Long time, no update. I'm still in Morocco and still have limited access to collage materials, so there isn't any new work to put up. I don't want to be posting for the sake of posting, but I feel like some sort of update is long overdo.
Firstly, there is a correction I'd like to make as to a previous post. The collage, "the Future is a Machine...", was supposed to be raffled at the
Though, I haven't made a collage in a while, I do have something to show for the last few months. As I have made quite clear, I am living in Morocco, right now. If you don't know where that is, I recommend that you pick up an atlas, because you aren't getting any love from me. Anyway, as a fan of punk, I am a firm believer that in every country, no matter how small and obscure, there exists at least one punk band. Well, it took me a while, but I managed to hunt down arguably the only punk band in Moroccan (I say "arguably" as there are definitely other bands with punk influence. However, I would not define them strictly as punk.). The band is
Unfortunately, as there so much to fit into KDViationS, the interview had to be edited down a little bit. While I encourage you to check out the issue of KDViationS in its full glory, here is the original, unedited version of the interview, for your pleasure.
Trotsky: Alright Let’s start this off with introductions. What are you names and what do you play in the band?
Zohair: I am Zohair and I do the vocals in the band, ZWM, and this is...
Simo: Yeah, I am Simo, the bass player.
T: So, there are some other members in the band, too. Right?
S: Yeah, they couldn’t be here.
Z: We have Amine, the lead guitarist, and Taha, the new second guitarist. Before, Taha was Younnes, who had to leave. We have Simo (another Simo), the drummer, and Zakaria doing second vocals.
T: The band’s name is an acronym. What is that short for?
Z: ZWM means Zlak Wlla Moot. It’s written in the occidental alphabet, but the name is actually Arabic... Darija... Moroccan Arabic. “Zlak” means “ride,” “wlla” means “or” and “moot” means “die.” “Zlak Wlla Moot.” “Ride or Die.”
S: We were a group of guys that were all into that kind of...extreme sports, like skateboarding, surfing, all of that. Zohair used to surf and me, I used to skate, the drummer bmx’d, the guitarists skateboarded.
T: How were you guys introduced to punk?
S: Like I said, we were skateboarding and surfing a lot and we were watching a lot of skateboarding videos. All the soundtracks to these videos had punk bands, like Rancid and the Ramones, and we decided to research what this music was and we discovered that punk is the revolution. It’s to be free...to have your own life.
T: So, how did the band form, then?
S: Firstly, we were all friends and we would skate together. Zohair was already doing some music, too.
Z: I had a band called the Flowers. I tried to do some punk songs with them, but things didn’t work out, so I left that band. I went to my group of friend that were all into extreme spor...my group of uh...”extremists.”
S: It was me and Amine. He told us about his new project, which he was calling ZWM, “Ride or Die.” We loved the idea and agreed. We already had a band, called No Name, but we were giving fuck to that band, to join Zohair in ZWM.
T: Your music has been heavily influenced by a lot of American and British punk, but has it at all been effected by Moroccan music?
S: Yeah, we listen to our music, our culture, like gnawa, reggae and ‘izawa.
Z: In some of our songs you can find a little fusion of occidental punk and local styles, like gnawa. Like, we have a song called “Morocco” and you can find in the middle of the song the rhythm of gnawa, “k’tchk k’tchk, k’tchk k’tchk.”
T: What are your songs typically about?
S: We sing about the situation that we live in, in our country and around the world. Like poverty, war, sickness, bad things, dirty people, good things, the government. For example, we have a song, not recorded yet, but we play it live, called “Khalti l’Bitala.” In English it means “Aunt (of the) Unemployed.” It’s about all the people who can’t get a job in order to survive, especially in this country.
Z: Yeah, and you have other songs, like “Morocco” and “Eela l’Hhatgtee l’Wadnik Maniha.” All of the bad things and good things in the world are here in Morocco...wherever.
T: What are your shows usually like?
S: Sometimes we get to play at some big festivals, like Boulevard Des Jeunes Musiciens in Casablanca, and sometimes we do it ourselves. It depends on the situation.
T: So, for setting up your own shows, here, what do you have to go through? Is it difficult?
S: Yeah, it’s difficult to find a place that we can play. The music we play is not like the typical music of our culture, so people often don’t let us use their venues.
T: What are some other bands that you have shared a stage with?
S: We have played with Exploited...
Z: We actually played alongside the Exploited at a show for a little bit.
S: ...Dirty Fonzie, Haousa, Lazy Wall, Gojira, Paradise Lost, Psycup, and a lot more.
T: Do have any favorite shows, in particular that you have played?
S: Yeah. Boulevard, because it’s the only festival in Morocco that takes care of rock and metal bands.
T: What do people, here, typically think of your music?
S: Most people like the idea that we can play punk in Darija. It’s original.
T: Well, then what do your parents think of your music?
S: Some of them are for it and some are against. That’s life.
T: What is it like being a punk in Morocco?
S: Firstly, to have a punk mentality is something that we find great, but here in Morocco, it’s not our culture, so people usually think negatively about you if you look like one. That’s why we try to play punk with a Moroccan touch. Also, there’s a lack of possibilities, here. That’s why can’t go around looking like punks all of the time. That’s the reason we had to give up skating. Here, a skateboard costs enough money for a family to live off of for a month.
Z: We have problems. It’s difficult. Sometimes we can’t go against the system, here. We miss a lot of possibilities for work. This is not an industrial country. You can’t find a job. If you do, they are not going to pay you like a human.
T: Are there any other punk bands in Morocco, besides ZWM?
Z: Yes, but not a lot. Four or five, maybe. We have Haousa, Raining Madness and Fun is Back. That’s all that I know of.
T: So, what is the situation like for metal and hip hop and other... I guess, what would be called “underground music?”
Z: You can find a lot of metal bands, here. More than punk, but it’s still difficult for them, too. For rock and metal, here, things don’t work, but hip hop and fusion music works well.
S: People love commercial music.
T: I understand things were a lot different for punk and metal in Morocco, before around 2003. What was the situation like, then?
Z: Things were boring. There was no punk, no metal, no hip hop, no fusion. There was no scene. There was only Boulevard, one time a year. All the bands were underground and no one cared about them or heard about them.
S: There were no shows, no places to skate (and there still aren’t). We just sat around and got high, because that’s all there was to do.
T: How have things changed since?
Z: We have radio stations playing some local metal and punk, though not a lot. We have some festivals that care about the young musicians and the new wave and we think that this new generation will be famous. This generation refuses the control of the government. They want to do something new. They saw that nothing ever changed when they were little. They want to create the change themselves and have found that the only way to do so is by singing.
T: Alright. Do you guys have any other projects besides ZWM?
Z: We don’t want projects...because we want just ZWM, for life, and we want nothing bad to become of it.
T: So to wrap things up here, what are the band’s goals for the future?
Z: We have our first international concert, in Toulous, France. We are hoping to setup a short tour around Paris, maybe. Also, we are going to be recording our first album soon, insha’Allah.
