Sunday, October 26, 2008

Underground Bands in Dubai

I have pretty much settled in with my office condition. I know how to describe its location, the staff, the bosses, cool lunch places (but still looking for cooler ones) and style of work. I have also obtained my Residence Visa which entitle me for UAE bank accounts, property rental & purchase and UAE driving licence.

I am officially a resident of UAE

The one thing which is pending, is my crib. But I hope I will move to my flat by this Thursday or Friday as I have been informed by the landlord last night. Otherwise there will be a big hole in my pocket !

I quite like the location of my new hotel. Everything is within a walking distance, so I can save money from the exorbitant taxi fares and get to exercise by walking a lot. There is a mosque just in front of the hotel, a Carrefour, the Creekfront, kebab stalls and last but not least Karachi Darbar Restaurant, which is a famous Pakistani restaurant, recommended by my friend Qamjat before I come to Dubai. I ate mutton briyani accompanied by chicken chilli and man.....I cried in happiness (because it was so delicious).

Mutton Briyani & Chicken Chilli

Ok enough about mutton and coming back to the main topic, yesterday I spent half the day browsing books in Magrudy which is a local bookshop chain in UAE. After purchased a new novel by John Grisham - The Appeal, I headed off to Starbuck (no choice, no kopitiam here). Whilst having my coffee, it strucked me on how long I have not been enjoying my music. Yes I do listen to and watch a lot of music videos in Dubai MTV but those are not my type of music. My music means the underground metal music and Malay traditional folk songs.

So I headed off to Virgin music store and approched one of the staff. I asked him whether there was any underground metal albums from the UAE. I wasn't expecting anything as I was just fishing information. But to my surprise, the dreadlock staff showed me a CD by a band called BILOCATE. I listened to its first track and WOW....they play dark death metal in the style range of Vital Remains and My Dying Bride. The vocal growl and the double bass kick really raised my hairs. The band is actually a Jordanian death metal band but their singer and frontman, works in Dubai. So I bought the CD. For further information you can check them out in their BILOCATE website and Dubai TimeOut magazine and metal underground.com website. You can listen some of their tracks in Bilocate Youtube.

I asked the dreadlock staff again whether there was any venue in Dubai which holds metal gig. The dreadlock staff called his long-haired mat salleh colleague and the mat salleh informed me about a place called Touch Club where every Wednesday night they hold event called Blacklist, which feature local underground bands. They gave me the club's address and I think it is not far from my hotel.

I also found out another local underground act in Dubai which is called NERVECELL, who was said to be the veteran of death metal scene in the UAE. Checkout their Nervecell website. I will visit their merchandiser next week in Mazaya Shopping Centre (I have been to this place for dinner last week but did not notice a music store). You can see their video footage in Nervecell Youtubes.

I have also read that every year there is a Dubai DesertRock Festival and amongst the bands that have played last years were Sepultura (2005), Megadeth (2006), In Flames (2007), Iron Maiden (2007), Prodigy (2007), Korn (2008) and many others. Coming soon is Opeth in March 2009.

Damn, I am digging more about this ! If you guys know anything about underground scene in this region, please drop me a line. I feel aliveeeee....


"Forever Underground"

Album by Vital Remains
(1997)

27 comments:

HH said...

best best... Lagi best dari Malaysia

Anonymous said...

Along..bak kata sivaaji the Boss..

COOL...

doremon said...

along jangan tak mau balik msia sudah la he he he

Anonymous said...

buat ape la ko cari underground band ni...cari la awek ke...hehehe

Rozaimi Bin Mohd Said said...

long, kau saman aje landlord kau tu for late delivery and "losses suffered"...hehehe, aku boleh jadi loyer kau...kau bagi aku accommodation, fees, return flight ticket and sediakan permit kerja aku...amacam? ok tak?

cohong gym said...

Ada lagi underground scene kat Dubai yang aku tau. Cuba kat tanya diaorang pasal tanah perkuburan. Mesti banyak kot? Underground jugak hehehehe.

Along, apa kata kau try la audition kat sana. Mana tau bole jadi bassist for one of the band kat Dubai. Pastu bole kau bawak cryptic main kat sana hehehe.

Dewangga Sakti said...

Syam,
Wow! Opeth datang main? Pasti gempak!
Cohong,
Dia boleh audition.Masalahnya timing dia.Nanti dia dtg sejam lewat.lagi teruk kalau sehari lambat.Salah masa!ha ha

rslynn said...

asyik mention dreadlocks je.. awat abg syam, teringin ka? heh heh heh

cohong gym said...

hahaha betul jugak tu. Si Along ni tak berdisiplin about time.

Dia asyik mention pasal the dreadlock bukan pasal dia minat kat rambut tapi kat the guy. Paham-paham je la, Along was a gay. So sekarang ni, since dah berjauhan dari wife, so line sudah clear. Ada can nak kembali jadi gay.

Along, kitaorang paham kau nak jadi gay dan kitaorang tak marah pun hehehe

Dewangga Sakti said...

Along adalah gay dalam makna yg asal,iaitu happy!
ha ha

Anonymous said...

Ish ish ish korang ni betul2 tak konstruktif betul la kat along...Bagi lah dia kata2 semangat semasa berjauhan dengan isteri dia. Ikut mcm aku ni - Along, ko pi www.shufuni.com, byk clip blue tau!!! Jgn bagitau cohong tau!

Syamsulfaiz said...

ryslnn, actually I wanted to write the nigger staff, tapi nanti politically not correct plak.

cohong, kat sini ramai juga aku nampak lelaki2 sasa macam kau, mesti kau terliur.

hermzz, nanti aku tengok gig kat sini baru tahu best ke tak.

doremon, itu belum lagi aku cerita bab ramai orang mancing tepi creek setiap petang khamis, happening wor...tapi aku kena balik malaysia juga satu hari nanti.

dewangga, tak pernah tengok band2 metal besar main live, ada peluang ni.

hamidi, aku takut nak bukak link website tu kat ofis kang kena buang, tak confirm lagi. nanti aku bukak kat cybercafe.

nonoyss, memang sivaji cool...

rozaimi, kat sini takdak concept late delivery tu...landlord is the LORD of the land. so can do whatever they want..

wahyun said...

dubai ni mmg kota yg serba serbi...ada besi berat...menarik tuh. rasa2nye ni je la (UAE) negeri arab yg ade scene2 bawahtanah...cube tgk sa'udi...ade tak?

Anonymous said...

ada jugak gerakan bawah tanah di sana ek!

Unknown said...

ArLong
Jadikan makan kat Karachi Darbar every Friday lepas solat Jumaat satu rutin....hehehehe...balik Malaysia jangan jumpa aku, confirm kau bau kambing weh

HH said...

Long.. tak bleh bukak website camtu eh?

cohong gym said...

Along, terrorist ada tak?

doremon said...

cohong, aku rasa ada. terrorist tertinggal kapal ha ha ha

Anonymous said...

ala takya susah2 cari teroris kat dubai. Kat KL pun ade..tengok je Cohong tu. Hidung dia pun dah macam teroris!

Eh long...ko buka je site tu. Bos ko memang marah tapi bila dia balik bilik dia, dia pun buka juga tu!

cohong gym said...

Tertinggal kapal or dah kena tangkap ngan US?

Bajau,
Rupa Along pun ada macam terrorist gak. Tapi bukan yang kat Iraq/Afganistan tapi yang kat Sri Lanka hahahahhaha

Along,
kau dengar la cakap si Bajau sekor tu. Dia dah sesat.

HH said...

a'a eh.. Bwtul la Cohong! Muka Along ada macam diorang la. Patut pun familiar. Macam Tamil Tiger!

Anonymous said...

Eleh...cohong konfirm dah buka site tu lepas tu bgtau ko Along! hahaha konfirm juga si Herman pun dah buka site tu hahahaha!!!!! Betul kan Man?

HH said...

kah kah kah.. mmg aku buka, just to confirm Along punya taste ka tidak. Tapi aku rasa Cohong sure tak minat ni, pasal die sure nak carik Benggali punya chix!

By the way Along, tak payah la ko bukak link tu. Spamming je lebih and adware plus spyware for windows pun banyak. Lain la kalau bukak pakai Macintosh, dipersilakan...

Anonymous said...

31 oct 08...ayah ngan mak baca blog ni...seronok tau macam macam. Tahun 1987 dulu ayah pegi Mekah buat haji, ayah tulis dalam buku aje...buku catitan tu ada lagi dalam simpanan.Begitu jugak bila pergi luar negera...Macam macam ada dalam kenangan...Ketika pergi China ayah catat pasal kera mabuk makan buah lai pokok liar...Zaman ini along tulis dalam blog...semua boleh baca.. kiranya LIKE FATHER LIKE SON la tu...he he he...Hidup di negara orang, akal mesti hidup.. jangan lupa lambang mandailing tu...mocom COCAK !!!.. mocom mano pun dio melokat jugak, walau kepalo ke bawah kaki totop melokat.. Tawakkal pada ALLAH.. Horas Ma Tondi.. Sayur Matua Bulung.. Wassalam.

Anonymous said...

power2...nain tunjuk blog kamu pd mak n ayah...

cohong gym said...

Hahahahhahaha aku blom bukak lagi site tu. Dah tak main la site-site macam tu. Kita sekrang main live je hahahhahaha.

Anonymous said...

Long....

ARCH ENEMY Confirmed For DUBAI DESERT ROCK

Swedish/German extreme metallers ARCH ENEMY have been confirmed for next year's Dubai Desert Rock 2009, set to take place March 6-7, 2009 at Dubai Festival City, United Arab Emirates. The festival, which will take place at Dubai Festival City, will also feature Cleveland, Ohio metallers CHIMAIRA and the Swedish progressive metal band OPETH.

beli ler pape sebernier nanti

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