Interviews: Cypher

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Progressive Metal band Cypher from the United Arab Emirates. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, did you plan it or come out just like that?

The band name was derived from metal gear solid-cipher being zero’s. In the early days of the band, we wanted to have a mysterious vibe around our name, and “cypher” really fit the bill for all of us. It implies a “secret writing” of sorts, which really suits our vibe.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

After several years of dabbling with death-metal,black-metal, thrash metal, etc. we decided to merge all those influences into one band and add a progressive twist to it all. While each of our musical backgrounds is different, we enjoy different musical elements in the modern prog-metal genre. Also, while jamming together on some modern prog ideas, we learned that we complement each other quite well with each of our influences.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Ahmad, Aaron, and Nishit have known each other for roughly 15 years. Mehdi and Ahmed (drummer) are new to the band but gelled right in as if we’ve known each other for a long. We’ve often met during local shows but had decided to get together to write stuff in early 2022.

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Ahmad-Cloud kicker

Aaron – Tesseract

Mehdi – Novelists

Nishit – Death.

Aaron’s favorite bands are in the extreme metal realm, while Ahmad’s favorite bands historically have been in the black metal realm. Mehdi’s influences are more strongly in the djent/ modern prog realm, while Kholy likes blackened death metal & djent comprising of Animals As Leaders, Vildhjarta, Humanity’s Last Breath, Tesseract, Silent Planet & of course – Periphery.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Thematically, I think most of our songs are inspired by the unknown. By the “unknown”, we’re talking about humanity’s struggle to make sense of what we can’t yet perceive. Think of something along the lines of love craft and related ideas from the world of sci-fi.

6. Where was your last gig?

Unfortunately, it has not yet been played for Cypher. We’re a relatively new band but stay tuned – our jam sessions have been working out perfectly and we are on the way to having our first gig right here in our hometown - Dubai

7. Where would you like to act?

We’re open to anywhere! Be it the U.A.E., India, Egypt, or the U.K. – we go where the opportunity calls us.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

That’s a toughie – honestly, we’re not looking to feature yet with anyone locally as the sad reality is – the scene is not developed enough nor has the capabilities to generate worthwhile features. Abroad – we’d bite their hands off to be featured anywhere – be it the likes of smaller bands or even larger bands that are well-established and understand the genre.

9. Whom not?

We’d rather be diplomatic and not mention – let’s be real – we as a band have a long way to go and hopefully get there eventually.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Stage fright differs from person to person, since most of the band members have stage experience already, we don’t suffer from that predicament but of course, there have been times when we shat the bed in our past band experiences, all in all, it can hit you like a train. For myself personally, a few slaps to the face and a small swig of something will kick the jitters away. Stage fright disappears when your singular focus is to play as tightly as possible and have as much fun vibing with the rest of the band while playing. I don’t have specific advice here, but I think an abstract way to approach this, is that really “feeling” the music with your bandmates while on stage goes a long way. 

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Tesseract, Skyharbor, Monuments, Opeth, Novelists, Death, Cynic, Periphery, The Black Dahlia Murder, amongst a whole lot of other artists. As a band, the one common band we all fanboy over is Periphery.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Someone’s asked what brand of shampoo one of our guitarists uses for his hair. 

13. What do you think of your fans?

Feels like most of the fans are from outside the U.A.E. and would love for them to reach out to us and provide feedback or remarks on anything we produce. for the ones we have within the local scene, we love them and appreciate their support at all times! Interesting bunch of people who really pay attention to the little details on our tracks. We’re very impressed by their attention to detail, and we’d love to hear more feedback from them and others. We’re heavily feedback-oriented, and we feel that it makes us better musicians.

14. What do you think of our site?

It’s really cool! Y’all have a diverse set of acts both geographically as well as musically mentioned on it. Very honored to be a part of it!

15. Something to add?

We’re hoping to gain more engagement after the release of our E.P. and for us – its majorly key to gain feedback on what we put out, we’re living in a world where people either choose to interact negatively or not at all.