Extreme Metal from Syria: Interview with Jake Shuker of Maysaloon
By Grace Landsberg
Death metal is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Syria. In fact, Jake Shuker, the lead singer of the Syrian metal band Maysaloon, has received hate messages and death threats because of his music. Metal music is regarded as blasphemous and satanic, and in a more conservative country like Syria, being a part of the metal scene is seen as inherently rebellious. However, none of this has stopped Maysaloon from continuing to grow in popularity within the Middle East, Europe, and beyond. Jake has put everything at stake for the sake of his band: he left his country, his family, his home, and friends all to establish his music and band elsewhere because the situation in Syria made it impossible to continue. Maysaloon’s music is a defiant response to the horrors of the war in Syria. The following is an interview with Jake from Beirut, Lebanon on 26 May 2022.
Introduce yourself and what you do
My name is Jake Shuker. I am a vocalist and guitarist for the Syrian metal band, Maysaloon. We started in 2015 as a cover band in Damascus. After doing a gig in 2015, we decided to start writing our own original music.
Who/what are your biggest influences and inspirations?
Mainly it was death metal, the scene in Sweden was and still is thriving. The Swedish scene heavily influences us, but at the same time, my icon is Chuck Schuldiner from the American death metal band “Death.” He is the godfather of death metal. Every death metal band is influenced in a way by (the band) Death.
What have been some of your setbacks?
We have been through a lot, to be honest, our entire life is an obstacle. It’s a divine accident that we were born here, in this area, at this time.
(A major obstacle is) that there are no recording labels. I was the one who was booking myself. There was only one venue in the entire capital (Damascus) that we could perform in. It was a Damascene house, about 300 years old, since the Ottomans. This is where the Damascene architecture and environment started to thrive. It’s a lovely place, but it’s not a place suitable for metal at all. But performing metal in such a place feels iconic.
What event or accomplishment are you most proud of in regards to music?
A lot of people think I might say (this would be) my performance at the Imperial War Museum [i] in London, but no. (I am most proud of) my very first performance in Damascus. The reason is hilarious. We knew the risk, but we did it anyway. Maybe I was naive at that time, I didn’t understand what consequences we would face. Someone would literally come into the concert, smash off the door, just to curse and yell at us. The death threats have become routine because our lyrics and music are considered to be pagan. Because of the conservative society in Syria, it became a lot worse over time.
For our shows, we wear specific shirts. They have Sumerian Kuniform on them, and each one has a unique symbol. I have the eminence, the bassist (Dio) has liberty, the drummer has strength, and the other guitarist has divine light. It symbolizes our roles.
How has the situation in Lebanon impacted your career or influenced your work?
Lebanon and Syria are always considered to be like one place– but the difference is (that) they have more liberty here (Lebanon), more freedom. People here are more open-minded. They can have gigs here. It was an improvement, but you can still be dismissed here.
It’s the entire Middle East. We were talking about this at the World Metal Congress: Western bands can do what Eastern bands would take 10 years to do in just 4 or 5 years. It’s because they have access to agents and booking labels, everything like that. We don’t even have power here. Metal is also more of a culturally Western thing. But in Maysaloon, we are adding a lot of Eastern influences. After a while I started to realize that metal was never a Western or Eastern thing, it was always universal. I always say metal is inside [ii].
We have experienced growth in Lebanon, but the thing about war is that once it starts, it never ends. We’re still somewhere stuck inside these events, in our heads, it’s there when we talk to our families. It’s not Lebanon (necessarily) that affects our music, but the growth we experienced here certainly did affect it.
Outside of music, what is your favorite hobby?
Thinking about music, writing rifts, composing music. Actually, though, I certainly have a lot of hobbies. When I first came to Lebanon, I used to play everything: football, and basketball. But it’s hard to continue your activities here now. I would love to do archery, soon, though. Archery is a very important thing. I used to do it with the bow and arrow and everything. I want to find a place here in Lebanon where I can practice.
What do you wish you knew sooner about making music? For example, if you could give your past self advice what would you say to him?
(I wish I knew that) musical experience is really about the journey itself. Some people wish they studied (music) theory in the past or that sort of thing. But music, in my opinion, should be genuine and built on inspiration and not on something totally practical. It does have a practical side to it, and it’s kind of complicated when it comes to scales, chords, etcetera–but when you start to look at it in this academic way, you realize the music has always been what you feel and what you experience. Metal is street art, at its core, it is about rebellion. There’s always someone who is going to try and say “this isn’t music” because it is not academic, and I don’t believe this is true.
Read / Watch more about Jake and Maysaloon:
[i] Performance at London’s Imperial War Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsoK9lsnKws
[ii] Rebel Sounds Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6p1WIphwpU
{iii] “Before the War” Comic and Interview: https://www.iwm.org.uk/iwm-institute/conflict-of-interest/before-the-war/syria-jake-shuker
[iv] BBC Minute Interview: “I hear the bombs and I need to jam”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p079k2qx
[v} Maysaloon Band Official Website: https://maysaloonband.com/