by © Ciprian Vlăduț – www.cipane.com
Paws, Pets & Metal is Metal Insider’s newest column on bands with pets, who watches them on the road, and more. Get to know more about these metal furbabies. We caught up with Dirty Shirt guitarist Cristian Balanean as he discussed his rescues.
Tell us more about your pet(s) and their names?
Hi,So yeah, I have a lot of animals in a 100-square-meter household. All of them have been rescued.The first members of our family came about 5 years ago, two cats named Titza and Belu, they were very small and needed help eating. Next came Suri, another big cat who seemed lost about 4 years ago and after one year came Lola, a small but very agile cat. About one year and a half ago, my girlfriend and I were on a walk and we saw a dog, a mother of eleven puppies, in a hole near my house, so we took them into our home and took care of them. After three hard months, we found a home for each of them, minus one. A beautiful girl stayed in our home along with the rest of the cats. We have named her Ruby, after the Kaiser Chiefs song. So as time passed by, we missed our doctor appointment for neutering her and by courtesy of a neighbor dog, Toma was born 6 months ago. His name is from the Puscifer track Toma. And that is not all, the last full member of our family is Yuki, a baby cat which I managed to avoid with my car. So to summarize, we have five cats and two dogs which are making our life better and because of them, I have managed to stay sane.
Have you ever taken your pet on tour?
Hahaha, NO, and not because I don’t want to, but I think it is a lot of stress for an animal, with very loud noise and crowded people if they are not used to that. And from a logistical point of view, it is very difficult.
Who looks after your pet while on the road?
Fortunately, my girlfriend is home. And should I mention that since about 3 years ago we cannot go on a vacation together?
What’s your pet’s favorite song or album?
Just like in my case, I do not think that they have a favorite song or album. They listen to whatever I play or put on for them… Because they cannot push the button to stop the music.
How did you introduce your pet to metal?
So, I am working from home, which means every day they have to put up with me and my music. Sometimes I play guitar for them, and that is when everyone disappears to other rooms of the house. But we have an old neighbor female dog who occasionally sits in our home and when I play guitar it starts to vocalize with me. She is very cute.
What animal charity means most to you?
A lot obviously, but I think one person cannot save them all. But you can do a lot of small things that are meaningful. Of course, life is hard with seven pets in our home, but the satisfaction and the love they give you beat every bad thing that they do. We as a band try to help here and there when we can, so we made an NFT with the design of our last EP and hopefully, it will sell so we can donate the money to an organization that manages to help lost animals or those in need. I encourage everyone that can’t adopt to donate a small amount per month to a trusted organization that helps animals.
