Just before the media explodes with reviews of shows and films presented at the American South by Southwest this year, we thought we'd highlight one regional band that will be performing.
Egyptian post hardcore band Massive Scar Era is slated to perform on March 21 as part of the hugely popular SXSW 2015 Festival in Austin, Texas. The annual festival showcases film screenings, musical performances, speakers, events and exhibitions. Massive Scar Era previously performed for the festival in 2013 as well.
The music portion of the SXSW Festival is the largest of its kind in the world, featuring some 2,200 official performed throughout 100 venues. In recent years, 15,000 to 20,000 registrants make the trek to Austin for the event each March.
The band originally formed in Alexandria back in 2005. Frontwoman Sherine Amr had the passion to form a metal band since her days as a teenager playing guitar and singing in an all girls band. After a few false starts, she connected with Nancy Mounir, a classically trained violinist.
Together the two formulated a unique sound with other bandmates. Moving to Cairo in 2009, the band has since released four EPs that garnered international attention and include male members in their originally all female group.
Massive Scar Era also recently announced plans to record their first full-length album entitled 10/30. They plan to record the album in Nashville, Tennessee with Regenerate Music, a Grammy Award-winning recording company.
Coming up a little short in covering their expenses for the trip to Nashville, the band followed the Egyptian crowdfunding trend and ran an Indiegogo campaign to raise the necessary funds. They successfully reached about 50 percent of their goal.
Last year, Lebanese blues and rock band The Wanton Bishops also performed at SXSW, receiving positive reviews for their performance. The Lebanese duo band reportedly met in Beirut during a bar fight, although they fortunately were not fighting. Connecting over their love for rock and blues, Nader Mansour and Eddy Ghossein formed the band and went on to tour the world.
It's always great to see regional talent making waves on the international stage.