In the small Romanian town of Bistrița, a new rock scene has been emerging, slowly attracting the curious youth and retired rock aficionados alike. At the epicentre of this new wave lies Soho Music Hall, a popular bar and concert venue located on the outskirts of the town. We had the opportunity to interview Marius Crăciun, founder of Soho, who shared valuable insights into the club’s background. 

Could you start by telling us a few words about yourself?

I finished highschool at Andei Mureșanu. Afterwards, I began University, but I didn’t finish it because I started doing business so I went abroad for a while. After I came back, at 22, I opened the first Soho. This was 14 years ago, and it was just a small bar in the city centre back then.

So it was somewhere else.

Yes, it was initially in the central square in a basement, as at that time bars were still being opened in basements, that’s where the whole Soho brand started. After that, I started organizing events with the brand in different locations since we didn’t have a fixed place, meanwhile I continued working, I had a career in sales. Then, in 2019, with the help of a European project, I opened the first Soho as a fixed location, with events that were held on Republicii Street. During the pandemic, we shut down. Afterwards, we opened where we are currently. As for my education, now I’m studying to get a Public Administration degree. I’ll also start Engineering this year in autumn.

Where does your taste or passion for rock music come from?

Since I was very little. I started listening to rock music for the first time with my childhood best friend. Those were very different times, there were no CDs. We both started with Linkin Park, with a cassette which we would share: one week me, one week him.

And that’s where the love for rock music started, and from there everything evolved, to all the bands and styles and subgenres of rock that exist.

And which would you say are one or two of your favourite bands?

Oh, well, that’s like the question “What’s your favorite movie?”…I’m thinking ACDC, I always really liked them. Pantera was a favourite, also Metallica, obviously. Lamb of God as well; I also got into metal, more sub-genres of metal, mostly. There are so many, I can’t name just two.

Cargo concert at Soho. Image: the Soho Music Hall Facebook page.

And how did you come to open Soho?

The idea for Soho came when I had the first bar, because I started organizing events, like I said, in different locations, and I saw that it was complicated to do that without having fixed locations, without always renting something. And back then, much like now, people weren’t open-minded. Essentially, they never understood what we were trying to do, the idea of a concert and party venue.

So then I had the idea, man, one day I want to have my own venue, my own place, with my own bar, with everything, so I can do events constantly. To have a flow of events, to be able to bring in big artists, from all genres. Eventually I gravitated towards rock, because that’s what I like. I know we don’t have a huge demand in this town for rock, but rather than doing something else, I prefer this.

And how has the relationship between Soho and the public changed over the years? How has it evolved?

It evolved very well, it grew. At least since we’ve been in this location, I’ve seen it grow nicely. Many young people started listening to rock music because Soho exists, they had had no prior contact with that genre. Although it’s a slow evolution, being a small market like Bistrița, at least there’s something, something is being built, which we hope will keep going forward.

So it wasn’t as popular in the beginning.

No, it wasn’t. The public, like any community, like any market, it grows, it gets educated, but it was complicated, as we live in a complex market. And in every way, the system certainly doesn’t help you.

How do you choose the next bands to come? And how do you contact them, especially if they’re big?

Well we’ve reached a point where the format is already made, we’ve already worked with all possible bands, we know them, they know that when they’re touring we can book them, we call them, the business connects all the time. Now we’re at the point where we don’t even have to look for them, they call us constantly, because everyone is already planning their tour with us in mind, we’ve put the city on the map through this thing, so it more so depends on their schedule now. In the beginning it was different, we used to call the bands, search for them, until we built the relationships, until we let them know we exist, so they know they can come here too. And the criteria for selecting bands isn’t a fixed one, really. Everything that’s good music, good rock music, especially if they have a reputation, is welcome to Soho, no problem. The idea is we don’t do this for me, we do it for the public. Say, if Byron comes, we try to bring the Byron fans, or if Cargo comes, the Cargo fans should come. We tried to bring out each type of fan from their homes, so to speak, for every taste, that’s the idea.

And among the bands you managed to bring here, which were the hardest to convince ?

I can’t really say one was hard to convince… Well Coma was a bit more complicated, but not because they had demands or anything, they just had other ways of collaborating. Honestly, I partly brought Coma for myself, since I really like them, but there was public for it as well, so it worked. Bringing Iris was also complicated when we did the concert at the multi-purpose hall, not because we didn’t know each other, but because there are different forms of collaboration depending on the venue, the audience, the event format. Everything that happened within Soho was simpler, while what was outside was more complicated. At the venue, the relationships have already been established, there’s a flow, so things kind of come naturally. But getting to that point definitely took a lot of work.

Dirty Shirt concert at Soho. Image: the Soho Music Hall Facebook page.

Besides big bands, lately there have been many new bands, particularly ones formed by young people. Has a relationship developed there too?

That’s what we always wanted, to somehow stimulate the youth, to give them an impetus to start making music, or at least to try, and I’m really happy that many bands have been formed in Bistrița already. We did our best to support them; we tried to have them open for the big bands, so they could at least make some connections, talk to established artists, get a bit of exposure, so yes, I’m glad that part evolved a bit too. But unfortunately, it’s too slow for how much I’d want, because we’re in Bistrița. We did what we could.

Now as for the venue in of itself, how has the financial maintenance and management been like?

Very hard. The project started with no budget, none at all, it was all done organically, bit by bit, that’s how it was carried out. It was difficult to stabilize financially, because there’s no consistency in public attendance, therefore no financial consistency. The consumption power of people in Bistrița isn’t very high, not because they are abstinent or anything, there’s just little audience, especially compared to similar venues in the country, you know? And there are many months when it doesn’t work financially. Besides, in summer we have to close everything because of market fluctuations. Now we’re always trying to find a solution to keep it constant. What matters is that I want Soho to continue, because the brand was built with a lot of work and it would be a shame for it to be abandoned.

What about events or other future plans?

Well this summer we won’t host any events, but we will collaborate with some though, like we’ve done every year. We’ll lend a hand to events organized by the state or by local NGOs. But we, at Soho, won’t do anything until autumn. We have already prepared some concepts for October, when the next season starts.