So where do you perform?
The band doesn’t have any regular gigs at the moment. Most of the time we are just invited to perform on some local productions in which also depends also on our own work schedules as usual. Productions such as Blacksheep, Roots, Rocknation, etc. event gig can be venue anywhere in Dubai depends on the production. For gig updates just check our FB page “Xalbaje”.

What makes your style unique?
If you will listen to our originals, each songs has their own distinction, you will hear classic, alternative, metal heavy riff, funky, it’s a fusion that we don’t stick to one genre like other bands. If there is one thing to stick to that is to stick to Original Pinoy Music. We also try to make the melodies as catchy as possible and most of our lyrics mostly depict OFW everyday life.

What and whom were your inspirations?
Pinoy Rock Bands who already got their names in the industry. Razorback, Asin, Imago, Eraserhead, Dong Abay most especially. He got these lyrics that struck the Filipino heart.

What distinctive experiences have you had in this field to date?
When we first played in the music room. They never expected us to play original Pinoy stuff since they’ve known us covering songs from Alanis, hole etc. the impressions just overwhelmed and the gig invitation just poured in. We never slowed down after that.

How has your style developed and/or changed over the years?
Liza is from classic rock genre while Tziz and Zandro were into Reggae alternative. Joven joined the band 2010 with much more progressive rock influence. After that we cover songs from Reggae to Grunge, played in various gigs and events and finally setup to do originals this early 2013.

How long have you been in Dubai, brought you here, and where do you come from/originate?
Liza came from Basilan, war tormented place, in which also can be seen in her lyrics. She was recruited to sing in a Filipino show band based in Abu Dhabi year 2004 and later transferred to Dubai. Zandro and Tzis are from Tarlac old time buddies. They came here 2004. Joven came from Zambales arrived in Dubai later of 2006 and joined them in 2010. We all came here for one thing and that is to get a higher paying job.

What is your impression of the Dubai scene?
We are very happy to see a fast booming underground music scene here in Dubai, you got lots of production depends on the music genre that you’re into. Metality and Storm productions were into more metal scene. You will also find talented Filipinos playing with known bands. We also got these pure Pinoy productions Roots and Blacksheep, which invites Filipino talents to show off and play their piece.

What do you hope to add to the scene?
Another imago of Asin born in Dubai? To show that there are still bands that can create quality music… Music that would stick.

Who do you admire most at present?
Liza adores Alanis Morissette, Joven loves Dong Abay

What is top of back when it comes to laying down the beats? Who’s hot?
Liza and Zandro will do first the lyrics then Joven try to put up some melodies, riffs tunes and arrangements. All in all were just trying to make the song as simple, clean and catchy as possible.

Any rising stars in the musical world you have your eyes on?
We are currently blind at these times on what was happening outside. Media is just totally broad, internet, radio, TV and lots of subdivided genre and scene, you can see dozens of talents spurring out in OPM, reggae or metal scene, unlike our days. Yes from the 90’s the source is basically simple. Simple as LA 105.9.

What advice would you give to those trying to break the scene in Dubai?
Do make your own original songs, cover songs are fine to build foundation, but everything relies on one thing, those original music that you can do.
It’s definitely not an easy ride, but do not give up, let the music keep you going on forever. Music is a great gift was not given by mistake it is given with purpose.

Finally, what can clubbers expect when attending one of your gigs – what do you most hope they take away?
We try to take the watchers away from the present and take them back to where it all started. Yes Original Pinoy Rock genre, its loud and its serious.

The Jazz Festival takes place every year, at the grounds neighboring the Badia Golf Club, and is a venue for witnessing many international artists. The organizers of the Jazz Festival never fail to grant their audience a chance to watch a legend perform live, and for this year we were lucky to experience Carlos Santana rocking us to the tunes of his guitar.

The concert started at 10pm sharp, and the venue was packed. It’s definitely one of the most crowded concerts I’ve attended in the past year or two. Front and middle pit tickets were completely sold out, a few hundred regular admission tickets were left over. The concert was expected to receive more than 14,000 attendees.

The regular admission pit was very crowded, it was a struggle to even get remotely close to seeing anything of the big screens depicting Santana. The fan pit was slightly less crowded, due to the fact that a lesser number of fan pit tickets are sold. Even though the number of fans attending the concert was huge, everyone was in a good mood. There were no fights or quarrels, everybody was jamming to the music, enjoying and dancing.

The sound was impeccable, which hasn’t necessarily always been the case for concerts at this venue (Megadeth 2013 if anyone remembers?) The stage set up was great, so was the coordination of the lights. The big screens occasionally showed small clips of Santana’s videos, African Culture or Cuban beaches. It was all really bright and happy, which contributed to the show’s laidback atmosphere.

Santana himself seemed very down to earth and relaxed while playing, not seeming to be performing in front of a 14,000-15,000 people audience. He was striding along the stage, chewing on a gum and playing one amazing tune after the other. His solos were supported by percussion instruments of his band and occasional backup vocals. He performed classics such as Maria Maria, which immediately enchanted the crowd, or Black Magic Woman, which immediately took us back in time. The blue’s influenced solo was amazing, and so was the transition between different music styles and instruments. Smooth was played rather towards the end of the concert, but the minute the crowd heard the first seconds of the riff almost everybody was dancing to the Latin tune. Santana‘s set list included something for everyone, diehard fans who knew every single note he was hitting, and people who just enjoyed good music and were familiar with the classics.

The 66 years old guitar king definitely showed his audience that he is a legend and attending his concert was an amazing experience. There were no technical complications, the sound and the lights were working great and the organization of the concert was very well handled. All that combined with the amazing music and a good atmosphere of the crowd contributed to make this show an amazing and extremely enjoyable experience.

The first band to go on stage was Anuryzm; a killer band located in the U.A.E. They had a powerful start with tracks of their first album “Worm’s Eye View”. I think there wasn’t a better band to start this concert and set the mood for the audience. However, the only negative thing was the sound system; it wasn’t as good as would normally be expected of a festival of this proportion.

The second band to go on stage was the French Power Metal band Nightmare. Unfortunately, they were pretty unknown to most of the people attending, but oh my! They got everyone singing and screaming their lungs out. Completely energetic despite their age, and their set was insane. Their music was a mix of Thrash, Heavy and even bits of Symphonic. The vocalist for everyone’s surprise was a copy of Dio! He looked and sounded very much like him! They ended fantastically with the masterpiece Heaven and Hell and you could only imagine how the audience reacted.

Myrath was next, a Tunisian band who nailed it on stage! I hadn’t heard them before except for CDs but they mastered it. The awesome guitar riffs mingled with oriental keyboards and Zaher Zorgati’s strong vocals complimented the music very well. He even put on a small belly dance show from our Arabian heritage! They played tracks from their albums “Desert Call” and “Tales of the Sand”. I really enjoyed them and apparently everyone loved their Middle Eastern taste they had in the air. I highly recommend you’d check this band if you didn’t!

The fourth band on the list was the band everyone was waiting for; Dark Tranquility. Okay, forget everything you may have heard about them, it’s nothing compared to hearing them live! They are highly spirited and so much fun to watch. The audience was packed with power, and their enthusiastic vibe went straight to the band. Mikael Stanne the vocalist was shocked with the amount of energy and admitted he was taken by surprise from the audience interaction. I’d have to give a shout out to the light system on that particalur band; he used lots of colors on the screen behind them which gave them a hint of a psychedelic element. Great job!

The epic band, the band that I was personally waiting for Epica! They started with an instrumental but everyone was screaming and jumping till I could literally feel the ground shaking beneath me. When Simone Simones walked the stage, she received a huge amount of applause. She warmed our ears with her soprano vocals and in no time had the whole crowd singing along. Simone and only Simone could sing so good, not to mention head-bang while pregnant!

The band performed their classic “Cry for the Moon” and hands down, best performance in the entire night, from both the band and the audience. Simone even had the crowd sing along and wave their hands. You can easily see the harmony between the band members; they even synchronized their head-banging with their long hair! They made my entire year just seeing them live!

Finally was the main headliner, the reason everyone was waiting till after midnight, the legendary master Yngwie Malmsteen. During the break after Epica they selected a random ticket number to win a Fender guitar signed by Malmsteen! And guess what? The winner wasn’t there to claim his prize! And yes, there were hundreds of other young men who wanted to be in his shoes.

After a very long wait, and long minutes of sound check in the dark, the lights came on revealing tens of amplifiers stacked and Malmsteen’s band started performing. I have to admit they sounded incredibly good. The whole band was on fire; the strong beat of the bass harmonized with the keyboardist, and the vocalist proved his mastery. All until Yngwie came running to the stage, spinning the guitar around his body, and even throwing it a few inches in the air – yes, our hearts skipped a beat – everyone was cheering, clapping, and WOWing his name. But as he went further with his music, an idea hit me; he doesn’t care how plays, he obviously knows he’s the master. He’s so busy shredding, and it really got on my nerves.

You could feel it in the audience, too. Everyone was squeezing themselves to get a better place to watch him, 20 minutes later all the hype fell and many people left the arena! Midway through, the place was half empty and those who remained were the die-hard fans.

Why I didn’t like Malmsteen’s set was how he abused improvised shredding. The guitars were too loud and it almost killed everyone’s ears listening to high pitched shredding for over an hour. On the other hand, many guitarists were on cloud 9 seeing their idol playing and throwing handful of guitar picks between every other track.

Before I left, I met with DJ Storm and asked him how felt about the day, to which he shared: “I expected full support and dedication from those who used to join the Rock Festival every year. The crowd was great this year and I hope to have them back again in Dubai Rock Festival 2014 with their friends and friends of friends! I would like to thank everyone for showing up and making it a night to remember, this show was for you and you made it big.”

The whole show was terrific, although I expected more people to show up but we’re only hoping more success and attendees for DRF 2014!

Thousands of people were wearing Metallica t-shirts and waiting at the gate. Again, Flash Entertainment impresses me with their organization and disciplines. EYE, a progressive rock band, was the opening act for Metallica. Although I’d expected an awesome show from them, since I saw them two years ago opening for Anathema, they failed me. Their music wasn’t as good as I expected. The only attention-grabber was when the vocalist sang through a megaphone, which was interesting. The vocalist tried to tease the audience with jokes but all the people around me were poker-faced.

About an hour after EYE left the stage Metallica showed up with Hit the lights. I don’t really need to elaborate how crazy people went. I was smashed between 30,000 people head banging and mosh pitting. I wasn’t a huge fan of James Hetfield but he was incredibly funny on stage, saying how they liked being in Abu Dhabi once more! Without saying what their next track was, they started Master of Puppets, it doesn’t need a genius to say what the track was! Metallica performed 18 different tracks from various albums. You can find the complete set list here.

When people used to tell me how Kirk Hammett abuses the wah-wah pedal, I didn’t pay attention to them. But now that I was there, I got the point. He barely moved from his place, while Hetfield and Trujillo were jumping all over the stage.

People were mosh-pitting like crazy on Harvester of Sorrow, then The Unforgiven started and somehow – we don’t know how that happened – the whole general admission turned into couples that were hugging, and lighters in the air. But over 30,000 people singing definitely gave me the chills.
Metallica played some of their heaviest tracks in between, the atmosphere was rocking and the weather was humid! James said a few jokes every now and then, and Lars Ulrich was such an ass! I was a huge fan, but he had a bad attitude on stage. Why Lars? Why?!

Fade to Black was beautifully played and beautifully displayed. The screens showed them in black and white and shifted smoothly between them. Orion came after and Kirk and James exchanged solos. One literally made the whole crowd lose control. Everyone was having a blast and enjoying singing and head banging until that one moment. Nothing Else Matters beautifully started and everyone was cheering, when Kirk slipped. Everyone was shocked, but James saved the moment with his sense of humor “Kirk is too old to play his song, let’s cheer him up everyone!” And fortunately regained grip!

It was only 11:30 when James announced it’s almost over – Are you kidding me? – It didn’t even feel close to midnight! However, they entertained us with their final encore tracks that included Creeping Death, Fight Fire With Fire and finally Seek and Destroy.

Before they left, James, Lars and Robert threw lots of picks on their audience and Lars threw drumsticks. Obviously, only the people who were standing in the front got them. No, I’m not upset or anything.

It was an amazing concert. It might not have been the most perfect concert that I attend professionally, but hey! I saw Metallica live!

What is a metal gig without its share of watchers, hecklers, bloopers, head-bangers and moshers? The Halloween Night had it all. Obviously, I was late for the gig, like always, and found that I missed the first set completely; being Maticrust. That, according to a couple in the crowd, was the biggest mistake I could’ve made, but well, nothing could be done. The place was packed; the pit in front of the stage was a battlefield and I couldn’t shirk the feeling of a certain amount of pride as I walked in and looked at the sheer volume present. Never before had I witnessed the hordes come out in these numbers before at the Ratsky 3.

I saw many familiar faces, and several unfamiliar ones. Ratsky 3 had gone the extra mile with the decorations as well, the whole ceiling was covered in cobwebs. DJ STORM, was pumping the classic metal tunes in between sets. There were people dressed up as the Pope, Vampires, SWAT, Aladins, Super Marios etc.

Tartarus took the stage and I could feel the anticipation in the air; it was about to get serious. Tartarus kicked it off with a bang and they really owned the stage. I personally hadn’t seen them live before, so I was a bit wary. But all doubts were put to rest first song into their setlist. Dubai’s black metal band certainly has a way of throwing those brutally grim metal riffs at you. It’s definitely a band I would like to keep a watch on and attend their performances again.

Thirsty fans rushed to the bar, emptying beer kegs and running up their tabs, giving them enough to take on the incoming assault.
Now came the moment everyone had come for: It was the return of homeland death metal darlings after nearly a year. Nervecell took the stage with a war cry from the crowd and a few hundred horns honking up at them, while ‘Anemic Assurgency’ played, waiting for the band to unleash its chaos.

Everyone braced themselves for what was about to come; and then ‘Flesh & Memories’ happened. The band kicked in full throttle and threw the crowd into some serious moshing and stage diving; the ensemble of instruments on stage were now the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ratsky 3 had about 50 beer pints getting crushed on the pit floor in sync. Their staff was very cooperative with the crowd for the night. But nothing, was stopping these guys from showing their love to the band, the U.A.E’s dearest. The vocals were guttural and viscerally harrowing; just the way I like them, and finally justice was served to the metalheads of Dubai. At some point the band faced a problem with the monitors for Barney; which temporarily ran out of juice. But would this be enough to break the flow of the show? Hell no. When things got back to how they were supposed to be, the band went back to the last gear, and played tracks out of Psychogenocide, Preaching Venom and Human Chaos, which led to more stage diving and mosh pits. As Nervecell came to an end with their set, the crowd went up in a frenzy, demanding ‘Demolition’. A gig without that anthem was not going to be over. The crowd asked for it, and got what they asked for. It had been long overdue, but it was a real experience watching these guys ripp out those tracks back home.

And so the slaughter came to a close, a few last drinks were had. People began to disperse, all happy-like and a bit tipsy, but no amount of drinks can blur the memory of that night. Well done to the organisers and the bands involved. You make me proud to be a metalhead in Dubai!

On the 8th of September 2011, Rock Era had the pleasure to attend Anathema live in Dubai in Crown Plaza Hotel. Opening for them was a progressive rock band from UAE called Eye; organized by ‘Traffik Events’ who turned out to be very professional and friendly people.

Copyrights reserved to Farhad Berahman

At 10 PM sharp everyone was already there. The concert started around 10:20 PM. The audience jumped at each sound check, thinking it’s the intro. ‘Eye’ were not a letdown at all; rocking some original music which was completely in their favor. They played six originals, including Poet, East, The Call and others. The audience was packed with energy. An hour later, Anathema appeared on stage to hundreds of people screaming their lungs out! The band looked ravishing on stage. From where I was standing, they were an absolute vision! As soon as they got on stage, they gave a shout out to all the Arab countries and the people who saved some cash just to be there that night. They gave another shout out to all the fans that wanted to come and couldn’t make it, adding “We’re thinking of you tonight!”

Copyrights reserved to Rock Era Magazine.

They performed 24 different tracks from 6 different albums and focused on their 2011 album “We’re Here Because We’re Here”, performing 7 beautiful tracks; such as “Thin Air”, “Universal”, “Angels Walk Among us” and others. By the end of the second track, “Summer Night Horizon”, Daniel Cavanagh – lead guitarist and band lyricist – openly protested the audience segregation into VIP and regular fans.

Few tracks later they performed “Forgotten Hopes” from “Judgment”. Vincent pointed the mic at the audience and they harmonized pretty well. Every single person was singing! One of the best of the performances was “Lost Control” from “Alternative 4”, which is one of the band’s highlights, known for its gloominess. Although the track is considered to be one of their darkest, the band still managed to make the crowd jump to rhythm. Hundreds of hands flashing the rock sign defiantly pierced the air around me. The glorious Lee Douglas pitched in a couple of tracks at the concert, opening with “Angels Walk Among us” and closing with “A Natural Disaster.” Her wonderful voice filled the halls of the indoor concert.

Copyrights reserved to Rock Era Magazine.

The concert peaked when the borders between the VIPs and the regulars were breeched and all united as one crowd, ending the concert perfectly with their breathtaking track “Fragile Dreams”, reaching absolute ecstasy.

I got back home at 2 in the morning, and had a hard time finding a cab, but I could care less. I had a great time listening to great music live and it was completely worth it!

Reviewed by: NJ Bakr