SOURCEWEBZINE – “Tales of the Sands” is this the product of the band maturing as musicians or an obvious next step after “Desert Call”?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – Well it’s both, after two albums you get more mature and you try to find a style of music of your own, we just got tired of being characterized by some as a Symphony X clone. We have also decided to blend the metal music of our influence with the Tunisian traditional tunes scales and melodies of our origin in an attempt to find a style which hopefully would become a trademark of our own.
In addition we no longer need to show how good of musicians we are, the way we used to do in our debut albums as we were still in our teen years very much into neoclassical shredding. Writing 10 minutes songs do not get you anywhere unless you are Dream Theater. Nowadays there are so many quality bands that sound alike that we had to come up of a style and sound of our own to increase our chances in making it in this very competitive and Tough music business.
Our Producer Kevin Codfert had a lot to do in shaping our more mature oriental metal music style as fans are nowadays more interest in shorter catchier tracks than in admiring the virtuosity of musicians. They do not need another Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmsteen there already too many around.
SOURCEWEBZINE – The first thing many will notice with “Tales of the Sands” is the striking cover art. What significance does it have on the album’s message or theme, if it does at all?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – Well first of all we are pleased hat the artwork got so many positive reactions and we are really pround that it was made by talented young Tunisian artist Bader Klidi who has just graduated from Tunis Arts University.
The artworks reflect perfectly the title of the album, the sand and the books reflect the tales, all the remaining items reflect the modernism of metal music and the Arabic themes of our origins in reference to the mix we try to make between both music.
“Tales of the sands” can also be seen from a music point of view, we tell stories through our music and not necessarily though the lyrics. Then what is great about the artwork is that we leave it up to each ones imagination to interpret it the way he sees it the way we interpret differently ant piece of art.
SOURCEWEBZINE – Run me through the pre-production process for the album. When you heard the final mix of the album, all ready to go, what was your first reaction?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – It was waoooooo what a Great sound it’s a killer, now we know why Fredrik Nordstrom has such a Great reputation and why he produces and mixes the albums of famous bands such as Dimmu Borgir and In Flames.
SOURCEWEBZINE – Metal is sometimes known to be a very negative type of music. Does the band write better in that positive mindset?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – Well Metal is what makes life so enjoyable, our lyrics have no negative meanings we just write about day today issues, love, hope, dreams, deceptions etc without addressing specifically religious or political issues.
SOURCEWEBZINE – Is there any difference in how you are treated by national media compared to foreign media?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – We get a lot more attention from the international media as in Tunisia the mainstream media is not interest in metal at all. However there are some local radio show and webzines that support us 100% they even call us ‘the pride of the Arab metal’.
We also get a lot of support from the Tunisian and all Arab fans thanks to facebook and other social networks. What matters the most is that all the shows we play in Tunisia are sold out.
SOURCEWEBZINE – Do you think the band has found an established sound that is all their own or do you think the music will always evolve and keep progressing?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – We think that we a very close to a style of our own than in music if you do not evolve and keep progressing you will go no where. Thus we intend to keep writing music the same way we have always done that is by letting the inspiration of the moment guide us through the writing process.
The main reason why our are tracks are so diverse in our three albums is that we never fabricate music every song come from the heart.
SOURCEWEBZINE – You come from Ez-zahra/Tunis, does all of the members live there?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – No, but when the band was first formed all the band members were close friends since their childhood; they all lived in the same neighborhood of EZ-Zahra (southern suburbs of Tunis), at that time they were all in their early teen years (13 to 15). Since then there were several lineup changes and the only one left from the original lineup is Malek Ben Arbia (guitarist and band founding member).
SOURCEWEBZINE – If a metal fan comes to visit Tunis – Tunisia, what would they see and do?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – Tunisia in a touristic country on the Mediterranean coast, it’s very open to other cultures, If a metal fan comes to visit Tunis he will enjoy the sun and the beach but he can also enjoy the remain ruins and archeological sites.
They can also enjoy metal music as there quite few gigs but mainly they can come and meet us and attend one of our rehearsals or concerts.
SOURCEWEBZINE – What do you think about the Brazilian metal scene? Do you know much about our bands?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – Of course that we are very familiar with the Brazilian metal scene you have Great musicians and Great bands such as Angra, Sepultura, Soulfly, Andre Matos. We had also the pleasure to see Kiko Loureiro perform live in here in Tunisia a couple of years ago, it was a memorable performance.
SOURCEWEBZINE – Do you momentarily make enough money to live from being a musician?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – No not all that will take some time but we hope that with the release of “Tales of the Sands” and the upcoming European tour with Orphaned Land we will get more attention from the promoters and media so as tour more often, because it is the best way musicians can make money.
SOURCEWEBZINE – How do the band’s touring plans look for the rest of the year? How much of the new album is the band looking to play live?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – We have a month long European tour in support of Orphaned Land coming up (stating 10 November 2011) then we have another European tour for next April 2012 as headliners as well as some festivals appearances.
We will be playing several tracks from “Tales of the Sands” in addition to few tracks from “Desert Call” and maybe a track or two from “Hope” (when we are headliners).
SOURCEWEBZINE – Care to say something to your fans?
Zaher Zorgati (Vocals) – We wish to thank all our fans for their valuable support and hope to see them soon in one of our upcoming shows. We hope also that they will buy our new album “Tales of the Sands” and trust that it will meet or exceed their expectation. Finally we invite them to join us on our official facebook fan page www.facebook.com/myrathband.
