Once our first album (Resolve[d]) was released, people kept drawing incessant comparisons to the band Tool. It was always ‘Tool this and Tool that’. It got a bit annoying after a while,” says Greg Cargopoulos, the drummer for Dubai-based prog rock band Absolace, which has recently released its second album Fractals. “People are saying that a whole lot less with the new album as they’re seeing a wider mix of influences. We’ve found our own sound now,” he adds.
Completed by vocalist Nadim Jamal, guitarist Jack Skinner and bassist Ben Harris, Absolace released its sophomore record on February 22 in Dubai and March 26 everywhere else. Fractals is a lush assortment of atmospheric, haunting and at times, fairly heavy songs replete with ever-changing time signatures and the idea of chaos theory as its lyrical theme — represented beautifully in the album’s artwork, designed by Circles drummer Dave Hunter.
But how does it stack up against Resolve[d]? “We pushed the melodic side a little more this time and there’s a mix of heavier and lighter songs on the album,” says Cargopoulos and adds, “The main shift really was that we pushed our music rhythmically.”
Strangely, however, the band has no touring schedule planned as yet in support of its new album. “We have a really busy summer ahead of us in terms of work; additionally, our bassist Ben is going to be a father in October or so,” he says, admitting that while it would be good to hit the road with the new album, it’s simply not going to be possible. “So what we will probably end up doing is to try and release an EP before August or September, and to put some new material out there before we eventually end up going on tour,” says Cargopoulos.
Pulling back a little bit and looking at the origins of the band that started sometime in 2008, Cargopoulos and the band’s guitarist had known each other for a long time, having both grown up in Dubai since around 1995. “Jack used to carry our equipment around when I was in a band in school,” recalls Cargopoulos with a laugh and adds, “We remained friends after school and even wrote some songs together.” Jamal lived and worked in Dubai and Harris came to the city to work as a professional musician. “None of us (aside from Jack and me) knew each other. We met in the jamming room and moved forward from there,” reminisces the drummer, who numbers Porcupine Tree’s Gavin Harrison, Santana’s Dennis Chambers and Abe Cunningham from Deftones among his influences.
To meet for the first time in a jamming room isn’t a completely unique story, but the idea of a rock band in Dubai, to most, certainly is. So what’s it like being a rock band in the desert city? Cargopoulos replies, “Due to the isolation, touring isn’t always as feasible as it would be for an American or European band, but that means that you get to be more productive and write a lot more music. Plus, the music scene here is getting better all the time, with local bands touring internationally and musicians pushing boundaries.” Dubai is one of those locations on the global music map that’s slowly gathering a lot of momentum, making noise and attracting attention from the international music community. Much like the Indian alternative music scene.
Speaking about India, Absolace was due to make its maiden voyage to our shores to perform in Assam on February 25 this year. So what happened? “We were slotted to headline the Thundermarch 2012 Festival (the annual rock festival organised by NIT Silchar, Assam), but we experienced some visa problems, as a result of which we couldn’t get over to India,” says Cargopoulos. Thus, adding Absolace to a list of bands that were unable to come to play for Indian audiences due to visa issues, one of the most notable of which was British band Skindred.
Undeterred, the self-taught drummer who went to Greece in 2009 to spend two months training with legendary Nile sticksman George Kolias has big plans for the coming year and a bit. He explains, “We’re hoping to put out another album in a year’s time. Maybe we’ll be able to do a sizeable European tour next year with around 20 or so gigs across the continent,” says Cargopoulos and adds, “And we’d really like to play in India soon. After all, it’s just next door.”
We’ll keep our fingers crossed.