How is a rock song created and what is its path to broadcasting on radio or television? There is no single recipe, and the answers are often surprising. Hotnews.ro tried to find out how the industry works behind the scenes by talking to two groups with different profiles, Taylor Band and Olympus Mons.

Taylor Band is a new band on the music market (2020) that consists of musicians of several generations, representing an interesting mix in the Romanian music landscape.

The leader of the band, Codruc Kroitoru (soloist and composer), played over time, in particular, with bands such as Compact B, Schimbul 3, Pasărea Rock (collaborates even now), Florin Lagia (guitarist) was active in bands such as Accent , Sfera, Marius Vintilă (drummer) sang with Valeriu Sterian, with Mihai Pokorski (Vh2), with Krypton, with Mike Godorda, Viktor Jovan (bassist) was active in Exchange 3, and sisters Alexia and Bianca Štefan (backing vocals) they won numerous trophies at the country’s leading festivals.

In 2022, TAYLOR’s first album was released, a concept album called “Beyond the Masks”, an album in which the main character of the album is TRUTH. Taylor is putting the finishing touches on her sophomore album, due out this year, with a message mostly about love, and some songs from this upcoming material are already on the playlist for concerts, and the first snippet of a single has already been revealed to the public in the latest video titled “Always both.”

Codrut Croitoru, Taylor (personal archive)

How do you compose your songs? How is your creative process?

Kodrutz Kroitoru, Taylor: As for the Taylor group, all the songs are written by me. There’s not necessarily a specific recipe, but it’s clear that with the experience I’ve gained in terms of composing music (whether it’s songs I’ve written for Taylor or songs I’ve written for other artists), I’ve started to have certain automaticities in the creative process, which help me to achieve the desired result, the final result, faster.

The world can only imagine what you can compose when you have a musical instrument close at hand, or when you are in a recording studio, or in a rehearsal room, or in other places devoted to music. But in fact, you can compose anywhere.

For example, it happened to me more than once that inspiration came to me on the street, in the subway, in a tram, in a car, maybe even in a restaurant or you wonder where. When I was a student, I often composed an essay in my mind, returning home from the conservatory. I started with the chorus and by the time I got home (thanks to Bucharest traffic:)) I had the whole piece in my head.

Back then, there weren’t high-performance phones that you could always record on, and I had to either stop and quickly jot down my musical idea on a portable music pad, or hum it in my head all the way home so I wouldn’t forget it.

During this period, I slept with a sheet of music next to my bed because there were times when I would wake up dreaming of a possible chorus for a future song. And now all this is relevant, only now it has become easier, because I no longer need to carry a sheet of music with me, a phone is enough to write down my idea.

Then comes the studio stage, where I start to record the song, think about the musical arrangement/orchestration, and choose a song that is more understandable for everyone. Then I pitch some of these songs to Taylor’s bandmates, the ones I’m happy with and trust, and then there’s a rehearsal stage to be able to present them to the public.

Christy Link (guitar), Olympus Mons: Usually, all works begin with a fundamental idea. Be it a harmonic, rhythmic formula, a certain plot or text. We develop around that idea together, and usually, with that basic idea in mind, the other band members try to reconcile that idea in a way that everyone likes the raw product. Then we work on the finer things, from the effects used, to the interpretation, the structure and even the integration of the track into the concert.

There is also the option where one of us comes up with an idea for a complete piece, that is, the art of composition is not limited to its main instrument, but ideas for other instruments are also produced. And the processing process is similar. However, we cannot accurately estimate the duration of the composition process. There is also a saying in this field: “no piece is ever ready.” In the sense that there will always be ideas that can enrich or not enrich this composition. The secret is to find a balance in everything”

Do you immediately feel that the melody line will capture the listeners louder or more?

Codruț Croitoru, Taylor: This is a very good question, and I answer: sometimes yes, sometimes not necessarily. In the history of music, it is well known that we, composers, do not necessarily know how to correctly assess which of our songs will have more listeners.

Usually we are wrong and have surprises about it. Many times we are subjective, many times there is a trap of thinking that a song that is more complex in terms of melody and harmony is necessarily better, more valuable.

It’s possible to fall into this trap of making demonstrative music, as I call it, to show how much you know music theory, how smart you are, and in fact, if you go too far in that direction, it’s quite possible to demonstrate the opposite.

This is also true in the case of musical interpretation, where there are often situations where both soloists and instrumentalists sing much more than they should, many notes per second on the guitar, nightingale trills for soloists, etc., all as if to demonstrate and show everyone how that’s cool.

Or it is a very dangerous trap, both for performers and composers.

Audiences, regardless of the genre of music they’re listening to, want to hear something that conveys a state, something that moves, something they can find themselves in or aspire to.

Viktor Frunze (soloist), Olympus Mons: The niche we’re in allows us to be pretty intuitive about it. We devour music, some of us have worked or work in the music, media or marketing industry and we can somewhat relate to the ease with which a song can be enjoyed. But the most important factor, again, is finding a balance between what the masses in our niche are consuming and, obviously, our personal preferences. Olympus Mons is first and foremost a band that wants to please, but also pleases itself. Of course, we wouldn’t decide to do something just based on the idea that “it will catch on.” We prefer to stand in solidarity with our audience and ourselves.”

Photo: George Mielus Editing: Teodora Genea

How to get on the video? What industry is behind it?

Kodrutz Kroitoru, Taylor: In a well-developed music industry, with all the fine-tuned mechanisms, there is a whole team behind the music product, regardless of whether the product is a band or a solo artist. Sponsors, record companies, production companies, field agents, managers, tour managers, booking managers, video directors, concert sound engineers, studio sound engineers, a bunch of stage technicians, video directors, lyric video director, PR and more.

In Romania, unfortunately, with few exceptions, artists do not benefit from this, and for the most part they have to take care of almost all these aspects, which is not only very difficult, but also takes energy and time. You have to dedicate yourself to what you are best at, which is the art itself, but it’s also almost impossible to succeed at that level if you have specialists behind you, each in their own field. Actually speaking of the videos, Taylor has some of the videos made by me on my own, as I learned by reading and documenting myself.

Put everything together and think how difficult it is for most people who have to invest in all of this, especially in a context where the money earned from concerts, tickets, venues that usually hold a maximum of 100 individuals, cannot cover these costs, let alone get anything, while the opportunities to promote the new brand on radio and television are extremely low.

Evgenia Antonia (keyboards): On Mount Olympus we are very lucky in this regard. Through the prism of our activities, we have many friends who appreciate our art and are artists themselves. So we create our own videos, our branding, design with the help of a few people who are always with us.

Theodora Genea created absolutely everything that is “visual” for Olympus Mons, and when it comes to video production, we always turn to George Mielus without hesitation. Both have years of experience in their respective fields, and so far every Olympus Mons video has been highly praised. The start of the video for the song Darknes Takes Over, which is part of our first album Healer. Every time we try to pay for these services. The money comes either from the sale of goods or from your own pockets.”

How difficult is it to get a song of your style of music on major radio stations and TV channels? Are alternative social networks (youtube, facebook, etc.) enough?

Alex Toderask (bass guitar), Olympus Mons: Under no circumstances do we prioritize broadcasting on important radio stations in Romania. More precisely, in the positions that the mass media in Romania consider important. The niche we operate in is sufficient for what we do. Except for some rock-oriented stations in general, we would not want to be associated with such.

The metal community in Romania is amazing and constantly growing. These are people who put a lot of passion into organizing live concerts, promoting young and niche bands like us, and providing enough space for artists of this kind.

And this community is constantly growing. Festivals such as Metal Gates Festival, Posada Rock, Rockstadt, Artmania, Dark City Nights and many others offer many opportunities for promotion.

Also, just knowing this community, I can tell that there’s enough solidarity between bands and enough cross-promo between bands to keep us all heard. For example, the people from Trooper were always there and gave us the opportunity to play with them on the same stage many times. Another example would be the twinning of Olympus Mons and Machiavellian God, a great band from the Romanian metal scene. In short, we help each other a lot, which ultimately results in providing a well-tuned product to the public.