Where are you currently based and what is the music scene like there?
I live in Sydney in Parramatta. I think I’m the only musician there lol like the closest thing to musicians there is people with $500 cars + $2000 sound system bumping loud Lebanese hit songs from the year 2001. The closest music scene to me is Newtown it’s like 25km/50-minute drive thanks to traffic in Sydney ☺. Parramatta is beautiful though! It’s close to both work and Uni and I have my chiropractor Daniel 500m away from home which is helping me keeping my back pain under control ☺
You grew up in Egypt, how was this experience and how has the Egyptian culture influenced your music?
People in Egypt breath music ! When I grew up there, music piracy wasn’t a thing so there was countless songs released daily and if you don’t listen you’ll be left out of conversations next day in school or at soccer practice. That helped shaping my diversified musical taste. Listening to music for musicians is as important as going to the gym is for bodybuilders.
How has it been adapting to the Australian culture?
It wasn’t easy, when we first arrived to Australia about 10 years ago we resided in a town in QLD called Yeppoon. It was definitely a culture shock and the fact that I couldn’t speak a single word of English didn’t help at all. I reckon it took me about 3 years or 4 to adapt. I was fortunate to have an amazing group of true Aussies making the process of adaptation smoother.
Your new album is very personal, please tell us about what influenced the sound and song writing?
The sounds were influenced by various artists, for example you can definitely hear some Miami Horror in Track 6 “Trynna Bring Us Down” There is a Flume feel to track number 1 “Feeling Lucky” I am sure that you can get a feel or a different artist on each of the 8 tracks on the album. The lyrics were inspired mainly by life events. I came up with “now I run the block you can call me scotty cam” while watching the block 2018! Which was a great season btw!
How did you go about writing the music for this album?
I start by making a beat, writing the music and lyrics for it, record it and send it to Stuart B to mix and master it. Then when I hear the final product I ask Stuart If he can make some changes with the production. I usually come up with my lines either on my way to work or Uni them polish them when I am recording with Neal. I wrote “Why do you hate me so much” in the studio with Neal after playing him the beat Stuart made. At the time I genuinely thought that my supervisor at the time hated me! then I found out that she didn’t hate me ! she just hated everyone so I kinda felt better about it.
What was it like working with Stuart B?
It was amazing. He’s the most chilled guy you’ll ever come across like we did nearly 20 drafts for some songs and he was totally ok with it. He’s based in Melbourne and I am in Sydney now so we did everything through emails. I found out about Dom Cork and Taka Perry through Stuart so I reached out to them and we did 2 tracks.
How do you go about balancing your work life with your music career?
Lots of coffees mixed with sleep deprivation. I work 2 jobs in addition to doing my masters at Macquarie university. I wish I can take some time off work to focus on music more but as an independent you have to pay for: Production, recording, mixing and mastering yourself! so taking time off is a luxury I can’t afford
What do you have planned for the remainder of 2018 going into 2019?
I’ll just see what life throws at me ☺ for now I’m just enjoying a break from Uni and enjoying to having to stress about getting the album done.
What do you like to do away from music?
Watching movies ! Playing soccer (before my lower back injury)! Watching soccer! Watching rap battles !
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Kendrick lamar’s section 80 ! Drake’s Take care ! Drake’s nothing was the same ! Meek mill’s Dream’s and Nightmares.
How did you first start playing music?
In 2011 I got a mac book and it had Garageband installed. I foundout that you can play piano or any instrument on your keyboard!! Then I got addicted to it until I upgraded to Logic pro
Favourite food and place to hangout?
When I used to live in Melbourne I loved hanging out in “Lucky Coq” on Chaple Street! Unfortunately we don’t have anything close to it here in Sydney. There is a very cool café in Bondi that I always go to, it’s called Preach. Also, the best burger in Sydney is at Nadia’s in Parramatta! It’s a cool café inside Westfield Parramatta.
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