Summer Fusion is one of their signature events with previous
installments in 2008, 2009, and 2010. This year 14 bands of various genres and
styles will take to the stage for a concert that is, without question, the
biggest platform for local bands. Aside from live musical performances, your
ticket will grant you access to the pool and beach at Mocean, starting 11 AM
and going on into the night.
I sat down with the guys for a very fun chat (which quickly
turned into a chicken wings and fried pickles feast). Here's what they had to
say...
- · Tell me a little bit about the start of RockRing.
Maher:
Roy used to organize concerts starting in 2002, so we met at Cherry’s in 2006.
Our first event together was Back to the Roots. It was kind of like, “let’s do
a concert like old times” and it happened… Later on, in 2007, [Elie] Salloum
and Roy organized Global Battle Of The Bands [GBOB] together and I joined in.
Elie:
Roy and I were friends before; we used to know each other through bands: I used
to manage bands and Roy used to play in a band.
Roy:
GBOB 2007 was the first time we announced the name RockRing.
Elie:
Yeah the name came up on MSN actually… [laughing]
Roy:
In Lebanon, Bands can either play in a pub or a big festival or concert. Pubs
are small and boring, and big events need connections. That was the idea behind
RockRing, to be a middle ground to give all bands equal opportunities and events.
Maher:
Yeah, so basically, we were remembering the concerts we used to attend at Mad
Wheels. So we decided to get all the bands back together in the same place and
that’s how it started. Then there was Back To The Roots II and III, Tribute
Hall I and II, Summer Fusion I, II, and III, Rock For Peace, Global Battle Of
The Bands I and II, HAIL! I and II…
- · Why the long hiatus?
Maher:
We got a bit busy with our professional work, other than making events.
Roy:
Our careers ‘flourished’ [air quotes, laughing].
Maher:
Basically at that time all of us started building our careers
Roy:
We switched from college life to business. I was starting my company Grind
Design & Development.
Elie:
Yeah, we’d just finished college and started working.
Maher:
We’ve found the time now, 3 and a half years later. We’ve established ourselves
in our careers, at least in a way to be able work on events again.
Roy:
Mainly from my side, my company grew steadily that now I now have a good team
that can work independently of me, so this gives me a bit more free time to
focus on other things.
- · Outside of RockRing, what do you guys do for a living?
Roy:
I’m managing partner of Grind Design & Development, Head of Development at
Louaize School, studio owner, and I’m also starting a developers’ workshop and
training program for schools.
Maher:
I’m a professional monkey… [laughing] (He’s an engineer!).
Elie:
I work in hospitality.
 |
| GBOB 2011 |
- · What got you in to the Rock scene to begin with?
Roy:
It started with a band. It was an idea for a school event… that’s how I
started, and then it grew.
Maher:
For me, it started with me playing music by myself for a long time. Through
forums, I met other people and we started to play together and make fools out
of ourselves [laughing], so I started playing in bands.
Elie:
I managed bands. I liked to organize small events; my friends were musicians. I
helped them out organizing their first concerts, helping them with their bands
and everything having to do with their music.
Roy:
After starting our own bands, we started organizing small events to play in,
then we moved on to RockRing.
Elie:
We were all in the same scene. We faced the same difficulties; we became
friends and we started working on improving things.
- · What is your motivation to be back?
Roy:
We noticed a big gap in the scene since we stopped. This gap is the reason we
started in 2006. It’s still there. There are a lot of bands and lots of
potential but everyone is disconnected; there’s no common ground.
Elie:
There are no other organizers offering bands a good environment to play live
and equal with opportunity. It’s either big and international or back to pubs. There’s
no middle ground...
Maher:
So we’re back to doing what we used to do before by doing events and mixing up
newer bands with older bands to help them expose themselves and gain more
experience.
- · What is new with RockRing now that you are back?
Roy:
Other than the events and GBOB, we will start RockRing club, will be a
community trying to build the scene with activities and gatherings as a
platform to unite Lebanese bands and help promote them and keep the creativity flowing.
We’re also building a platform for
musicians and bands… it’s a meeting ground for everyone to find each other, to
promote yourself or your event through the whole system without going through
Facebook and handing out flyers…etc. It starts local and will grow
international. One other project, the directory and the website promoting the
Lebanese bands; they can search and check their music, and at the same time we’ll
be trying to have this kind of music be exposed to new people. Usually this
kind of music is not on the radio, so we’ll try to be the source.
Elie:
We always had the idea of RockRing being a community, and not a company. Now
with more experience, we are able to better achieve that.
Roy:
We’re not a company in the traditional sense.
Elie:
We’re more of an organization…
Roy:
Musicians for musicians… that’s our motto.
 |
| Summer Fusion 2010 |
- · So, what was your first official event?
Roy:
GBOB was the first event we organized under the name of RockRing. The final
took place in London, December 2007.
Maher:
We represented RockRing as national directors at GBOB in Lebanon. In London,
there was a round table meeting with all the directors from all over the world.
Roy:
At the meeting, they all talked about their average attendance at each GBOB
event. Lebanon’s GBOB exceeded everyone’s attendance by far, and everyone was really
impressed with what we were able to do!
- · What is your favorite event so far?
Roy:
Global Battle Of The Bands.
Elie:
My favorite is the first HAIL!* event at Tantra. I remember, I was standing
above the stage watching the show. The place was full and literally everybody
was moving to the music. It was amazing. As for the yearly events, I’d say Back
To The Roots.
Maher:
The first HAIL! event… and Summer Fusion is nice because it’s a beach thing.
Elie:
I hate the beach. [laughing]
*[HAIL!
is the all star band made up of some of the top artists in the international
rock and metal scene. It was the highest caliber metal lineup to ever come to
Lebanon. RockRing organized HAIL!’s trip and performance in Lebanon twice, with
different lineups. 2009: Tim “Ripper” Owens, Andreas Kisser, Paul Bostaph,
David Ellefson & 2012: Tim “Ripper”
Owens, Paul Bostaph, James LoMenzo, Dave Linsk.]
- · How about your worst experience so far?
Elie:
I think we’d all agree on the same thing…
Maher:
HAIL! II because of logistics, but Tribute Hall II at La Cite, the ventilation broke
down…
 |
| HAIL! II 2012 |
- · What is it like to work with local bands?
Roy:
Good question…
Maher:
It was like a family thing when we started, it became easier to work with them,
they got used to us…
Roy:
compared to other organizers, we communicate with them on the same level. We
know what we’re doing because we’re musicians, so they trust us
Elie:
We were doing it because we like it. We’re from the same scene
Maher:
They’d see us headbanging in other events.
- · What about the downside?
Roy:
Since we’re friends with all bands,
sometimes making decisions is hard as we also see every happy and sad face.
- · How do you see the local Rock/Metal scene now that you’re back?
Roy:
There are lots of bands now, lots of activity and lots of practices going on,
but there is no real platform for them to grow. So it goes back to either a
small pub event or the other extreme.
Elie:
The bands don’t have a link from the small pub events to the huge festivals.
Roy:
I noticed that the experienced and pro bands don’t have enough events to play
in for the new bands to look up to them and compare standards.
Maher:
When we used to do our big events, newer bands had something to look up to.
Elie:
The bands don’t have an event to connect them together, to see each other….
Maher:
Metal is also a genre that we support, it kind of disappeared since we stopped.
There hasn’t been any new exposure to metal bands and metal music. The few
international bands who came to Lebanon under big promoters had few opening
acts by local metal bands.
Roy:
The newer bands seem much friendlier and amicable between each other. They seem
close.
Elie:
There were so many personal issues between bands.
Roy:
Yeah, now I don’t see it. Everyone is more supportive it seems.
 |
| Blood Ink at Summer Fusion |
- · What is new with Summer Fusion this time around?
Roy:
Same concept. This year, Summer Fusion is like CPR to the music scene. The hype
is huge. There are people who haven’t been in touch for 4-5 years that are
getting back in touch. Even staff who used to work with us are getting back in
touch. Some people are planning their travel plans to come back for the event. Our
aim is to make it bigger. This event is the first spark
Elie:
We’re trying to recreate the connection.
Maher:
We decided to start again with one of our most successful events and a great
concept.
Roy:
Our jobs and connections in our careers, they’ll help us achieve more, and help
us to make adjustments. We were basically still students, now we have much bigger
potential, which we are trying to make use of.
Maher:
Summer Fusion is something that people don’t find in other events. We’re
already doing something different in the scene; there aren’t any events where
you can swim and listen to all these genres of music.
Roy:
The concept of the event is just a huge meeting ground for everyone, which is
why we decided to start with this event.
Maher:
People are expecting it to be the same, so we’re not changing too much, we’re
improving from what we’ve learned over the past 3 years and other events, but
we’re not changing the basic concept. For the future, we’ll see…
Roy:
We might have a second stage next time…
Maher:
In the future, more music, better experience for the people…
Roy:
More music, more fun!
- · Tell me more about the lineup for Summer Fusion 2015.
Roy:
The lineup was a bit hard to choose because there are a lot of new bands. We’ve
had to check out all the bands. There’s been limited time and a lot of bands,
and we’ve tried to include one band of each different style to create a big
variety. We’ve also included big bands alongside new bands to keep the same
level. The bands start with warm up acoustic chill music, then music that goes
better with swimming, then sunset, then it gets more hyped up, then it cools
down again.
 |
| David Ellefson - HAIL! I |
- · Are there any plans for upcoming events on an international scale?
Roy:
It depends on logistics. There are potential plans, but they’re still
unconfirmed. We brought the biggest people in Metal to Lebanon (HAIL!). That
was the first time Metal Hammer or international metal magazine ever wrote a
full page on Lebanon. HAIL! Even commented
on the event, calling us “the best and youngest organizers of the whole
European tour”.
Elie:
Abba* said we were the youngest and most professional organizers he’s ever
worked with
*[Mark
Abbatista manages many big artists, including HAIL!]
- · After Summer Fusion, what can we look forward to?
Roy:
Global Battle Of The Bands! It’s the biggest band battle in the world, and RockRing
is the only official licenses holder in Lebanon.
The
winning band gets the chance to represent Lebanon internationally… And this
will be the third round of GBOB in Lebanon.
Maher:
The rules are easy: The bands must play originals, for a duration of 8 minutes,
and they must play live.
Elie:
Yeah, No recordings whatsoever. They can play any genre.
Maher: Anything is accepted as long as those rules are kept.
Roy:
Bands have already started signing up for the upcoming GBOB.
 |
| Summer Fusion 2009 |
For
registration or more info on the Global Battle of the Bands, click here.
Check
out the Summer Fusion Facebook event page here.
Stay
updated with all of RockRing’s news through their official Facebook page, here.
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