A few questions - interview with thrash metal band from Jordan - EXILE.
Answered guitarist and vocalist Nader.
Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play , etc.?
Hello, this is Nader the guitarist and vocalist of the band.
It all happened when my friend Hasan (the former bassist) and I met Tayyem (the drummer) in his basement, rehearsing with a metal band. We thought if we can talk to Tayyem about the band he might be interested and he was indeed. After hanging out for few times we decided to start practicing, I had 2 songs back then, several months later we started searching for someone to record our EP (Dead Thrashers Rising).
In 2010 Hasan left the band to pursue his career out of the country, so we found our current bassist which he was and still our friend Ibrahim and that's how the band started.
We basically started to play Thrash metal, you know fast and aggressive riffs, but as we grew older our music has changed also, its still considered as thrash metal but now, its more technical and melodic.
Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?
It's always hard for us to record an album in terms of money, studios, equipment ...etc. So we decided to start a fundraising campaign. We thought it would be a good idea to record an album in a good studio. However, we couldn't raise enough money to enter a studio. we got really disappointed since we only gathered a small amount of money. which means nothing in the realm of metal studios with massive sound and great production. so, we decided to record the album ourselves. we bought what's necessary and recorded the instruments in each member's house, hoping to find someone to mix and master the songs.
In late 2017, some facebook friends start tagging me on a post which says that a guy from France is willing to produce songs and albums for 3 metal bands completely for free. I contacted him, discussed how the process will go and we signed a contract with him. Yass Omri the owner of "Silver steel Studio" was in charge of the mixing and the mastering of the album and the result was impressive.
As for the sound, it goes this way, I write the music and we the band produce it as what the audience hears.
How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
Well, the record label promised us 500 copies to sell and in a purpose of distribution. for the band, we will only get 80 copies.
We released the album digitally on youtube and bandcamp and the interaction is more than we have expected.
The record company will release the actual CD by the beginning of January. We also discussed the chance of releasing the album as Vinyl, but I can't promise you anything.
Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal with?
I am the lyricist of the band. In this album, I decided to write about certain characters I met and dealt with in my life. Most of the songs deal with psychological issues, twisted behaviors, and madness, that's why we named the album Unveiling Insanity. The other few songs were about how people conceive life from different perspectives.
Who created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider these things important?
My brother created the logo for us, and he also takes care of the graphics sometimes for the social media. Whenever we cant do some kind of pictures dimensioning and coloring, he takes care of that.
For the different social media accounts we have for the band, we take care of them. We write the contents, do campaigns, upload songs and videos, etc... because we know how important that is for artists in general, without social media we wouldn't have half of what we have achieved so far.
Which label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label? Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takés care about you?
Well, we tried to get us a good deal with one of those medium record companies, but we couldn't, since its almost impossible for a metal band from the middle east to get signed with a label. However, when I moved out of Jordan, you can say its easier to find small record labels, so a friend of mine here in Skopje introduced me to Darzamadicus Records' owner and we had a deal, it's not a big deal though he promised us as I mentioned earlier that he will print 500 copies and distribute them globally. and for our situation as a band, it's a good deal. of course, we are ambitious to get signed with a bigger label, but with hard work and persistence, we will achieve something satisfying.
Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
Each member has a different taste in music, the bassist Ibrahim is into melodic death, Tayyem the drummer is more into death and thrash bands, and I'm in love with the '80s and the mid 90's sound.
As I, the main composer of the band, get my inspiration from bands such as Dark Angel, Hexenhaus, Death, Devastation, King Diamond, Obliveon, Infernal Majesty, and the list goes on and on, but those bands came up to my mind without thinking too much of it.
Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?
Yes we did. When we first released our 1st EP -and our 1st full-album we sent our stuff to too many record labels, but unfortunately we didn't get any response. As I said earlier, it's very hard to get signed by record labels when your band is from the middle east.
How many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether it's (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?
I dont know how many, but we played a lot in our country. We also played in Istanbul - Turkey it was our very first live performance in 2011, it was in a metal bar called (Dorock). We also played in Cairo - Egypt in 2013 in Metal blast festival.
We are not sure what do we prefer, big or small places because mostly we played in small gigs. We believe the best gigs were the one in Cairo and one in Amman, Jordan in 2016.
What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band?
Well, our plans are big, just like any other band out there who wants to play in festivals and to be famous, but life isn't that easy you know, so we have kind of limited options, because the metal scene in the middle east is small, so there aren't many gigs to play at, and its also hard to play in Europe, because of traveling expenses, but we will manage to play as much as we can.
How and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact information?
They can contact us via the band's Email or via the band's Facebook page. We also have different accounts, Youtube, Bandcamp, and Instagram, so the can reach us easily.
Here are the contacts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Exile.Jo/
Bandcamp: https://exilejo.bandcamp.com/
Email: exilethrashband@gmail.com
Instagram: https://bit.ly/2LEW05q
Thanx for the interview.
Thank you for reaching us, and for this lovely interview.
Nader
