“This has been the funnest interview I have had in years. You haven’t asked me hard political questions once!”
Mashrou’ Leila’s Hamed Sinno.

Mashrou’ Leila is Loverboy’s favourite band in the world right now. The Lebanese foursome write/produce/perform songs that have been controversial enough to see concert-goers arrested in Cairo and the group banned from Jordan…twice. Politics is a large part of their narrative and subsequently a part of every interview they do. Except today.

Lead singer, Hamed Sinno, spoke with Loverboy’s Editor, Michael Turnbull, about (almost) everything other than the group’s beliefs. And although politics is a large part of why we love them, sometimes you just need to know Hamed‘s Number One Lebanese diva, his thoughts on being a pin-up and um…where he would take you on a first date.

 

 

Hamed! A tour! A new single! A new album! Things must be crazy right now!
Honestly I’m freaking out. We always end up having to do things really hastily because I am a mess like that.

That’s the problem with creatives. We are a disorganised bunch.
I’m going to say ‘Yes’. But I’m also going to say that a lot of us use that as an excuse!

And it’s one that’s been working just fine for me so far! You half-jokingly said the theme for your last album, Ibn El Leil, was ‘getting messed up in a bar.’ What is the theme for this next era?
We’ve been more single oriented these days. To be honest I’m not sure there’s going to be a cohesive theme. A bit too emotionally tumultuous to carry one mood or theme across an entire album. The stuff we’ve written so far is about brownness, political fatigue and as cheesy as this sounds, love.

Congratulations on the new single, ‘Cavalry.’ It’s a triumph! Can you tell me more about it?
Thank you! We wrote it when we were feeling disillusioned after what happened in Cairo. So it’s about going to war against an entire army, knowing you are going to fail but pushing and pushing until you get somewhere. It’s also about doing death drops in the sky and all types of shit.
The lyrics are a little quirky because they are written in extremely formal Arabic which we haven’t done before. We get a lot of smack because my accent is a bit bastardized, it’s essentially a mess – I’m half-Jordanian and half-Lebanese. So I wanted to make sure that this song in particular was in formal Arabic. We’re releasing an English version soon too.

I imagine a lot of groups want to claim Mashrou’ Leila as their own. The Lebanese fans. The LGBTQ fans. The indie fans. Do you feel you are constantly trying to represent people?
There is definitely that pressure but it’s not one that works on me. I’m not crazy enough to think I could actually represent anybody. If it does happen, then great, but it can’t be my agenda. I can barely handle taking responsibility for myself every morning.

These days there is a real pressure to not just be a ‘pop star’ but also an ‘ambassador’!
It’s going to sound so megalomaniacal but I feel like the world around us is incredibly messed up right now and that if you are in this position where you actually have an audience, a platform, it would be such a shame to not use it to help try make a difference.

These are politics we need! Your fans are pretty hardcore. They call themselves the Leilaholics, right?
Apparently! I feel that maybe someone should tell them that it’s not super PC to talk about alcoholism that way. But I’m not going to be the one to do that.

How do you look back at your early days as a performer?
I was so shy. I’m a very socially awkward person. Like horribly awkward. I was always mortified about being…just in front of people. If I was standing in front of 5,000 people who were actually really looking at me, that would make me die. But I’ve come to realise that onstage you’re not really being a person, are you? You’re there to live that best fantasy. It really is its own drag.

I’ll be coming to Drag later! You’re previously spoken about your mental health and having therapy. I would find it weird doing interviews where people are asking you questions about yourself and trying not to slip into therapy mode.
I mean! I feel like I maybe just did that a little bit. I’m the kind of person that is really bad at keeping boundaries. I always feel like I am talking to a friend when talking to reporters and divulge unnecessary details about the band’s politics, some of which could be a little triggerish.
I just had a phone interview where someone was asking me about the BDS movement. I could tell they weren’t really there for it which just made me go for it even more. Am I naturally antagonistic? I am a bit of a contrarian, I’m not going to lie. But when it comes to politics, I can just be rather naive and think the world can be a great happy place where everyone loves each other.

How do you feel hearing your words translated into English?
I speak in English, I think in English, I dream in English. My Arabic improved drastically through songwriting. I jot down one-liners in English, combine them with other stuff I’ve been working on and then translate it all into Arabic. Sometimes I dwell on translating individual sentences or phrases for weeks. There are things about Arabic poetics that are just very grand and can border on kitsch when you try to say them in English.

Mashrou’ Leila’s production and style has changed a lot over the years and you all talk about how eclectic your music tastes are. Who would we be surprised to hear has played a sonic influence on your music?
We’ve recently been collaborating with Joe Goddard. He did the production on a bunch of the new tracks. It was amazing. He is so talented and super-intelligent. It was such a lovely, lovely learning experience to see what he is like in the studio – his work ethic was incredible.

I know you spoke about wanting to work with Paul Epworth, did anything happen?
No! No it didn’t. I’m still holding out though. If you know him, you should just tell him! I am shameless – I will do anything!

We need to make this happen. Is there anyone you listen to that has influenced Mashrou’ Leila’s sound? Like, someone random here but Kate Bush for example?
Kate Bush? Yeah I fucking love her! It’s really random honestly. I mean…God, this is really embarrassing but recently I’ve been reliving my teenage angst years and listening to Fiona Apple for some reason. She’s an incredible songwriter. And also her politics are amazing.

Her famous ‘This world is bullshit’ speech?
No. Now she goes on these rampages on YouTube. She’s fucking great. But let’s say I’m listening to her song ‘The First Taste’ and I tell the band I want to make something this dreamy and sensual. That’s going to last for the whole of five seconds before someone else discusses something they like. It’s a mess!!

You guys have all become a bunch of pinups. How are you handling that?
Pin-ups? What do you mean?

What do I mean?! “My friends” have giant crushes on all of you!!
Really?! It would be great if somebody actually hit me up. I think you are probably talking about the other guys. I get teenage girls hitting on me…and quite inappropriately if I’m honest! I’m just like, ‘You know I’m gay, what are you doing?!’ The men avoid me like the plague! I think it’s probably because they have read my writing and know I’m a drama queen.

Well, are you going out after the London show?
I really hope so because I have a lot of friends in London I would love to catch up with. Where do I go out there? Honestly I am garbage. I’ll hang out East where everyone is doing meth. At this point I’m two years sober so it’s always a little awkward to be that guy who’s like, ‘Um I’m really not in the mood right now…’ But I really love London. It was a really great city to party in when I needed to do that. So I owe it a lot of my personal growth, I guess.

And asking for “a friend” here. But are you seeing anyone at the moment?
It’s complicated. I recently broke up with a partner of two years, who I was living with and I am moving to the States in April. So I am just in an unstable phase I guess. Where am I going? It was LA, but…I met a boy…and he’s moving to New York. He’s a writer too so it just works. He’s incredible. He’s like the first queer musician that I sexted with. Leave it to me to move to another state because of a sext, right?!

It’s valid. OK, so those were the harder questions…
How were those the hard questions?! This has been the funnest interview I have had in years. Honestly! You haven’t once asked me hard political questions which is so refreshing.

No, I’m leaving that to everyone else.
Thank you, it’s amazing. The moment you are an Arab, everyone assumes you are also a political analyst who has profound opinions on Middle-Eastern politics. But I’m like, ‘I don’t fucking know. I’m a song-writer.’ It’s stupid!

Now we have the more fun questions. Totally hypothetically(!), but if we were going on a first date. Where would we go?
Hmmm…I don’t know! Where do you want to go?

Ahhh…don’t reverse this one back on me!!!
Come on, let’s do this! It’s fun. Hmm…where would we go? I would probably take you to a museum, but I’m not going to lie, the last time I did that was in New York. I went to The Whitney on a first date with this guy I Tindered with. It was the David Wojnarowicz exhibition and I started crying. I was already really raw because it was the one year anniversary of the whole Cairo incident. But he had this one piece, I think it might have been a picture of himself as a child but then this text overlayed on the image about the amount of shit that child is going to have to endure because he’s gay. I just started crying like a motherfucker! Suffice to say the guy I was with never called me back. Honestly it got messy. I’m a really ugly crier.

I’m going to the Christian Dior exhibition in London and was thinking that I could either take someone on a date or just enjoy it and take myself.
I mean, yes, it could fuck up your exhibition experience but I also think it’s a really great way of seeing what someone is like. If a guy can carry himself well in a gallery and is knowledgeable about art then there is nothing sexier, honestly. Could you imagine? You’re on a date with this guy. He’s cute. Then he brings up semiotics while talking to you about some art piece in front of you. I would flood the entire gallery right then and there. I feel it’s really inappropriate that I said that but I’m not apologising for it!! 

There was a photo I saw of you holding a sign saying ‘Send Nudes’. Did you get any?!
Well, that was my Halloween costume!

Yeah, yeah!
It was! It was based on the TV show ‘The Leftovers.’ I actually hate it when people send nudes, especially unsolicited.

OK, so you’ve talked about your love for Greek mythology before. Who is your favourite Greek god or goddess?
I don’t think she’s a goddess but The Medusa. It is such a feminist narrative. A woman who is so much stronger than everyone else around her, only to be being destroyed when she is forced to see herself through the lens of a man. It’s basically the history of cinema. It’s incredible.

And from what I remember she’s just living her best life in her temple and all these men just keep trying to kill her.
Yeah and basically having a thousand dicks on her head! Literally! I mean, that phallic/snake thing is incredible. It’s like there’s this woman that is basically better than men at their own game and so they are constantly trying to destroy her and I feel that is exactly what women are forced into at this point…well, at every point! It’s nothing recent.

If you were arrested for stalking somebody who would it be?
Wow, shit, let me think. There are so many people that this would be actually kind of difficult. Honestly, probably Moses Sumney. He is the sexiest motherfucking musician in the world.

Wait, is this the guy you’re dating?!
No, no. I mean, I wish! His voice is like warm syrup. It just makes you want to cry. I literally fell in love with him before even seeing him. Then I saw his TinyDesk concert and the fucker is cuuuuuute!

OK and next is a book recommendation, please?
The Politics of Everybody by Holly Lewis which is this incredible book that tries to find ways to resolve Socialism with Queer Theory and Feminism.
Hala Alyan is an incredible writer. She has the book called Salt Houses which is about generations of an Arab family that is diasporised from Palastine to Kuwait, etc. It’s so beautiful and relatable for anyone who grew up with that kind of family dynamic.
Oh and anything by Rabih Alameddine. He’s an American/Lebanese queer author who often writes about the intersection between Queer Identity formation, the AIDS crisis and the Lebanese civil war. He’s an incredible person to talk to as well. Honestly everything he wrote really educated me. I thought that I, The Divine and Koolaids: The Art of War were both great. An Unnecessary Woman was really fucking phenomenal too.

Which song do you wish you could hear again for the first time?
This is kind of embarrassing but ‘Tremor Christ’ by Pearl Jam. The first time I heard it, the writing style really slapped me in the face and made me want to write differently. I always thought it was so poetic. But at this point in my life, in hindsight, I think it might actually just be wanky. I think a lot of that Seattle grunge can border on pretense. But I don’t know, that’s why it would be really interesting to hear it for the first time now because whenever I listen to it now, it’s loaded with all my nostalgia and the relationship I had with my childhood. So I can’t just dismiss it. I love it, blindly! I’d be curious to know if I still felt that way about it now.

What about Lebanese pop divas. Do you have a favourite?
I do! Her name is Yasmine Hamdan and she is a goddess. She has an album called Arabology which she produced with Mirwais, Madonna’s producer. For some reason that album didn’t do so well in the Middle East and I honestly just think it is the most underrated piece of music production to come out of the Middle East in…ever! I just don’t understand how it didn’t blow up.

Drag Race is taking over the world right now. Do you watch it?
Religiously. I don’t care if that makes me basic. I love it. This is going to sound a little bit pretentious but I was never a fan of drag growing up. I kind of fell in love with drag when I read this essay by Judith Butler called The Drag Act. She studied drag queens and decided that gender had to be completely performance because a lot of men are better at being females than some females! Then I started watching Drag Race and at this point there is nothing intellectual about why I watch it, I just think it is so much fun.

Who is your favourite?
I’m not going to lie but I found Manila really obnoxious. Part of me would be like, ‘Naomi can’t exploit her position of power to treat someone unfairly just to get ahead. That’s hardcore capitalism.’ It was everything that is wrong with neo-liberal economics but it was also kind of amazing because it was Manila. But I think Katya is my favourite.

I love a delusional queen.
Really? Then you must have loved Valentina! That whole fantasy thing was amazing.

Haha…I wanted her to win this season. Now, it’s the last question and about the time where I explain that Loverboy was named after the infamous Mariah song, so I want to know what is your favourite Mariah moment?
First of all, she is amazing. I don’t care what anybody says. That picture of her walking into a weed dispensary in that fucking nightgown after doing a Christmas concert, is everything! It’s just incredible. Getting her weed after performing a show, giving zero fucks. She’s fucking iconic.

I just flooded my apartment…

Mashrou’ Leila’s new single, ‘Cavalry’, is available to buy or stream now.
Their forthcoming compilation album, The Beirut School, is out 1st March.
For their European Tour dates check their Facebook page.