Nader Sadek: The Death Metal Artist

I would say so. My mother is an established architect in Egypt and various relatives were also into different kinds of media like photography. So, an impulse to express oneself in some sort of artistic way was defiantly present. When I was a kid, I was compelled to draw often and I remember drawing. People around me definitely encouraged it and it became a hobby.

What I was into then definitely kept changing pretty fast, but my earliest memory after just drawing basic things like people and house and trees, like anyone else, probably started when I got into drawing characters I'd see on the TV and eventually comic book characters and such. In my early teenage years, I was definitely getting into the idea of drawing comics for a while. I view comics as a medium where time is controlled by the audience, it's a lot like a movie and a book together. So, really the reader controls the pace. I remember being excited about this prospect because it gives a new way of story telling that is easy to communicate, it was visual and it its easy to make. Later on, I attended a show of British artists at the Brooklyn Museum, it totally changed my concept of art. Basically, what I interpreted from the show was the focus on how the work itself is conceptual; and, in a way, this rationalizes the creation of it even more, the motivation to create work that is constructed behind a functioning concept. It was very challenging as well, especially when most of your life you've only been exposed to work that is simply narrative. Although it has depth, it's also formulaic.

I really liked Watchmen and a lot of Alan Moore stuff. After that, as far as "contemporary" conceptual artists, there really never was just one. I guess the most celebrated is Joseph Beuys and a lot of his works have sparked new directions for my work. Although I do not make this kind of work, I am a huge admirer of Gustave Dore plates; they are magnificent and definitely something I look at for inspiration despite my work being entirely different in most ways.

Probably around 15 I just started getting into heavier stuff than my brother. Basically went from Nirvana and Guns N Runs to Nine Inch Nails, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera and Deicide. I didn't know a lot of people who were that into metal when I lived in Egypt at first so it wasn't very easy to get stuff or even be exposed to stuff. I think when I heard Deicdie, Sepultura and Slayer is when I got into death metal. This was around 96.

Yeah, it was just very few friends and they played me things. All my other friends were into Pink Floyd, Bob Marley and The Doors, which I like sometimes, but i needed something a bit more intense.

In a way, when I was changing how I looked at art it also liberated me from a lot of limitations. It was interesting to be able to come up with ideas; I would use the help of others to realize some of them and some I would construct from scratch and build at the end. The first project I did that included sound of any kind was the piece "Faceless," in which I had a death metal song (composed by Steve Tucker) serve as a sound extension to the piece. The show was at the SculptureCenter in Queens. The curator of the museum had asked me to if I wold be interested in turning "Faceless"/"B'doun Wag'h" into a live performance. It was very much about the perception of the "other" we rarely are able to avoid and our per-conceived notions on other cultures where our imagination fills in the gaps. This is what "Faceless" was about and it came form my experience as a metal fan who adorned the metal image of long hair and metal shirts during a visit to Egypt in 2008. This intimidated the locals. Similarly, when I came back to NY, I wanted to get the same reaction as the locals in Cairo so I wore the full veil (also known as a niqab). The reaction confirmed the potential of the piece and this was also my first collaboration with Flo Mounier.

The museum came two years later since the final piece is a bit different than the original concept. The original idea is actually more about this veiled girl that I met in high school a long time ago who was into Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. We had this long conversation and she was was telling me, "I just love coming back form school blastin' some Slayer and just head banging to the entire album." So, I asked her, "Do you do that vieled or uncovered?" and her response was, "NO way, dude! I do it veiled!" She explained to me that when she head bangs, she imagines her self on the stage like she's reenacting the guitarist, basically air-guitaring. So I eded up doing the museum performance where Steve, Flo, and the rest, play a death metal song as I air-guitared on stage wearing the veil manifesting her fantasy.

Around that time, while Steve was composing, I learned a lot about music from hanging out with musicians. It was interesting to watch my friends work with pro tools and it really was an eye opener on the functionality of sound and music. So, later on when I came up with the idea to do "In The Flesh," the full on death metal album, I gave writing music a try and the result of my attempt was "Nigredo In Necromance." The other guys composed the rest of the main songs and I made the ambients.

It was different, I contacted Steve through email. I really don't remember how I got it. Maybe through his old label. Flo, I had known for awhile since I did a project in college and got in touch to ask him about certain methods he uses. We ended being friends and years later I contacted him to work with me and Steve.

There's no one method, but I've realized that for the most part, I come up with an idea and I let the it dictate the medium. I usually think about how to best express it and I let that take the lead. This was pretty similar to how I chose the line-up for this album. Basically, I wanted the sound to compliment my recent series of "meat" rendered hardware and machine parts pieces. So, knowing how Steve writes and his sound, especially combined with Flo's intensity, it felt like the only way to "pump blood " into the this machine-like sound and give it an emotional flavor; a more melodic touch. The "In The Flesh" cover is actually hand drawn on a digital surface. I started out by drawing sketches that fit each individual song then putting them into a composition that would have each one of them come together as an album. I interpret the lyrics as well as the rhythm of the song to create the skeleton of each drawing and once the song was finished I added all the details letting the music totally inspire the final image. So, the demos of the songs influenced the sketches of the drawings.

Actually, most of my work is in one way or another about petroleum. My fascination comes form the fact that petroleum is composed of dead things. Former living creatures that have been cooking in the earth for thousands of years. Now we exhume liquid that is their collective selves and we turn it into energy. We depend on it so much that we fight wars, additionally, it's completely hazardous to the state of the planet. It's basically the biggest form of poison and humanity is endlessly addicted to it. Death metal seemed like the most fitting sound for it simply because it literally sounds like rhythms taken from an engine that are modified to create melodies, emotion and sophistication. I've used layers of samples from different petroleum refineries around the world for all the ambient tracks.

Absolutely, I grew up and lived there 'till I left for college in the states, but only in how I think; like the knowledge that I have. I don't think there is anything about my work that reveals any kind of nationality because I don't believe doing in that. Living in the States allows you to see things differently. When you move around, every place has its own personality and different perceptions of others.

Thank you! I hope that there will be more to conquer! Yes, I'm already working on a few more videos for the album. I plan on making a video for each song on the album. I've also been working on a bust of Mubarak and it has been taking me far too long. It's going to be life-like, but the back of his neck will be bruised since, in Egypt, slapping someone on the back of the neck is disrespectful. So, I'll make it look like the whole country went by and gave him one.

I really want to get more into film making, but also the other extreme of minimal art. I'm planning on making a film which would have an entire death metal soundtrack. With "In The Flesh," we reversed the project. We put the music as the main focus and although it's based on a theme, most things sprung form the music. So at some point I'd like to try the traditional way of making a film and work with a composer on making the soundtrack.

Thanks so much for the support. Follow your dreams and never give up on your beliefs and goals!