5 Minutes with Lazzy Lung

Lebanese - Canadian band Lazzy Lung will play Dubai tomorrow night for their first show since winning Rolling Stone Middle East's Battle of the Bands competition last year. We speak to front-man Allan Chaaraoui about the group's rise and their second album.

2011 was a great year for you. You won the Rolling Stone Battle of the Bands competition and your album was well received.

Thank you. The award was great and we are here in Dubai bearing the fruits I guess by using the recording time (the competition prize). We were really happy with the record and especially the response. The magazine Esquire nominated us as the musicians of the year in  2011 for our work I guess. To be recognised in the region in terms of musicianship is great.

Talking about region; you originally came from Canada and settled in Lebanon. Do you consider the band to be a Canadian Lebanese group or something else?

It is something that we touched on in our first album. I always consider home to be back in Canada. But over time I grew more attached to the Middle East and Beirut specifically. Now that I am more established and settled there I guess you can consider Beirut my home now.

But there is some Canadian musical influences in the music.

There is a lot of Canadian rock influences whether it's Attack in Black and Matthew Good Band. The music inspires us but doesn't influence what we play. We have our own sound I think, we don't fit into a certain mode. We can do hip-hop, loungy to folk rock but over time I think we developed our own identity over the years.

How would you describe the current Beirut music scene?

There is a diverse music scene in Beirut, which makes it great. There is everything from hip-hop, trip-hop to heavy metal...there is a wide variety. We met some great musicians and we had a lot of opportunities to share the stage with giants of the Lebanese music scene like Scrambled Eggs.

You once said being a rock band in Beirut is like wearing cowboy boots to a beach party. Can you explain that for me?

As you know in the Middle East it is a party oriented place whether it's Dubai or Beirut. People like that lifestyle and party music. So Rock'n'Roll doesn't really have such a established place, but the region is opening up. There is a misconception in the Middle East in that if you play rock music then you have tight leather pants, long hair and you are more into a metal thing than rock. That's why I said it's like wearing cowboy boots to a beach party.

How is the new album going along?

We are shooting early summer. We are doing everything that we can. We are doing thing differently this time. We are are self releasing the album and we are not trying to get into too many commercial outlets. We are not in Virgin and things like that and despite that we have been doing very well in sales in our shows and online sales.

This probably means more time on the road for Lazzy Lung.

That's ultimately what we are looking to do. Nowadays with the changes in the music industry more people are taking the road more seriously. We are definitely looking into it but this time we hope that instead of seeking that out we get approached.

Catch Lazzy Lung's free performance on the Rooftop Gardens at Pyramids Restaurant Wafi. Oud Metha District, Dubai. Friday 17 February. 8pm.