biography

blend first got together in 1997 under the name “leviathan” when vocalist jad souaid and guitarist miran gurunian met as students at the american university of beirut. in 1999, jad aouad joined on drums and haytham chalhoub on bass. the band performed the standard canon of rock covers from led zeppelin and pink floyd to pearl jam and radiohead, wherever they could


in 2000, the band temporarily disbanded while souaid was in canada and chalhoub in the states. during the christmas 2001 vacation, the group reunited to work on a self-penned demo and changed their name to blend. the song called “belong” was recorded by philip tohme whose previous works include tania saleh-the album, feyrouz-ila assi, charbel rouhana-salamat, toni hanna & the yugos, toufic farroukh-ali on broadway & drabzeen, hanine y son cubano ii, and yuri mourakkade-Arabion Ana among many others. “belong” was released as the lead off track on a compilation of local lebanese artists put together by local indie record store “la cd-theque”. it was very well received by local media and, unbeknown to the band, by the offices of EMI. local critics labeled them “a post rock experimental band that combines rock and electro with a very distinct oriental influence”. a description that remains as appropriate as any other to this day


in early 2002, blend performed at strange fruit in beirut. there they were approached by a representative from EMI who had been in the audience


on october 2002, blend signed its contract with EMI becoming the first “anglo” style rock band ever signed to a major international record label in the middle east, where artists are predominantly solo “pop” singers, do not write their own songs or play their own instruments and rarely perform live in front of large audiences


act one, their first album, comprises 11 tracks written by the band. it tackles sociopolitical issues that are equally relevant to the new generation in lebanon, as they are elsewhere in the middle east and in the west (again this is a first. such topics are not generally encountered in middle eastern lyrics)


the album was recorded and produced in lebanon by philip tohme during a period of 8 months in 2003 and mastered by chris blair at abbey road studios, london. the lead off single is naturally “belong” and its music video was produced and directed by amine dora, whose previous works have been awarded at zinebi festival (spain), unimovie festival (italy) and the european film festival (lebanon) with a first prize. the album also includes collaborations with natacha atlas on “communicate” and the lebanese rapper rayess_bek on “belong revisited”


 act one was launched in the middle east on saturday december 27, 2003 at 7 p.m.

home | biography | downloads | contact us | sign up