Grimus

Grimus is one of the most promising and successful rock bands to come out of Transylvania in the last decade. In 2012, Grimus have been following up on the success of their sophomore album "Egretta" and were picked by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Placebo and Roxette to open their monster arena shows in Romania. On top of that, Grimus were invited to play at some of the top European music festivals: Sziget Festival in Hungary, EXIT Festival in Serbia, Rock for People in Czech Republic and B'estfest in Romania. 2013 saw them playing at Holland's Eurosonic, Italy's Arezzo Wave Love Festival and Austria's Waves Festival, on top of opening for Hurts in Bucharest, yet another unforgettable appearance at B'estfest and countless local venue gigs and festivals all over Romania. 2014 already looks very promising with a January gig secured in Chennai, India for the Saarang Festival and possibly a first time appearance at MIDEM.

Grimus is an Eastern European indie rock 6-piece that impressed from the very early stages of their career back in 2006. Led by a talented songwriter, Vali Rauca, and fronted by a brilliant singer, Bogdan Mezofi, Grimus quickly received recognition for their highly dynamic live shows and exciting original songs. The year 2006 saw them recording a self-produced 3-track demo, which significantly raised their profile as the track Solitude was declared Best Song of 2006 by Bucharests leading rock station, City FM. The bands current line-up was established in the summer of 2007 and it easily makes for one of todays most homogenous and synergistic acts of the Eastern European music scene.

In December 2007, Grimus won the Romanian finals in the Global Battle of the Bands contest and represented Romania at the World Finals in London. Their performance landed them a one-album label deal with Italys Cramps Records and a one-album publishing deal with UKs VoodooToddler. The increasing local fame had Grimus play on the big festival stages, along with renowned artists such as The Prodigy, The Rasmus, The Dandy Warhols and Sophie-Ellis Bextor.

The highly anticipated debut album Panikon came out in October 2008 and it exceeded anyones expectations by selling out at shows and receiving a unanimous Best Album of the Year vote from Romanian music press. Over the following 9 months, the three main singles from the album all reached the #1 spot in national radio charts: "Backseat Driver", "In A Glimpse" and "Insanity". Grimus continued to get excellent festival slots, alongside headlining acts such as Moby, Motorhead, Macy Gray and Eros Ramazzotti. They played international shows in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Rep. of Moldova. At the end of 2009, Grimus met the renowned writer Salman Rushdie (whose first novel "Grimus" inspired the band to take this name) at his new book launch conference in Bucharest and played an acoustic gig for the occasion. He was very impressed and declared that he enjoyed the band more than his debut novel bearing the same name.

In 2010, UK producer Adam Whittaker (Amy Winehouse, Doves, Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Starsailor) stumbled upon their myspace profile, was very impressed with the songs and he immediately offered his services. His fruitful collaboration with Grimus began with the release of a digital single, Started, under British label Eden Music. The new single release was supported by a series of UK shows in London and Reading, including an opening set for Does It Offend You, Yeah? and BBC Introducing radio airplay. Globalpost reacted by calling Grimus a band that will be popular far beyond the borders of Romania. The song Started caught Tuborgs interest and it resulted in a major beer commercial synchronization running until April 2012. The year ended with another Best Song of the Year prize. This time around it was the other 2010 digital single, Umbre, the bands first official track with Romanian lyrics.

Grimus sophomore album Egretta was released Oct 2011 and includes 12 tracks in the Muse/ Killers/U2 vein. The album was produced and mixed by Adam Whittaker in the UK and mastered by UE Nastasi at Sterling Sound in New York City. FIVE singles from 'Egretta' have reached the NUMBER ONE spot in national radio charts so far: "Started", "Face The Light", "Vanity", "In Your Eyes" and "Nature Falls". The album support tour has featured a series of 20 shows, including Budapest and Belgrade.

In the summer of 2012 Grimus were invited to play at 4 major European festivals : Rock For People - Czech Republic, Exit - Serbia, Sziget - Hungary and B'estfest - Romania, and they also opened stadium shows for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Placebo in Bucharest and Roxette in Cluj-Napoca.

After playing at Europe's leading showcase festival (Eurosonic in Groningen) in January 2013, Grimus focused on finishing album no.3. Titled "Emergence" and due out early 2014, it has already spawned the hit singles "Priveste-ma" and "High".