monsters Romania, ThyArtNoise, Contacte Culturale, Metalfan.ro, România Pozitivă, The Interwission.
A concert organized by BandBook, Supersomnic Records, and Gămălia.
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