Beiruti Street Punk!!!!!
Aida screams over buzzsaw guitars!
From the streets of Beirut, fresh with scars of Israeli bombing, comes Detox. While we (the Taqwacores) were worrying about doing cross-genre collaborations, this group of Lebanese punks is keeping the flame of true punk alive in the Middle East.
This is what punk is supposed to be: grimy, unapologetic, and pissed-off, complete with shouted vocals over buzzsaw guitars. Detox is a street-punk band with a definite UK 82 influence, but instead of 90% of their lyrics being dedicated obligatory drinking hymns (although this is not completely absent, i.e., the song “Detox”), they bring some political criticism. It’s refreshing to hear this kinda shit come out of a region whose Western-style pop music tends to be dominated by hip-hop.
In short, you can tell these dudes like Discharge–but that’s ok, because I do too.
My one criticism is: they sing in English. Unfortunately, a lot of bands these days think that this is a prerequisite for international popularity. As good as a band’s English may be, I think it’s ultimately more earnest and meaningful if the vocals come in your native tongue.
Anyway, check them out. Hopefully, they’ll release something soon!
Here’s their myspace:
www.myspace.com/detoxlb
-Marwan
wow, they are BADASS
and they know how to play their instruments too
yeah these people are “the bomb”
Amazing shit.
awesome
cheers for the sick review! we’ll definitely try to write more lyrics in arabic, but at the same time we’d like our lyrics to reach people worldwide.
we are still recording more new songs and will probably have our first gig in the next few weeks (perhaps 9/11 so we can terrorize beirut?)
DETOX = HAMRA TERROR !!! Fucking amazing band ! Cheers!
you should have seen their live gig at american dreams,
a fucking bad ass gig
where are you now detox?
Im lebanese and live in los angeles. I’ve been listening to punk rock about 15 years or longer. It’s great to find bands like this coming out, for us to hear. In the past i always felt like an outcast within the scene, and attending shows. Bands seem to perform all over the world except the middle east. It’s time for us to step up and let it be known!