Barney: Hi Paul, everything is going great thanks! Yes we have been getting back some awesome reviews indeed. Preaching Venom was originally released only in the Middle East in April 2008 through Music Master, having said that it was a big step for us too. It’s important to understand that heavy metal was banned from music stores only a couple of years ago here. So we were basically the first local metal band in general to be sold openly across stores in the Middle East and that was a huge achievement of course for us. I guess it was only a matter of time since someone pushed the boundaries and thankfully due to our strong fan base at home and the local media coverage we were getting over the years it somehow convinced the authorities that we are a serious band and it made them realize there is nothing wrong or harmful with our music at all. So it was only until mid 2008 when we started sending our CD out for reviews and to promoters for Nervecell to get onto the 2009 festivals. Fortunately for us we managed to get onto some of the biggest metal festivals in Europe (Rock AM Ring, Wacken, With Full Force etc.) and that’s when we met Lifeforce Records for the first time (while on tour). It basically was the best way for us to introduce the band, they came they saw us perform live and they signed us!

PM: Where was the album recorded and how long did the process take? FYI – the review copy I have was simply the MP3 files, so I have not seen any inlays or other information!

Rami: Preaching Venom was recorded in Dubai except for the drum tracks which Dave Haley recorded in Australia. The whole process took around 4 months including mixing and mastering. We first we made a demo of all the songs with sampled drums and sent them to Dave where he heard the songs and added his ideas then tracked the real drums for the songs. He sent us back the drum tracks and we recorded the guitars, bass and vocals in Dubai. Once tracking was complete we sent the songs to the Wieslawscy Bros. (Vader, Decapitated) at Hertz Studio in Poland and they mixed the album. Finally, the mastering was done by Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Suffocation, Sepultura) in New York, USA.

PM: How did David Haley come to play on drums (Psycroptic)?

Rami: We got in touch with Dave after our tour in Australia in 2007. At that time we had problems with our drummer who we had to part ways months before the recording of the album. I’m personally a fan of Psycroptic for a long time and we thought that Dave’s style in drumming would be a real good fit for the album. He did a great job!

PM: Who would you say are your major influences? I hear some Morbid Angel and some Swedish stuff in the album, would that be a fair assessment?

Barney: Yeah that would be quite fair I guess, Rami and I write all the music in the band and both of us are huge fans of melodic death metal. So obviously the Gothenburg scene does stand as an influence as well as old school death / thrash metal bands such as Dismember, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Death, Suffocation, Testament, Sepultura, Pantera etc.

PM: Are you self taught musicians or did you take some lessons?

Rami: We are all self-taught in the band. I taught myself some guitar theory and my father gave me some tips on musical notations, being a musician himself but I never really continued learning haha.

PM: I still cannot get over the arrangements; there is ferocious drumming and power coupled with some soulful melodic guitar parts, like the mid section in ‘For Every Victim Fallen’. Do you come up with the arrangements as a band and how does the writing process evolve?

Barney: It’s always Rami and I who write the music in NERVECELL, the two of us as guitarists work individually and when we meet we share our ideas and see what riff could work best where and which riff can complement the other. From that point on the basic song arrangements then starts to develop from one idea to the next. There are times where we end up writing half a song in a day and there are times where we work on one particular track for about 3 months…haha. Typically once we are done with the guitars we then start to write down the drum tracks down, followed by the bass and lyrics which James then brings to the table. We definitely spend a lot of time analysing our music and we try to have our own sound on whatever ideas we create! If the song is not strong or energetic enough or if it does not serve any purpose emotionally or soulfully whether it’s a melodic or brutal song than we probably would work around it, to give the track a certain feel or vibe.

PM: What was the inspiration behind the album artwork?

Barney: I basically had this idea in mind where we wanted to show a human being on the cover where he is completely exposed in the sense that you get to see his true colours (real identity). Basically bringing out the essence that evil exists in mankind and the touch of serpent skin merged in with the characters human flesh kind of brings that true identity out. It’s really about kind of telling people in a way that not everyone is like what they may seem to be in the public eye.

PM: What is the metal scene like in Dubai? I went there 5 years ago and saw no evidence, although I did do most of the “touristy” things to be fair.

Rami: It’s actually pretty good. The metal scene really came to life not more than 5-6 years ago. There was always an underground metal/rock scene which started in the late 90’s (1998 onwards) but it never really had any commercial presence. At that time metal shows were mostly held in colleges, universities or private halls. That’s where Nervecell actually started playing back when we started. The metal scene now is bigger than before and considered to be better compared to other places around the Middle East, where bands do actually play regular shows and you’d find many metal music at local stores, compared to the past years where CDs/merch was banned or not available. There is more demand for metal now in Dubai I guess which came from the creation of Dubai Desert Rock Festival since 2004. It’s an annual metal festival at a really large scale. Bands like Iron Maiden, Testament, Megadeth, Motorhead played this festival coming to the Middle East for the first time too, and Nervecell did take part of this festival 3 times which is pretty awesome! This gave the metal scene in Dubai a huge boost, motivating so many other people to start their own metal concerts and gigs in the city which obviously created a stronger scene and caught the local media’s attention which helped commercialize (not musically) the metal scene as a whole bringing more press coverage from newspapers, magazines, radio, TV etc covering metal related stories in a positive way. But the fact is in Dubai metal music is not really popular compared to pop, R&B and dance music. There is no metal clubs or bars dedicated for metal music or for bands to perform, which makes it really hard to hang out and listen to your metal while having a beer! Haha. The metal scene is growing for sure regardless of all the obstacles around especially from the commercialism of other kinds of music here in Dubai and I think things are going pretty well.

PM: You are credited with an exceptional work ethic. Do you see your location in the world, as more motivation to succeed and prove to the world that metal is indeed global?

Barney: Yes 100%, we have always wanted to do this for ourselves first and foremost. We never expected to get signed or to play at Wacken Open Air when we started. We surely dreamt about those things but we never prioritized our music to reach certain goals! Being successful was never on the agenda in this band. We purely just loved what we were doing and that was getting to play heavy metal being based in the Middle East. Our motivation was solely based on making metal music a norm in this part of the world and with Nervecell we had nothing but good intentions to see how far we could push the boundaries! We made a decision to put out an album that stands up to an international level and when we did that we somehow started to get noticed in the Middle East and beyond. It was and still is amusing to us and let’s just say we are very proud that we have kind of done the impossible, in being the first Middle East based band to get signed to a European label and also play at Europe’s biggest rock / metal fests namely Wacken Open Air, With Full Force and Rock AM Ring!

PM: Do you think the Dubai Desert Rock Festival helped the scene in the Middle East and give the rest of the world a kick in the ass to take notice? Bands like Iron Maiden have now toured there, this should only mean the rest of the metal bands would like to catch up right?

Barney: Indeed, the Desert Rock Festival is the reason bands like us and fans a like have something to be proud of, it is also the reason heavy metal even exists in the Middle East today. Before that festival started out here metal CD’s were obviously all banned in this part of the world so you can imagine what an impact it had to us all based here! Bringing down bands like Sepultura, Machine Head, Testament, Megadeth, Opeth, Iron Maiden etc. was in all honesty history in the making and for sure made the scene back home a lot more confident and stronger.

PM: How was your set at Wacken this year? What did you think of the Wacken set up and festival experience if this was your first time there?

Rami: Honestly Wacken Open Air was one of the best if not the best show I personally experienced. The guys in the band also felt the same. The energy and set up was so huge and we didn’t know what to expect and also knowing it’s the MIGHTY Wacken made us all not know what to expect. But holy crap! It was unbelievable. The crowd was simply great. People sang many of the words with us, created huge moshpits and we had a great response overall. We really felt that the German crowd got more familiar with Nervecell, as we only played 3 other festivals before that in Germany at With Full Force, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and we really appreciated the fact that many of them came to see us again at Wacken. We feel honoured to take part of Wacken being the first from the Middle East to accomplish that.

PM: Same question for ‘With Full Force’ festivals?

Rami: With Full Force was very special for us and we had as much fun backstage as well on stage haha. We had a great show overall, and I remember it was pretty hot that day but the crowd was giving it 100% regardless and had a killer response. The promoters treated us very well, and we enjoyed watching so many other great bands at the festival such as Sepultura, Down, Carcass, My Dying Bride, Pestilence and so many other bands. Good times hanging out with many friends and partying backstage. Cool moments as Andreas Kisser guitarist of Sepultura interviewed Nervecell for the upcoming With Full Force DVD which is pretty awesome!

PM: Are there any more touring plans in the near future?

Barney: Indeed there is, we are actually playing a couple of local shows in Dubai in December 2009 and we also head out to Sri Lanka just before Christmas to play an exclusive show there with As I Lay Dying!...so that will probably be the last Nervecell gig for 2009 and man what a crazy year of touring it has been for us right from the summer festivals up until now.

For 2010 we are really proud to have confirmed our appearance on the Suffocation Europe / UK tour (PM: End of March and early April in the UK) which is entitle Legacy of Blood and is set to take place in March 2010. We are probably going to be playing a couple more shows early 2010 so do keep an eye out for us!

PM: If not touring, are you in writing mode or having a short break?

Rami: Yes we are actually coming up with new ideas for songs whenever we have the time and we’re looking at having a bunch of songs by the end of the year to start our plan for the next album.

PM: Finally, describe your music to the UK fanbase?

Rami: Nervecell is a death/thrash metal band mixing old school death metal with modern death/thrash metal. Very groove oriented with hints of oriental/Middle Eastern melodies in the music. Do check out our music by visiting [the websites below].

Thanks ever so much for your time, best of luck

Many thanks for your time and support. Stay metal!

Answers by Barney Ribeiro (guitars) and Rami Mustafa (lead guitars)

For more on the band check out http://www.nervecell.net
http://www.myspace.com/nervecell

Interviewed by Paul Maddison

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