Makshoof Music Profile - Faking It (Cairo)

In another feature article on Makshoof Music, we catch up with Mahmoud "7oudster" Kamel from Faking It from Cairo about the punk scene in Cairo, how they got together and what's next for the band.

Faking It, from Cairo, are a punk band with all the right tunes, and it seems have a message to deliver too. The songs are energetic and put together like a punk song should be, tight, fast and loud, but with a great melody. We particularly like 'Disjointed Words' here at triplew.me. With a strong element of The Clash seeping through their songs, we thought it was high time to catch up with Cairo's foremost punk-rockers about their origins as a band, where they're going and what's in store for the Cairo music scene.

See their Makshoof Music profile here.

Tell us about Faking It. How did you meet each other? How did you come up with the name?

Well, I had always admired punk rock, it was the type of music that I wanted to play, especially modern punk. It was fun, energetic and also dramatic when it needed to be, so I decided to form the band. At the time I was playing rhythm guitar and singing and so I went down to the local studio and posted up a flyer saying a drummer was needed for a punk rock band. I got a few replies and decide to jam with all of them until I found the right drummer with not only the technical skill needed for the music but also just fitting the part. He knew a guitarist and a bassist that were interested. The band was formed! Later on we got another guitarist and i just stuck to the vocals. When it came to the name of the band I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say using the band, the message I wanted to send. Faking It is basically a shout out to all the posers and people who pretend to be something they aren't, we know who u are, so beware!

Your music has elements of punk mixed with rock, with some excellent musicianship, with Disjointed Words a great example, with Politicians sounding like early Clash mixed with Green Day. Tell us what inspires your music and lyrics? Everyday life or something else?

Our music is inspired from basically all our surroundings. we all listen to different things and we try to fuse it. It doesn't always work but usually we get something solid. When it comes to the lyrics, I write all of them and mainly I use personal experiences and sometimes draw on global issues. But it's important that I write it in a way in which anyone can relate to it. For example, disjointed words can be interpreted in different ways. It can be a story of a love interest gone bad or it can be just life giving you the boot. It all depends on how you would want to relate to it.

There seems to be a lot of bands that are becoming more well known in Egypt, tell us what you think of the Cairo scene?

The Cairo scene is definitely growing, lots of musical talent is starting to arise and its all very interesting to watch. Honestly though, its not where is should be. I mean before, there was only metal and oriental music. Now there is alot more genres appearing, but it is still going too slow. We can blame that on few venues willing to hold concerts and poor equipment (bad sound systems and badly trained sound engineers). Hopefully though this will change and we'll find a way to fix it!

Is the punk scene big in Egypt?

The punk scene first appeared in 2004 with Brain Candy. they influenced two more bands to hit the scene in 2005, Torn Apart and Melon Army. in 2006 3 more bands appeared; Faking It, Spit Diet and Sick Gdrsch. This shows that the scene was growing exponentially. Unfortunately due to lack of interest in the genre and personal problems between band members all the bands broke up, leaving only us. To my knowledge we are the only punk rock band in Cairo.

What would you like to do with Faking It? World Domination, a record, a tour – tell us what your plans are.

For Faking It, my biggest ambition for us is to get signed. If we ever do get a record deal I'd like to play at the Vans Warped Tour. But for now, we'll just concentrate on playing more shows and getting signed.

What is your favorite show to date and why?

My favorite show was at Sakiat El Sawy with Brain Candy. This is because it was basically a group of friends doing something they love and enjoying their time. The fans picked up on that and they loved it. The more energy we absorbed from them, the more intense our performance was.

If any band in the world could support YOU at a gig, who would it be?

Alkaline Trio

Have future any shows planned soon?

During the summer, its what we bands here call dead time or the off-season. Mostly because people would rather go to the beach then go see a kick ass show. SUIT YOURSELF!

What is Faking It working on over summer?

Over the summer we will be re-recording the 3 songs that are up on our MySpace as well as recording 4 others that have been performed live, but not recorded, so we can finish our first EP.  This will be accompanied by writing new material to perform during the next year.

Faking It's profile is here, check them out & tell us what you think of them!