The Journey
On August 14th 2023, the band went on its longest trip yet – to perform at Festival Banát in Romania, with a stop in Vienna for a quick busking performance with our friends from The Belgian Blue. This would be our third international performance, and we were so excited for the journey that we drove from Prague straight to Vienna, only quickly stopping to refuel and to buy an Austrian vignette. After stopping the car nearby Hafenkneipe, the beer garden we’d be performing at later that night, Alex left to find out how the Viennese pay for their parking without any parking meters or ticket machines, while the rest of the band went out for a nutritious meal of brownies and coffee. After acquiring a “Parkschein”, Alex briefly joined the rest of the band and then headed out to Ichiban Tea, Vienna’s famous Shiba Inu themed bubble tea shop. Later, we set up to perform, had a fun night by the Danube river without any of our instruments falling into the water, got kebabs at one of the few places still open at 1am, and went to get some rest for the journey next day.
After we woke up, we went out for brunch and left for Budapest, our next major stop on the trip, where we stopped to get supplies and to check out a few thrift stores. From there, we were ready to drive off to Romania, where we stopped at night in the middle of nowhere, set up a tarp and sleeping bags, and went to sleep before reaching our final destination.
The festival
The next day, we stopped for breakfast in Caransebeş and continued to Eibenthal, where the festival was set to take place. After driving past a lot of beautiful scenery, such as this epic rock statue, we arrived early in the afternoon, registered ourselves, and went to set up our living spaces for the next few days – Alex brought a tent, Klára and Vojta brought hammocks, and Katie and Max brought their luggage to an empty elementary school where some of the performers were arranged to stay. We were scheduled to play later in the evening, and there was plenty of time to walk around the village, sample some of the local sour cherry liqueur, and relax for a bit. Later that night, we got our gear set up, had a great time opening for PSH, the pioneers of Czech rap, and stayed to listen to the quirky beats of Ventolin.
Over the following days at the festival, we discovered new bands, listened to a few familiar ones, attended a few seminars and enjoyed some delicious food including lots of fresh vegetables, homemade Berliners and sarmale – a Romanian type of cabbage roll. We met up with a few of our friends attending the festival, and we performed a second show at a smaller stage as a five-person band, complete with drums and violin. When the time came to go home, we left Eibenthal, stopping in Caransebeş once again for dinner. From there, we continued overnight through Hungary and Slovakia, arriving in Prague early in the morning.
Moments from the trip
Check out a reel from our shows in Romania here!