ISSUE 0 - Edited Version
DECEMBER 2012
INTERNATIONAL BANDS
AND PERFORMERS
IN LEBANON: WITHIN TEMPTATION EVANESCENCE SLASH BB KING SNOW PATROL KEANE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS DEAD CAN DANCE HAIL STING
LOCAL BANDS
IN INTERNATIONAL VENUES:
BLAAKYUM ROSWELL KIMAERA
PARACHUTES THE LEBANESE ROCK AND METAL
MUSEUM
The 'Tao Zhong' is one of the earliest bells casted in Primitive China 4,000 years ago. It's an instrument that was used to call labors to have their recess after work. It was also used afterwards by the Benedictine monks to call people for prayer, and social and religious gatherings 500AD. Later, this idiophone instrument has strongly become successful and used for many other purposes. We chose “Metal Bell” as the name for our magazine to symbolize what the ”BELL” represented throughout history till our present days; an instrument of “Call for Gathering”. To gather our Rock and Metal scenes, to unite under the same Bell Call. Furthermore, to gather artists and create a society that supports, shares and spreads the news, to follow them and keep you updated all the time. The “Metal” represents the material that is mostly used to manufacture bells!! But the main reason behind choosing it is that the main editors of this magazine are Metal heads \m/. This magazine will be the number one online magazine to support the “Lebanese and Middle Eastern Metal/Rock Scene” alongside all kinds of underground forms of art. This will be the first and most important aim of this magazine.
WELCOME TO THE
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Introduction to the Bell
Well, after 17 years in the Lebanese Rock and Metal scene, witnessing its ups and downs, its bad and golden years. The Hamra festivals that gathered 6000 to 10000 fans who came to watch and support their favorite LOCAL Bands such as EXCEED, pioneers of the 90’s rock in Lebanon. The golden eras of Kalinka Pub and Cherry’s Pub, till today's developments and evolutions. I have always felt that there are lots of missing elements in our scene. Decent organizers? We have Rock Ring, who is doing a great job. Production houses? Well, you'd be surprised to know how many there are now, while back in the 90's, finding a recording studio was more like a dream. Media? We have a significant legacy of webzines such as Peakhall.com, LebRocks, Lebanese Bands, LebMetal, Freak Show, Earblend and so on. Not to mention the countless facebook groups that claim to support the scene but it happens that they barely share anything related to the local scene. But I will stop here! There is a huge element in the media that doesn’t exist. A MAGAZINE. So I thought about hundreds of ways to support the scene. The financial issue was always hindering the ideas I come up with, and I was constantly trying to find alternative ways to do that. And then it hit me! Why not create the first magazine for our scene? A Magazine that could be a reference in the future and that sums up the activities of the rock circle on a monthly basis. I do not claim though to be the first to make such an attempt. I decided to make it a FREE online magazine, within everyone's reach. This magazine will support, advertise, criticize and cover every single detail in the scene. The team so far consists of: T.P. - Editor in chief; CHANA - Interviewer/reporter; JEN - Copy editor; ELLE Assistant copy editor/environmental editor; DoubleU - Design editor; Poker Face – Developer; NAT - PR/associate editor. I want to humbly thank all my friends who worked with me on this project, believed in it and bore my nonstop demands. I wish with this Issue ZERO (since we consider it the pilot issue of our magazine), I hope to get a successful launch full of constructive criticism.
LET THE
RING \\m//
T.P. Editor-In-Chief
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T.P. - Chana - ELLE We live in a society where not everyone is able to express his covering arts like photography, filmmaking, Feelings, Ideas, Talent and of course painting, digital illustration/graphic Creativity. Gathering different forms design, poetry, live music, live painting, of art in one night, Nathalie Jeha and handmade accessories, tattoo artists, Rachelle Maksoud came up with this etc. And the list keeps growing as with this incredible idea to support Nathalie would have loved “to see underground arts and talented more writers on board” while Rachelle artists, by giving them the opportwished “to see an acting session or a unity to expose their work to the monologue”. “right audience”. They gave artists This event that gathers people the chance to receive constructive from different fields of art has become criticism and be congratua weekly highlight. lated for their work. This The nature of the event I wanted to gather a was done with a Q&A became the center point variety of art at one event session at the end of each of attraction; especially where artists meet each section. the strong interaction other and interact with the audience at the same PARACHUTES between professionals, time in a fun, educational gathered a large number observers, newcomers and friendly atmosphere. of artists, professionals, and the host which gave students, and a remarkit a unique taste, where able variety of art lovers; all can benefit from Nathalie Jeha Picture By Patrick Mitri : Parachutes Act 2
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Vincent Khoury at “PARACHUTES” - Giving his comments & valuable critiques – Picture By Patrick Mitri
the constructive criticisms, PARACHUTES family The escape, the feeling of especially the students consists of: Nathalie Jeha the jump that brings you who are getting a lot of - organizer and host of the an adrenaline rush, this is tips on the technical level. event as well, Rachelle what the experience of - organizer, Maksoud “A lot of artists actually art is for me, hence the Roland Azar - in charge of had job offers after name PARACHUTES. operation, Patrick Mitri showcasing their - photographer and “all work at Parachutes Rachelle Maksoud loyal art lovers and which perfectly serves artists”. our purpose”, added Rachelle on the benefits of the event. A particular thank you was Organizing a night on a weekly dedicated by Nathalie to Vincent basis is not an easy task especially Khoury, for his loyalty to the event and that both girls have a busy life schedhis valuable critiques and good experule. But giving all their hearts and tise that he shares with the artists, dedication to this project, they which made him somehow a part of reached their 14th Act (night) now. the Parachutes family and a concrete The event is receiving a lot of positive element in the project. reviews from both the attendees and “Every Act at PARACHUTES the media that showed interest and feels like Act-1” indeed. So if you want are supporting PARACHUTES; just to take your weekly dose of art, just like us at "Metal Bell Magazine" who swing by on Wednesday nights at were blown away by the idea. And since Nova Pub- Sin-El-Fil, the ambiance is our magazine has similar purposes, filled with good vibes where you can we rushed to cover the event before have a drink and enjoy various forms the release of this issue. of art, with very very cool people. www.facebook.com/parachutes.lebanon
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The Uprising of Rock in Lebanon ( T.P. ) “The Arab spring” !?! In the time of political revolutions in the Arab world, where Lebanon is wrapped up in its internal conflicts that led to the peak of insecurity which this country hasn't faced for more than 20 years, there was one “kidnapping operation” that resulted in another kind of uprising in Lebanon: ~A ROCK MUSIC UPRISING~. A lot has happened this year and this looks promising – International bands in local venues and Local bands in international venues and further more… MASSACORE. Big and international bands have always had a stop at the big international festivals such as Baalbek, Jbeil and Beit el Din and so on; nevertheless, we would rarely
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see a rock band like Deep Purple and it was almost impossible to find a metal band in these festivals. Looking Looking back in time, we can see that Jyad El Murr has always been there to bring some non-mainstream Rock and Metal bands. Back in 1994, he brought the Gothic rock band "The Merry Thoughts", and in 1998, "Dreadful Shadows", which I believe is the first international Gothic metal band to ever perform in Lebanon. Silently since then, and through 2U2C, Mr. Murr has always organized concerts for very few local bands, as well as international ones. The list kept on growing ever since: Theater of Tragedy (2002), Apocalyptica (2006), Anathema (2010), Beirut Rock Festival (2009 - 2012).
INTERNATIONAL BANDS IN LOCAL VENUES I want to pause on year ‘2009’ for I consider it the trigger of the 2012 uprising. At the beginning of the year, in mid January, a small promoter group called “IN$$A Co.” brought the well known Swedish band “Lake Of Tears”, which was considered, a huge step in the circle of the small promoters of the scene. This was followed by "HAIL the All-Star Band" in November of the same year, brought by Rock Ring, known to be the biggest promoter and event organizer for Rock/Metal Concerts in the Small Scene (taking into consideration that Jyad El Murr is a universal promoter not only concerned with rock and metal but also Oriental, Pop and other music genres). Bringing international A- list artists from Bands idolized by millions on the global metal scene (HAIL) was the first and only breakthrough in the Lebanese Metal Scene. In that same month, Jyadd El Murr Organized “Beirut Rock Festival”, bringing huge names such as “Anathema” and
“To/Die/For”. All of these concerts had a huge success considering the small scene that we have in Lebanon; 2U2C and Rock Ring kept on bringing bands and organizing concerts until 2012. *** What began as a shy attempt in 2009 by small organizers to bring international rock or metal bands in the past years ("Rock Ring" bringing "HAIL" and "INSSA group" bringing "Lake of Tears"), and whereas lots of rumors were mentioning that so-andso bands were coming and that some mysterious organizer was bringing "Moonspell" (although the band didn’t come that year and was brought by 2U2C in 2011 and not by the same promoter rumored to bring the band), along with an almost successful attempt at bringing "Sepultura", soon turned to be the major focus of the big organizers and created a competition that will take the rock and metal scene to another level.
The 2012 Uprising A crazy summer. In my entire life and during the 17 years of my involvement in the rock/metal scene, I haven't witnessed this amount of legendary rock bands and stars coming to Lebanon in ONE year. Maybe it is an interesting trend that has started and shifted the competition from electronic to rock music. It was a phenomenal summer, with names no one ever thought would come to this small country. The big surprise was the number of attendees that increased with every concert, reaching around 10, 000 or more at the “Red Hot Chili Peppers” concert and a sold-out “STING” concert.
The following is a quick review of each concert:
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Evanescence
Saturday 23 June 2012 A fully loaded venue, a big stage, high tech lighting and a great sound system made EVANESCENCE’s Concert a success. The concert, organized by Mix FM, was practically short with a set of 80 minutes, and left some die-hard
fans not satisfied as they wanted more especially that some of the golden hits weren’t performed in during the concert. Amy Lee’s voice was pretty good considering that the night before the concert, they
had a show in Dubai; few glitches were unavoidable though. The Band’s performance was truly amazing and they put up a really great show that kept the crowd pumped up all night, singing along their favorite songs.
Slash
Monday 25 June 2012 As a Part of Byblos International Festivals, Buzz Productions booked SLASH for a Lebanese show of his tour promoting his new album “Apocalyptic Love”. As excepted, Thousands of fans gathered to watch one of their idols, an 80’s/90’s icon, a legend. A great crowd with a great show! All fits up, except that fans kept on asking for Guns N’ Roses songs. Although SLASH
came to promote his music, he did satisfy the hunger of the crowd with G N’ R songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City”. On the other hand, Myles Kennedy, not well known to the Lebanese commercial rock scene, blew people away with his tremendous voice abilities and performance. I will pass on the technicalities since Byblos Festival
always gives us a top notch production. The Lebanese stop did for sure leave a mark in Slash’s heart, as he tweeted and posted on his official pages about the assassination that happened in Achrafiyeh “It's fucking horrible what's going in Beirut right now. We were there just recently. We had the best time. People were so cool”.
fans who came to have a glimpse of their favorite band “The DOORS” through their best tribute band. The interaction between DOORS ALIVE and the crowd was exceptional: singing along, dancing, cheering…
An enjoyable night indeed. Lighting was in perfect harmony with the mood, and the sound was pretty good. This event, organized and produced by PLAY FOR TODAY, was not to be missed.
Doors Alive
Tuesday 26 June 2012 Not a huge event, but it is definitely worth mentioning. On a Tuesday night in DRM in Hamra, a venue that accommodates a couple of hundred attendees was fully packed with enthusiastic DOORS
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BB King
Thursday 5 July 2012 I am going to take a little bit of time for reviewing this concert. First of all, as far as I am concerned, this is the most legendary event of this year: a great icon; the living blues legend, B.B. King. He is the artist with the most musical achievements to come this year, and this was a night to remember. Also as part of the Byblos International festival, the show started with the band playing some jazzy music. After that, BB king was helped out to the stage which was normal considering that he is 86 years old and his manager has announced that the blues icon was sick and tired few days prior to the Lebanese concert. Then the magic started with "Key to the Highway" followed by
"Rock Me Baby". During this song, B.B. king was sick on stage and vomited, which forced the band to play some solos until the legend stepped back to the stage to continue the show. While playing “one kind favor”, he showed that he still has a huge passion for his music and his commitment to the crowd to deliver a full show. But he seemed tired and didn’t have the full energy to give us what we wanted: more of him playing. Some of the songs were not fully played and I couldn’t figure out the reason, while some others were played for much longer, with the band repeating some parts or doing some improvisations to pass the time. Then we were surprised that “Rock Me Baby” was being played again. With all the setbacks, some moments were epic.
The crowd sang along as the songs "The Thrill Is Gone" and "You Are My Sunshine" were played; this was one of the highlights of the night. The fans were not totally satisfied since the king didn’t play much on most of his songs and all this was related to his age and sickness that I mentioned previously. The concert ended with the band playing an instrumental as a closure. The concert was fun; B.B. king cracked some jokes and did some funny gestures and made us all smile. Some people were mad and considered it a disaster, others were just satisfied seeing the KING. But overall, it was a night to be engraved on our memories, and B.B. King was so committed to perform despite his illness and age.
hell of a show; the crowd couldn’t be more satisfied. The set list consisted of 19 amazing songs, most of which were from their new album, as the concert was part of “The Unforgiving Tour”. Also Another short movie, "Sinead", was played, followed by the song of the same name. One of the best concerts you can ever go to: the stage was huge, and the crowd was the best you
can ever see. They were jumping, head banging, singing along, and a full chemistry was there. And as for Sharon den Adel’s voice and performance, they were simply great, leading to an amazing interaction between the crowd and the singer. But I have to mention that the sound was not as expected; actually it was bad and could have been much better.
Within Temptation
Tuesday 10 July 2012
The concert, produced by 2U2C, was held at the ‘Forum de Beyrouth’ and started at 9:00 pm with ANNEKE Van Giersbergen and her band who were good but the crowed did not seem to like them much. After a wait of 20-30 minutes, the show started with WITHIN TEMPTATION’s short movie “Mother Maiden”. Then the band went on stage to give one
S
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The Cranberries
Saturday 14 July 2012 The concert was c anceled; there were many rumors about Dolores O’Riordan’s health problem, but later she released a statement canceling lots of their summer shows: “For personal reasons, I would prefer to keep private, it turns out that this is not a good time for me to be on the road this summer. I apologize to the fans and promise that the Cranberries will be at our best for the rescheduled shows.”
Snow patrol
Tuesday 17 July 2012 Again, another great Band brought by Buzz Productions to the Byblos International Festival. Over 6000 fans gathered to cheer for SNOW PATROL. The show started with “Hands Open” followed by 15 tracks that blew the crowd away and 2 encore songs “Lifening” and “Just Say Yes”. The show lasted
for one and a half hour. During the show, straight after “You're All I Have” the band left the stage for a bit and came back with Gary Lightbody, the front of the band, who gave a small speach about the Lebanese hospitality. In general, the concert was great, from the sound to the visuals that were very professional.
Not to mention the crowd and the constant screaming of the girls, the singing along and the jumping. For sure, Snow Patrol concert was amazing and pretty entertaining even for people who are not familiar with the band. Another thumbs-up is given to Buzz Productions and Byblos International Festival.
ent you enter the venue, you feel like you’re transported to another world. More than 10, 000 attendees gathered to cheer for a band that’s been around in the music business for 30 years. The event started with the opening band “PINDOLL” which was a last minute addition to the concert, and seriously this band showed a high professional presence, great musicianship, and got the appreciation
of the crowd. Kicking off their show, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS started with “Monarchy of Rose” from their latest album, followed by another 14 great songs including Stevie Wonder’s “High Ground” and 5 encore songs that also included another cover of Robert Johnson “They’re Red Hot”, ending this magical musical journey with “Give it Away”. It’s true that there was more than
Red Hot Chili peppers
Thursday 6 September 2012 BUZZ Productions and Mix Fm brought us the highlight of this Summer: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. One of the best produced concerts that Lebanon has ever witnessed. The Stage was HUGE with three giant screens, (I have never seen something like that in Lebanon before) the sound and lighting were extremely perfect. You get driven into the mood by the ambience, and from the mom-
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40 minutes of dead time between the opening and the main act, but the show was worth the wait. The Peppered band was extremely energetic on stage, and for sure, I will not talk about how professional
they are especially in the Jamming parts OUF!!! It was pretty obvious that RHCP enjoyed the show as much as the crowd and maybe more. They were all excited for perfomring in our country Lebanon
and this was obvious with the bassist Flea who said “we are honored to be here/to play here” several times during that night, adding to that his stunt comeback for the encore, walking on his hands.
Dead can dance
Sunday 16 September 2012 Nothing can be better than the Roman Amphitheater in Zouk to be the venue for the DEAD CAN DANCE concert. After their reunion, their first appearance ever was eventually in Lebanon. The concert was opened by the international percussionist David Kuckhermann, who was really amazing and took us in a trip to heaven. His participation wasn’t limited to the opening; he even played with Dead Can Dance (DCD)
that enchanted us with 17 songs and 2 encores, starting their show with “Children of the Sun”, a track from their latest album ANASTASIS which was their first studio album in 16 years. Almost 2000 people enjoyed the exceptional mood of DCD: their show included lots of instruments especially the ‘Oud and Derbakke’. The highlight of the night was when DCD played the traditional Arabic song “Lamma Badaa Yatasanna”.
The show was extremely amazing from sound and stage to light that was really smooth and got along the music. The band put up a tight show and created a communication bridge between them and the crowd through the breathtaking voice of Lisa Gerrard. And what I enjoyed the most was the explanation of the meanings and inspirations to their songs. This concert was definitely different and memorable.
with 2 giant screens. The entrance of the band was accompanied by 3 minutes of applause, and after that, the concert started with “You Are Young” and included 20 songs and 3 encores, and the show ended with “Crystal Ball”. The crowd was incredible: thousands were singing, cheering and applauding at the end of each song.
The concert was a success and received lots of positive feedback and reviews; the sound was pretty good, and the crowd was one of the best a band can wish for. As for the performance of the band, it couldn’t be better, it was charming. However, I did not like the poor and basic lighting which could have been much better.
Keane Saturday 13 October 2012 After their successful participation in Byblos international festival 2009, KEANE is again in Lebanon, but now brought to us by POLIAKOV vodka, and yes they are organizing concerts too. In collaboration with NRJ Lebanon and Murr TV (MTV), the concert was held at the “Forum De Beirut on a big stage
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hail
Saturday 31 March 2012
The Loudest and Heaviest concert of the year \m/. HAIL brought by Rock Ring, this struggling organizer that has always tried to give us the heaviest local and international events. The all star band that includes legends from the metal scene: TIM “Ripper” OWENS, PAUL BOSTAPH, DAVE LINSK and JAMES LOMENZO came to entertain us with a selection of covers for bands like Black Sabbath, Slayer, Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest among others. The event was hosted by the stand-up comedian
Nemer Bou Nassar. The concert was opened by EPISODE, a violin-based band, then HAIL kicked off their moshing show with “Ace of Spades”, a Motorhead cover. Even though the set list was 3 songs longer than the 2009 concert (20 songs and 3 encores), more than half of the play list was similar to the previous concert. But that wasn’t a problem because the crowd seemed to enjoy every second of the concert. The concert started pretty much late as usual; the lighting and sound, engineerd by Roy
Nawfal, were pretty good, better than any small scale organizers’ concerts. The location was awesome, it was really a pure metal location: a metal factory “DEMCO Steel” in the city of Beirut. And what can we say about the stage, was that a truck?! It was a crazy and creative idea. Everything was extremely fit for a Metal concert. HAIL ended their show with the classic “Heaven and Hell” (Black Sabbath cover). Thumbs up to we need Rock Ring; more Heavy Metal bands in Lebanon, keep it up.
Sting
Wednesday 28 November 2012 A sold-out show, do you expect me to review that? Well I am speechless. A living legend who gave us the greatest night ever, performing all his best hits that any Sting fan would like to hear, songs from The Police era to his solo careered songs. And the perfectionist band was pretty much awesome especially the drummer
who caught my attention. Sting seemed surprised that people knew by heart all the lyrics to his 20 songs play list and were singing along. There was a sensational appearance by a Lebanese “Derbake” player, performing with the legend himself on “Desert Rose”. Everything was well organized and well delivered. What differentiated
this concert from others was the high quality of attendees: huge numbers of old school adults. It was lovely to see the mingling of the new and old generations enjoying their time together. I did not notice any young teenagers, which gave this concert an extra classy taste. I can safely say this is Mix FM’s best event so far.
Brit Floyd Saturday 22 December 2012 After last year’s sold-out show at the Forum de Beirut, with more than 6000 attendees, this year, POLIAKOV Vodka brought back BRIT FLOYD at Biel venue in Beirut. Last year’s concert was considered epic and and the band really paid tribute to Pink Floyd in the best possible way.
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LOCAL BANDS IN INTERNATIONAL VENUES ( T.P. ) Another glorifying success for the Lebanese Rock and Metal scene took place this year. It was not limited to hosting international bands/artists in Lebanon, but it went further with local bands hitting huge stages of the biggest festivals in the Metal world, l i k e Metal Heads’ Mission - Ukraine, METALCAMP - Slovenia and other festivals that amplified this success through BLAAKYUM, KIMAERA, and ROSWELL.
BLAAKYUM, the oldest still active Lebanese Metal band, released its first full length album after a long wait. Following its debut release, the band kicked off with “Night Lords’ Tour”. The tour started in Egypt where Blaakyum was blown away by the enthusiasm of the fans and the high level of organization; they were the first Lebanese band to ever play in Egypt. After that, it was Lebanon's turn; no other Lebanese band has ever TOURED LEBANON. They dubbed the sub tour as: “The First In Line Lebanon Tour”.
Blaakyum performing at Progresja Club Warsaw - Poland on the10th of August 2012.
The next destination was Eastern Europe. The band suffered two gigs cancelation in that tour, the first was the Turkish gig in Istanbul, and the second was the Krakow gig in Poland. The launch of the euro-tour was in Ukraine in “Metal Heads’ Mission” festival headlined by Nile and Gorguts. This was the first international festival appearance for the band, where they were received by the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian fans with a lot
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of appreciation and cheer. Blaakuym was proud for having incited chaos and a wall of death in the event although their musical style was not as extreme as the rest of the participating bands in the fest. Second stop in the Euro-tour was “Metalcamp 2012” in Slovenia headlined by Korn, Testament, Machine Head and Sabaton. The band gained a lot of media’s attention in this event and was seen as having a true dedication to Metal music not just by their tight and frenzy show but also by the fact that they travelled without a tour bus, and against all odds just for the sake of art. The third stop was Bratislava in Slovakia where the band performed in Randal Club and established as well a small but dedicated fan base there. The final stop in the Euro-tour was in Warsaw- Poland (after the cancelation of the last show in Krakow due to Club shutting down) where the band met with the media in Beirut Bar one night before their gig in Progresja Club. It was an honor for the band to perform in such a legendary club and to mark their name alongside the legends of Metal and Rock. The gig was a success and Blaakyum ended its tour back in Lebanon with the last concert Massacore which unfortunately got the Lebanese Media up on a hype accusing the band and the Metal scene of being Satanists and the witch hunt is on the go.
Another great band hits the big lights this year: KIMAERA. The Bestknown Doom/death metal band in Lebanon participated alongside BLAAKYUM in “Metal Head’s Mission festival” Ukraine. The band announced their participation in the festival not long after Blaakyum’s confirmation and a wave of support for both bands erupted in the core of our metal scene.
the beautiful city of Amman was overwhelming, the performance was great, we met very nice people and formed new friendships.
Roswell performing in “Rock Grip" Jordan 2006
Metal Head’s Mission August 2012
“It was a very good experience for KIMAERA” said JP Haddad, KIMAERA’s front man. “Many favored our music and show and definitely asked for our return. Besides that, sharing the stage with giants like NILE was a blast and adding them to the list of big bands we played with in the past few years now. It is always a good exposure playing in EU and getting the deserved success. Hopefully there’s more to come in the near future!” Back in 2006 and as part of “Rock Grip", a well known concert in Jordan, ROSWELL was invited to participate in this event alongside the Nu-Metal Lebanese band BLOOD INK and other local Jordanian bands. With a big number of attendees, the concert was a success, and the band put up a great show and received huge acceptance from the Jordanian rockers which led to the creation of a small fan base in Jordan. “Since it was our first time we perform internationally we were very excited, and we had the right to be, the whole going by bus, staying in a hotel and enjoying
And ever since that trip, we were working on making another show ready, and here we are, Roswell will be in Amman this December the 22nd, and between 2006 and 2012 we have become more experienced, more ready, and hopefully this time will be much more fun” said Ghaith El-Horr front man of Roswell. INNERGUILT was supposed to share the stage with GOJIRA in the “Indian Metal Festival” on 15 December of this year, but not long ago we saw their name listed in the Charity event “Metal 101” in Beirut, after a massive public demand, that happens to be on the same date of the Indian concert, thus leading to the cancellation of their participation in IMF. Hopefully, this turning point of the Lebanese bands scene will progress towards more and bigger international participations. Our bands deserve to develop the “foreign” experience and fun. We support and cheer our local heroes who are raising the Lebanese name and flag out there \\m//.
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The Massacore Incident ( T.P. )
On November 3, 2012, a not so big concert in Daher el Wahech - Lebanon, caught the attention of some “unprofessional” journalists who made out of a Core and Metal event a satanic night!!!!! in a cheap search for a scoop. Massacore was organized by Sami, an electronic event organizer, who liked to add some Metal Flavor to his event on a Halloween-themed night, which turned few days later to a nightmare that enraged the Scene. The next day, during the evening news, NTV showed a report about a Satanic mass in the abandoned Qortbawi building. The report displayed signs that they considered to be “satanic” such as “Monsters energy drink” logo in reverse which caused laughter over the Lebanese metal facebook pages and the creation of “memes” about it. After the airing of this report, it went unnoticed and no one took it seriously. But two days later, a very unprofessional reporter who didn’t even check his facts, talked about the concert showing videos he got from YouTube. Attacking the society of metal heads in Lebanon and calling them devil worshipers was his main focus, and the worst thing was that he considered that all attendees did take drugs, and are the children of very important figures in Lebanon and lots of nonsense. But this time, silence wasn’t an option. Bassem Deaibess, an iconic figure in the Lebanese metal scene, as usual put himself in the “muzzle of the Gun” and called the program and faced the host of the show. Bassem insisted that the concert didn't take place in a monastery and explained a bit what the moshpit means. But the host kept on saying it was a monastery and tried to provoke the caller into making a slip of the tongue. After the COO of the TV made a statement refusing what was said in that episode, the reporter was forced to back off and tried to distract people from his unethical accusations and turned his attack on the metal scene into “what harms can a moshpit cause” on his program’s facebook page, which wasn’t the subject of the episode, was it? For quite some days there was kind of a complete silence as if everybody was scared and hiding. But once again Mr. Deaibess took the lead and didn’t let the incident just pass unresolved. He called upon the whole society to meet up and form some kind of community to defend the scene. This meeting led to several appearances for Bassem Deaibess, Nathalie Jeha, JP Haddad and Elia Mosawer on different local and Arab TVs, clarifying the issue and especially NTV that denounced what they said in their previous report. And then the revolution has begun \\m//
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METAL BELL had the opportunity to have the first and exclusive interview with Sami, the organizer of Massacore: 1.
Who is Sami and what kind of events you usually organize?
I am an events planner and a musician. My main focus is electronic music especially Breakcore, which can be safely labeled as the fastest/most aggressive electronic music style. The events I organize feature around 20 different electronic music styles. Recently I added Punk and Metal bands to my events. The styles I promote are not very well known by the most Lebanese ravers, so our music scene can be at best described by “small”, and that’s what I personally like about it, to be honest. I do not aim to raise any money from my events; I am just passionate about music. 2.
What is “Massacore”?
NAME: The name Massacore is a combination of two words: Massacre and Core, the first is directly linked to the location that witnessed the event, which is an abandoned school that witnessed many massacres during the Lebanese wars. As for the latter, it’s obviously the music style that I promote mainly; it appears in the names of my other events, like Corechstra. CONCEPT: The concept of the event was to bring two different music scenes under one roof: The hard electronic scene and the Metal scene. Bringing two metal bands to the event helped me reach a number of metalheads, and get them to discover the other side of electronic music which they usually tend to criticize/offend. 3. Why the mix between metal bands and dubstep Djs? And do you think this mix was successful? The mix wasn’t exactly between Dubstep DJs and Metal bands. First of all, most of the electronic artists that I brought to Massacore are Producers and not DJs, that doesn’t mean that they don’t do DJ sets (just like any metal band would play covers), but they almost all play their own material. So, why the mix between metal bands and electronic artists? I, myself, am influenced by metal music, and so are most of the electronic artists who play in my events, a big part of the music we play can be described as metal-oriented electronic music, so instead of Dubstep, we play Deathstep, which is similar to dubstep except that it features metal elements, from guitars to metal synths and vocals. Likewise, we play Metalstep, which is Drum ‘n Bass with metal elements, and most importantly: Metalcore, which is not the Instrumental Metalcore people are familiar with, Metalcore is simply extreme Breakcore, with metal elements, which is what Drumcorps and myself play for example. 4.
Was it your first collaboration with a metal Band?
This is the first collaboration with metal bands indeed; I included a punk band in a previous event.
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5.
Was it difficult to bring an international DJ such as Drumcorps?
It is never easy to bring international artists to such events, and the main reason is usually the lack of funds. P.S: I brought three international artists to Massacore: Gore Tech (Dubstep, Deathstep, DnB), Rotator (Breakcore, Hardcore) and Drumcorps (Metalcore). 6. What did actually happen that night? And why all the yin and yang after the concert? What happened at Massacore is that, since the event took place in a village, normally some of the inhabitants would be eager to come and check out on the event, so three people who lived in the area came to the event that night, they were most probably expecting something totally different, so they were shocked to see the extreme music styles we were playing and the unusual looks/costumes we were wearing, so they came back home to tell their parents about what they saw, and the parents –from what they heard, evaluated the event as a Satanic gathering and directly contacted the police who investigated with me, and found out that it was a normal Electronic/Metal event that had no link to any satanic rituals or whatsoever. Notice that all of that happened on Sunday, which was before the Media released its monsters. So the Ying Yang is simply the result of young/un-educated journalists who were so excited about the story that they based their reports on the rumors they heard, instead of personally investigating on what happened, or asking those who investigated it. 7. Why do you think there was such a little attendance to an event that was supposed to be big? The attendance wasn’t that little, compared to the number of attendees I usually get, our events usually feature 200-300 people which is how much we got in this one (around 230-240). I personally expected more, I think what went wrong was the weakness of our signs-system: The municipality lights were off, so people couldn’t read the signs we put, so a considerable number of them couldn’t find the location. I heard that some ticket-holders couldn’t find the location and were so pissed about it. 8. Did you face any problems with the law and the government after the TV show that considered your event as a devil worshiping ceremony? No, not a single problem with the law or the government. 9. Are you going to organize similar events in the future? If yes, will you include metal in these events? Yes of course I will organize similar events. Some events will include metal bands, and others won’t, it all depends on the event theme. I might be working on an Electronic/Metal collaboration on a bigger scale next summer.
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After scoping out the Lebanese media's gaps regarding this incident, we revealed how crucial it is to speak out against irresponsible journalism. AND THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN .... 18
THE LEBANESE
ROCK AND METAL
MUSEUM Album: Defective Harmony (2009) Artist: Alan Azar Founded: 2007 Style: Progressive Rock/Metal Active: Yes
Album: The Cosmologist (2012) Artist: Alan Azar Founded: 2007 Style: Progressive Rock/Metal Active: Yes
Album: Time of the equinox (2012) Artist: Amadeus Awad Founded: 2000 Style: Rock Active: Yes
Album: Worm’s eye view (2011) Artist: Anuryzm Founded: 2003 Style: Progressive Active: Yes
Album: Lord of the night (2012) Artist: Blaakyum Founded: 1996 Style: Thrash Metal Active: Yes
Album: Bleed the ink (2006) Artist: Blood Ink Founded: 2002 Style: Nu-Metal Active: Yes
Album: Cimmerian path-demo (2007) Artist: Cimmerian path Founded: 1996 Style: Symphonic black metal Active: No
Album: Into the depths of ruthless excellence-demo (2011) Artist: Cimmerian path Founded: 1996 Style: Symphonic black metal Active: No
Album: Ries over Lies-demo (2008) Artist: Element 26 Founded: 2006 Style: Metal/Metalcore Active: No
Album: Veni vidi vomui (2010) Artist: Kaoteon Founded: 1999 Style: Extreme metal Active: Yes
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Album: Slanderous society (2012) Artist: InnerGuilt Founded: 2010 Style: Thrash/Death metal Active: Yes
Album: Applied schizophrenic science (2005) Artist: Oath to vanquish Founded: 2001 Style: Extreme Active: Yes
Album: New Blood (2010) Artist: Jay Wud Founded: 2005 Style: Rock Active: Yes
Album: Ashes of the reborn (2012) Artist: Ostura Founded: 2009 Style: Power metal Active: Yes
Album: Ebony veiled (2004) Artist: Kimaera Founded: 2000 Style: Doom Metal Active: Yes
Album: Fear beneath the tears (2000) Artist: Shepherd of sheol Founded: 1997 Active: No
Album: Solitary Impact (2010) Artist: Kimaera Founded: 2000 Style: Doom Metal Active: Yes
Album: Hannibal ad portas Artist: Lagrima Founded: 2003 Style: Melodic death black Active: Yes
Album: Manjam 3l marreekh (2009) Artist: Meen Founded: 2006 Style: Lebanese Rock Active: Yes
Album: 3arousit bkesseen (2011) Artist: Meen Founded: 2006 Style: Lebanese Rock Active: Yes
Album: The rise & the fall at lantis (2011)
Album: Metal to the bone (2010) Artist: Nightchains Founded: 2005 Style: Heavy metal Active: No
Artist: Monarchy Founded: 2009 Style: Progressive metal Active: Yes
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Album: The circle (2011) Artist: Ordum Founded: 2000 Style: Extreme Active: Yes
Album: The dungeon (2010) Artist: TistMoon Founded: 2004 Style: Metal Active: No
Album: Out of reach (2011) Artist: Roswell Founded: 2005 Style: Alternative Rock Active: Yes
Album: The warwhore-EP(2012) Artist: Zix Founded: 1998 Style: Power metal Active: Yes
Album: Birth from division (2004) Artist: The arcane Founded: 1996 Style: Gothic metal Active: Yes
Album: Beauty and the east (2012) Artist: The Kordz Founded: Style: Alternative rock Active: Yes
Album: Rivers of endless sorrow (2010) Artist: The arcane Founded: 1996 Style: Gothic metal Active: Yes
Album: Mentally decayed (2004) Artist: The weeping willow Founded: 1998 Style: Death metal Active: Yes
Album: Garden of misery-demo (2001) Artist: The weeping willow Founded: 1998 Style: Death metal Active: Yes
Album: Impale Artist: The weeping willow Founded: 1998 Style: Death metal Active: Yes
Album: The third portal (2006) Artist: The weeping willow Founded: 1998 Style: Death metal Active: Yes
Album: Decayed century-demo (2008) Artist: Void Founded: 2005 Style: Symphonic death metal Active: No
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