Hello Elyes it is good to hear you. And thank you for your time to do this interview. The band is on tour now so where I am finding you?

Actually we are having a small break of the first part of the tour now. We were in Japan and it was great and we are waiting for the second part of the tour to start

MYRATH will be playing in Bulgaria later this month. This will be your first show in Sofia but second visit in general. With what expectations you are returning to Bulgaria after your last visit!

Kavarana was fantastic because it was our first time in Bulgaria. We saw that we have a lot of fans there, wearing our t-shirts and we were really amazed. Then the promoter asked us to do a show in Sofia at the Joy Station on 25-th of November, so we were ready to do it. I know that there are a lot of people that will come and enjoy our show as headliners!

What are your memories from the last show in Kavarna?

We didn’t expect that we will have so much followers that will love our music. It started before the show actually when we had a signing session. There were a lot of people and even families!

Are the fans going to be able to meet you again or share few beers and pictures with band on the show now?

Of course there will be a free meet and greet. Because we will love to see our fans and friends. For us it is really important to keep this connection with people. Because of them we are making our music!

MYRATH is interesting name for a band. Can you explain to us what does it mean and how you guys came up with this idea?

MYRATH started as a cover band. We were covering a lot of bands including Symphony X. But at some point we decided to play our own music. Then our producer said “Ok guys what is your goal? You can create your own music and sound like a lot of European or American bands. So why you don’t combine elements from your country with metal and create something new?” That’s When we started to compose music with elements from our Tunisian culture. From there comes the name Myrath which translates as Legacy! Tunisia is really rich historical country and that’s why we called ourselves Legacy. A legacy of the culture of our country!

Your last album is also called Legacy! Why did you give it the same name? Is it because you are completely happy with the result and you cannot add anything more?

Well I cannot say that we are completely satisfied but maybe 90%. Because every time at the end you realize that you could add something or etc. But in general we are really happy with it because it represents more what MYRATH is. In it you really can find our touch az a Tunisian and North African band. A lot of people are confusing our lyrics with Arabic but it is not. Its Tunisian, North African!

It took you 5 years to release this album, are we going to wait five or even more for the next one?

Tales Of The Sands came out in 2011, then we also had a revolution in our country and lots of things have changed. We also lost our manager, he was like .. not like, he was our father. So at some point your country is not stable and you lost one of the persons that is really important. It is normal to lose your inspiration. We did some tours but we said ok it is time to move on. May he rest in peace. He put all his heart energy in us so we will compose and dedicate new album for him. That’s when we did Legacy. It is about loss, about hope and revolution. Basically that’s why it took us five years.

It is great that you guys decided to move on this way! And dedicate this grat album to someone who was so important to you!

Thank you so much!

This leads to my next question. How hard is for a band from Tunisia to play metal and became popular?

First let me clear something out. Playing metal in Tunisia is not forbidden! Lots of people think that we are not allowed to play metal there. Before the revolution we had a lot of metal festivals and musicians such as Robert Plant, Symphony X, Haggard, Amaranth, Dark Tranquility, Anathema. We are allowed to play music but we don’t have the structure for it. I mean labels and promoters that are supporting the metal scene and giving money to the bands to record their albums. That is the problem. That’s why we were lucky when we were opening act for Robert Plant. Then our producer met us and liked what we were doing. That’s how today we are able to record our music. There are a lot of talented Tunisian metal band that are looking for support.

That was my next question. You are the only band from Tunisia familiar to me but as you said there are a lot more. Can you name few that the fans should check out?

Yes of course. There is a band called PERSONA – Symphonic Metal, CARTHAGODS – Progressive metal they are one of the pioneers, Our ex drummers band NAWATHER they are also playing Progressive metal with Tunisian influences, LOST INSEN – Progressive Metal. That is what comes to my mind for now, but we have more great bands that are really talented

I will make sure to put links to all the bands in the interview thank you for this!
It is clear that you are influenced by Symphony X but what other bands have influence on you and from where you get your inspiration for music and lyrics?

Well we have some favorite bands but we are really open to whatever music touches our soul Yes we started as Symphony X cover band for 4 years, but we also covered bands like Stratovaruis and Dream Theater, Children of Bodom and Death We also covered Gary Moore and Eric Clapton. So we are very open to music at all!

Can I ask you to leave a message to our readers?

We are very excited and cant wait to come to Sofia to play at the joy station on November 25th! We will play a show between Hour and 30, hour 45 minute show. I’m sure people will headbang and dance in the same time! We will be waiting for you. Thank you so much

Thank you for your time to do this interview. See you in Sofia!

Thank you so much, see you there.

Author: Nikola Petras