hefe aka razvan radulescu/bring the noise is the guy who put his encyclopedic knowledge of music to good service and single-handedly undertook the sisyphean task of educating the public with regard to the marginal, non-commercial kinds of music he loves and promotes: ska, hip-hop, punk, hardcore and all the related sub-genres.
we owe him many of the omfg! moments we had when we heard that names such as faith no more or deftones were going to come to bucharest (for the full list of events, click here). as deftones are coming to buchrest for the second time this august, it is my guess that mr. band whisperer here is only just beginning!
i’m always curious about how things work so I asked him a few questions about his work:
who chooses the bands and what are the criteria?
ever since the first concert, the bands i brought were chosen using criteria strictly connected to my passion for the respective musical genre or band…i was lucky (or not :)…) that the big romanian agencies are not interested by this type of bands and they barely know them at all. such bands will not fill up stadiums or warehouses with 30-euro tickets so i found myself doing this by myself and it was better.
do bands come up with special requests? (for instance, i heard that faith no more wanted to see the house of the people)
they wanted to visit the house of the people because i proposed it. it was not them who requested the visit. as i have been good friends with billy gould, the bass player of the band, ever since 2005 and, before the fnm concert, he had been in romania twice with la plebe and harmful, he knew about the house of the people and we decided together to show it to his colleagues as well. 🙂
special requests? honestly, nobody had any remarkable extravagant demands.
for big bands, i imagine you take advantage of their tour itinerary (note: for instance, fnm came to bucharest between sofia and sziget)
for big bands, a concert close to our country, one day before or after, certainly helps considerably with the inclusion of romania on the list.
do you work exclusively via bring the noise or do you also provide consultancy for other events as well?
i was asked to help out with many other events but the most important for me is bring the noise.
i know i’d waste my time if i were to ask you what bands are you already negotiating with as i know you are not allowed to make public such details. but i can ask what your dream booking is. tool? or any other project including maynard? a perfect circle started its us tour, probably they’ll do something in europe as well…
among my favourite bands, i count deftones, faith no more and nofx.. i made efforts to get them over here. other than that? a perfect circle? sure, i’d love that, but i don’t think i’d try it as i don’t think there’s enough public for it in romania and i’d be ashamed in front of maynard. what would i tell him? 🙂 and tool is from a different planet. honestly, i wouldn’t try it. 🙂 but, among some other things that i’d try, for my soul? fantasizing…jane’s addiction, suicidal tendencies, rage against the machine, beastie boys, smashing pumpkins and, of course, any other mike patton project.
when you first booked deftones (note: june 2006), there was this legend going around that you mortgaged your house to fund the whole thing. is there any truth in that?
i heard about that, too.
can i get some extra info about alternative summer day?
deftones, 13th of august, bucharest…we’re trying to get started alternative music experience as an annual one-day event with a unique show, with bands that are hard to come by in romania…stay tuned for more!
are you still making music? with coma? by yourself? or perhaps producing a young band?
coma is working hard for new tracks and, personally, i recently collaborated with my good friend, hip hop artist raku, for a track on his latest album.
would you say that you’re trying to educate by your activities (booking agency, tv&radio shows, club nights)? because that’s how it looks like to me.
what i aim for is that, every time somebody leaves a concert with bring the noise among its organizers, they say: great concert! i’m glad i went! and they go home and search the net to buy the band’s albums and so on. 🙂
the same goes for tv, i have this weekely show on mtv called alternative nation (on sundays, 11 pm) and on the radio, i have a weekly bring the noise show (it’s been running for over 8 years) and this year, i started with adi despot another weekly show called city revolution. they’re both on city fm. i’d also add the fact that i’m part of the team of sunete magazine where i also do my best to promote interesting things.
last but certainly not least: 5 bands you find interesting, regardless of the genre.
at the drive in, mr. bungle, dog fashion disco, pinback and fugazi.
thank you very much for answering! 🙂
the rest of you guys, get your deftones tickets until may the 31st for the special price of 70 ron and see you there!
