Some bands are so interesting, that you simply can’t pass up the opportunity to interview them. Which is why at Wacken Open Air, we got the chance to interview Dirty Shirt from Romania.

Benedetta

Hello guys, how are you doing guys?

Dirty Shirt

Great, thank you. I have to accommodate with the heat. The heat is strong with this one.

Benedetta

So how does it feel to play in Wacken on the 35th anniversary of the festival?

Dirty Shirt

It’s awesome, for us it’s the third time playing at Wacken and it’s really great to play this time at an evening hour. First time it was in 2014 when we played Wacken Metal Battle, we had the second place and we won here. And the second time it was in 2019 and now it will be the third time playing at Wacken.

Benedetta

Do you think that the life of an artist is lonely?

Dirty Shirt

No, why do you say that? To the contrary. No, we have a big family, besides our band, the fans. It’s like a big family. It’s not lonely. We are in the band like a close family and we are back at home, we meet our real life family. So we are never alone. We are always surrounded with close people but also with fans and it’s nice.

Benedetta

Do you think that in 2026 is harder or is it going to be possible to reach an equality with men and women in the metal industry?

Dirty Shirt

Sorry, I didn’t think like that because we are people. I don’t think it’s a contest here. So everyone has his place. If she’s a good voice, why not? I think it’s really incredible to see how the things have changed in the last 10 years. Because until 10 years ago it was a very macho movement with very few female vocalists or musicians. But in the last 10 years the number of bands with female vocalists or instrumentists exploded. In our band until 2017 we were only guys and in the last 9 years now we have 3 backing vocals, we have also a violin player who is a girl. So yes, the things are changing. Then to arrive to equality, I think this depends also on the taste. You cannot force it, naturally there should be an equilibrium between the music you love and the people who are playing it. And in society also.

Benedetta

So, after Wacken, what are the plans for Dirty Shirt for the rest of 2026?

Dirty Shirt

We are working on the new album, and we are pretty far ahead in the game with many songs already recording in their final state. So, it’s progressing real quick. We have some nice guests We started recording the drums for the next album after the new one. It’s a double album. One year maximum between them: 10-11 songs the first volume, 10-11 songs the second volume. We already released two singles. The first one, it was last year, it was “FOMO“. And the second one, it was this year, “Büntetö“. It was a Gypsy Hungarian song with a Hungarian band as featuring. We have a lot of featurings. In this album, we started a crazy idea to collaborate with many artists we met or we love a lot. So, we can announce Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull already recorded a song. It will be released in September. And then we can announce also Jared from (hed)p.e. from United States. There will be other very big ones.

Benedetta

Guys, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

Dirty Shirt

Invite us to play in Italy. We have an Italian in our band. And he told us that it’s difficult to play in Italy. So convince us that it’s not so difficult. I don’t know, invite us to a big festival or something. Come to the show.