An interview with Jean Pierre Haddad the Guitar player and vocals of Kimaera a Symphonic / Heavy /Gothic /Doom Death metal band from Lebanon :"There is a huge problem concerning Metal in Arabian countries, unfortunately, ...There are very good musicians and bands around here , and most of them are desperate and trying to achieve something !"

We'd like you to give us a fast overview about your band and what style you play?
The band started in 2000. We are Lebanese.
We used to play heavy metal !later on , when we decided to start with originals , our style became more complex , we tried to create something different , so we ended up playing something that goes well with the definition of symphonic/Doom Death metal , with female vocals , keyboards and lately violins ! And I think the result is turning out better than we expected!

Can you tell us about your music influences?
Our music influences are quite wide .They vary from Rock/Heavy metal to Gothic/Doom/Death metal. IT depends mostly on each member!

What are your lyrics about?
Our lyrics have different themes. Some of them are based on personal experiences, others on historical events such as "God's Wrath", and some others tend to dark romance!

(Kimaera) Tell us how out pick out this name and what it means?
The original name of the band was "Chimera", which means "A Grotesque product of the imagination" & in the Greek mythology it means: fire-breathing she-monster with a lion's head and a goat's body and a serpent's tail, daughter of Typhoon! But we actually go with the first meaning!!
We had to change the way it's written to "Kimaera" since "Chimera" is registered to some other band .It is still pronounced the same though!

Give us some info about your band members?
-I'm the oldest member, since I founded the band!
'Paul', the other guitarist, is the second oldest member, and then came the alcoholic freak 'Wissam' on bass!
Then we did massive changes in the line up, we got 'Sabine' the best female vocalist around, she's in Australia now! Then we got 'Moe', an 18 years old keyboardist, he's really good and quite creative! The newest member to join was 'Pascal', also, one of the best drummers that u can find! And there might be a violinist on the way!

Give us some info about your first recorded "GOD'S WRATH"
"God's Wrath" took lots of hard work and patience during the recording process... We decided to release it as a single since the rest of our tracks aren't recorded yet!
"God's Wrath" talks about Sodom and Gomorrah, the lyrics are available in the site if u wants to check them out!
'This song is a good example about what we are able to create musically and gives an excellent idea about our music and what to expect from us.

I listen to your song and I see it nearly doom/gothic also it mixed of all kind of metal with symphonic; tell us how you choose this style?
As I mentioned earlier, our style is a mixture of many, we wanted to do something special, a style that combines different moods with many changes in its atmosphere! It goes from Doom/Death metal with powerful growls to symphonic parts with a gothic feel, keyboards and violins along Sabine's soprano!

Where did you record your song?
The drums were recorded at peakhall , a well known place for metalheads in Lebanon. The rest of the tracks were recorded at WamStudio for its owner Walid Al Massih who really helped us a lot along the way!!

Any upcoming album?
- Hopefully yes .There is 6 to 7 songs ready to get recorded!
To be honest , we r planning to record the rest of the album at my place , using pc recording software , since it is really hard to find good quality studios with reasonable prices around here !

What is your favorite album and band?(This Q for all band members)
-My Favorite band nowadays is "My Dying Bride" , with "Like Gods Of The sun" as a favorite album !
The rest of the members are not available at the moment to reply so u can check each member's profile in the site for such info!

How is the metal scene in Lebanon, I heard there is problem there, you can read the interview with kaoteon from Lebanon, also there is the same problem in Arabian country, what you says about this problem?
Yeah I read the interview with Kaoteon , the guys are good friends of ours! There is a huge problem concerning Metal in Arabian countries, unfortunately, I guess we all agree on that! I don't know what to really say about it , except that hope it will turn out fine .There are very good musicians and bands around here , and most of them are desperate and trying to achieve something ! So I hope that someday Metal will get the same support as other music genres are getting!

How is the concert in Lebanon, did you perform in any concert?
There are many concerts going on in Lebanon , but I must say , I'm losing interest !They are not interesting anymore ,at least to me !
Last time we performed was in January 2003, so as u can see, it's been quite a while. Actually we are only focusing on recording, but we might participate in interesting events this summer if we got the chance to!

Did you think to play concert in any Arabic country, and where?
Well we did mention it few times, but we really didn't take it very seriously, since it is really hard for us to play outside Lebanon at the moment! But if we got a real chance to perform in an Arabic country, Morocco would be a good place; they got big festivals going on there as I noticed! But we really won't mind performing in any other country if we can make it there!

What you think to make Arabian metal festival?
I think it would be really interesting! We don't get to see such events too often!

Is there any band you would like to play with as support act?
Never really thought about it! But I guess any real Doom/Death metal band would do the job!

Message for Arabian metal underground?
Be supportive and keep Metal alive!!

Thanks for the interview we wish you good luck.
Thank u Mohammed...

Interview by DeathCurse

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