Category Archive: Interviews

Get to know the people behind the slamming riffs of the UAE rock and metal scene

Jun 03 2013

INTERVIEW: Dark Tranquillity, Sweden

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Interviews

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June 3, 2013

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Swedish melodic death metallers Dark Tranquillity are heading to Dubai to play in the very first Dubai Rock Fest event, which is taking place on June 7th.

Dark Tranquility has been on the death metal scene since the late 80s, what changes have you seen towards the acceptance of death metal both in Europe and worldwide? 
Things have changed a lot, that’s for sure! When we started out, this kind of music was a small underground thing with bands releasing demo tapes and playing tiny shows in front of 20-30 people. Throughout the years, the scene has constantly grown, and it’s now something with worldwide recognition. For good and bad. I don’t really think that we’ve been a death metal band for many years though, and I haven’t used that term to describe us since 1993 or something. Real death metal to me are bands like Immolation, Nile and Vader, and what we’re doing is something different.

You launched your album Construct in May, can you tell us a few details about it? 
Well, it’s a slightly different album for us. We needed to get out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves in order to even be able to makeanother album, so it’s somewhat of a rebirth. Longtime fans will probably recognize some elements from our older albums, but the ones that primary know us from “Fiction” and “Damage done” might be a bit surprised.

You have announced that Construct will be different and diverse from your previous offerings – what kind of differences can fans expect? 
More atmosphere and darkness, less catchy choruses and fast riffing. It’s the kind of album that you need to listen to a couple of times before you start appreciating it. We had taken the previous D.T. formula as far as possible, so it was time for something new.

What were your favorite moments when recording the album? 
The fave moment is when you’re finished, ha ha! We generally  don’t enjoy being in the studio and it’s always such a stressed out and high pressure environment that you feel miserable the whole time and can’t wait to get finished. Of course there are moments when a “magic” take is captured or when you feel that you’ve recorded something good, but on the whole it’s mainly about hard work and pushing yourself as much as possible.

This will be your first time in Dubai, what kind of expectations do you have for the crowd? 
I have no idea, which is what makes it all so interesting and special for us. The best part of being in a touring band is when you get to visit new places and get some new perspectives on things, so we’re extremely pleased to finally be able to come to Dubai. I know that bands like In flames were very happy with the audience in Dubai when they played the Desert rock festival some years ago, so that’s a good sign.

Is there any moment during the last 24 years that really stands out as the moment where you realised the band had broken out of the underground and was becoming well known? 
I don’t know…We rarely think about the “career” aspects of playing music, but I guess that we could notice a definite change sometime in the mid-90′s when we started touring internationally. Before that, most of our shows had been to a small amount of people that all were part of the underground scene, but when we managed to start playing outside of Sweden, there was a different category of people coming to the shows.

Who are your favorite melodic metal bands from the Gothenburg scene? 
The best Gothenburg metal bands in my view are Grotesque, At the gates and Liers in wait. Great and visionary bands that were ahead of their time. They’re probably not considered to be part of any melodic movement though, but I always found that classification pretty weird to begin with.

What has been your very best, and your very worst show in the last five years? 
Picking the worst show is easy: We played a really shady festival in eastern Europe where basically nothing was working. Due to the promoter not providing having good enough power supply, only half of the instruments was working, and we also had to leave early because the festival screwed up the flights. The result was that we played 3-4 songs with drums, bass and vocals. The audience was very enthusiastic, but the whole festival was such a mess. Selecting the best one is harder. It has more to do with the vibe and energy at the show than anything else, and there have been many memorable experiences.

Tickets available now online :

M Premiere :
http://tickets.mpremiere.com/
Virgin :
http://tickets.virginmegastore.me/index.php?event_id=1423
Platinum List :
http://dubai.platinumlist.net/nightlife/ticketing-box-office/11229/Dubai-Rock-Fest
Dobazaar :
http://www.dobazaar.com/tickets/114/dubai-rock-fest-buy-tickets.html
Timeout :
http://www.timeoutdubai.com/nightlife/events/23476
Box Office :
https://www.boxofficeme.com/Online/default.asp?doWork%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle=Load&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Aarticle_id=F0E7EE2C-F843-42AA-9FF9-1FC540E4E60E
Ticketing Co
http://www.ticketingco.com/eventBuyTickets.aspx?id=409

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Apr 29 2013

Metality UAE interviews Nightmare

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Interviews

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April 29, 2013

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French heavy metallers Nightmare are heading to Dubai to take part in the Dubai Rock Fest. The band, founded in 1979 recently released their new album Burden of God, which is described as combining thrashy riffs with new elements.

We nabbed a quick interview with the band

Can you tell us how you feel about playing your first show ever in the United Arab Emirates?
We are very excited for sure ! each time we are going to exotic country, we are very surprised by the reaction of the audience and we have a warm welcome. We guess UAE is on of those countries and we are looking forward to it ! We promised you wont be disappointed by our show!

What exactly you looking forward to in your trip to the UAE?
To add another wonderful experience to our long musical career !

I am sure that’s you have been following the music scene here in the UAE, Big names like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Machine head, Pink Floyd, Guns N Roses, Deep Purple and many more performed to the UAE fans, what exactly you are expecting from the fans here?
A warm welcome ! We love to communicate when we are on stage but also we would like to meet all metalheads we can in the meet & greet and signing sessions stand as well as in the festival area after our show… Its always a great pleasure for us to meet all our fans from all around the world !

Do you know / Listen to any Metal bands from the UAE/ Middle East, If yes…can you name them and what do you think about them?
The only band that we know is the band of our session drummer, NERVECELL: Kevin was also our session drummer and he is from France and of course he introduced us to NERVECELL… I think it’s the best export out of UAE and the most know band from Dubai abroad. We wish them all the best !

Do you carry any home comforts or things from home with you when you travel/tour outside France?
Not really cause we often travel by plane and can’t bring many things and when we tour with night-liner its the same! The most important is to bring our instruments and our smile when we are on stage!

Thanks to all the Dubai metalheads for welcoming us there! We are looking forward to meet you all and to party!

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Apr 28 2013

The Boxtones get ready to rock out the Dubai underground scene

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Band News, Interviews

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April 28, 2013

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The Boxtones are a five piece international band from Scotland and Canada, currently living in Dubai. They have been working for the past 8 to 10 years performing in 5 star establishments providing contract entertainment around the world. The Boxtones came to Dubai just over two years ago, and started to pen together their own original material.

We chat to Gary Tierney, Boxtones manager, lead singer, composer about their music plans.

 

Tell us a bit about the Boxtones, how did you find each other and form the band?
After a few member changes throughout the years, we feel the band is now ready to take its first step into the original music scene. Myself (Gary Tierney – Managing Director of The Boxtones FZE, band leader, guitarist, lead singer, composer and song writer) and my sister Gillian Tierney (drums, percussion and vocals) along with Louise Peel ( lead singer ) started the band in Edinburgh, Scotland back in 2007. We were working the corporate scene in Scotland for a number of years, myself and Gill had our original band where we toured the UK for a spell, and found it severely lacked in one fundamental thing: money. We decided to start our own corporate band, and took off to Bahrain for our first contract. We haven’t looked back. With the recent addition of Will Janssen (keyboards, rhythm guitar and vocals) from Winnipeg, Canada and Patrick Thibault (bass and vocals) from Montreal, I think the band has finally found its true sound. We get a lot of compliments about our performances, which boosts your confidence and with the recent start up of our own business ( no longer doing contracts 6 nights per week, instead performing at high profile events, weddings, parties, corporate business performances – anything really ), we now have the time to focus on our original material, which is great!

Where are each of you from, how did you get to Dubai and what are your musical influences?
I (Gary) am from Glasgow, Scotland – and so is Gill. Louise is from Edinburgh, Scotland, Will is from Winnipeg and Patrick is from Montreal, Canada. Me, Gill and Louise were already in Dubai, working the contract scene in a hotel at Dubai Marina, and we needed a new bass player and keyboard player for our own business set up. Will was working in another band and he was a good friend of ours for several years, and was anxious to play with The Boxtones for a while. It seemed like a great fit, and he fit in perfectly. Patrick was also working in another band in Abu Dhabi, that with band ending their run, he was looking for another project. I got in touch with him through a mutual friend, we got to talking and the rest as they say is history. Musically, we are all a bit diverse in pour influences, which is apparent in our original material. We all love rock music, which is where we gel. Louise’s favourite however is soul music, I love time signature rock like Tool and Biffy Clyro, Gill and Will are both into the heavier rock stuff and Patrick is into his punk music. So when you blend all that together – you get The Boxtones.

You do your own originals, can you tell us a bit about your latest track UFO?
UFO is part of an album we will be releasing this year, named ‘In the Pockets of Clowns’. The song was written back in 2001 by myself, and has had around 3 or 4 incarnations before landing here. It was originally called UFO landing party, but I dropped the last part as I wanted it to be recognised as a deeper and more thoughtful approach to the subject matter: abduction – than a reference to a party. The song is about a lonely guy, who meets a beautiful woman at a bar, and immediately falls in love. She asks him to go with her, and he blindly obeys. That’s when all hell breaks loose, as he realises too soon, she is an alien and can read his mind. She takes him aboard her ship and off they go into space, but not before they are pursued by the authorities. She forgets her keys to her flying saucer at the bar, so has to return to get them, which builds the apprehension as they are close to being stopped. They get away and the man is happy for the first time in his life, as he’s no longer lonely, and has the freedom he wasn’t permitted at home as he now lives with the aliens in space. Its all a bit tongue in cheek, but I’ve found that people relate to it and appreciate a good story within a song – that’s UFO.

Are you planning to release an album any time soon?
‘In the Pockets of Clowns’ is scheduled for a late 2013 release. We have a counter on our website telling you exactly when it will be done and available to the general public. Our initial release will be available on our website store, iTunes and Reverbnation. We have been demo-ing out the material we are close to final mix on, and a song Identity Crisis which is the closest to being master ready, is charting at number 3 on the Reverbnation UAE charts. Not bad.

 

You also do covers, which bands are your top ones to cover and what is your favourite cover song to play?
Covers are a different animal. I mean I love to rock our the solo to Free Bird for 12 minutes or so, but that’s a specialist song – I mean if your request it, we’ll play it. Usually, the audience want songs they know and love, and that comes from the top 40 charts. We do all of them, we play everything, I don’t think we have shied away from any song, except the ridiculous: your not getting the birdie song or ABBA from us I’m afraid. We try to make cover songs our own, we add a little here, take a little away there, and try to have fun with the songs we learn.

What is the one item of gear, either personal or gig -related that you (each of you) always forget when going to or coming from a gig?
Me: batteries – I have an active Fender Stratocaster CS Eric Clapton ‘Blackie’ which I wasn’t aware had a battery in the back. Of course it does, as it has an active boost circuit which gives me +25DB for soloing, and that needs a battery. So I have to remember to bring one.

Gill: not much really, she is pretty organised. If I had to pick something, I would say cables – she’s a drummer, but recently we have been experimenting with modules and triggers, which needs cables to connect to the desk. Drummers don’t do cables!

Patrick: Again, Mr organised, can’t really think of anything.

Will: DI boxes – always DI boxes

Louise: Lyrics mostly, printed out lyrics for new songs – mostly….

Again we try really hard to remember everything, and with sound companies now supplying most of the equipment, we only really need our instruments – but every gig is different and you have to be prepared for the worst. That’s why we now take a gig bag – fully locked and loaded.

What has been your very worst and very best gigs and can you tell us a bit about them?
As this line up, we haven’t had a worst gig – I think the only thing we would complain about is the heat during the summer, especially outdoor gigs – they can be killer. Our best gig had to be the Abu Dhabi film festival closing party at the Emirates Palace last year – that was impressive. We also love performing to the troops on the USO Naval base, they are great rock gigs. I think every gig is different, and with no two alike, and each having a different set of obstacles to overcome, there is no best and worst, just a challenge at different levels.

Where do you think disappearing socks go?
This is a question only the gods can answer, as I think there is a special sock heaven where all the lonely socks go to meet other lonely socks, and rock their socks off…. just my thoughts on this.

Email newsletters for bands at ReverbNation.com

Check them out on the below links:

www.boxtonesband.com

www.youtube.com/theboxtones

www.reverbnation.com/theboxtones

www.myspace.com/theboxtones

www.facebook.com/theboxtones

The band’s album is set for release late 2013, ‘In the Pockets of Clowns’ – featuring 12 original tracks.

Check out theirwebsite, www.boxtonesband.com, which is constantly updated with details on our next show, you can preview tracks form the album, check out all our videos, audio samples, press releases, gig photos, radio shows, and much much more – we have a blog and you can subscribe to our podcasts to keep up to date with all the comings and goings of The Boxtones.

And finally, like our Facebook page, we are building our portfolio and need your likes!!! Get on it!

 

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Mar 11 2013

Kicksound – Dubai’s next big band?

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Band News, Interviews

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March 11, 2013

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Friday night at The Music Room saw alternative rockers Kicksound take the stage, and from what we here, they played their best set yet. Crowd feedback included that these guys are poised to take the spotlight from Dubai’s favourite pop-rock act – Juliana Down. Let’s hope someone spots Kicksound and gives them that chance!

We nabbed a quick interview from the band, check it out:

If you guys were stranded on a desert island with no food, who would get eaten first and why?
Definitely not Branislav, our Serbian drummer. He’s a pretty scary guy and you don’t want to mess with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already been in that situation.

Tell us more about your music, who are your influences?
I guess you could lump our music under the horrendously vague category of ‘alternative’. You could also call it melodic hard rock. I grew up listening to the likes of Metallica, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine and Foo Fighters. I think Kicksound’s music is a mixture of those four bands, but obviously not quite as good, otherwise we’d be famous.

Which is your favourite Kicksound song and what is it about?
I don’t really have a favourite, but the song that I’m most precious about is Holy Prize as it was the first song I’d ever written. That was finished in late 2010. You could say it’s about ‘cultural’ differences; something that we’re used to in Dubai.

Do you talk about emotions and your lives in your lyrics/songs, do you try and make any kind of political statements, or do you just write fun songs?
I have no real interest or knowledge of politics, so I’ll leave that to Zack de la Rocha. I’d say emotions are more of an inspiration. A lot of the songs were written in a very short space of time and inspired by the experience of being in a relationship that was falling apart. Other than that, we have a brand new song called Brain Dead. It describes what happens when you drink one too many hops-based beverages.

If you could define yourself by one line out of any song in the world, what would that line be?
‘I’m a scatman!’

What are you guys up to now musically? Any album/EP/single in the works?
We’ve got all the material ready to record an album, and we’ve been speaking to various producers around town to assess our options. If anyone wants to throw their hat into the ring, feel free to get in touch! We have 10 tracks in total, and we be played most of them, plus a surprise classic, at Metal Asylum last Friday. And that classic was…..

One audience member commented “You guys blew me away at the Metal Asylum event! Much impressed! And your interpretation of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” is sick beyond reprieve! Respect! Hope to see you guys perform again soon! Cheers!”

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Mar 06 2013

Metality UAE audio interview with Blaze Bayley! Have a listen

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Events, Interviews

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March 6, 2013

blaze flyerMetality UAE interviewed heavy metal legend Blaze Bayley ahead of his gig at The Music Room here in Dubai on May 31st, sponsored by SoundStruck Studios and organised by Metal Asylum. Have a listen! For more event info click here.

If you cant access it above, click here: http://soundcloud.com/georgina-enzer-hennawi/blaze-bayley-interview-by

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Feb 09 2013

Metality UAE interviews Blaze Bayley ahead of gig in Dubai (May 31st 2013)

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Band News, Breaking News, Interviews

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February 9, 2013

Blaze Bayley

Hi Blaze, how are you doing?
I am just trying to recover from my trip to Brazil. It was absolutely fantastic we did about 15 shows all over Brazil and we had some great attendance and some really, really good shows, it was one of my favourite tours.
We had Mondays and Tuesdays off to explore and then we did four or five shows in a row, it was really good.

Have you ever played in the Middle East before?
Yes I started my professional career in music in Dubai. When I was in Wolfsbane we were hired as the house band for a hotel and we played in the pub inside the hotel, I think it was called the Red Lion. So yeah, we saved up all the money from that, we were out there for about a month and that is what we made our first demo tape with. We bought studio time and after that we managed to get an agent in the UK. Going and doing that gig in Dubai for that month, that was my first time that I had been away from home for a long time, I had to leave my job, that was the big thing, we said ‘right, we will go professional now’.
I was really excited when the booking came through for Dubai because I have a lot of memories of going there.

Which have been your favourite albums that you have been involved in in Wolfsbane, Iron Maiden or your solo career?
In Wolfsbane one of the albums that we did was called All Hell Breaking Loose and I have great memories of that one because we made it at a studio called Roundhouse near Camden in London and AC/DC had recorded part of their Highway to Hell album, one of the classic DC albums, but also while we were there The Queen had recorded part of Bohemian Rhapsody there. So there was a really great vibe and we had to have a battle with the record company to get the artwork we wanted. We only had like three days to make it, I think we had two whole days rehearsal then we had a days recording and then a day of mixing, so it was really really quick.

Which of the songs that you have written would you say you are most proud of?
I have a couple of highlights, I think one is from my Silicon Messiah album, which is called Stare at the Sun, which one fan said to me once; ‘it is the most perfect heavy metal song ever written’, I think that is quite bold,. I didn’t say that the fan did. I think that song feels really complete, I think if you shortened it or take things out it just didn’t make sense, so it just ended up being as long as it was to tell the story.

On my new CD I have a song called One More Step which I am very proud of as well, which is about trying to find courage when you don’t have anything.

Tell me a bit about your Russian Holiday EP.
It is an acoustic EP and its my vocals obviously, then classical guitar by Thomas Zwijsen and some of the songs I wanted to do again because I feel that my voice now is the best that it has ever sounded and I really wanted to record in a different way and so we decided to go ahead and make this classical EP. One of the songs is a brand new song, which is Russian Holiday and that was inspired by a trip to Russia and I was very homesick at the time and missing my family.

Some of the other ones are ones that I have done again from my career that I really wanted to sing again with the voice that I have now, so one is from the X Factor album called Sign of the Cross – because it is such a long time since I was in Iron Maiden and made the X Factor album that my voice has changed quite a lot and I really wanted to get a version of me singing this song which is really powerful with the voice that I have now.
I hope you enjoy it. If you want to listen to it and I hope the fans out there enjoy the songs that we are going to do. (grab yourself a copy here.)

Do you take any home comforts or family pictures with you on tour?
Well, on my laptop I have a file marked ‘Family’ and I have photos of my family and I put them on my phone as well, so I always have plenty of photos of my family. My daughter is 17 months old now, so what I did, because I missed her, I took a pair of her socks and put them in my bag so if I got a bit desperate I had a pair of my daughters socks as a little remembrance of her. It was a lot easier being away this time because we had Wi-Fi and Skype and we could actually see each other a couple of times, so that was good, but then when I went away to Russia, she was only five months old and I had already been away for a long time for the Kings of Metal album so it was very difficult to be away and that is what the song was about.
It was a horrible, horrible trip, every time I went away then she did not recognise me when I went back and I had to start all over again.

Regarding the song Como Estas Amigo I remember reading about how it is a message to those who lost their lives in the Falklands war, was this event a significant influence on you when you were young and did it spark a desire to become a musician and speak out against politicians?
Really it affected me in later life, my friend from school was in the Marines and he was killed in the Falklands, but it was actually a trip to Argentina that really inspired it because the hotel I was staying in was near the main square where the memorial was for the dead of the Falklands, and the people there were so lovely you couldn’t believe there had been a war with them. so that was what inspired it really, going and seeing the memorial from the soldiers from both sides of the conflict. It was a very political conflict. So that is what inspired the song and we do that in our acoustic set as well and it goes down really well and went down fantastically in Brazil.

Do you see any parallels with unjust conflict as a whole and the way it emboldens people in some cases to turn to music as an outlet for expression?
I am not very political in my music. The message that I am trying to get across is to try and be self-reliant and to help yourself and find the strength in yourself to make the best of your own world and change your own world personally. I am not very political in that way, but I have written several songs about war and about conflicts because it is such a deep emotional thing.

Can you share with us a couple of songs you will be playing on the set list?
We will be playing The Clansman, Como Estas Amigos, and from the X Factor we will be doing Sign of the Cross maybe, and Man on the Edge, and then from my own albums we will be doing Meant to Be and of course Russian Holiday from the EP. Most of the songs we have on the Russian Holiday EP will be played live.

What are you most looking forward to about coming back to Dubai?
I am a proper singer now, the first time I was there I was learning and it has changed so much, you see things on TV about how it has changed so I am really looking forward to seeing it up close and personal myself compared to when I was there the first time at that hotel. I am really excited and I don’t know what the fans are going to be like, I just don’t know, so I am really really excited about meeting the fans and I will be doing a special signing for everyone after the concert so anyone who has any of my Iron Maiden or Wolfsbane or any of my solo albums, they can bring it along and I will sign it after the concert.
I am really excited about coming to Dubai, I cant wait to meet the fans there and am really, really looking forward to the gig.

For more information on the event please click here.

blaze

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Feb 01 2013

Deep Purple Exposed – Metality UAE interviews Ian Gillan

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Band News, Breaking News, Competitions, Gigs, Interviews

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February 1, 2013

Deep Purple

Deep Purple has been called a heavy metal band, a hard rock band, a progressive rock band and much more by media and music industry professionals over the last 40 plus years; but Ian Gillan, Deep Purple vocalist feels that these labels are all wrong.

“Media loves to put a label on you; we have never thought of that, if you need a definition it is a rock band. Calling us heavy metal is just ludicrous, classic rock is like a tombstone around your neck. We went through the phase of dinosaurs and wrinkly rockers. I don’t really know how many more insults they can throw at you.  A rock band, that’s what we are,” Gillan states.

The wide range of band influences brought in by the band’s members over the years has ensured that really, Deep Purple remains unclassifiable in terms of genre. When Gillan joined the band in 1969, Jon Lord’s input with jazz, organ and orchestral composition were huge, Richie Blackmore the guitarist at the time, was the Jo Meeks’ music productions guitar player for the first independent rock studio in England, and was also a touring musician with a lot of American rock n’ roll stars. Roger Glover the Deep Purple bass player loves all things folk and the drummer was inspired by big band swing.

“It was a completely mixed bag of influences brought into the band, so it is no wonder it is hard to define,” explains Gillan.

Ian Gillan had his own set of blues and rock n’ roll influences including the young Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. The band that influenced Gillan in terms of singing and vocal tone as opposed to writing  was Cliff Bennett and the Rabble Rousers.

“It took years and years and years to get my voice into a way that I was happy with it. The bands of the time that I loved, but had no influence whatsoever on me were The Small Faces, and Amen Corner,” says Gillan.

The band has always been slightly eccentric in their approach to fans and publicity, Deep Purple still does not have its own publicist.

“We never really thought about the audience or commerciality because we were just too stupid to figure that out. We still don’t have a publicist, I think sometimes someone from the record label puts one up when we have new products out. Generally speaking we don’t have a publicist so we are not really aware of our worth,” says Gillan.

When he joined the band in 1969, Deep Purple had already had three hit albums and two number one hit singles in America, but they wanted to change their style and they wanted to write their own material, so he and Roger Glover joined, not just as a bass player and singer, but also as a songwriting team.

“I always remember at our first show in the Speakeasy in London with just a few people there mostly consisting of roadies, but when the band cranked up I just looked across and thought, ‘This is it mate, this is what we have been waiting for,’ so that to me was a moment when I realised that we had stumbled into something, maybe stumbled is the wrong word, we had fallen into something that was what we had been dreaming of and that was in 1969,” remembers Gillan. “It has been downhill ever since.”

In 1971, Deep Purple composed their most famous song to date, a song that has been played more times than any other track in the world; Smoke on the Water. The song and its lyrics were born out of an almost tragic event when the band was recording in Montreau, Switzerland.

“`We were in Montreux in Switzerland in 1971 recording the Machine Head album, and the place we were recording was in fact a theatre in a casino, which was made of wood and was a few hundred years old. I was watching the last show of the season and we were moving in the next day. We were watching Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention when someone came in with a flare gun and set fire to the place and it went up blazing and many exciting things happened, lots of dangerous things happened and we went down the coast of Lake Geneva and watched it burn,” Gillan says.

The band then had to find alternative accommodation to record in and at the end of the session the engineer told Deep Purple that he needed one more song. The band was short of time and was leaving Switzerland the next Day.

“We decided to pull out the sound check track from the first day and write a biographical lyric about the making of Machine Head, which started out ‘We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline to make records for the mobile we didn’t have much time’ etc etc , so the lyrics go through and explain the biographical making of this record. Watching that casino burn to the ground was one of the most vivid things I have seen in my life. We were very close to it, so on the last day Roger [Glover] came up with the title ‘Smoke on the Water’, which he had written on a napkin. I don’t know why, but as writers we do this sort of thing, and that was how it ended up,” explains Gillan.

The track then languished unheard on the record as a filler track for a year or more until someone at Warner Bros saw how well the song was going down during the concerts and did an edit from the seven minute version to something that people would play on the radio.

“We never really thought about those things when we made records, we still don’t. Anyway, it got played a lot on the radio and ended up being the most played track in the world ever,” says Gillan.

Deep Purple have a brand new album coming out in April, but Gillan was not able to talk about it.

“I have only just heard the mixes, I have not even heard the masters yet, we can’t do any of the material on stage because of YouTube and the next day it will be out and spoil the surprise. I don’t know how the information got out. I think it was the constant pressure well, when are you going to make a record, so we did one and it will be out in April and it is really too soon at the moment to start talking about it,” he states.

For more information on the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival check out the website www.dubaijazzfest.com

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Jan 20 2013

Metality UAE interviews Chillout Productions’ Anthony Younes ahead of the Emirates Airline Jazz Festival

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Interviews

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January 20, 2013

Jazz Fest

Anthony Younes, CEO of Chillout productions talks to Metality UAE about the upcoming Emirates Airline Jazz Festival 2013 and what she is most looking forward to this year.

How did you decide on the line-up for this year’s Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival?
It wasn’t an easy process, but since we had a kind of decision taken right after the 2012 edition that the theme is going to be rock, then we started contacting all agencies for rock headliners, we were aiming to have a mix of classic rock (Deep Purple), and pop/indie rock (3 doors down + One Republic + The Script)

How do you think the introduction of various genres will benefit the festival?
Well this is more of a music festival, we call it Dubai Jazz Festival, featuring a wide variety of quality live entertainers, mostly is jazz, so basically we have something for everyone’s taste.

Which of the bands are you most excited to see?
Considering my age, I would love to see Deep Purple again, and again.

What is different about this year’s Jazz Fest?
Not so many changes in term of set up, as last year’s was perfect, everyone loved the new venue in Dubai Festival City, but in terms of offerings in the venue, we are working on a wider food and beverage outlets, and more entertainment on the jazz garden stage

What has the audience response been so far to the line-up?
So far it is very positive, I would say 98% of our fan base are excited about it, but we still trying the satisfy the remaining 2%, we want everyone to be happy.

In your time doing event production have you ever had any crazy riders from bands?
All the technical riders of the celebrities have odd requests, we always try to fulfill all their demands, but sometimes they as for things that does not exist in this part of the world. But in general, we don’t believe in the impossible.

What has your favourite Jazz Fest moment been so far?
The day I close the venue after the festival, just kidding.

Can you tell me a bit about the history of the Jazz Fest?
Its started as a 3-day mainstream jazz festival selling the 1st year 1200 tickets, and since the 2nd edition the numbers have double and tripled, in 2012 we had 46,000 visitors.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

EACH TICKET is valid ONLY on the date shown on its front, and cannot be used or re-used on any other night

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Nov 21 2012

Interview with Dubai-based hard rocker Jay Wud – releasing his new album on November 22nd 2012

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Band News, Interviews

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November 21, 2012

Dubai-based hard rocker Jay Wud is releasing his album false Utopia tomorrow (November 22nd) and his fans are waiting with twitching fingers to grab a copy. We interviewed Jay ahead of the album release.

Tell us a bit about yourself, how did you arrive in the UAE and what got you into a music as a career?
I chose music as a career at the young age of 13. I started gigging at 16 but I had to fake an ID because I was under age. I ended up playing with all kinds of different musicians and bands which was a great learning experience! I kept doing that up until 2006, when Isreal’s war onLebanonhappened. That left a deep scar and it was a wake-up call for me to leave and follow my career somewhere else.

What is your very first musical memory?
Sitting down with my dad listening to Pink Floyd, Hendrix & Zeppelin.

You have a new album coming out on the 22nd of November called False Utopia, can you talk us through the feel of the album and the meaning of the title?
The album is upbeat and pumped up! You’ll hear a lot of deep groovy bass lines by Imad, heavy and intricate drums by Paco, my vocals are higher and more energetic than usual and the guitars are just a layer of good beefy riffs to compliment the whole recipe.

As for the title False Utopia, it’s complimented by the artwork which portrays a child’s vision of a Utopia that doesn’t exist in our modern day life. It’s about being blind to many of the issues facing our society.

Your first music video was UAE-produced, why did you choose to do it here and what was the experience like?
Well we wanted to produce it here since the band is UAE based as well as the team and sponsors. The director Fares Sokhon had to fly in fromLebanon. It was crazy! We where all on set at 5 am in Al Quoz. Watching everyone put their heart into it was spectacular and my favorite part of the experience.

You have developed a strong following in the region, what do you put this down to?
Hard work, faith and perseverance.

We hear you are planning on touring in January; can you share some details with us?
We are still working on dates, venues and countries. Dates will be posted on our website www.jaywud.com so keep an eye out!

You have a range of tattoos, are you a pick a design out of a book kind of guy, or a design each tattoo with meaning kind of guy? Which is your favourite tattoo and what does it mean?
I design and pick my own ink. They’re all my favorites. Each ink reminds me of a time in my life. Its a journey and I’m planning on having many more adventures to add up to my repertoire.

You have a gorgeous cat, Raccoon, was he a rescue and do you think it is important for people to have a pet?
Thanks! Raccoon is a rescue and I thank my friend for helping me find him. Pets are awesome. If you have that place in your heart, get one.

What is the best thing about being a musician?
That moment when you’re up on stage and you just disconnect with reality and connect with the crowd. It feels like you’re on a completely different level.

What do you think we need in the UAE to make the local music scene grow and local musicians gain a larger more devout following?
We need more venues and by more venues, i mean proper well equipped venues for musicians, like “The Music Room”. On another note, artists here need to support each other more by going to local gigs, spreading the word and sharing other artist’s music.

Make sure you head to www.jaywud.com tomorrow (November 22nd) to hear the new album!

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Nov 14 2012

We interview James Khazaal Nervecell’s bassist and vocalist

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Band News, Interviews

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November 14, 2012

Dubai’s best known metal vocalist and bassist and one of the UAE’s original metal supporters James Khazaal took some time out to answer some quick questions from us here at Metality UAE.

What got you into being a metal vocalist?
I was never a Vocalist, I actually joined Nervecell as a bassist. As the years went by I pitched the idea of me taking over the vocals also to them and they were excited to see what I had in mind. I was always into death metal and bands like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide were always on my play list. I can humbly say that even the band’s genre slightly shifted with regards to my vocals from Hardcore to Thrash / Death metal.

Were you in the choir at school or were you more of a type of singer who sings in the shower at home?
As I said I was never a singer and didn’t perform in any choir prior to the band. But I was a bodybuilder and carrying 120 kgs at the age of 14, growling was a must hahah

Many rock/metal performers have tattoos, do you have any and why?
I don’t, I personally respect the art but I feel as a performer in an extreme metal band having tattoos is a cliché, I also feel that people who over do it are just wanting to hide behind their ink and skin. I am someone who has a personality and respect what I do on stage with regards to that I let my music and presence speak on that behalf, not the ink on my body.

What do you think is the most important thing for a musician to have – talent, passion or stage presence (you can only pick one) and why?
Passion = with out it you wont spend time discovering your talent, and hence you wont put all the hours in practice to build a stage presence. It’s the one element that allows any band to move forward and continue being a band no matter what the tides of life bring forth.

What do your family think of Nervecell and have they come to any concerts?
Back in the days they thought it was just a phase, until mid this year they saw me perform in my home townQatar, which was during our Psychogenocide Middle East Tour. That was a huge eye opener to them with regards to what I and the band plan on doing for the rest of our lives.

Do you think that bands like Nervecell are helping the Middle East region come to terms with metal music, which has got a bad rap for so long?
I humbly and respectfully say, we are an international band that does this as a full time job. According to many sources out there we are raising the metal flag in this region to the world being aDubaibased band. With regards to what is happening in the Middle East as a scene, I don’t think it’s the metal bands that are causing the “bad rap” but the promoters themselves for their own personal gains and politics.

What are the plans for Nervecell now that Spellbind has closed down?
Well to continue playing shows and do what we always did. We will soon sit down together and create the 3rd album.

We see that you guys are playing at Burning Sea festival – we hear that is a fantastic fest – which other bands are you most looking forward to playing with?
I am really excited to play this show one for being in a country the band hasn’t destroyed yet. Destruction’s latest album kills, I would love to see those guys rip it in public!

Any other festivals/shows coming up for you guys?
Stay tuned!

Anything else you want to add?
Hails and cheers for all your support.

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