Hiya, and welcome to the first issue of 'AMPULANCE', a new zine started by Shehara,Victoria and Veronica. Picking up from where Rahel left off with APPLECORPS, we hope to get this ship running asap and bring out more issues with every gig. We can't ,however, promise you guys that , given our own time constraints as well as the throes of daily lifestyle coming into the picture. But here it is, AMPULANCE #1, not only will it help you get an idea of the local scene, but may also encourage you to send in your articles. If you are interested in sending any material, be it a write-up of THIS gig, poetry or even art/cartoons, send 'em over to 'ampulancezine@hotmail.com'.We'll review and consider putting it up in an upcoming issue. Thanks much!.
A zine—an abbreviation of the word fanzine, and originating from the word magazine—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any selfpublished work of minority interest.Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text. Print remains the most popular zine format, usually photocopied with a small circulation. Topics covered are broad, including political, personal, social, or sexual content far enough outside of the mainstream to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional media. The time and materials necessary to create a zine are seldom matched by revenue from sale of zines. Zines cover a spectrum of topics, from fanzines about the latest Buffy episode, to instructional zines about stealing copies from Kinkos, to personal zines about the adventures of substitute teaching. This eclectic discourse nourishes the creation of subcultures. With an estimated 25,000 titles in existence, zines have become a socially significant force.
BY DAYAAN
Sandwash hits the stage again, only its not an Assembly gig this time, we're back in the day where metal really was all you'd expect to hear standing outside Nashwan Hall with a few bruises, blown out ears, and a cigarette in your mouth. Our little slice of 'giggery' has gone through its own, smaller yet significant change of trend and the only way you’d notice it is if you took both extremes into consideration, namely Nervecell, Arkane and Gosho, and the Nervecells, Arkanes and Goshos of today. I can already tell I've sparked some satire from writing that. I'd be lying if I said that the bands today are omnipotent products of evolution from the 'old school scene', but what most people fail to realise is that the new wave of bands is still going through the natal stages of being a band, something even the late greats did, I'm sure Mr. Sami Shobaki would agree with me with respect to Mannikind. Back then, all we could compare bands to, were the international ones, and even then with a generous handicap because "they're f**king tight for a UAE band dude!". 'What we have here, is a failure to communicate', or atleast before igniteevents came about and we finally succeeded in getting our adrenaline fix
with a little syringe commonly known as The Assembly. Lets face it, not everybody would jump on the new wave wagon just yet, not until either of two conditions are met: 1)We finally see a glimmer of hope in a local band that we can relate to the local acts of yore. 2)We accept the efforts and give them enough support to see them to the next level. (yawn) The one thing you got to hand to the local scene as of now, is that it makes use of diversity with the same force that the previous wave did with gig frequency. I can comfortably wager that a lot of the people here in Dubai did not know what 'ska' was before The Sparkplugs and G.O.D. Kleaners hit the stage with their relatively 'wacky' appearance and 'strange' musical arrangement. One can only mention "The Devastatrix" or "Stenchwart M.A.N" to a fellow concert-goer and a smile would almost immediately emanate, followed closely by a look of \bewilderment and maybe even a chuckle. Lets not forget the punk acts that we’ve had the pleasure of singing along and moshing to, bands like 'Gandhi's Cookbook' and 'Bloody Mary' are now household names (within the community for now) after their energetic performances at Assembly 6. As far as 'Trajikuntidiness' and 'Got Wood?' go, you might even be stumped trying to think of a genre that would fit them the most, although one may finally realise at the end of it, that genredifferentiation in this (still developing) scene, is as needed as Metallica covers at gigs. Its really up to the 'legends' of each wave to inspire the kids in the audience to start bands and play the music they really like, and have fun doing it. After all, without them, we'll still be pushing an expiry date.
SPONSORED BY IGNITE EVENTS
Ignite Events loses it's virginity all over again on Thursday 7 th of September at Lotus Hotel, Deira, in true style, with legions of frustrated starved scene fanatics present. The scene is born again at the hands of big daddy Adham, the driving force behind the revival of the scene, taking a step further than Dubaikid-esque whinings and initiating regular Assemblies. After a lull in the scene brought about by the summer holidays and the loss of the usual AUD venue, the gigs are back again and thank fuck for that. Thank you, Adham for saving our souls from a lie without our muchneeded local gig fix, wasting away in front of MySpace until DDR rears it's beautiful head again. Seeing as the gig was promoted mostly through word of mouth, due to Phride being down at the time (again), the turnout was pretty damn impressive. Approximately 200 kids showed up to show their support for the awesome line up which included new acts like 'super group' Got Wood? ( the artistes formally known as MorningWood), Nepenthe, Devastatrix, a quirky five some with members of Trajikuntidiness and four very familiar faces, the headliners, the scene's beloved Sandwash.
GOT WOOD? Got Wood served as orgasmic foreplay with their new sound (at least to this scene) and significant lack of metal-ness (oh no they didn't!). A complete contrast to DVNT and the Villar Trio in which three members out of the quartet are members of. DVNT meets Villar Trio, who would've thought? Disastermuch? I must admit to a tiny bit of apprehension myself at the beginning, but they proved everyone wrong. Along with their originals (Star Train and Of Today), they mixed things up playing covers by Dave Matthews Band (Ants Marching), Incubus (Summer Romance) and RHCP (By the Way), a major risk in a scene that is predominantly metal. However, it was a risk not in vain. The crowd loved it and gasp, there was even a moshpit for RHCP! Lead singer Dayaan pulled off vocals confidently while Mark Villar sexed his epiphone up as usual, even throwing in another Hendrix move by playing the guitar behind his head (although there was a tiny mishap reverting back to his previous position, his awesome skillz were his saving grace), Tarun Sequeira doing what he does best, playing drums or something and Kirk Lobo (The Saucemeister), a newcomer to the stage, certainly succeeded in getting his foot through the door.
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Being the pre-appetizers and only metal band of the night, you woud think that the dynamic would fall in their favour, however, they proved to be distinctly unavailable in their ability to play an organized set. Metal fans headbanged to their catchy metal beats but changed the set in the middle is never smart, boys. Vocals by Abhinav sometimes were spot on and Hakami on guitar rain metal vibes through the room, the only guitarist in the band, he managed to hold his own. He and Jaison on bass served as the glue between the lack of organization.
DEVASTATRIX What the fuck? By far the more daring band of the night, pissing off (or confusing, rather?) every metal head present. They were something the scene needs more of – creative, unpredictable, strobe lights and giant smiley heads – definitely entertaining and just what we needed to cut the monotony.
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Ohh Sandwash, finally. These guys can do no wrong, they got the crowd singing along to their awesome originals, pulled off a metal medley and got everyone revealin' their secret love for Blink 182 (more cheers than metallica!) never ever disappointing, Sandwash were, as usual, the best band of the night. Even though they didn't play Maria, I'll let that slide for now. Now what's this about a naked massage?
BY: SARY
“BLOODGUTTER”
BIBI
We’ve had our share fairs of ups and downs in this scene, but the scene was pretty much considered “dead” after the 5th Assembly prior to this summer got cancelled, and nothing happened after that. Everybody lost hope and kept asking if there was going to be another gig, which nobody answered. Along with this, local scene cyber-heaven Phride.com was taken down, with no explanation, and was also considered “dead”. It didn’t look like anything was going to come back. And all hope was lost, the question on everybody’s mind was: “Are We Alive?” Fast forward the end of August 2006; I open my e-mail to receive a detailed description of the new Ignite Events website. Formerly “Sound Society”, the Ignite Events website was well constructed and provided details of their mission to create an active scene. Shortly after, the Assembly: Re-Ignition was announced. I was really excited that the Assembly was coming back and even I was arriving back to Dubai the day before, I had to be there. The event turned out a success, as a decent and fair sized crowd turned up to watch scene legends and self-acclaimed groovecore band Sandwash, the unheard of but impressive techno/electronica performance of Devastatrix, the classic aggressive metal onslaught of Nepenthe and the debut performance of hard rock/alternative Got Wood?. I was happy to see things were finally were working out and I couldn’t wait to the next Assembly. Little did I know how the next event would turn out… It was a private message on the Ignite Forum. Adham, the man behind Ignite Events, had asked my band Decoy Death Trap to perform at the next Assembly. This happened prior to the Re-Ignition Event. I obviously accepted the offer and was excited that my band had been given a second chance to play live once again. The gig wasn’t announced as the scheduled date drew near, and the gig was postponed due to the holy month of Ramadan. It was scheduled after the month on October 26th, and we were on the lineup with great bands such as Deviant, The Sparkplugs,
Bloody Mary and Gandhi’s Cookbook. We all had a considerate time to practice, and being in a band performing at the gig, as well as being on the Ignite Events Street Team too, I had a lot of time to tell everyone about this and promote the gig. As the date drew near, and my band dealt with the parting of our guitarist Paolo, we all started getting ready for the gig. Taking the Eid break and practicing as much as we could, we prepared ourselves for the gig. The turnout was expected to be many people, but the amount of people who turned up was beyond my expectations. Approximately 300-400 people showed up, with Bloody Mary bringing their fans from Abu Dhabi. The hall was packed and hot as hell, the tickets were sold out and the show began. Every band was top notch and gave it their best, as opposed to people in being band’s to be cool, these bands gave it all they got and were in their bands for the right reasons. My band had one of the best experiences of our time as a band. And I’m sure everyone else was beyond satisfied and considered this show as a lot of fun and one of the best “small” gigs ever. Things are starting to finally come to life again, gigs are being organized, Phride has come back online, more bands are coming out and putting effort into what they do, and here we are with the first issue of Ampulance! I’m glad to be contributing to the revival of the scene this way. Are we alive? We sure as hell are! -Nov 8th 2006
BY FAWAZ
Fawaz: How did Bloody Mary start out? Eamonn: Well Taldarion broke up at the end of last year because two of our members went to university. Mark’s brother James (lead guitars and backing vocals for Taldarion ) and Tom Evans (bass and vocals for Taldarion). I was at a party and I met an old friend of mine called Sinan who used to be the bassist of ‘The Jolly Rogers’. He was interested in forming a metal band which was unlike any other band in the scene. So I called up Mark the next day and we jammed. Mark: We recorded our first song and we realized a few things. Sinan’s bass riffs didn’t go at all in time with the vocal lines. So we started looking for a vocalist, and that didn’t really work out. So we got John Kidd (ex. Drummer of Avarice), to do drums and I ended up being vocalist. Fawaz: You guys have quite a unique sound here in comparison with the other bands. You guys play a kind of hybrid of punk and metal. Is that correct? Mark: Yes we do. We try to incorporate both punk and metal equally into our songs. Some of our songs, you can tell have a lot more metal sounding riffs or drums, but then that’s kind of cancelled out by the punky bass riffs and vocal lines. Fawaz: I know John was the drummer of Avarice and Sinan was the bassist of ‘The Jolly Rogers, Negrobot, and NSD. Which bands have you played in? Mark: I’ve been in Epoch, Victorious Surrender, Taldarion and along with everyone else Ceregoth. Everyone’s been in Ceregoth. Eamonn: I’ve been in Taldarion, Ceregoth and Victorious Surrender and…yeah that’s it. Fawaz: What was it like being in those bands? Mark: Epoch was gay (everyone laughs). I really don’t know why. I needed a band and they were the only band available at the time. Victorious Surrender was really more of a fuck around. Taldarion was a lot more serious Eamonn: Black Retard Metal (laughs) Mark: It was a lot more serious mainly because the other members were older than us. My brother who was two years older than me. Tom who was also two years older than me. And Saith….God knows how old he is. 21? Eamonn: 21 Mark: And then there was me and Eamonn so we kind of aspired to be as serious as they were.
Fawaz: With each member having played in very different bands that probably brings out a lot of influences on the music. Mark: Definitely. Avarice is a kind of thrashy, black metallish band, which kind of contrasts with Sinan’s punk influences. And then me and Eamonn have mix of both metal and punk influences. So we bring them in, and put them into this concoction of genres, which ultimately makes……… ..the cake of joy.
Mark: Well Eamonn’s a dick and Sinan beats me up (laughs)
Fawaz: How do you guys get on with each other?
Fawaz: What about John? Eamonn: He gets along with everyone Fawaz: Do you guys write the songs together or do you individually bring in your own song ideas and then work on them. Mark: Well most of the time its Eamonn who comes up with most of the songs. Sinan plays around with it and adds a bit punk and metal, and then finishes off with a cool bass line. Eamonn: Yeah usually me and Sinan start off the song. Mark: Once the music is complete I add the vocal lines, but we’re gonna try to create songs, by writing lyrics first and then putting the music to it. Fawaz: What in your opinion sets you apart from the other UAE bands? Eamonn: We sound like no one else Mark: Yeah we’re different from any other band in the local scene. I can’t name another band that uses the hybrid of punk/metal that we use. Fawaz: What do you think about the current UAE scene? Mark: Its very cynical Eamonn: Well at least we have a scene Mark: Yeah. I mean you got people who really do complain about how the scene is so shit. It’s just awful in general, but at least we have a scene. Eamonn: Some places have no scene. Mark: Exactly and the scene is in the building. Its in a country with such a small European population, and that population is slowly growing and with that will come more musicians, more different types of music, and a larger audience which will accept a wider variety of music types.
Fawaz: So what do you see as being the main problem(s) of the scene? Eamonn: Lack of gigs Mark: And it too cynical Eamonn: And its full of idiots who think they can organize gigs, but have never done it before. And then end up canceling it three days before. Mark: Yeah. Will postpone it and postpone it and get everyone’s hopes up for a decent gig, and then cancel it three days before. Fawaz: Why is it that there’s so much happening in Dubai whereas in Abu Dhabi, the scene is pretty much dead? I mean there hasn’t been a gig here for months. Eamonn: There are a lot more venues in Dubai first of all Mark: There’s also a lot more money and there a lot more European people. People who are open to the kind of music in the scene Eamonn: There are a lot more people with experience of how to organize gigs Mark: There are more people who are open to that kind of music, which means more bands and more gigs Fawaz: Having said that, would you agree that the scene is a lot better than it was…say five years ago? Eamonn: Oh yeah a lot better Mark: I remember the Moon Light Festival, that was like five years ago Eamonn: It was held in someone’s front garden Mark: And the sound was awful Eamonn: The bands were awful (laughs)…well most of them Fawaz: How far do you think Bloody Mary will progress through the scene? Mark: We’ll progress as fast as we can. I mean with any other gigs, we’ll try and play at them, and audition as much as we can. Carry on creating new music and hope that we’re accepted. We’re enjoying ourselves. We’re putting ourselves out to the people.
On the 26th of October, Ignite Events lets loose and has its 2nd gig. This time a total of 5 bands playing, 2 of them new and 3 of them who've successfully already made their way through the scene. The crowd included a lot of newbies, of which 98 % of the girls were too cool to smile and 95 % of the guys were too cool to not smoke. But it was also good to see a few of the old people from the scene again. Cheers to Adham for holding another successful gig and inviting more (and more and more) people into the scene.
GANDHI'S COOKBOOK The show started with new punk/ska band "Ghandi's Cookbook" with their young members spinning the crowd into a whirlwind of confusion leaving them guessing whether Martin or Chris was the frontman. The other two stoic members Scott and Bob had little but none to say due to the constant ping pong fronting by Chris and Martin but that didn't change the fact that they couldn't play them stringers well. The entertainment in-between songs was irrelevant to the fact that when they started to rock, they rocked harder than a doggie on a dashboard. They played a punk rendition of Wannabe by the Spice Girls and got the crowd admitting their love for the pop-act (you newbies, suck turd ass) and were joined on stage by their contemporaries, The Sparkplugs for a Special's Cover (Stupid Marriage). They ended on a high note winning the crowd's approval and hiding the fact that they were being breast-fed not so long ago (Martin too). h5n1
BLOODY MARY Their energetic response from the crowd wasn't due to the army of AD-ers they brought along with them, they sure earned it for themselves. Their stageantics were even better than expected, Sinan made a startling (or not so startling?) appearance in traditional arab headgear, and Mark appeared, in contrast, adorned as a (beaten) nun. They belted out a cover of Miserlou with much force and Sinan was shot down at some point. Aww.
THESPARKPLUGS Hooray for the return of emo godzilla as emo ghost-zilla for the night in true halloween spirit. As for the rest of them, they were nothing short of exciting, just like last time. Unfortunately Ghandi's Cookbook couldn't return the favour by joining them on stage, they were kicked out after a minute or so of skankage but it was fun while it lasted. I hope. On stage was newbie Natalie on sax to take Rahel's place and she did not disappoint and neither did the rest of them 'plugs.
DECOY DEATH TRAP No, no it's not DVNT just yet, Dayaan's on stage to fill in for Paulo, phew. Anyway, I'd be lying if I said I fully enjoyed their set, just isn't my thing but still it was indisputable that these guys knew what they were doing. Every band member of the band gave it their level best. Sary's usual 'ohsohxc' spaz that did not disappoint, as well as Jeevan's sudden outburst of 'badass' towards the end of the set was unexpected, but welcomed well from the silent guitarist. The hxc sure hit the roof, an inexperienced (or so it seemed) crowd surfer hit the ceiling, literally, putting the venue at risk. (we were to find out later that the venue is still on, hooray) The music wasn't to my liking but I wuold tell they are good at what they are doing and most importantly, they’re giving it their all and I can appreciate that. Bravo.
DEVIANT Dun, dun, dunnn, time to don your 'threish sutes' and put on your grimmest faces, ladies, time for the Deviant, the epitome of thrash, or so says what'shisname from whatsthatband. Of course because of the now historic 'sardinesque' gathering taking place at the beginning of the show, half the crowd seems to have disappeared, but that doesn't matter. Again, I can't comment musically (this time mostly due to a temporary loss of hearing rather than genre differences, but again, I will say, here is a band that gives it their all. Vineet, technical difficulties and 'constructive criticism' alike, pulled off his first show well especially under all the pressure of a broken guitar string, etc etc. The same can be said for the rest of the guys. Props to Lucas for keeping his cool during the 7th Seal misunderstanding, a great deal of maturity is evident in every member of the band and it is channelled through their performance as well. Major, major kudos for keeping composed through the shit that had to be dealt with, clapclap for Deviant.
INTERVIEW WITH GANDHI'S COOKBOOK So, how did you guys start off? Martin: A dating service. Chris: Me, Rob and Scott used to jam and stuff, so I was like “OK we’ll just play some music” which was bands I listened to at the time like the offspring and some early punk like the Ramones and over time we jammed a lot and started to listen and play more hardcore punk. Then one day during Assembly 2 and I saw DVNT play and I was almost in tears and thought ‘God I hate metal’. And I was thinking – I’d really like to see a good punk band play, influenced by some good 80s Hardcore Punk. Then I thought ‘Well, if no one's going to do it, hey, I might as well do it myself.” So after that show, (I’m not sure which assembly it was) I called him and said ‘Hey man sing for my punk band’ and he’s like ‘I don’t sing’ and I said ‘Uh well now you do’ Martin: We're pretty much amazing. Chris: We play with our instruments a lot, I mean, our musical instruments Martin: We don’t actually play them. We just get out our instruments and stare at them till we get the notes and chords out of them that we want. Yeah we pretty much just intimidate our instruments into playing for us. Chris: That’s what Chuck Norris does, and he’s special. Wait, how did Martin and Chris know each other? I mean you don't just randomly walk up to someone and invite them into your band. (Though I wouldn't put it past Chris) Martin: We met at Shamal 05, we were introduced by a mutual friend and we started talking about the stuff we listened to, and it turned out that we both liked the Dead Kennedys. Then at the 2nd Assembly, we were just singing along to NOFX songs in between sets and stuff, and after the gig, I was on my way home and he called me and asked me to join his band on vocals and I'd never sang before and I didn't want to do it at first, but he was like "Never mind that, you know the words to the songs we cover, so that means you can sing"
“Martin's Buddhist and I'm Buddha”
But I heard through the grapevine that you guys started out as a metal act? Chris: Well to an extent –- we used to have a friend we jammed with, Darius, who was a pretty good guitarist and he was into metal, so we’d play metal songs a bit but we weren’t really a band then, so not really... What's the meaning behind 'Gandhi's Cookbook'? Martin: I don’t really know, Chris came up with it. Chris: We had come up with gay names and we were called ‘Hatbox’, and ‘Bill Cosby and The Shooting Star’ for a while, which was pretty stupid and so I just came up with the name and they thought it was cool and, and then I thought I’d make up with a meaning behind the name to make me seem smart. What was the meaning you cooked up (har har)? Chris: Gandhi's Cookbook is a metaphor, Gandhi was obviously a really great man and a figure for peace and diplomacy, and nowadays everyone wants to make a change in the world like he did and be a huge icon, but they are too lazy to do anything that requires any work. They would rather to have a nice handy little pocket sized book that tells them what to do to be a huge figure like him which they can read at their leisure. So basically a little cookbook... And that’s a whole load of crap. Have you got anything else going on right now? Martin: Yeah, we are going to be starting a side project called Harvey Nickels which is just us and some friends playing reggae/ska/party/surf stuff. Chris: But nothing’s really happening with that right now because Rob is leaving the band soon. Martin: Due to geographical differences... What happens when Rob leaves then? Any replacements in mind? CoughDAYAANcough. Chris: A freind called Adarsh. This guy in our year who’s new and into punk will play bass. He is a properly trained guitarist (unlike the rest of us who have had no lessons) but he’s going to play bass. What other bands do you guys listen to? Chris: Dead Kennedys, Operation Ivy, NOFX, Leftover Crack, Choking Victim, Misfits, FEAR, Black Flag, Sublime, The Specials and a whole bunch more… And I know this is hypocritical for a band that hates emo - but one of my influences is Fugazi. I know they were influential with the whole emo thing since they are post hardcore, but I really like them but the rest of these guys don’t. Other than punk - I like some high-tempo jazz, we love Stenchwart MAN, Mr. Bungle, 8 bit and other expirmental stuff and we love Slayer. Martin: Slayer is like the best metal band ever after mayhem of course
Chris: who the fuck is mayhem? Do these influences surface in your originals? Chris: I don’t think the non-punk/ska ones really show up in our music but we are inspired by them. Tell us about your originals? Who writes, etc. Chris: Well the music is written by all of us but the lyrics are written by me. They’re pretty much angry shit. We’re really happy guys but that’s probably because our anger goes into our music, haha. The lyrics are about things that piss me off. For instance some about Religion, the mindsets of some people, the music industry… Speaking of people who fucking suck...what do you guys think of
groupies? Martin: Groupies suck. Chris: If they only know like a band’s most famous song then they suck, but I’d still exploit them if they’re hot. Hahah.
What are your jam sessions like? Rob: Well basically so far we’ve just been practicing for the gig and we’ve been recording songs, well just two, haha and we just write songs. It’s nice, okay. Scott: Fun.
What's happening with recording right now? Chris: I’m the one who records the stuff… Martin: GCB studios as they’re called Chris: Don’t fucking put that in...Well, we’re recording stuff to put some out on CD, we recorded that one song “Down Your Throat” and it’s almost done and we need to record the vocals over it so it’ll be up on PHROIDE!! soon. Martin: It'll be up on Purevolume/Myspace too. Yes, we just got a MySpace yesterday.
“If MySpace is good enough for Sandwash and Sparkplugs, it’s good enough for us” Any collaborations happening? Chris: No, but I'd want to do something with The Sparkplugs but they’re too good for us, they hang out with the GOD Kleaners. You played your first gig on the 26th of October, how was it to finally play a gig? Chris: Well we were meant to play the gig at AUD and it got cancelled and we were meant to play the one after that one, but rob was out of the country so we finally played the assembly after being asked to play one half a year ago and so the suspense sort of wears off haha but it was still really fun. Scott: It felt really relieving to finally play an official gig. Although we played a gig earlier, it was smaller. It was just a jam session in front of a lot of metal heads around this time last year when we were really bad.
“We’re better than the big boys” Any pre-show rituals? Martin: We do but they’re X rated Chris: No, we don’t have any rituals Rob: Nope Martin: Soundcheck? Oh and Eat McDonalds.
Were you in any other bands previously? Chris: well there were previous incarnations of GCB but they weren’t really ‘bands’ Martin: Yes, I was in Juliana Down. Scott: and Juliana Down went down on me Rob: *inaudible shake of head* How long have you been involved in the scene? Chris: Well, I signed up on Phride in 2003, I think Rob: Not long Martin: The question is ‘How long have you been in the scene’ Rob, not ‘How long is your wang’ Rob: I get that mixed up Martin: I’m still unknown in the scene [AWWW] Scott: Umm I'm still not. I tried to go on Phride but as soon as I got registered (which took me ages) it got shut down. What are your thoughts on the local scene? Chris: I reckon it’s alright. Scott: I think the scene appears quite interesting. Martin: It’s good, it’s bad it’s leftover crack Chris: I reckon in five years it’s gonna be really big, there’s gonna be a club and shit.
Martin: that’s when things will start becoming a circuit scene Chris: until then it’ll just be lone ranger Adham doing his best. And I think it’ll be like that for a few fucking years until someone gets their shit together and starts doing something else. So god bless Adham. Martin: It’s good for a country that is
so uptight but one thing I don’t like is that most of the bands are high school bands and by the time everyone leaves to university most bands end up breaking up so there’s no consistency. It’s been said a thousand times over and over but I’m still gonna keep saying it. Chris: That’s why Sandwash rule. Who would win in a fight, Chuck Norris or UAE TOMMY? Chris: UAE TOMMY! Martin: UAE TOMMY would win because Chuck Norris would be like “Umm what, what are you talking about?” and UAE TOMMY would be like ‘who is this Chuck Norris and what dose he sale?” and Chuck Norris would be like “NOO WHAT IS THIS??” What's your favourite gig you've been to so far? Martin: Assembly 2. But I think that the 4th Assembly would've been the best, had it not been for the technical difficulties, coz NSD and Stenchwart MAN were playing Scott: Assembly 2 also Chris: Assembly 6 was good because The Sparkplugs were fucking amazing and Bloody Mary was pretty cool. Also the one we were meant to play in AUD would have been amazing – we would have played with G.O.D Kleaners!! And Joe Bitch!
What dose the future sale for GCB? Martin: We're gonna work on some new songs, that we're gonna record and hopefully have an EP out by Christmas before Bob leaves (to China) Any last notes? Scott: C# Martin: we have lyek, 20 gfz.. and we have like over 500 music channels that we watch... and lyek, being a rockstar is hard... and lyek, we're gonna break up as a prank on our drummer, and lyek, we're gonna rip off nicknames of famous people, and we're lyek bettar then tha beeg boyz Chris: Candy floss is really cool when you roll it into a ball.
BY DAYAAN It's hard to put down a Hemingway-worthy write-up of this Assembly in particular and if you were there, you'd know why. So I thought I'd do this article from a performer's point of view :). Having already played at Assembly 5, seeing the venue empty barring just 3 people on the stage area making preparations was pretty neat to see, reason being, it put a lot of things into perspective seeing just three people doing the sound, electricity and handiwork for what would eventually be Ignite's first sold-out show. We were done soundchecking in about 20 minutes and had the rest of the time to ourselves to hang out with the other bands and watch them follow suit. A few hours later the crowd began to gather and we got a chance to meet a lot of the AD people off the ignite.com forums and talk to them for a while. After which the lights dimmed, the marketplace was in session and the show kicked off with the first band 'Ghandi's Cookbook'.
Being on stage is an atmosphere within itself, suddenly, you're not playing on your 15W Marshall, there are mics everywhere and a whole bunch of people in front of you. The feeling a performer gets at that point is the same feeling that made me want to be in a band years ago while watching Mannikind, Dazed and Confused and Sandwash perform at the 'Core' concert. As the music kicks in, its beautiful how you realise what being a part of a band is all about, that feeling will probably follow you song after song until the very end of your set where it 'peaks'. Playing at a jam session is nowhere close to playing in an audience, you suddenly lose that cockiness, and become a lot more reliant on your band members, suddenly you're a lot hesitant when its your turn to jump into a lead, or take a vocal line. This might not even apply to the veterans here but its a process a performer goes through, once you become acquainted with the stage, you can use it to your advantage and your music sounds so much better. That last chord, That last harmony, That last outro that leaves your audience cheering on, is worth everything to a performer, thanks to Adham and the Ignite crew who made this all possible for all the bands here who've been ? to play an Assembly, and thanks to the fans who paid that 30 Dhs to come up and see the performers, for without these people, we'd still be back at home playing on the same old 15W Marshall using a chair as a mock-stage prop.
MANDOWNstarted
sometime in october 2005. A drummer named Muhammad, met up with a guitarist named David and bassist Chris for the first jam session. They’d all met on the local scene website Phride.com. At the same time Sean, another guitarist who'd recently arrived from South Africa, had posted on Phride looking to join a ska/punk band in Dubai. Chris got in touch with Sean and the first unofficial practice/jam took place at Chris's place. There was definite potential there, although it was the opposite of what one might call a “tight jam". All seemed good and it was a very typical situation until Muhammad unfortunately left Dubai to return to college in the States and they were suddenly stuck without a drummer. After much discussion Sean took the venture of being the new drummer. This saw the start of "Mandown" officially at the end of 2005. Influences include: Craig's Brother, Lagwagon, NOFX, Rise Against, Allison, No Use For a Name,Millencolin, Thrice, old Blink 182, Green Day, Satanic Surfers, Reel Big Fish, Catch 22, The Fight and Fallout Boy.
MANDOWN IS: CHRIS PIERI ON BASS DAVID DELGADO
(EL
HEFE) ON
GUITAR SEAN JAHNIG ON DRUMS.
Vicky: Hey hey guys! Chris: You're like sisters right? Veronica: no we’re lovers Dave: Is this in the interview? Vicky: if you want Dave: ok cool VICKY: OK SO HOW DID YOU GUYS MEET? Chris: Well me and Dave have been jamming together ever since I took up bass and he took up guitar.. (Grade 6) Yeah so basically Mandown really just started 8 months back. We met Muhammad, a drummer on Phride, and we jammed with him once, quite a cool punk guy and we were also contacted by a guitarist Sean. Vicky: Ah, so that's where Sean comes in
VICKY: SO
WHAT DO YOU GUYS BASICALLY THINK
ABOUT THE MUSIC SCENE AT CURRENT?
Dave: what do I think? Well, I think there are some very good bands out there, the line up for the last assembly was one of the best. I look a tour band aand I think our music is very different compared to others... I have to say there are loads of metal people... VICKY: UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR VICKY: HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN IN THE SCENE? Dave: Well... we haven't been in any such gigs as the assembly. We are pretty new and the word is not quite out yet but we hope to be known properly before the end of the year. VICKY: DO YOU GUYS WRITE YOUR OWN SONGS? AND IF SO WHO WRITES THEM? Chris: Definitely, we take part in writing songs it's a group contribution. A certain idea may be brought forth by one band member but we all work on it together if we all like it at all. VICKY: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC TO PEOPLE? Chris: In one word: PUNK. As said before though we are influenced by different punk artists, we like to say our music is well harmonic punk, Some people call it melodic punk.. But that term is technically wrong as said above, punk. VICKY: OK, SO WHAT'S THE "MEANING" BEHIND THE BAND NAME? Chris: Well our original drummer left us so I guess we are one Mandown... VICKY: SO WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE INDIVIDUALLY (COLLEGE ABROAD, ETC) Dave: Well, hopefully we will get somewhere with the band. If we do, I will probably study something here in dubai. Probably take up a sound engineering course, otherwise I would go to the USA< probably somewhere in Florida, and become a surfboard designer, manufacturer/have a band. VICKY: CHRIS, WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS Chris: Well I really don't think I want to go to university, especially if the band works out.. I mean it really is a big thing for me to go into music.. I mean, it would be an experienced lost especially in this day and age.. But I think I could do better things with my time.. Though if I do go to uni I'm definitely heading for something like psychology or I.T. VICKY: AH SWEET, THAT'LL BE ALL, THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW GUYS.