Interview with prog metallers Lost Insen from Tunisia

Interview with prog metallers Lost Insen from Tunisia

Lost Insen (Tunisia) Prog metallers Lost Insen, in addition to having the solid album “Here After” with serious talent, have posted the full album on Bandcamp as a free pay-what-you-want download. Given that the album is surprisingly good, I thought it would be interesting to interview the band. Readers who support metal in tangible ways should double down on Lost Insen, as the band really deserves it. The guitarist Karim answered the questions.

-- How are things for Lost Insen in 2014 in Tunisia? Did you record in Tunisia?

Things for Lost Insen are pretty good, we released our first album and it seems that people like it. [We live in Tunisia] except Oscar our singer, who is Spanish and lives in Sweden. All the instruments were recorded in Tunisia, Oscar did the vocals in Sweden. We recorded in our band’s local, we have our own equipment and [producer]Julien has brought everything we needed to make the best sound we can for the album.

In the past few years Tunisia has experienced some political changes. How has that affected your music and the conditions in which you make music?

Some of the songs in the album, are inspired by the ‘Revolution’ Tunisia experienced; in fact, the last epic song ‘Freedom, it’s all about…’ is an expression of that feeling when people stand up against oppression and decide to make a change. So we can say that all those things affected our music in some way; it was difficult to rehearse in that period, but we made it through and opened for Symphony X and Amaranthe on March 26th, 2011.

Can you tell us who is in the band at this moment?

Karim Bouazra-Guitars

Mahdi Braham-Drums

Oscar Zubelzu-Vocals

Yessine Belghith-Bass

Fadhel Bouazra-Keyboards

Are you all friends from school or work?

Karim and Mahdi have known each other from friends in common when they were in high school, they played just together for sometimes as jam buddies; Fadhel joined them and formed ‘Introspection’ with Zaher Zorgatti (Myrath’s actual singer) they were inspired by Evergrey, Vanden Plas, Opeth. On his side Yessine, played with Xtazy (the band that became Myrath) and after a while he left the band to form ‘Brainstorming’ and play Dream Theater songs.

Lost Insen started in 2005 as a tribute to Dream Theater?

In 2005, the band’s singer was Amine Hassine and he did great covering James Labrie’s melodies. But after 4 years playing together we parted ways for personal reasons. After that we played with many singers, but didn’t find the one who commits himself to music as we all do. Julien helped us and contacted Oscar to record the album. We can say that he did an awesome job, he was a big help with the lyrics and we felt that he put his soul in the songs. We can’t thank him enough for doing what he did.

Has Dream Theater ever played in Tunisia?

Dream Theater never played in Tunisia. Yessine went to France in 2007 to see them live when they were on their Chaos In Motion tour.

"Here After" sounds like a professional recording. Who is Julien Fabre? How long have you known him?

After the Symphony X concert, we had 6 or 7 songs written; we decided to make demos and keep on writing music so we could improve ourselves as composers. A friend of ours helped to have contact with Julien and via e-mails and social networks we exchanged the demos, organized everything. He came in Tunisia in August 2012 and we spent 2 weeks recording the music.

Karim Bouazra is a talented guitar player and I like the melodies he plays. How long has been playing guitar?

Karim: I started playing guitars when I was 15, I think; now it’s been 13 years that I am in love with my instrument. My first guitar hero is without a doubt the great Dimebag Darrell; his playing and sound affected me so much; he’s the best riffer in the world. After that, like many ones, I started listening to the prog icons like Dream Theater of course and John Petrucci was a huge influence. He is the complete guitar player, he has musicality and his technique is so perfect, I really like the way he explores the instrument. Finally, the one and only Jason Becker; the first time I heard Altitudes I decided that guitar will be my life: At 18, he sounded better than anyone else and his sense of melody and his virtuosity, for me, there is no one guitar player who plays like him.

Is Fadhel Bouazra the brother of Karim?

Yeah, they are brothers.

How did Mehdi Braham’s parents tolerate his playing the drums in the house and what do they think now?! It was difficult at first, but they accepted it and he spent, like 2 or 3 hours per day to play in late afternoon. They are not into metal music, but they like the melodies, and they really appreciate the efforts that we put to make things happen. On the other hand, Karim and Fadhel’s parents are big fans, they share the music and try to listen to more metal bands, it’s really cool.

How long has Yessine Belghith been playing bass? He writes lyrics, too? What bands does he like?

When he was 14 he started playing guitar, but 2 years later he switched to bass guitar and since these times he’s been playing the bass for around 12 years. Cliff Burton and John Myung are his biggest influences. Oh yes, everyone in the band puts efforts musically and lyrically, we work as a team; so for example, Yessine wrote the original themes of ‘Freedom, it’s all about…’ [He likes] Dream Theater, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera.

How easy is it for Lost Insen to play shows in countries nearby, like Algeria, Morocco and Egypt?

It’s not easy, in fact, organizers and concert promoters are so rare these days; there was a time when local bands played 2 shows per month; the community was very active, but now it decreased mainly the last 2 years, we think the principal cause is that the bands didn’t have the support they needed to keep on, it’s really difficult to make sacrifices for music, mostly when there’s no support from the authorities; and now in Tunisia, we can say it’s the rap era. So to answer the question, when it’s difficult to put things on at the local stage it’s harder to play shows in other countries nearby; it would be so cool to organize something like that, but we don’t expect support so we have to make it ourselves.

How is the situation for finding jobs in Tunisia nowadays?

Fadhel and Karim are music teachers. Mahdi plays with a cover band in bars and is a freelance infographist. Yessine owns a shop of Manga/Anime merchandise and accessories. But in general, it’s not really easy, a lot of graduated students are unemployed, it’s a system fail but Tunisians are survivors.

Do you feel like there is more freedom now? Does your band have more freedom now compared to before?

It’s a better feeling of course, mainly with the newest government, they seem to be working for a better Tunisia. As things going better, we have more freedom as individuals, but the band has always took care of itself. Even if there was a better period for metal (between 2004 and 2011) we hope that the community takes chances to get bigger, so the metal scene activity returns to that point and increases even more.

Are there women into metal music in Tunisia?

There are many girls/women into metal music in Tunisia; some bands have female members like ‘Persona’ (an alternative metal band) for example.

Thanks for posting the album on Bandcamp!!

Thank you to give us the chance to talk about our band, we’re very glad. Greetings from Tunisia and Stay Metal \m/

www.lostinsen.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/LOSTINSEN