Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Country: Iraq
Questions by: Nick Parastatidis
Answers by: Murad Jaymz (Guitars)
1.
Hello. How are things in DARK PHANTOM at the moment?
Hello
things are going well for DARK PHANTOM. We currently recorded our album called “Nation
of Dogs” which will be released soon.
2.
Since this is our first interview I would like to know when and how you decided
to form the band. How easy or difficult was it to find the members to form the
band?
After
the Iraqi war in 2003 metal music was available in Iraq in cassette and CD forms
and we were young with energy, listening to metal music with friends so we
decided to create a metal band in Kirkuk, Iraq because there are eastern bands
in our city.
And
sure that was difficult when you are looking for members and musicians especially
since there are no more metalhead in Kirkuk and it was difficult too with the
musical instruments and finding a place for rehearsals cause we were students
but we didn't give up.
And
it is still difficult to play music live cause you know we live in an Islamic
country, they think we worship Satan but DARK PHANTOM is still fighting.
We
travel between cities to practice and meet each other cause our vocalist is
from Sully and the band from Kirkuk and 3 members are married and they have
kids. Really it’s too hard.
3.
How did you come up with the name DARK PHANTOM? What does it mean to you?
DARK
PHANTOM comes from the dark society that we live in and our fantasy in the dark
is that maybe one day the sun will shine and we will play and share our music
and messages without fear.
4.
I think that the band moves musically somewhere between thrash and death metal.
Do you agree on that? How would you describe your sound and which are your
influences?
Yes.
When we started we were playing hard rock with some easy riffs cause we were learning
music by ourselves like with some music methods and with YouTube videos cause
there is no music center here or someone interested in teaching metal music and
we were looking for someone who sing and growl to change our music genre before
our lead singer joiner us (Mir Shamal) and then after Mir Shamal joined us we
decided to play thrash-death metal with some oriental scales and mix in modern
metal with old school. We believe in the music and lyrics that we wrote and still
write.
5.
How important are lyrics for the band? Who writes them? What kinds of themes
inspire you to write about?
Our
lyrics are inspired from the bands that we love and listen to since when we were
young like METALLICA, SLAYER and MEGADETH.
Especially
DARK PHANTOM talk about politics and religions and the war that we still live
in. Mir always writes the lyrics and the band sure we give ideas and we help
him with the lyrics.
6.
I think that you already have material for a full length album. When do you
plan to release it?
Yes,
we have a small home studio in Murad’s room. He is the guitarist of the band.
We meet each other in his room one or two days a week for rehearsal and to write
music and lyrics and make plans for the band.
The
album will be released soon cause everything is ready for the release but we were
looking for a record label. We didn’t get one till know.
7.
You are a metal band from Iraq. So which are the difficulties that a metal band
from Iraq has to confront?
Yes,
DARK PHANTOM is from Kirkuk north of Iraq. The difficulties that metal bands
and metal audience in Iraq confront are that they just need a place to play
live and the space to show the people what metal is. There were some metal
bands too in Iraq but now some of them disbanded because of the Iraqi situation
and some changed their genre to pop or folk for more fame or money. Now there
is only DARK PHANTOM that playa metal and sure we want to become famous but do not
want to change into another genre. We want to do all this in metal cause metal
is our goal, our message.
8. By the way being a musician
and of course a metal fan, does this affect the way you listen to metal music?
Sure the effect that comes from the war and
innocent people being killed every day by terror and ISIS, metal gives us the
energy to write music and lyrics. By the way a couple of years ago DARK PHANTOM
got some online messages from someone we don't know and he wrote stop playing
metal it’s Satan’s work but we still play, not because we are a brave but it’s a
shame from humans to die in fear.
9. Let’s change a bit our roles.
What question would you like to be asked by an interviewer? Please answer it as
well.
Although we're different in nationality and religion,
music is what unites us all as brothers equally.
10. Thanks for your time answering
my questions. I wish you the best of luck! Please close the interview in any
way you like…
You're welcome! It’s our pleasure and we are glad
for the interview. Finally I have to say DARK PHANTOM will never stop, we will
always try to do our best. Music is not a crime \m/
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