\u2018I wanted that rush\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0If you\u2019re on the highway to hell, accelerate.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Dion Matthew Greenwood, the lead guitarist and co-founder of Triton, recalls how ACDC was his gateway to the genre. \u201cI was always surrounded by music as a child. My parents are into music, and they would just blast music around the house,\u201d he says. So, he grew up with music all around him, including Linkin Park and then ACDC, when he was around 12 or 13.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Yet, like every musician there was that one turning point that fired up every nerve: When he watched a video of them performing Highway To Hell in Argentina. To say that the feeling was electric, would be an understatement, and Dion almost returns to the teenager who watched the video years ago, recalling every emotion. \u201cEvery time I hear that sound, there\u2019s such a rush.\u201d The crowds, the music, and Angus Young, the lead guitarist.<\/p>\n
\u2018You have to be a madman to chase metal\u2019<\/p>\n
The metal scene is there, and everywhere, if you know where to look. It isn\u2019t quite the Platform 9\u00be scenario I had imagined: Find one metalhead, and soon enough, you\u2019ll find a circle of them.<\/p>\n
Dion, who is a 23-year-old social media manager by day, says that you just have to seek out people. \u201cThat\u2019s the best bet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0And considering metal is a tough genre to play, he notes that it does require commitment. \u201cYou have to be a madman to chase it.\u201d \u00a0Yet, there\u2019s also something enticing about the chase. Along the way, you meet a community, that becomes like a family to you. \u201cThat\u2019s the core of the UAE metal scene,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cEveryone, is just so supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018The best way to become a part of the scene, is to be an audience member first\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0In another corner of Dubai, lives Fahim, the lead singer, and guitarist of the Stowaways. \u201cI didn\u2019t start with metal like others,\u201d Fahim says honestly. \u201cI gravitated much later. People usually start in teenage years, but I started in college.\u201d \u00a0Fahim, who is also a graphic designer, started playing when he was 17. The band Stowaways was formed, and as he says, it was not metal at first.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The band has changed many times since then; he is the only original member still in the band.<\/p>\n
\u00a0But metal late than never, and after attending several events, and gigs over the years, he found Pedro Gomez, bond over Archspire. And currently, the band is: Fahim at the vocals, Pedro at the guitar, Aditya Pandhare at the guitar, with Joe Abou Zaraa at the bass, and Jancy Tenorio at the drums. Since the band has worked hard to rise on the UAE metal scene, and even won at the NYU battle of the bands.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The metal community, as he says, is a warm, welcoming one. They found so many connections, who led them to others. UAE is filled with metalheads, and yes they all perform for the passion of the genre, but performing with others is the bigger joy, as he says. \u201cThe best way to become a part of the metal scene, is to be an audience member. If you are a supportive presence, the scene will support you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Advice to the aspiring ones? Start showing up. Not just with the intention of pitching yourself, but showing up for others too. Go for the open mics, watch the battle of the bands, find the friends that become family, and the family that makes the band.<\/p>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t try to be Metallica. Show what Metallica inspired you to make\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0If the Stowaways\u2019 advice is to show up, Metarust\u2019s is to keep showing up.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The band, comprising brothers Saif, Samir, and their close friend Marwan El Messery, assert\u00a0 that the UAE\u2019s metal scene is far larger and older \u00a0than many people might realise. For years, it has existed just below the mainstream radar, with bands playing gigs and building communities that often required a little digging to find. The problem, they say, is not necessarily the absence of a scene, but knowing where to look.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cOnce you find it, you\u2019ll see it around,\u201d as Saif says.<\/p>\n
\u00a0There are bands, venues and concerts happening regularly, sometimes every weekend, but discovering them often comes down to finding the right person or following the right lead. That is how Saif, was introduced to the UAE\u2019s metal community while he was in business school, through Kamil, a friend and musician from the band Verdict, who introduced him to bands and stories from the scene dating back to the 2000s, and even earlier.<\/p>\n
Lakshana is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist with over a decade of experience. She covers a wide range of stories\u2014from community and health to mental health and inspiring people features. <\/p>\n
A passionate K-pop enthusiast, she also enjoys exploring the cultural impact of music and fandoms through her writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018I wanted that rush\u2026\u2019 \u00a0If you\u2019re on the highway to hell, accelerate. \u00a0Dion Matthew Greenwood, the lead guitarist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-811879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}