byron
Biography byron
byron
are a cerebral and methodical bunch, but don't be fooled - rocking the house is their specialty. Sometimes they might strike you as pensive and meditative, other times you'll be surprised by their playful demeanor and appetite for rocking out loud. Either way, expect a roller-coaster ride of feelings, seasoned with skillful guitar solos, soaring keyboard and flute melodies and ravaging vocal performances.
When byron played their first show in 2006, lead singer and composer Dan Byron was already an established star on the Romanian rock scene, after years of playing in cult bands Kumm and Urma. The other members were no strangers to the scene either – most notably, keyboardist 6fingers had already achieved European fame with his metal band Magica, while former member Costin Oprea was an experienced and highly sought-after blues guitarist. These divergent influences, complete with Dan Byron’s progressive/acoustic rock background, later came to define the band’s ever-expanding, chameleonic sound.
In 2008, inspired by the famous MTV Unplugged sessions, they completely re-orchestrated the songs from their 2007 debut Forbidden Drama and filmed an unplugged show in a Transylvanian citadel, later released on DVD as Acoustic Drama. After releasing a second album the following year (A Kind of Alchemy), 2010 finds them 100m underground in a Transylvanian salt mine filming the two-part concert Live Underground. The salt mine concert was a massive undertaking which attracted huge media attention – enough for the concert to be broadcast on HBO, prior to the DVD and Blu-ray release.
After reworking well-known Romanian songs for their 2011 covers album Perfect, byron teamed up with Romanian music icon Nicu Alifantis and played the live soundtrack for a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Metropolis Theater in Bucharest – a project that would keep the band busy for most of the next two years.
Released in spring 2013 and prefaced by the hit single “Road Trip”, their fourth studio release 30 Seconds of Fame (available in Romanian as 30 de secunde de faimă) is a tasteful mix of rock & blues grooves, acoustic vibes and electronic textures – a definite step forward in the band’s tireless musical exploration. After a few months of touring in support of their new album, byron began working on the soundtrack of a new TV series produced by HBO Romania – “Rămâi cu mine” (aka. “Shall We Kiss”). They composed 18 new songs for the series and all of them can be found on the latest album Melancolic, released in early 2014.
After countless national tours, having played the major festivals in their home country for years in a row, opening for Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators two years ago and representing Romania at the World Fest in Chennai, India, during the Saarang 2014 International Festival, byron‘s latest project is probably their most daring to date: Electric Marching Band, a fusion between a rock band, a military brass band and a student’s choir, with one of the world’s most renowned violinists – Alexander Bălănescu of the Bălănescu Quartet – as special guest. The sold-out concert took place last winter at the National Theater in Cluj, and the live DVD is currently in production.
