We’d
like you to give us a fast overview about your band and what style you
play?
I
began with the idea of "Phex" in 2001 when I wanted to do something by
myself, to express my own feelings and mentality. Sometimes I get some
help from my band mates and cousins, like the first song on my album
features my cousin Basil on keyboards, the 8th track features Omar N.
on guitar and Saeed A.J. did the vocals along with me. The next album
is going to feature different people like Tareq F. on vocals, Zaher S.
and Walid K. on guitars. In the beginning I just wanted to do the music
for me and the people around me, but when felt that the music deserves
to get a bit known locally I decided that I should put myself on
MP3.com, and that’s what happened, and I'm really satisfied
about everything that is happening now, so I'm gonna keep doing music
until I have enough. Talking about style, I consider "Phex" a
Doom/Death Metal Band.
Tell
us about your music journey?
Yes,
when I was about 9 I really wanted to play music, so I took a couple of
lessons on trombone in the National Music Conservatory in Amman, but my
parents didn't like trombone at all "They said it was noisy",
haha… So I moved to piano, but this time I didn't like it
myself, so I tried the flute and I really liked it so I'm a flutist
until now. I'm playing flute with the orchestra of the conservatory and
its great!!! When I got into metal the most thing that kept my mind
busy is the Bass, so I wanted to do it instantly, and that’s
what I am now, a bassist.
Can
you tell us about your music influences?
Metal
and Classical music!!! When it comes to metal, I listen to all it
styles, but to make it into favorite bands: Children Of Bodom, Old
Man's Child, Opeth, Manowar , Kreator, Judas Priest, King Diamond and
many many more. My favorite styles of metal are melodic death and
black, 80's metal in general and sad metal like doom and gothic. Its
always hard to say which or who is best.
What
are your lyrics about?
I'm
totally into mythology and history, I really like the middle ages. I
also like to right about sadness and misery, darkness and aggression.
In "Spirits And Devils" I wasn't so much into lyrics about religion,
but in the next album there are going to be a lot about religion.
Talking about politics, I'm not into writing lyrics about politics in
the present time, but maybe in the future.
You
told me about your band "Morgoth", tell us about this band and the
members and if you released a CD or a demo?
Morgoth
is maybe the most important thing in my present life, we play melodic
death/black metal similar to bands like, Kalmah, Throne Of Chaos,
Children Of Bodom, Old Man's Child,… The members are: Tareq
Fayyad (Vocals), Saeed Abu-Jaber (Guitar), Omar Nooreddin (Guitar), Me
(Bass/Backing Vocals) and we have my cousin Basil Bursheh as a session
Keyboardist. Until now we haven't recorded any demos or albums, the
problem is that we have no drummer since the first one left, but we
have three completed songs and ready to be recorded in anytime. We are
supposed to record them in December to make a demo when the two
guitarists get back from England.
What's
the meaning of your band name "Morgoth" and "Phex"?
Morgoth
is the name of a dark lord, it also has another meaning which is "The
Black Enemy", and this is one of our songs' title. Phex has no meaning,
I used it as a name of my band because it was my nick name.
There
is a cult
band called Morgoth from Germany, why did you choose this name
Well, when we chose
the name we didn't
know that there was another band called "Morgoth", when we heard about
that we were confused a bit, but didn't intend to change the band's
name at all, but now we don't know, maybe we'll add a word to it or
something, but not in the present time, maybe when we record a demo or
a CD.
Can
you give us some info about "SPIRITS AND DEVILS" CD?
A
Brutal, dark, heavy and melodic mix of doom and death metal with bits
from other styles like hardcore and heavy metal,… In this
album each song has its unique taste, the first track "Chords Of
Demise" is a dark horror/fantasy classical instrumental song, some
songs are sad like "Black Vision" and "Watching Your Death", others are
really evil and aggressive like " Llama's Odyssey" and "Burgor", but
when it comes to heavy metal, the song "Phex" is a pure instrumental
heavy metal song. Althrough the album you can hear a mixture of
aggressive riffs in a melodic way.
How
did you record your CD?
At home using Cool
Edit, simple.
What
about
metal in Jordan and how are the bands there?
In
the past metal in Jordan was much better than what it is now, there was
sort of freedom, but its really dieing now, if it is not dead already.
We read silly articles about Satanism and worshipping devils and stuff,
that really gets on our nerves, because here in Arab countries, not
only Jordan, governments cannot differentiate between metal and
Satanism, they should consider metal as a style of music and they
should know that not all people think in the same way as they do. They
arrest us and throw us in jails instead of being proud of us, musicians
who work harder than hell to reach what pleases us, and why do we work
really hard? Because there is no understanding at all, nor there is any
support. I think the problem is very hard to be solved and maybe
impossible, because Arabs lived in this way from the start, and its
hard to change half way through life.
Did
your band
perform in any concert in Jordan?
Yes, as "Morgoth"
in the gigs that
used to take place before.
What
do you say about the problem that happened in Jordan?
Pitiful
and truly unfair, many talents are being wasted here all because of a
none sense system. All the articles in newspapers are written in a way
that shows you that the writers had not any single idea about what they
were writing "Group sex, golden chains, nasty clothes, head
banging,…" this is really foolish, don't you shake your head
when you listen to "Um Kulthum"? Other articles had the silliest thing
I've ever read which is about a GREEN INJECTION which Satanists (i.e:
Metal heads) take and it makes them play guitar like professionals. As
I said before, we live in a poor nation that can never be straightened.
How
do you see
the metal scene in Arabian Countries?
What
is truly clear is that Arabian bands are really talented because of all
the stress that is set on the music they like. There are lots of
expressions in the music and each band has its individual feeling of
metal which is all great, but if only there is support, Arabian bands
would be a great part of the world's metal scene.
What’s
your favorite album, which band?
This
is a really hard question, but the most album that can affect my
feelings is Children Of Bodom's first album "Something Wild".
Is
there any band you would like to play as support act for?
Of course, many
bands: Old Man's
Child, Manowar, Opeth, Kreator,…
Any
message for
Arabian underground?
Stay
real to yourselves and work hard for metal, don't surrender to all the
pressure that you get for being a metal head and always remember what
metal serves you. Be proud of the music you love. And there is that one
more thing is that its not a law that you should be a Satanist to
listen to metal, infact that’s wrong, its better to worship
God and listen to metal.
Thanks
for the
interview, we wish you good luck, any famous words for our readers
Thanks
a lot for this interview, I really appreciate this and anyone who works
for metal, especially in Arabia, for this is the only support that we
get. Hailz to you all metal brothers all over the world, keep up true
metal.