"Spotlight On Dubai" The Scene with Mark McGuire

Dubai has the fastest growing metal scene in the region, with DDR being the flagship event of Rock/Metal music.

Its a multicultural city with people from all over the world living together, and getting along having a good time.

But was the Metal scene in Dubai always such a powerful growing force ?
Bands like Nervecell always mentioned that it wasnt easy for them to breakthrough the scene and onto the international masses, but now with events such as DDR and BACK2SCHOOL and gigs going on all the time around the city, with more Metalheads uniting for the same cause then ever before.
whats next ? only time will tell.


To find out more about the scene, I asked Mark McGuire (Avarice, OBAG) about the early days, whats the next positive step to take, PHRIDE and more.
Heres how it went:

TMR: Can you tell me about your musical background, and the bands your involved with ?

Mark: Ive only recently came back into the scene after going on tour with a band i gigged with in the old days called Asking Alexandria (for my fucking money back) but back then i played in around 16 bands just filling in on any instrument that was needed. My main band was Avarice which im very proud of. We did really well in BOTB 05 winning most of the awards. I got Best Musician, Best Guitarist and best performer, i was psyched he he...


TMR: Hows the Music scene in Dubai nowadays ?

Mark: We had a bit of a slump after 2005 when everyone left for university, bands went to hell, everything was disorganised and the new people coming in didnt appreciate all the trouble we went into bringing the scene about. And this has been going on for years before i came to this country god knows what crap the people before my generation went through... No one new heres been arrested for putting on a gig but there really coming around now...


TMR: Dance is the dominant force in the scene, whats the second most popular genre ?

Mark: Would have to be metal definitely...


TMR: When you guys first got into the scene how was it like ?

Mark: Difficult, very difficult, we were constantly shut down. There were a lot of boundaries that dont really exist as much today and CSM have really given us a boost, the scene we know today wouldnt exist without the people back in the day or a company like CSM...


TMR: Was it easy to play gigs ?

Mark: As i said, police shut us down, pulled us out banned venues it was difficult but i guess the fact it was difficult made it so much more exhilarating when we did manage to put something on... I know me and my members came of that stage so high and pumped full of adrenaline it was great...


TMR: Is it easy to play gigs nowadays ?

Mark: A lot easier than it was yes but its still expensive and hard to organize so two thumbs up to the people organizing skatepark gigs etc...


TMR: Phride has become an essential site for all Metal heads in Dubai and UAE, when did you guys start joining the forum ?

Mark: I joined in January 2004 and yes Phride has been a savior for all of us, its not just an info page, its where we all keep in touch and get to know each other, its a community where we can chat and then actually meet each other at gigs a lot of people i know such as dayaan, Mutant (and i recently met Major Rasputin) were met through phride really...


TMR: What do you think is the next positive step to expand the scene ?

Mark: To stay positive, to appreciate what we have and realize that if we let it out of our grasp theres going to be big changes ahead, bad ones...


TMR: What would you personally like to add to the scene ?

Mark: I dont know really, i want to get Avarice back on track but apart from that this scene is so connected and generally high spirited, people may bitch at each other on phride but when they meet up its 'hey man hows it goin nice to meet you' so i guess we just need to keep building on what is now... I would also like to add more Dayaan to the scene... i think that would be positive... : )


TMR: Anything else you'd like to say to the rest of the Metal community across the world ?

Mark: Were all here whether you like it or not, so dont pretend you dont notice us...


I'd like to thank Mark for taking the time to send me feedback, be sure to check out his future work with some of the local scenes most promising bands.


Check out Mark on the official Of Brutality and Grace Facebook page


Here's an interesting video to watch (taken from Shamal - Battle For DDR)