ZAHER SIRYANI- by
Vampire Magazine (Netherlands)
Interview by:
Ellen Simpson, July 2nd, 2007
Vampire Magazine: Listening to Zaher
Siryani of Jordanian death metallers Tyrant Throne talk about metal
conjures up the image of a small, spiky plant that survives under
the hot Middle Eastern sun without water, shade or care. Few bands
have such conviction about the permanence and importance of playing
music, and the endurableness of the metal genre. This enthusiasm was
clear to see in Tyrant Throne’s brutal, energetic debut,
“Abominations”, which was released earlier this year. Here, Zaher
tells us more about TT’s completed line-up and future plans.
Hail Zaher and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for Vampire.
How are you doing?
Hails! Thank you for the interview.
Well, good actually. We are a little busy practicing and working
with the new drummer and so far everything is going just great.
As you are a
fairly new band, maybe you could tell us the story of how Tyrant
Throne was born?
I think it’s a little bit hard to give
you a date because me and Phexataan were playing music together
since a long, long time ago. We played live shows together in other
bands with various members, but the idea of Tyrant Throne and
settling in a band started in 2003-2004 as I remember, and lots of
material was ready; it was young and angry and always will be.
You released
your debut EP
“Abominations” at the start of 2007; how do you feel about
that record now? Are you still proud of it as your first statement
to the metal world?
Yes of course. We will always be very
proud about the EP
"Abominations".
It is the first touch of Tyrant Throne and the first attack in the
endless metal fists world. It has a huge meaning to us and always
will.
The story of the
production of
“Abominations” seems interesting; didn’t Phexataan end up
having to master it in his home studio?
Well, we will never forget the whole
recording process of the EP; yes Phexataan ended up doing it at his
home studio. The producer we used to work with at the Sirenwave
Studios had to leave the country, which delayed the release date.
But we moved the studio to Phexataan's home studio and added better
equipment to it, and we made it. Hails to Basil Bursheh (Augury) and
to Sirenwave, we will never forget their work and how they helped.
What sort of responses have you had from fans and the media?
About the Jordanian metal scene it’s a
small scene which faces countless problems and its not really a
strong scene, but of course you can find hardcore metalheads whom we
thank for the support and will never forget about it, and biggest
thanks to JorZine & our manager MYA who helped a lot, but
internationally we got awesome feedback and a really supporting
response which is helping us get stronger, and also we had promising
offers worldwide.
“Abominations”
was self-released; are you attached to a label at the moment or is
that something you will be looking to do with future releases?
In the meantime we are not attached to
a label, we are studying this issue- hope we will announce good news
soon. Mostly we look ahead for next releases.
On this release
you have used drum programming; I must say it sounds pretty good!
How did you go about creating it?
Yea, the drums was programmed, using
computer, with the efforts of Sirenwave and our ideas, and you can
say it was mastered by Phexataan and Basil Bursheh after the studio
was moved.
It was great to
hear a couple of weeks ago that you had completed your line-up with
a real drummer, Hanna Marzouqa. How did you meet him?
Well Hanna Marzouqa is an old friend of
mine you can say a childhood friend although he is young but his
cousin was my childhood friend too, so he used to play the drums
when he was young, and one day I told him lets jam Tyrant Throne's
music and he said ok, and I was surprised he was able to do them
easily, so we talked to him about joining Tyrant Throne and we
completed the line-up.
Some of the lyrics on
“Abominations”, refer to the ‘tyrants’, and of course your
band name repeats the theme. Who are these tyrants? What are the
main ideas you talk about in your lyrics, and who writes them?
Phexataan writes our
lyrics, well the name and the idea from my point of view is about
anger and hate and the spiritual anger towards something in a
physical-spiritual way, I mean its like balancing your spirit, body
and mind and sometimes being extreme about one of them. It expresses
them either in actions or words.
“Abominations”
has some nice artwork, and in general you present the band very
professionally for a new act. Who was responsible for the design?
We were waiting for the
Swiss artist 'GENZO' who was supposed to be the one to make the
artwork, but he faced some bad circumstances which delayed the
release date even more and he wasn't able to work for long time
(hails to Genzo), and the new design was made by Phexataan when he
found a dead goat's skull and took it and took pictures of it! Lol,
it appeared cool.
The Cannibal
Corpse cover at the end of
“Abominations”
is a bit of a clue about your influences! What other bands have
influenced you? Are there any bands and albums around now that you
particularly enjoy?
Cannibal Corpse, of
course one of the biggest influences, and of course the legendary
Morbid Angel, Immolation, Decapitated, Meshuggah, King Diamond, Nile
and so much more, well I listen to lots of death metal and thrash
metal bands at the same time, all the time.
I
get the idea from the Jorzine website that there are some crazy
metal fans in your home country of Jordan! Is the Jordanian metal
scene a good place to be? What other Jordanian bands should our
readers check out?
Yes we
have crazy metal fans here or you can say metalheads, as I told
you earlier, but they are few and personally I see that the
Jordanian metal scene isn't a good place for a death metal band to
be in, but metal won’t ever die no matter where it is, yes we got
really true bands who works hard and must be checked, I'd say
Bilocate and Infested Mind.
I often ask
bands whether the place they live affects their music; do you think
being from Jordan has shaped your band and music? Are you influenced
by the things that are happening in the world around you?
It might have
shaped it somehow but not because of the incidents happening in the
area. Personally, I think beyond that. I don’t have anything against
any side; they are all the same for me. So I am not influenced by
it.
Are you working
on any new music at the moment?
At the moment
we are busy preparing for concerts outside Jordan, but yes there is
some material that can take another form and sure will, after we
finish the concerts we will start working fast on it.
It would be
great to see Tyrant Throne on tour!
We've played
lots of shows here in Jordan and yep we will go around the area soon
playing in few countries, for now I can say that we have a show in
Egypt on 13/7 with various bands from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and we
are looking forward to it.
It is our custom
to let the band have the final word, so is there anything else you
want to shout about?
First of all
thanks a lot for the interview, and thanks for the support.
Fuck yeah the metal spirit can never die!!
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