In Holland, not many people are familiar with Nervecell, which is a pity because ‘Preaching Venom’ is a killer death metal album which should ignite the masses into a frenzy! I asked Barney and Rami to be so kind to introduce the band to our readers…
Barney: First of all thanks for giving us the time and the opportunity to introduce and make ourselves known to the metal maniacs out there in Holland. We are Nervecell, a death / thrash metal band based out of Dubai (United Arab Emirates), a country known for everything else but metal music…haha
We consist of primarily three members, Rami - Lead Guitars, James - Vox/ Bass and myself (Barney - Guitars), we have session drummers for the time being and are still looking out for a full time drummer (if there is anyone out there in Holland interested please do let us know). We have been around for the last seven years but have only recently started to play shows abroad (outside of the U.A.E) like Metal Camp 07 in Slovenia and Metal Stock 07 in Australia.
None of the band members are actually from the U.A.E, we just live here. Rami is Jordanian, James is Lebanese and I am half Indian/ Portuguese. What brings us together is our love for metal music. We have always tried to represent heavy metal music in the entire Middle East region and we will continue to do so no matter what. We just released our new album ‘Preaching Venom’ in April 2008 and we hope that with the release of ‘Preaching Venom’ this will leave a mark on the metal masses all over the world. We are currently seeking for a record label that will be able to put us on the road and let us live our dreams of becoming a non stop touring band.
Over here in Europe we’ve got a healthy scene with lots of bands touring, record stores, festivals and so on. Could you tell us something about the U.A.E. metal scene? Have you been playing gigs very often lately? Is it easy to arrange gigs over there? Barney: Unfortunately for us there is absolutely no metal scene out here in the U.A.E, we used to have only a handful of metal bands a couple years ago but now obviously all those other bands either quit or left the country to pursue other careers and the same goes for the metal fans too. I can firmly say Nervecell is the only band that actually stuck around and kept playing all the underground shows that used to take place here from time to time. We have seen bands form and break up within weeks later, it was really like a disgusting trend that kept going on for years and it made us realise how different we were compared to the rest.
The truth to your question is that we never really had a scene and the reason for it is that there are no promoters or organizers here ready to start up metal events or clubs. As a band based here this is our biggest problem as we never get to play as much as we would love to. The promoters feel it’s too much of a risk to invest in such shows and therefore take the easy way out and organize dance events instead. Which is really sad for us because we know there are metalheads out here but with no place for metalheads to hang out or metal clubs even, so slowly these guys loose interest altogether in metal completely.
As a band we have tried to organize shows ourselves but lately there have been so many licensing issues involved and the fact that to rent out places here for events is so expensive that it makes it impossible for us to afford. The only real significant metal event that takes place in Dubai lately is the annual Dubai Desert Rock Festival which has brought down bands like Sepultura, Testament, Iron Maiden, Megadeth & Machine Head over the years. We were on the bill for two years (2005 and 2008) and were proud to play alongside such great legendary acts down here. This is the only metal event we have here in the entire year and we are well proud to be a part of this. In any case our goal is to keep metal music alive and well in this region and to raise the flag up high and proud without any compromise. At least we know we are making a difference and soon there will be many other bands to follow regardless of the restrictions involved.
As you said before, Nervecell is still looking for a full-time drummer. On the ‘Preaching Venom’ album, the drum parts were played by David Haley of Psycroptic from Australia. How and where did you guys dig him up? Rami: We were actually searching for a full time drummer for such a long time now and unfortunately we couldn't find someone who's capable of delivering what we wanted. We wanted a drummer who can bring brutality, speed and technicality at the same time have the "groove" to fit our style of music, but it’s almost impossible to find a drummer who can deliver all that especially where we live in Dubai. We had the material for ‘Preaching Venom’ almost ready to be recorded and we were just missing a drummer. So after we toured Australia we got in touch with Psycroptic's drummer Dave Haley and he liked what we were doing, so eventually he decided to work with us. His drumming is really intense and technical and he's such a great person to work with.
It’s been three years since the ‘Human Chaos’ MCD. Why did it take so long before the new album was released? Rami: Well we were really busy in those three or four past years. At first with university, completing our final years. I was doing my last year in 2005, James and Barney in 2006, so we were under a lot of pressure with those bloody books haha. Nevertheless, we were writing the songs for ‘Preaching Venom’ in parallel. Back then Barney was studying in Canada so it was very challenging for us during the writing process because we lived in different countries, but of course we did communicate over the internet, sending riffs back and forth and whenever Barney visited Dubai then we jammed the songs together. So that was pretty much the writing process for ‘Preaching Venom’. Playing gigs also occupied us, especially travelling for international shows as to Egypt, headlining Egypt Metal Festival, and another tour in Australia right after that, and in July 2007 we played Metalcamp Festival in Slovenia etc., so we had to travel a lot which is pretty cool! But of course that took a lot of our time in those last two years. By mid 2007 we worked with Psycroptic's drummer Dave Haley completing the album's writing process. Finally we recorded the album by the end of 2007 / beginning 2008, released it April first, 2008 and here we are now.
The United Arab Emirates is deeply rooted in the Islamic culture and has strong ties with the rest of the Arab and Islamic world. Nearly all citizens are Muslims (according to Wikipedia 76% of the total population is Muslim). I wonder how people from a very religious culture react to Nervecell? Barney: Well Dubai's population consists of only 30% Emirate nationals and the remaining 70% consists of generally expatriates (Arabs + Europeans + Asians). So obviously with such a large portion of the population being expats it is only natural for other forms of entertainment/ luxury to be accepted and encouraged out here whether its music, sports, tourism etc. We have never as a band being stopped or banned at any point in our career here, in a lot of the other Middle Eastern countries the religious police stop metalheads in the streets and question them for whatever reasons. I remember when we first started getting interviews with the local magazines / newspapers here we were shocked at first but now it seems like such a normal thing for us. I guess this is one of the advancements we have made as a band based here and most importantly the people now respect us for what we do. I think it is also important to point out that our lyrical content is based on injustice and humanitarian issues and so it does not offend any religion, cast or race therefore any regular person can relate to us provided they read the lyrics.
I do feel Nervecell is a bit isolated from today’s music scene. Did you guys ever consider moving to another (Western) country to give the band’s career a better perspective? Barney: Yes of course we have considered this option as we do realize we are far away from all the other prime locations in the world where metal music is more appreciated and dominant. As a band we decided that we will move if need be, of course this will depend on a lot of other factors like a professional management team or record label to back us up when we are out on the road touring and a steady flow of cash to help us survive. If we would have to relocate to pursue our musical career further I guess our main concern would be getting a guaranteed amount of shows in a year too. It is our dream to gig for nine months in a year provided we get the chance to, so obviously if we get a good deal we will definitely consider it. Each member of Nervecell has a university degree so at the end of the day we each have something to fall back on, but if you ask anyone of us music is our life. It just has to make sense for us to make such a big move as we don't just want to re-locate and find ourselves working a shitty job in some corner of the world and end up not playing music at all.
Back to the mighty ‘Preaching Venom’ album now. This was self-released by the band. Could you point out where it’s for sale for those who are interested in buying it? Rami: If you live in Europe, America or elsewhere in the world you can only purchase the CD or download mp3s online from the following websites, just search "Nervecell Preaching Venom" and you'll find it on:
The CD is only available in stores in the Middle East and North Africa region, distributed by Music Master, so those who live in those regions can visit Virgin Megastore or any convenient music stores and you can grab a copy.
I’ve been “googling” around here and there and I noticed the ‘Preaching Venom’ was well received throughout the globe. Have labels already shown interest in the band? Rami: Great to know that, yes actually the album has been receiving some great feedback, especially on the internet, people are talking about the band and the new album on many forums, blogs, chatrooms etc. and that’s great! We also received really positive reviews for ‘Preaching Venom’ so far and they are posted on the internet too, one of them is a great review by the mighty Lords of Metal! So that’s awesome to know people and metal fans are digging our new stuff. No labels have approached us yet. We do have many labels in mind that we would be interested to work with and who knows, someone like an A&R representative for a label could be reading this (laugh), so yeah we would like to say we are looking for a new label home and those who are interested feel free to do get in touch with us.
I’m almost out of questions now, but you mentioned the Dubai Desert Rock festival before. If I gave you a shitload of money to organize that festival for me next year, which bands that inspired you would you put on the bill? Barney: That would be Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, At The Gates, Morbid Angel, Dismember and many others.
Did I forget to mention something and do you have anything to say or add? The whole band: We would just like to thank you for doing this interview with us and for promoting our music to the metal masses. We really look forward to getting the opportunity to play in your beautiful country soon and to hopefully meet you in person one day either in Dubai or the Netherlands.
Cheers!
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