Dirty Shirt

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The Band

Dirty Shirt is one of the most appreciated Romanian rock bands, recently winner of the second place at the international final of Wacken Metal Battle 2014, and awarded as "Best Romanian Act Metal" at Maximum Rock Awards 2014 and "Best Romanian Rock Ambassador" at Metalhead Awards 2014. The new album, "Dirtylicious", promises to be one of the most interesting and groundbreaking releases on the European metal stage. The band managed to build a completely new musical vocabulary, based on a sonic skeleton made up of Dirty Shirt's unique blend of genres. The album is entirely inspired by East European traditional music, and the studio sessions were done with artists who are masters of traditional instruments, like violin, clarinet, accordion, dulcimer and many more (Transylvanian Folkcore Orchestra)

The album is available here!

Download full biography (pdf)

Biography

THE EARLY YEARS (1995-2000)

In 1995, four young musicians from the small town of Seini (Maramureş County) in Romania laid the foundations of a new musical project they called DIRTY SHIRT. At the time, their music was a combination of diverse elements, such as progressive, alternative, power metal, hardcore, etc. They band quickly earned itself a good reputation in the Romanian underground, especially due to its live schedule. It included several tours and the participation at national battle-festivals (where they won several prizes. Additionally, their first demos received positive reviews in the specialized media. In 1998, DIRTY SHIRT won the Great Prize at the Top T Festival in Buzău, which gave them the opportunity to record their first full-length “Very Dirty” (Promusic Prod, 2000). Unfortunately, shortly after the release of the record, at a time when things really started to take off, the band was compelled to go on a several year-long hiatus due to personal reasons.

THE NEW DIRTY SHIRT (2004-)

Although band members were “scattered” in different corners of Europe, DIRTY SHIRT reunited in 2004. They also made several adjustments to their music. The demos released in the period 2004-2008 brought to the fore several new musical elements, such as industrial metal and hardcore spiced up with folk, funk, and electronic influences. In the following years, the band had a busy live schedule, having many shows in Romania, Hungary, France and Belgium. In 2009, the band recorded its second full-length “Same Shirt, Different Day”. The album was released in 2010 and received many positive reviews both in Romania and abroad.

In the period 2010-2011 the band had a busy live agenda, with more than fifty shows in Romania, Hungary and Germany and the band released also three videos (“Pitbull,” “Manifest” and “East West”) and its first ever live DVD entitled “Live in the Truck.” Additionally, the band qualified for the national finals of the most important international music competitions: Wacken Metal Battle, Peninsula Talent Stage, and Global Battle of the Bands (it took the second place in 2011). In 2012, the band won several prizes at Bite My Music Global Awards, including the first prize for the song “East West” in the category “Best collaboration”.

In the summer of 2012, DIRTY SHIRT recorded their third album “Freak Show” at several studios in Romania and France. Since its release in February 2013, the album has received unanimous praise in both Romanian and international media outlets (including excellent reviews in well-respected European rock magazines, such as Rock Hard Germany, Hard Rock Mag France, Rock Hard Slovakia (plus an interview and mention on the cover), Metal Hammer Hungary, etc.). The album was promoted through a tour that included in 2013 and 2014 over seventy dates in Romania, France, Belgium, Austria and Germany. As winner of the Wacken Metal Battle competition in Romania, Dirty Shirt participated in the international competition at Wacken Open Air in Germany, where they took 2nd place, which is a notable achievement not only for the band itself, but also for the Romanian metal scene in general. Five music videos have been released in 2013-2014, all of them being available online on various media platforms (“Trust Me”, “Ride”, “Săracă Inima Me / Poor Little Heart of Mine”, “Freak Show” and “Bad Apples”).

Upcoming Gigs

HELP FOR COLECTIV VICTIMS

The entire Romanian rock scene is devastated after the tragedy that occurred at the Colectiv club in Bucharest on October 30 when a fire broke out during the release party for the new album by Goodbye to Gravity. Among the victims there are many musicians, journalists and other rock scene professionals. Everyone involved in the Romanian rock music scene has been affected by this tragedy, because we had friends and associates at that show. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, and send all our positive energy to the survivors, including our colleagues from Promusic/Maximum Rock, who are currently in hospital (especially to Cătălin who remains in critical condition). At the moment we are doing everything possible to help them. Beside the band members' personal involvement in raising funds, we are also organizing a charity concert in Cluj-Napoca on November 14, when similar concerts will be organized across the country. In addition, we decided to donate all proceeds from digital sales this year to the victims. We are hoping to return with additional concerts as soon as possible and to continue helping the victims of the Colectiv club fire for as long as it is necessary.

MARAMU' (New video)

We are very proud to present the new Dirty Shirt video for the song 'Maramu', taken from the album 'Dirtylicious'. It was directed by Cristian Bălănean (Om Creatives) and Sergiu Negrean (Pixel Battalion).

https://youtu.be/xfg9iU9I-i8?list=PL2D684CF3A9D8E8E2

As the song is inspired by several traditional songs from the region of Maramureș (Northwest Transylvania, Romania), we wanted to capture its ambiance through the music and the images. This is why the video was shot in the village of Sugău, near Sighetu Marmației, the ancient capital of Maramureș, and why we were wearing traditional costumes. Special thanks to the Turda family for their incredible hospitality.

TWENTY DIRTY YEARS (Canceled)

We set out on this adventure twenty years ago, more precisely in 1995, when we released our first demo as “Dirty Shirt.” After several years of changes, the lineup finally stabilized, consisting of Mihai (synths / guitars), Pali (bass), Rini (vocals), Vlad (drums) and Cristi (guitars). Later, the Dirty Shirt family became larger with the addition of Robi (vocals) and Dan (guitars). Throughout these two decades we've encountered many obstacles, but what is most important is that we've managed to overcome them together as a unit and ultimately achieve many amazing things. We want to celebrate our twentieth anniversary with three exclusive shows in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara. Obviously, we are preparing a special setlist for the occasion. Furthermore, we will also show a fragment of our forthcoming documentary “Dirty Shirt – Twenty Dirty Years” and have many special guests on stage with us. Not least, we've already placed the order for a few cases of champagne straight from the producer!

Twenty Dirty Years Trailer: https://youtu.be/YBZ6Vhn2xQQ

MY ART (New Video)

Let us introduce you... MY ART - THE NEW DIRTY SHIRT OFFICIAL VIDEO, created with footage from our “Dirtylicious Romania Tour” (May 2015).

We would like to thank all those who made our last tour unforgettable: the people from Baia Mare, Timisoara, Oradea, Satu Mare, Sighetu Marmatiei, Tg Mures, Brasov, Bucuresti and Cluj (friends, fans, bands, venues…).

Here it is… we’re very proud to present our new album “Dirtylicious”. It was a huge challenge, but the results came out even better than we could have imagined two years ago, when this crazy project started. We are very grateful to all the people that participated with their skills and talent in the creation of this album (musicians and sound engineers) and we want to send massive thanks to all of you that supported us to make this dream come true. Enjoy listening to the album and give us some feedback, it is really important to us.

You can listen to the album for free, it can be downloaded in various digital formats and ordered as CD digipack on our bandcamp page

DIRTYLICIOUS IS OUT NOW!!!

Dirty Shirt & Transylvanian Folkcore Orchestra - Ciocarlia (New Video)

“Ciocârlia” (The Skylark), the instrumental opening song of our album "Dirtylicious" is a virtuosic instrumental Romanian traditional song that spread to other East European countries. Our version is based on George Enescu’s arrangement.

Video FX & Production: Cristian Balanean

Photos: Alex Robciuc

CIOCARLIA (New Video)

DIRTY SHIRT AWARDED

2014 was surely the best year in the band’s history. This is also confirmed by the awards that DIRTY SHIRT received recently. After winning the Wacken Metal Battle Romania competition and taking 2nd place at the international final at WACKEN OPEN AIR, the band received two prestigious Romanian awards:

- Best Romanian Metal Act at MAXIMUM ROCK AWARDS

- Best Romanian Rock Ambassador at METALHEAD AWARDS

Massive thanks to all who supported us !!!

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