It’s The Band who proved themselves in a hell of a short time, in less than 2 years only; the Rock scene in Egypt had proudly witnessed a development of a very talented Rock Band! Ladies and gentlemen, here’s an interview with SimpleXity

SimpleXity are:

• Omar El-Deeb: Vocals and guitars.
• Noor Ayman: Bass and Backing vocals.
• Hatem Fayek: Keyboards and Backing Vocals.
• Aly Hasab El-Naby: Drums.

Noor was a a little bit busy for the interview, so the rest of the guys were in charge.

As a start, tell me what is meant by SimpleXity ?
HATEM: It represents the combination of simple and complex. It can be used to refer to the music that we compose, or just to express that simplicity and complexity are relative rather than absolute concepts.
OMAR: It also reflects the general atmosphere of our music where it could be easy listening while still focusing on the complex details.

Was that the first name you chose?
OMAR: Well yes, Hatem came up with the name through a friend and I guess we all liked it. 

When was SimpleXity’s first show?
OMAR: Our first performance was at the German University in Cairo (GUC) and it was just me, Noor and Aly as Hatem was in Germany at the time. 

As I knew, Omar was the first to get the idea of making this band. How did it happen?
OMAR: Actually it all started when Aly introduced me to Hatem at the university, Aly wasn’t interested at the time but Hatem and I started off at my dorms room in my second year of college.

Was it easy to find the members?
HATEM: It was first Omar and I, and we knew we needed to complete the lineup with a bassist and a drummer. We tried out a couple of people but at some point of time we realized it wasn’t working, until we met Noor. Omar and I were members of Ze KhodZ, Noor was and still is the bassist for Ze KhodZ. And that’s when we wanted him to join. Several drummers later, we asked Aly to be our permanent drummer.

When Hatem left the band for studying, did you pause the band’s activity? Or did you replace him?
OMAR: Hatem left the country, but he never left the band. We managed to contact each other regularly and even composed some of the songs while he was there through tablature softwares. “Diaries From Turah” was one of the songs composed that way, then once he got back for holidays we would jam the songs and get ready for gigs.
HATEM: The focus remains on composition and recording when I am away, rather than gigging.

How many originals do you have?
HATEM: Eight so far, while there’s another new one in the making, but never fully jammed yet. Should be ready for our next show, whenever that is.

How were you influenced while writing/composing your originals?
OMAR: Well, every one of us listens to very different styles of music, I mean VERY different styles. From Jazz to Classical to classic Rock n’ Roll to extreme metal (Specially Aly and Noor). I’m not a metalhead myself. As for composing, Everyone contributes in the writing process. Someone comes up with Music, another comes up with lyrics, another comes up with melodies… It’s truly flexible; all ideas are thrown into one big pot. 

Is there a CD coming out soon?
HATEM: Of course, that’s the whole point! We think we have enough songs to make a good CD at the moment, and we’re working on finishing the recording process as soon as we can. We will let everyone know when the CD is done. 

As I see on your recent news, you guys had too many gigs in a very short time, and they were all successful. How do you feel about that?
OMAR & HATEM: We’re turned on.

You won the title of the Best Rock band in the Nokia Music Festival and the 2nd in the 1st Rock Festival in El-Sway Culturewheel, are you willing to go to international/global music festivals?
OMAR: As soon as we are done recording we will definitely be sending demos to festivals abroad, we will use our friendships with other bands such as Mascara, Massar Egbari and Scarab to follow their lead to international festivals, who knows? Maybe we’d land a record deal!
HATEM: I actually daydream about the guys calling me to fly in for an event, somewhere in the world sometime.

Which is your most favourite and least favourite gigs? and why?
OMAR: My favorite gigs are SOS Music Festival in Alexandria and the final round at the Sakya Rock Festival. The first is because it was at my hometown and the hall is beautiful, we’ve had some shows there before, but it never sounded that good! Amr Khairy and Hamido were doing a great job with the sound. As for Sakya Rock Festival, it was the first time for me to get stage fright off my back and actually have fun!. My least favorites were the ones at DEO and Lycee, as the organizers weren’t as professional.
HATEM: I really hated my first concert with SimpleXity… only until I saw the videos afterwards! I had been away in Germany while they performed the first few shows, and the first one I played with them was at a Metal Night festival in Bib Alex. I thought we did terribly, but the videos proved me wrong.

Who do you usually cover for?
HATEM: We have covered relatively few songs for Muse, Rush, Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Savatage, Camel… but we mainly cover music that we like and we think has influenced us in some way, since the focus is on our own music.

For the people who never attended your gigs, would you give them a brief summary about your gigs?
OMAR: There’s curtains, music and lights… and boobies

How do you consider yourself- as a band- have developed in the music scene?
OMAR: Well, we –among other local musicians that we truly respect- try to take the local music scene to the next level. I am proud to say that there are amazing talents here that are yet to be discovered. Public awareness of Rock music must occur, people should open up their minds and ears. Musicians should start to focus on making their own music, and seek enough knowledge to do so.
HATEM: Certainly. The Egyptian music scene needs more good bands and much more of an audience.

What are you favorite bands in Egypt and why?
OMAR: Idlemind – I remember that was the first gig I attended in Sakya, but they’ve been away from the scene for a while now, KRAVIN – Bringing back the 70’s!, Headcase – Our touring mates, Feed Me!, Azraq Samawy – they are good friends of mine, I learn a lot from their music, Eftekasat – a lot of great tunes, Nagham Masry – Sticking to the roots of the culture, Shady Nagy – A friend and the most knowledgeable guitarist I’ve met, and finally Ze KhodZ NX brazzarz!
ALY: Scarab – I like their music and I highly appreciate the effort they put into it, and Headcase – Very creative rock band but unfortunately the Egyptian crowd can’t get them yet.
HATEM: I gotta say Stigma! These guys had really great music. They also shared some members with the later-to-be Scarab. I also attended one concert for Your Prince Harming and I was amazed by their talent. Headcase are our friends, touring partners, and accomplices in music. I also love their side-project, Feed Me!.. they already have an album out, check it out! KRAVIN too, love their music… I even made a shirt for them!! And last but not least, watch out for Ze KhodZ, these guys are gonna start a music revolution here… just as soon as someone lets them play! 😀 

Do you get special guests in your gigs? If yes like who?
SinpleXity: Nope, never had the need for that so far..

I read that Majid Hassan replaces your drummer in a show, why is that?
ALY: I was in Germany for 2 months.
OMAR: We already knew Majid through university and Ze KhodZ so we asked him to join for a couple of shows. 

Was this your dream when you were kids? To be what you are now, well-known musicians?
OMAR: I can’t say that I did have that dream when I was young. I was lured into playing the guitar when I gave Pink Floyd deeper listening sessions, I picked up the guitar in my first year of college.
HATEM: I started having this dream in school.. or maybe when I was a little kid listening to The Beatles songs, not really sure. It was there sometime anyway. 

Have you shared your stage with bands before? How was it?
OMAR: Definitely, we shared the stage with lots of bands in festivals.. As for concerts we played with Headcase in Alexandria and Karma in Sakya. The show with Headcase was fun, we’ve been friends from long before. We went for seafood afterwards. The show we shared with Karma was also great! They have a huge fan base and I guess they liked our music as well, we became good friends with Karma instantly!

Do you have any upcoming events?
HATEM: Nothing currently scheduled as we are focusing on recording. Upcoming events are immediately posted to our Page.

What do you wanna tell your fans? and Rock Era?
ALY: Absolute values must not exist in music. Stand by creative music and develop your own taste. And thanks to everyone who came to our concerts.
OMAR: Support the local music scene, there are a lot of talents out there waiting to be discovered, all people must do is just give local underground music a chance.
HATEM: “Do everything for peace” – John Lennon

‘Enraged’ opened at the ‘Heavy Tune Festival’ on the 10th July. The 6 person band had a great presence on stage, clearly influenced by operatic rock, especially Lacuna Coil. If you’re a fan of Evanescence, Within Temptation and or Nightwish, then this is the band for you. Their riffs were original and it was obvious from their progression all their inspired bands over the past few years, and that this is a group going somewhere. Although ‘Enraged’ remain unsigned, I can’t help but feel that this is a catch that most labels would kill for. The only thing that let them down was the long intervals between each track which changed the momentum as a support band. Honorable mentions to the lead vocalist Rasha, back up vocalist and lead guitarist Wael and the stage presence of the bass player Bishoy, a man who looked so natural on stage.

Officially a progressive rock band, if you asked me what genre Simplexity were my answer would be simple; I’d say it depends on which song you listened to. I’d be surprised if you can find another band like them in Egypt and because of that, they are definitely a band to check out, especially as a live act. They have created their own style that’s both refreshing and original by merging all their tracks from their first album ‘Click To Start’ together. Their musical interests vary from Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, to Metallica, Iron Maiden and even Porcupine Tree.

Continuing with their style of being unique, during their performance at the culture wheel was an amazing live sketch artist projector, drawing pictures and themes based on each song played, it’s something that has to be seen to be believed, creating another level of atmosphere to the set.

The talented trio received, quite humbly, a great reaction from the near 200 capacity crowd. It seems a shame that music from this genre is not well known in Cairo, though with performances like this one and a noticeable change in the cultural shift in Egypt, the sky is the limit for bands in this genre, offering the people of Cairo and Egypt something new and exciting.