"We’ll put out our new record on our own label Imprint, so we can’t blame other people. If it doesn’t work it is our fault."

Yes, they're still alive and playing their blinding brand of music. In fact they're rumoured to be releasing a brand new album anytime now. They'll be coming to Sofia and 4 days before theВ concert with Soulfly on March 15 we talk to SENSER vocalistВ -В Heitham Al-Sayed!

an interview conducted by Stefan Yordanov & Vassil Varbanov

THE NUMBER WE JUST DIALED SEEMS TO BE SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, RIGHT?
Yes, I live in France now. In Paris.

YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR SO MANY YEARS, BUT TO CERTAIN EXTENT PEOPLE STILL KEEP IN MIND JUST ‘STACKED UP’ (1994), YOUR FIRST RECORD, AND WHEN WE ANNOUNCED YOUR SHOW HERE, MOST PEOPLE WERE LIKE ‘OH, THESE GUYS ARE STILL ALIVE’. ACCORDING TO YOU, WHY DO PEOPLE STILL THINK YOU HAVE ONLY THIS FIRST RECORD OF YOURS?
Yes, we are alive! Basically that first record took a lot of time to be put out and by the time we finished touring for it everyone was exhausted. We couldn’t continue it. We had spent five years before and after touring for the same record. Next we left it for a long time.

They made one record without me, because they wanted to continue and I just had to stop. The next record we did was for One Little Indian, which is a famous indie label, and they really didn’t let people know we’re alive.

THEY WERE DOING THE BJORK RECORDS, RIGHT?
Yes. They were very happy to let people know Bjork was alive, but not us. I don’t think they really understood what we were doing. So that’s really the reason. We do a lot of other things as well. We have not been like a normal band – people have, you know, families, jobs and they have to move and come back and get involved again. But the music is the same energy. It is the same thing.

YOU HAVE BEEN DOING RECORD AFTER RECORD, AND ACTUALLY YOUR LATEST THING CAME OUT LIKE FOUR YEARS AGO – ‘SCHEMATIC’ (2004) – SO IS THERE A NEW RECORD YOU ARE PLANNING NOW?
Yes, a new record is being recorded and mastered. It is a very cool record that we have made. This time we control everything, we’ll put it out on our own label. We can’t blame other people. We can’t say it is One Little Indian’s fault. If it doesn’t work it is our fault.

COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US THE NAME OF YOUR OWN LABEL THEN?
It’s Imprint.

AND THEN IF BJORK CALLS YOU ONE DAY, WOULD YOU RELEASE HER STUFF?
Absolutely, man. She’s great, a true artist, seriously.

HOW LONG IS YOUR SET IN SOFIA GOING TO BE?
I don’t know. It is a festival, right? Festival sets are between something like half an hour to 45 minutes usually. We don’t have much time at festivals.

DO YOU KNOW THAT THE FESTIVAL IS GOING TO BE HEADLINED BY MAX CAVALERA’S SOULFLY? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THESE GUYS?
Yeah, I know. I used to love Sepultura. To be honest I don’t know that much about Soulfly. I personally listen to a lot of strange hip hop and some really heavy doomy music. I play in other bands as well.

WHAT ARE THESE BANDS? YOU LIVE IN FRANCE. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE GUISE OF MEN AND FIEND?
No, not that one. These guys lost a drummer and I was just helping them for a while. I have a band called Seed in France. We have a record. And that is what takes most of my time. And I like playing guitar and singing. That’s what I do. This kind of heavy sludgy doomy kind of music.

WHEN YOU GUYS EXPLODED THERE WAS SOMEONE ON MTV SAYING THAT YOU HEITHAM WERE ACTUALLY FROM IRANIAN BLOOD. BUT NOW WE CAN READ HERE AND THERE THAT YOU HAVE AFGHAN BLOOD…
No, that is not correct. My father is Saudi and my mother is British. That tells you how much people know about geography. They can’t tell the difference between Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia – it’s all the same you know, brown people. That is terrible.

YOU SAID THAT THE SET IS GOING TO BE 30 TO 45 MINUTES. SO, ARE YOU GOING TO PERFORM THE SO FAMOUS ‘AGE OF PANIC’ AND ‘STATES OF MIND’?
The set length was just a guess. But yeah, I guess we’re going to do like a nice mix of new songs and old songs. We are going to do some of the songs people know and some new one we want to show. But you will definitely get that you have come for.

ARE YOU BRINGING CD’S TO SELL AT THE SHOW? IT IS NOT SO EASY TO FIND ALL YOUR ALBUMS ON PHYSICAL CD’S THESE DAYS.
Yes I think we will be bringing CD’s and T-shirts for people to buy.

AS A POLITICALLY CHARGED BAND, HAVE YOU HEARD OF BANDS LIKE MC5 AND WARRIOR SOUL?
Absolutely! I love MC5. They are total warriors. I love that band. I love the way it sounds, the ideas in it. It is just free music, free spirit.

YOU MOVED TO FRANCE AS YOU SAID, BUT TALKING ABOUT POLITICALLY CHARGED BANDS WITH MESSAGES WE ARE VERY FAMILIAR HERE IN BULGARIA WITH A BRITISH BAND CALLED ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION. YOU SHARED A SIMILAR ATTITUDE AND MUSICAL VIEWS, AM I RIGHT?
Yeah. Some of their remixes are incredible. They are one of those bands that are just pure energy. I really like a lot of their work, especially their first two albums. I kind of lost track when they released the one called ‘Tank’. I guess I stopped listening a little bit after the one which was called ‘Fortress Europe’.

SO, WHY DID YOU MOVE TO FRANCE?
For love. Why else would you move to Paris?

CHEAPER DRUGS, PROBABLY?
No, the drugs here are not that good.

rights Tangra Mega Rock