Interview with Democratoz
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes we all have played in different bands.
How is it that you started playing music?
About me:
I started playing music because when I was young I was very melomaniac I was lessening many singers and musicians, I was trying to imagine how they feel when they play on the stage.
About the band:
We start our project or our band because we have same vision about what happened in our country "Algeria" socially or politicly, and we try to share our message or way to think and our music with our auditors.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Halim Drummer 33
Sadek Singer 32
Abderrahmane Guitar "Popeye" 27
Amine Bass 27
Mehdi "Lilg" keyboard and beat maker 28
Nassim Guitar 28
Fares Saxophone 33
Have you had other previous members? Yes we had another keyboardist Mehdi 32
Did you make music even when you were young? For me I begin at 21, a think all members of the band started music late after 20 year old
Where are you from? We are from Algeria, I'm from the city of Constantine, Sadek, Popeye, and Lilg are from Oran, Halim is from Tlemcen, Nassim and Amine (they are cousins) are from Béchar.
What year did the band form? In 2011
What's your style of genre? Algerian African reggae music
What inspires you? We are in multicultural country we are mix between Berber Arab French Spanish Turkish... So musically I think we have those different sounds. And of course the legendary Bob Marley
How often and where do you reherse? We try to rehearse every day but it's not easy, we have our studio record in the house of Sadek, it's for us the best place to rehearse.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We learn very much every day and specially when we have tours we can meet a lot of musicians and share our experiences.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Yes for me it's important to share with anothers musicians, I learn a lot.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We don't have any booking agency or something like that, we never worked with an professional manager, but it's time to begin.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We are still working on our first album, and we work with a great man Jean Alain Roussel, hi work with big artist like Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and many others, after finishing our album we will see what opportunities we will have.
What made you decide to make this music? The situation of our country, since we have our independence in 1962 we still leaving very badly in our country and it's not normal, we are the biggest country in Africa, we have many ressources.
What are your songs about? Our song's are about the social and political situation in our country.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Sadek write the lyrics, and we all composing the music
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It depends we can make it in the tow ways
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Yes we can compose when something happens in the actually of our country or around the world
Have you done any covers live? No
What language do you sing in? In Algerian Arabic or French and we some English.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? A think the energy and the power of the message, and also the Algerian and African rythmes
What ages are most of your concert attendants? I think between 20 and 35
What was your first gig like? It wah very nice experience, it was the first part of an very famous artist in Algeria
What was your latest gig? It was in 4points Sheraton hotel in Oran in August.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Yes, but it was because we are engaged band and the authorities cancelled our participation in many festival until now.
Where have you played live this year? Only In Oran Algeria
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It's bad think because the situation of the musicians all over the world is the same, we must encourage the creation.
What do you think of my work? We like your initiative it's wonderful to share with you, and we are far from each other, that is the real sense of the music don't have borders.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? The most important that is a way of expression to let us know your readers
Do you have any role models or idols? Yes Bob Marley is our idole and every musician have his own idol
Why do you think that they exist? To show us the way, and in the story of every idol we know that it wasn't easy for them, so it give us the energy and the motivation to continue.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Yes of course we learn a lot after our Usa tour after seeing very active bands on the stage
What have been your biggest obstacles? Ignorance
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Don't give up and working hard every day for our dreams.
How can people reach you? On our Facebook page Democratoz Officiel
What are your plans for the future? Finishing our first album
Do you have something to add? I'm really sorry for the delay and thank you so much for your interest
