DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Lazywall
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Lazywall sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Nao: I would bring Bob Dylan’s 'Blood on the Tracks' album. Dylan starts one of the songs by saying “if you see her say hello, she might be in Tangier”, this would help me still be connected with home, as we are originally from Tangier Morocco. And the album is great.
Monz: Well, it’s the Devil’s Island. The only way to get out of this Hell is to find some stairways to heaven. So, I will pick the Led Zeppelin 'IV' album.
Youssef: Queen, 'A Night at the Opera', because Bohemian Rhapsody is the kind of songs that make you day dream ... basically you build your dream as the song gains in intensity.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
Nao: Rage Against The Machine first album cover. To remind me that things can always go worse.
Monz: Sabrina Salerno first album cover, which looks like a calendar. For a romantic feminine presence on the island.
Youssef: The cover of Steve Vai’s 'Passion & Warfare' because I used to have it in my room when I was in Uni, dreaming of becoming a guitar hero... eventually... someday.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Nao: Moroccan green tea, served in a Moroccan teapot and with a lot of sugar. To attract the bees, and make honey.
Monz: Any liquid but served in Aladdin’s Lantern
Youssef: It would definitely be a Virgin Mojito. The taste without the hassle.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Nao: Metallica’s hoodie offered by James Hetfield himself. To keep me warm
Monz: Slash’s zippo for the night’s bonfires.
Youssef: A T-shirt. Lazywall one.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Nao: Bear Grylls. The food will taste bad but at least we’ll have a fire camp, a hut, more chances of survival, and I’m sure he’ll craft a raft out of two palm trees.
Monz: Larry Page, the inventor of the Internet, I could use some google search at some point.
Youssef: The band Vixen. No need to explain why 😉
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Nao: No Quarter by Page and Plant, and the mix of Oriental and occidental orchestras. This live show has helped us craft our sound, to mix rock and our native roots, to help us create our instruments, that is exactly that, both worlds in all our instruments.
Monz: Kiss MTV Unplugged. We love playing acoustic shows and this show really inspired us to keep the energy and power of rock songs while being played with an acoustic guitar.
Youssef: Dire Straits. Live at Wembley 1985
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Nao: Sting. He might be the best castaway, or writing down the best rescue message to put in a bottle.
Monz: Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, he got his own plane.
Youssef: Ozzy. Because if anyone can do it... it is definitely the prince of darkness.
You've been stuck here for a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Nao: It can’t be me!! I am the lead singer, I am the front man, I am the one who connects the band with the audience. I let my brothers choose which one of them sacrifices himself for the band
Monz: Nao and I are Vegan, so any of us. Youssef can choose.
Youssef: Tough question, being a trio and brothers, it is like a tripod, any missing leg would make it fall... it is either all or none I am afraid.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Nao: Bob Dylan. A lot of artists have shaped my writing skills, but none had more influence than Dylan. Not only how he wrote the songs but the way he tells things, how he tells you the story not only how he sings it, not that he has an amazing voice but few artists have more charisma in his voice than him.
Monz: I don’t think any musician ever shaped my way of thinking. I took that elsewhere. But the musician that inspired me the most, mainly when I was starting, was Van Morrison. I remember buying every album of his career. Even the way I used to write songs was inspired by his songs, 2 chord songs with many trance parts, taken from Van’s 70s and 80s albums.
Youssef: That would be Joe Satriani.
