These guys have fought hard to fulfill the dream of playing the music they love, and the effort has succeeded beyond the borders of Saudi Arabia managing to enter the most important festivals of the underground scene. We contacted Fawaz to tell us more about this great moment of the band.
OEF: You are the first grind band from Arabi Saudi. How did your band started?
Fawaz: We started out as kids in America with big dreams. We returned to Saudi Arabia in 2001 and found the music landscape to be very difficult to get into. We continued to practice and improve our skills inside a small room with a drumset with no hi-hats and broken crash cymbals!
OEF: Is difficult for you to play extreme music in your homeland? ¿Do you have any trouble with government or local people?
Fawaz: Organizing music events in Saudi Arabia is banned by the government. ANY form of music, not just extreme! So with that in mind, we had to improvise and do private shows in private locations in the Kingdom. We don't have trouble if we don't look for trouble but if you're caught by the religious police, you could face prison time.
OEF: Do you believe there is potential for a future scene of extreme metal in Arabi Saudi?
Fawaz: We definitely hope so. We hope our story influences young musicians in Saudi Arabia to start expressing themselves in any genre. We hope to see more extreme bands coming out of the kingdom but it will take time.
OEF: Creative Waste was welcome in festivals like MDF (Maryland Deathfest) and OEF, and your music has good reception in the audience. Have you ever imagine this reception in places so far from your land?
Fawaz: We were so thrilled to play at these events! Since we had no shows to play in Saudi Arabia, we used to sit around and watch our favorite bands on YouTube play these amazing festivals and we hoped we could be a part of that one day. Now that we are, it's a very surreal experience. To be sharing the stage with bands that we still look up to is a huge honor and a privilege for us. The audience, the organizers, everyone has been amazing and treated us with respect and kindness. We don't have a big extreme music scene in Saudi Arabia so being around people who understand our love of extreme music is something words cannot describe. We still can't believe it!
OEF: What are your plans for Creative Waste in the future?
Fawaz: More shows and more ear-ripping music! We're starting the writing process all over again so it's exciting to see where we can take our sound next.
Creative Waste will be playing at Obscene Extreme America, so come and give them the support they deserve.
More information at:
Facebook
www.facebook.com/CreativeWaste
Myspace
www.myspace.com/creativewaste
Bandcamp
www.creativewaste.bandcamp.com