For rock Dubai can be a very hard place. The third Dubai Desert Rock Festival once again heaves into view with the added complication of a last-minute controversy ? this time a contentious take on a 20-year-old lyric from British rockers Saxon.
Still, Lara Teperdjian of Centre Stage Management is determined to convince Dubai that it's okay to bang your head once in a while. "People have misconceptions," she says. "They think Heavy Metal is about crazy people playing bad music."
The reality
In reality ? with the glaring exception of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst ? rockers are far from their obstreperous stereotype. Very undemanding with their riders, too.
"The rockers just request peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or pizzas ? very simple foods and I love that," she says.
On Thursday Teperdjian will be arranging sarnies for a line-up that unites some true behemoths of noise: Eighties thrashers Megadeth and Testament, alternative rockers 3 Doors Down, ska-rockers Reel Big Fish, Dubai-based nu-metallers Mannikind but no longer hoary rock pioneers Saxon.
Big deal
For rock aficionados the combo of Megadeth and Testament is a pretty big deal. So far, 8,000 tickets have been sold (already up on last year's total sales of 6,000) and at least another 1,000 are expected on the day. Metallers from across the Middle East have booked coaches. Fans are also flying in from Europe and the United States.
Teperdjian has faith that this is also a playbill to win converts to extreme sounds. "When you come you will see the difference ? the vibe, the energy, the feeling," she says. "I love mainstream songs, but when it comes to live performance ?"
Fondness
Personally, she admits nurturing a shameful fondness for Journey and REO Speedwagon before discovering Metallica at college in the States. Her continuing exploration of the further reaches of amplification is now assisted by Dubai's own underground rock scene, which alerted her to the passion hardcore rockers still feel for cult band Testament.
But the festival has also been refined through checking out rock festivals worldwide. Teperdjian and her sister visited metalfests for Brazil's Rock in Rio to Germany's Rock am Ring to pick up ideas.
"They were ready to teach us," she says.
Fun day
This year's Desert Rock combines its hefty slice of rock with unchallenging elements of "a fun day out". Skateboarders and inline skaters will perform tricks. The makers of the TV show Pimp My Ride will show off tricked out automobiles.
Between bouts of moshing, the audience can express themselves on graffiti boards and complete their look with rock hairstyles and airbrush tattoos. But next year Teperdjian is considering running the event over 2 days and providing opportunities for camping.
"I think every genre has its time, but you'll always see people old and young loving the metal," she says.
"There is a huge mix of different cultures and you see 50-year-olds and 16-year-olds."
She admits Dubai could need some preparation for a full-on, large-scale metal festival. But at least Dubai also offers rockers some pleasant surprises.
"The bands are shocked when they come out here," says Teperdjian. "They say, 'We have fans here! This is amazing!'"
The line-up in Dubai
Megadeth: After Dave Mustaine was booted out of Metallica in 1983 (but not before writing much of their debut album Kill 'em all), his life became a single-minded search for revenge.
He forged Megadeth as his weapon of vengeance ? in its Eighties heyday a stadium-filler and today, after many lineup changes, still delivering a massive dose of technical thrash.
Testament : A Californian thrash band that emerged with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. Despite never winning mainstream approval, they remain legendary among hardcore fans of metal.
Mannikind: Teenage nu-metallers from Dubai with skills and stage presence beyond their years.
3 Doors Down: Alternative rockers from Mississippi with MTV appeal and a huge hit in 2000 with Kryptonite.
Reel Big Fish: A Californian ska-rock band with a reputation for bouncing entertainingly about the stage.
The event
More info: www.desertrockfestival.com
What the fans say
Joe Akkawi of Dubai's internet rock forum www.phride.com:
I'm sure most people are excited about Megadeth but, personally, I'm looking forward to Testament. Megadeth is every metalhead's dream. They have just introduced a new bassist and the website blabbermouth says that they are fiercely rehearsing for Dubai.
If you go to Megadeth forums there is a huge reaction in the whole Middle East. There are buses coming from Syria and Jordan. But Megadeth's live performance is not as powerful and emotional as Testament's. I couldn't care less about 3 Doors Down and Reel Big Fish.
Michael Fillon of Sandwash, Dubai-based punk band:
I'd give Megadeth 5 out of 5, but I'm also saying that because the band is going to explode. It's a limited offer. Testament would get 4 out of 5.
They will be a better live act than Megadeth, but a lot of people appreciate Mustaine's guitar-playing, which is really technical.
3 Doors Down had a stupid song that everybody really loved and they look like my bosses at the office. But they have some good tunes that didn't become singles ? so 3 out of 5.
Reel Big Fish are a really cool stage band and in Dubai you don't often see people jumping around and having fun on stage ? so 3 out of 5. I'd give Mannikind 4 out of 5. They are good to watch and entertaining.
Basel Anabtawi, contributer to www.phride.com:
Personally, I'm equally excited by Testament and Megadeth.
Megadeth are a very important band in history. Testament are very heavy, very fast and very underground and I know they are going to put on a great performance ? 4 guys just screaming and playing really, really fast.
I think they will have the craziest response from the crowd and I know a lot of people from Bahrain and Kuwait who are coming down just for them.
Reel Big Fish have a good live performance ? a lot of band members jumping around. 3 Doors Down will have the biggest singalong from the crowd ? they're like celebrities and everyone likes celebrities.
I was on the judging panel for CSM that chose Mannikind. They have quality songs and work well together on stage.
Test your metal
For those about to rock, we confuse you. Heavy Metal is harder to kill than Halloween's Michael Myers ? but it mutates like an irradiated fruit fly. We bring you the essential bluffer's guide to a few of the bewildering varieties.
Heavy Metal
A possible forerunner of term's modern use is the phrase "heavy metal thunder" in Steppenwolf's 1968 hit Born to be Wild. However, its first well-documented application to music dates from May 1971 edition of the magazine Creem.
Classic Metal
Birmingham in the UK often gets the rap for siring the earliest exponents of Metal. Black Sabbath arguably drafted the sonic blueprint with an eponymous 1970 album that dragged rock towards chugging riffs and doomy lyrics. Led Zeppelin's eponymous 1969 album is another seminal work.
Hair Metal
The favoured genre of elaborately-coifed West-Coast ponces prancing about in spandex. The scene imploded with the advent of grunge, but could be set for an improbable revival heralded by the rumoured return of stonewashed jeans as a fashion item.
NWOBHM
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a rockier version of metal from the early Eighties ? a faster and bouncier sound for an audience already exposed to punk. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were major players.
Thrash Metal
From the mid-Eighties Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Testament showed just how fast they could play (at the time it was also called Speed Metal, although this now means something else). Lyrics broke lose from Dark Age fixations, singers started shouting and the centre of the Metal world shifted to San Francisco.
Death Metal
Out of thrash came the even tougher sound exemplified by Slayer's 1987 masterwork Reign in Blood. The genre is typified by cookie-monster vocals and drumming like a karate squad kicking their way out of a locked wardrobe.
Black Metal
The one to be scared of. From the late Eighties Scandinavian weirdoes burn down churches, kill each other, paint themselves as corpses, put dead ravens in bags to ensure they are surrounded by the smell of corruption and ? in spare moments ? shriek odd stuff about Satan.
Nu-metal
For Heavy Metal, Grunge had the killing power of Lemmy's socks after Motorhead's legendary Bomber tour. From the genre's shattered ruins emerged an extremely loud, angsty, rock-rap hybrid. On top of these genres an ambitious faux-rocker should also affect a familiarity with Doom Metal, Grindcore, Power Metal, Gothic Metal and Progessive Metal.
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