It took more or less 3 years to compose byron's new album "30 Seconds of Fame". Songwriter and lead singer Dan Byron began penning new songs right after the previous album's release in 2009, but it was a long and arduous process. From that early period during composition we have songs such as "It Ain't Gonna Happen Today" and "Running in Circles", which is safe to say are the "oldest" songs on the new album. 2010 was a difficult and busy year for the band, with several separate projects somewhat impeding the songwriting process. First, the band started working on "Perfect", a covers album featuring re-arrangements of famous Romanian songs. Second, in November the band filmed their second DVD and first Blu-ray, "Live Underground", 300ft below the earth in the Turda salt mine in Transylvania - a massive project which necessitated many months of preparation. Last, but not least, byron was featured as a live band in a Bucharest theater's musical adaptation of Shakespeare's classic "The Merry Wives of Windsor", which kept the band busy with rehearsals and shows for a good part of the following two years. From this "period of struggle" during 2010 and 2011 we now have songs such as "The Game" and "What If". However, the bulk of the songs on "30 Seconds of Fame" was composed in February 2012 when Dan Byron enrolled in an international songwriter's challenge in which the participants pledged to compose an album's worth of music (10 songs) in one month. It was an extremely difficult and intense process, and it helped create some of the album's most experimental and daring songs, among which "A Crazy Ballet", "Tummo", "Sleepwalkers", the hit single "Road Trip" or the highly emotional "Finale". Fellow band members 6fingers (keyboards, piano) and Costin Oprea (electric guitar) also contributed to the composition process, each of them with one song: "I, Human" and "The Puppet", respectively. Studio recording took place in the final months of 2012, byron continuing their collaboration with sound engineer and musical producer Victor Panfilov at Real Sound & Vision in Bucharest, who also handled the mixing and mastering duties. On this record, byron enjoy the company of special guest Alexander Bălănescu, who plays a violin solo on the track "Finale". Other notable guest musicians are jazz singer Luiza Zan (backing vocals) and trumpet player Petre Ionuţescu from Blazzaj (on "Surrealistic Collage"). The album's artwork was yet again handled by 6fingers, whose rich illustrations provide an open interpretation to the song lyrics. The disc also has a special counterpart, with lyrics translated and sung in the band's native Romanian language: "30 de secunde de faimă".