Nourallah Brothers : un air de famille

I learned that you did a few concerts in Europe. What struck you and more generally what was your impression on European people?
Faris: Salim did a concert in Europe as the free trip was too tempting to turn down. I thought we didn't play live.
Salim: As our first record was unplanned from its inception & came out through Western Vinyl quite accidentally, Faris & I never actually sat down & "defined" what the "Nourallah Brothers" were all about, per se. At some point, right after the album’s release, I tried to convince Faris to perform some of the music on the CD live. We had one rehearsal & then he decided he "never wanted to perform again." I went to Holland not only for the sheer "experience of it all" but also hoping that I could meet people that would help us release our next album in Europe...since we are not signed to Western Vinyl & have no assurances that any of our future CD’s will be released by them or any one else, for that matter. Anyway, it ended up being the single best musical experience of my life -- I only wish that my brother would have gone & enjoyed it with me. The people in Holland were astoundingly kind & gracious & it was an experience I will always value having.

Would you come back?
Salim: Of course I would.

Did you get back in touch with Steve Fellows to envisage (create) an international career or are you happy like you are?
Faris: Without an International career, I'm sure I wouldn't have one as it seems our music has been MUCH better received overseas. Perhaps we didn't rap enough or have enough Yahoo! on the first record.....Hmmmmm...
Salim: I guess Faris is trying to say that our first record was almost completely ignored in the USA & the only small bits of notice we’ve received have been abroad. Our country is simply too large & too dominated by corporate record labels to put out a record as small as ours & hope for any amount of attention.

We discovered you through the web site www.epitonic.com, and you have 4 track one can freely download on your website www.nourallahbrothers.com. What do you think the Internet can bring to "independant" bands like you ?
Faris: The internet has been great!! Besides the music and communication thing, now I don't have to leave my house and I get everything in the mail, which really excites me.
Salim: Anything that gives people all over the world the ability to communicate with each other is an absolute blessing -- without the internet our future making music would be even bleaker than it already is!

We are not going to ask the influence question directly but ask what you think of artists like :
- Bob Dylan
Faris: I've never heard any of the artists on your list except in casual passing (i.e. I walked through a room in which someone had Ron Sexsmith on their stereo, I heard Bob Dylan on the radio). The older I get the more I trust my pre-pubescent musical taste.
Salim: Isn’t he the one who turned the Beatles on to pot?
- Ron Sexsmith
Salim: I think Faris walked through my room once when I was playing him!
- Elliot Smith
Salim: I wonder if he gets along with himself?
- Neil Young
Salim: I guess he wrote some good songs once upon a time -- I never really liked his voice.
- Will Oldham
Salim: See: Neil Young.
- Sparklehorse
Salim: My wife loves them.
- Tom Waits
Salim: Our friend Bob Schneider has always loved him.

Retrouvez plusieurs titres en mp3 des Nourallah Brothers sur leur site internet www.nourallahbrothers.com. Les Nourallah Brothers recherchent toujours un label et/ou un distributeur pour la France. Avis aux intéressés !
(mon petit doigt me dit que les Nourallah Brothers seront chroniqués dans le numéro de Magic! du mois de Janvier 2002...)

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