Nervecell interview

Dubai’s Death Metal masters, Nervecell set my little world on fire from the minute I first heard their “Preaching Venom” album and so I was keen to catch up with them and hit them with a few probing questions…

Lou: Hi guys, thanks for taking the time out to answer my questions! How’s things with you today?

Rami: Thanks for having us! we are doing just fine. Pretty busy with the writing process and pre-production of the new album as we speak. It’s going great so far.

Lou: For the benefit of any of our readers who may not have heard of you, would you mind describing the music you play?

Rami: Basically, old school death metal mixed with modern thrash metal. Lots of groove and hints of oriental/Middle Eastern melodies.

Lou: Which bands have inspired you? What made you get into Metal in the first place?

Barney: Mainly the early death metal and thrash metal bands from the 90′s – Cannibal Corpse, Bolt Thrower, Death, Testament, Pantera, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Dismember, Deicide, Vader, Sepultura etc.
I got into metal while I started learning to play the guitar, basically the technicality involved and what it stood for lyrically and how different it all was compared to all the pop music around at the time is what I loved about it right from the start!

Lou: Who is in the band?

Rami: Barney and myself are the guitarists. James Khazaal is on bass and vocals. And we work with a live (session) drummer named Louis Rando from Australia.

Lou: It’s pretty much a well-known fact now that Nervecell is from Dubai. I imagine that there’s not a huge Metal scene in Dubai, is this the case?

Barney: Dubai for a metal scene has had its ups and downs, more of the latter though unfortunately. When we started this band back in 2000 the scene was huge, there were plenty of bands not necessary all extreme metal bands but still under the rock / metal genre which was great. Over the last few 6 years the scene was probably the best in the entire Middle East with festivals like the Dubai Desert Rock going on and attracting a lot of international known bands to tour this side of the world. I would say the metal scene is growing but not as consistent as it should be. Looking back at some of the earlier NERVECELL gigs there isn’t a single band today from those shows we’ve played that has stuck around this long. We really just have a handful of bands that are active and really just one or two pubs where metal heads can all go out and have a few drinks and enjoy listening to some tunes. Again thats an improvement to what it used to be, so one has to just be grateful and hope it gets better.

Lou: Has it been a struggle to get your music noticed?

Rami: Well I wouldn’t really call it a struggle, but we did go through hard times no doubt. We worked really hard on getting our music out there, the “old school way” performing live continuously, recording and releasing music, promoting ourselves locally and internationally, and of course constantly touring worldwide which came afterwards in the years. We knew that this way it would work for us, and we needed to learn it all in the process. Definitely metal in Dubai is not the easiest form of music to get out there, which in a way made things a bit slower for us, yet we appreciate it because we built a strong fanbase here in Dubai and the Middle East, which was really essential. We just didn’t want to be stopped at any point and kept things going. When we felt that its the right time time to tour outside Dubai, we toured Australia as for our first tour ever. It was just so crazy to go that far! it was such a great experience. We toured the Middle East, Europe and Asia after that so far which is great.

Lou: I’m guessing that the Internet has played a major role in getting your music out to a whole load of people… Do you think that the positive aspects of the Internet outweigh the negative ones (eg illegal downloads)?

Barney: I would have to agree with that to an extent, in this day and age the internet is the way to go to get noticed – its efficient and its gets your music to be accessed by the world over.
Although I have to also admit that most bands tend to rely on it way more than they actually should as well, I mean just cause you got a myspace site for your band doesn’t necessarily mean the jobs done. There is still things like taking your music out onto the stage and getting in the face of people, the media, promo, doing interviews and stuff that also count.
Touring for a band like us is essential cause thats really what keeps us together and makes us realize we have what it takes to make music a career, it motivates us being a band coming from the Middle East and not being able to play here as much as we’d like.

Lou: What are your views on illegal downloads?

Barney: Well we really cant stop it, as bad as it is effecting the industry – I believe just as there are fans who prefer downloading the album there are also fans who would go the stores and make sure they buy the album and support the band instead. A lot of metal fans still prefer / value having the artwork and the liner notes in the booklets of CD’s. Im one of them for sure as its still an experience for me when purchasing a new CD. At the end of the day as long as they come out to the shows and buy some merch its all still support!

Lou: Are you as addicted to social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc) as I am? Haha!

Rami: Haha we keep it going as much as possible, we are on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and many others of course. Those are vital tools for promotion nowadays and we are always using them. Technology is one of the best tools to keep us connected with our fans everywhere!

Barney: I would say we use those sites mainly for promoting the band and keeping the fans updated! Its important to do so today and its always a good time hearing from the fans from time to time through such networks.

Lou: I’d like to take a moment to congratulate you on an absolutely killer album! I have certain bands/albums that I listen to on a near daily basis and “Preaching Venom” is right up there! What has the general reaction to the album been like from both the press and fans?

Rami: That’s great to know thank you! The reactions towards “Preaching Venom” has been beyond our expectations really. Really great feedback especially from our fans, press and media. Our intentions was to create a well written and produced album in order to have an impact in the metal world, and this impact was pretty huge. To simply say that from “Preaching Venom” many great opportunities have happened; from touring, playing major festivals like Wacken Open Air, With Full Force, Rock am Ring etc., to getting signed to a well-respected metal label (Lifeforce Records) and of course gaining more and more fans worldwide.

Barney: Glad you dig the album mate! Indeed it was well received by both the fans and press alike with such killer reviews from all over the world.
Being our first full length too, we still are very honored and proud to have been able to do the things we have over the last 2 years since the album came out under Lifeforce Records. It’s a humbling feeling to see all the hard work pay off finally.

Lou: What sort of subjects have been tackled in the album’s lyrics?

Barney: There is a few more personal songs on this album in comparison to our EP “Human Chaos”, we have always had songs that revolve around subjects such as humanitarian, society and injustice issues. Not really pin pointing any incident in particular but stressing on similar situations or events that have taken place and which have effected us enough to write songs about.

Lou: The music on the album is insanely technical – do you have any tips for aspiring musicians who wish to play in a similar style?

Barney: Haha…wow man, I dont consider myself a teacher or a guitar GOD but all I can say is practice practice practice…its all I ever did and its always been 100% feel for me when playing my guitar rather than trying to replicate someone else’s playing style.

Lou: Do you have any guitar tabs available?

Barney: Not yet, we’ve been asked before…which means we should get around to it..Soon!

Lou: What equipment do you use?

Barney: Rami uses B.C. Rich Guitars and is endorsed by ENGL Amps, I use LTD Guitars and am endorsed by Madison Amps. James uses Spector Basses and is endorsed by them too.

Lou: I noticed (thanks to Twitter!) that you’re now endorsed by EMG pick-ups – how did that deal get set up?

Rami: Our management informed us that EMG are interested in endorsing us and we got the deal. I’ve been using EMG’s for 3 years now and glad we all joined the EMG artist roster.

Lou: Which track from the album is your favourite, and which track is the most popular at your gigs? Which one really gets the crowd going completely nuts?!

Barney: My favourite would probably be Ratios and Flesh and Memories, the most popular at the the gigs would have to be Flesh and Memories and Demean.
The one that gets the crowd going ape shit / nuts is definitely Existence Ceased though.

Lou: Other than “Preaching Venom”, do you have any other music available?

Barney: We released an EP entitled “Human Chaos” back in 2004, it consists of 5 tracks which we released independently by ourselves.
The “Preaching Venom” European release includes the “Human Chaos” 5 track CD as well as a bonus, so there is always that extra value that the loyal fans get when buying the original CD as opposed to downloading the album.

Lou: Have you been working on a follow-up to “Preaching Venom”?

Rami: Yes we are working on a new album at the moment. We are set for a release early 2011. We will be posting info on the new album very soon!

Lou: You guys were in the UK during March of this year (I think it was March anyway!), do you have any plans to return any time soon?

Rami: Yes! that was during our tour with Suffocation, Annotations Of An Autopsy, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Burning The Masses. We performed in Leeds, Birmingham and London. Honestly the London show at The Underworld was one of our favorite shows on that tour and we definitely would wanna come back again hopefully next year to support our upcoming album.

Lou: How would you describe a Nervecell gig?

Barney: Mosh Pits…Circle Pits…and a whole lot of sweaty Armpits too…haha – Nah seriously though we just try and get the crowd to go as crazy as possible, the crazier they are we always give back to them ten folds more!

Lou: Are there any countries or cities that you’d like to play in, but haven’t had a chance to yet?

Barney: I would have to say Japan and the U.S / Canada. Perhaps with the next record we could possibly get there. Would just need to get on the right tour and we’ll be sure to head down and create a huge buzz.

Lou: If you could tour with any other band, who would it be and why?

Barney: Slayer or Morbid Angel…well we obviously grew up to both those bands and before either one of them call it a day we would love the opportunity to not only get to meet them but sharing the stage night after night would just be EPIC.

Lou: What’s next for Nervecell?

Rami: There are a few possible shows to be booked for us in the Middle East which will end the “Preaching Venom” touring period. We’re now working on the new album writing process which should be complete soon and we shall enter the studio in December and target an album release early 2011.

Lou: And, the final words in this interview are yours – Do you have anything that you’d like to say to the readers of Loucifer Speaks?

Rami: Thanks for your time and support! for those who would like to check out Nervecell do visit www.myspace.com/nervecell and www.nervecell.net

Barney: We look forward to seeing you all on the road and thanks for reading this far into the interview
Cheers!

nervecell.net

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