The axemen cometh
James Fryer dusts off his leathers in anticipation of the Dubai Desert Rock Festival.
Which images spring into mind when you hear the words music and festival? Thousands of mad, bead-wearing, lentil-eating, hirsute punters sliding around in a muddy field? Pitching a tent ten metres from the nearest speaker? Long queues for bad food? Here in the UAE things are a bit different (although we do still have the portable toilets), especially when it’s a heavy metal rock festival.
For the third year running the sounds of electric guitars and thundering drum rolls will be sweeping across the sands as Dubai Desert Rock Festival struts into town with all the finesse of a balletdancing walrus. And although the lineup has been meddled with more times than a groupie’s underwear, the final list includes an impressive quintet of world-class acts.
Metal legends Megadeth headline the annual rock-fest, a band formed by Dave Mustaine in 1983 after he was unceremoniously booted out of Metallica for alleged alcohol and drug problems. Megadeth’s 1986 debut album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good was reportedly recorded on a very tight budget after the band used the capital set aside to indulge in their favourite pastimes. Their second album, Peace Sells... But Who’s Buying? on the other hand, is generally regarded as their greatest work (it did go platinum, after all). They soon became known as one of the ‘Big Four of Thrash’, with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax completing the quartet.
Sharing the stage are alternative rockers 3 Doors Down, Californian thrashers Testament, ska rockers Reel Big Fish and the only Brits headlining, Saxon – famous for their ridiculously loud concerts. Plus, rumour has it that Bono, the walking marketing campaign for wraparound shades and U2 frontman, will be making a videocast at the event.
There’s already a sense of anticipation in the air as faded black t-shirts are dug out from the nation’s wardrobes, and holes in ears and noses are re-drilled in preparation for looking the part. If you can’t help wondering what all the fuss is about, it’s worth reminding yourself that while the city’s clubs and bars regularly run nights catering for dance divas, hedonistic house lovers and techno trance addicts, rock fans rarely get to enjoy their favourite songs outside the four walls of their villas.
Dubai’s new school of rockers may be disappointed that the whispers sweeping across the desert turned out to be untrue – there won’t be any Greenday or Foo Fighters, at least not this year. But younger generations are being represented in the form of Mannikind [UAE battle of the band winners in Dubai and Abu Dhabi]. The Dubai-based group also won last year’s Shamal competition, securing their place on the stage.
The industrial nu-metal band who compare themselves to the likes of Nine Inch Nails have been together for almost four years and have played dozens of gigs in the UAE. After failing to make the cut for the first DDRF three years ago, the band are both delighted and relieved at the way things have worked out. “We were no way as experienced or prepared as we are now,” says lead guitarist Ozzie (no, not Osbourne) Rogers. “It’s a good thing we didn’t get through.” Mannikind vocalist Sami Shobaki explains that the band came up with the name after a bout of rock’n’roll behaviour in one of Dubai’s posh seafood restaurants. “Some people were not very impressed with us, we got kicked out and were stood outside before a shop window full of mannequins. That’s where the inspiration came from.”
Mannikind may be the least well-known act on the bill but the band has got its fair share of tales worthy of any rock’n’roll hall of fame. “I dressed up like a moron in a dominatrix outfit and acted like an idiot,” admits Sami, who won an award for his attitude. Ozzie explained that the band’s other antics have been equally outrageous. One show, he recalls, “involved body paint, the release of four white pigeons (none of whom could fly) and two of our mates blasting paintball guns as we came on.
“Sami pretended to bite into a sheep’s heart, releasing fake blood capsules in his mouth and he chucked the thing into the audience. We won’t be pulling off the same tricks at Desert Rock though because we’d most likely be arrested. We’re not allowed to use foul language or even take off our shirts. Nevertheless, expect one hell of a performance.”
What’s On discovered that this might be the final performance from the band. “Unless a record company intervenes we’re all off to uni, so after DDRF we’ll be winding down,” Ozzie explains. “We want to pull off our best-ever performance as it might be the last.”
Get yourself over to Dubai Country Club and you can expect 12 straight hours of eardrum-piercing rock renditions. And, in keeping with the festival theme, there will also be a range of other attractions on offer – professional hairstylists will be on hand to give your barnet a rock makeover, complete with Mohican spikes and zany colouring, of course. There will even be ‘tattoo’ artists to give you temporary scribbles.
Semi-professional skateboarders will be pulling off ollies, kickflips and handplants on a half pipe while merchandisers tempt you into buying your own piece of rock memorabilia at one of the t-shirt stands. There’ll be plenty of food and drink available to keep your strength up for the mosh pit, and the festival will even have it’s own currency – rock rupees, perhaps, or death metal dirhams?
This year DDRF will also be supporting the new Red Campaign; an initiative launched by aforementioned U2 frontman Bono in a bid to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. What’s On heard rumours that skydivers, who’ll be putting on a display during the day’s proceedings, will be making a special drop on the crowds to coincide with the cause.
In a city famous for its superstar DJs and past-it-popsters, DDRF promises to be a heavy metal oasis in the desert, and the one chance for head-bangers to let their hair down. Literally.
Dubai Desert Rock Festival 2006, March 16, Dubai Country Club. Tickets are Dhs300. www.desertrockfestival.com.
The line-up
Name: Megadeth
Members: Four – Glen Drover, Dave Mustaine, James MacDonough and Shawn Drover
Listen out for: Peace Sells
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “Eat my fist.”
The lowdown: The daddies of ’80s thrash metal, still headed up by rock institution Dave Mustaine, who staged a recent comeback.
Name: 3 Doors Down
Members: Four – Brad Arnold, Matt Roberts, Todd Harrell and Chris Henderson
Listen out for: Kryptonite
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “U-S-A, U-S-A.”
The lowdown: The Mississippi boys have sold 12 million albums since their debut in 2000. Lead vocalist Brad Arnold was involved in a car accident on February 1, but is expected to make a full recovery in time for DDRF.
Name: Testament
Members: Five – Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson, Alex Skolnick, Greg Christian and Louie Clemente.
Listen out for: Practice What You Preach
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “Anyone seen my Doc Martens?”
The lowdown: San Francisco thrash superstars who, for a while, were biting at the heels of Metallica-level fame. They’ve remained active and popular within the metal underground.
Name: Reel Big Fish
Members: Six – Aaron Barrett, Dan Regan, John Christianson, Matt Wong, Scott Kloppfenstein and Ryland Steen.
Listen out for: Sell Out
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “You think your jeans are baggy? Check out these bad boys.”
The lowdown: Riding on the commercial achievements of ska-punk success enjoyed by the likes of No Doubt and Sublime, the band have more than proved their own worth with albums such as Everything Sucks.
Name: Saxon
Members: Five – Doug Scarratt, Nigel Glockler, Biff Byford, Paul Quinn and Nibbs Carter
Listen out for: Power and the Glory
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “Arghh, my ears are bleeding. I want more.”
The lowdown: Alongside the likes of Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Saxon led the new wave of British heavy metal with hit albums in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Name: Mannikind
Members: Five – Sami Shobaki, Ozzie Rodgers, Jonny Ryan, Jason Connelly and Jonny Aitken
Listen out for: Gripping the Stone
Phrase you’re most likely to hear the fans say: “Have you done your homework yet?”
The lowdown: Dubai-based quintet of young rockers who won their place at this year’s event and promise to wow crowds with a theatrical performance.
The big gigs
Concerts that changed the world
Montery Pop Festival, 1967
This three-day 1967 California-based event attended by over 200,000 people is pegged as being a catalyst for the so-called Summer of Love. A whole tour bus worth of now legendary acts made their biggest early public performances, including Jimi Hendrix (he iconically set his guitar on fire), The Who, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding (who died less than a year after the historic gig). Montery set the template for music festivals to come.
Woodstock, 1969
1969 witnessed the largest rock concert of the decade as 400,000 people turned up at the village of Bethel in New York for a three-day festival of all things rock and roll. Fences and barriers soon came down as the crowds (twice the number originally expected) peacefully fought their way to catch a glimpse of the likes of Janis Joplin, The Who, Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. Two deaths occurred, one from a drug overdose and another as a teenager lay in a sleeping bag in the path of a tractor.
The Who, most of the ’70s
A bad record deal meant that the British rock band had to be good on stage to survive. Blessed with natural showmanship, guitarist Pete Townshend is famed for playing crashing chords with exaggerated windmill-like sweeps of his arms. One of the band’s most memorable performances was on The Smothers Brothers Show – nearing the end of the hit song My Generation, the band set about smashing the stage up with Townshend bashing his guitar into a speaker before it ignited in a ball of smoke and fire. The Who held the world record for being the loudest rock band in the world for most of the 1970s, with volumes reaching a whopping 130 decibels.
The Doors, 1969
Fuelled by drink and drugs, Jim Morrison’s behaviour peaked the scale of outrageousness in 1969 when he was arrested for indecent exposure, lewd conduct and public intoxication following a gig in Miami’s Dinner Key auditorium. The Door’s frontman took the stage in a drunken state, falling over his words and mumbling incoherently before shouting insults at the thousands of fans who had forced their way in. Before being drenched in Champagne he stripped, belted out Light My Fire and was thrown into the audience. Now that’s rock’n’roll.
Sex Pistols , 1977
In June of 1977, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Sid Vicious took to London’s River Thames during the week of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee celebrations in what is now remembered as one the seminal events of the punk era. The live and chaotic set was interrupted and the boat raided by the police, with most of the band and their entourage being arrested and taken into custody. The antics sparked a wave of attacks on the band and supporters by proroyalists, and the famous single God Save The Queen was rumoured to have been kept from the number one UK music chart position because of rigging.