A taking of the cultural pulse of the crypto community from artists to comedians to meet ups and beyond.

Inside a bedroom in a remote villa on the outskirts of Dubai, members of the band Callous Minds gathered for their recording session. Nothing in the tiny room suggested they played hardcore metal. They sat on a bed that occupied most of the room, waiting for their turn to perform.

First, it was one of the band’s vocalists, Saud Al Ali. He stood in front of a small closet, surrounded by duvets and pillows which substituted for audio cancellation panels. His friendly demeanor and well-groomed hair and beard belied his harsh singing voice and trenchant lyrics:

There must be more to this life/A reckoning

A civil war I can’t fight / Within myself

A maze of wires connected the microphone to a mixer that fed a gaming computer that doubled as a music production station.

“The name of the band came from callouses that form on our drummer’s fingers,” Saud said.

They play progressive metal and incorporate Nordic, Arabic, and multiple international music elements- a fitting mix for their diversity. The band’s producer and bassist, Hijazi, and guitarist, Ahmad Hallis, are Palestinians. The lead vocalist, Manav Chawla, is Indian.

Chawla wore a Slipknot t-shirt, a heavy metal band from Iowa. His piercings, accessories, and fashion style made his passion for music recognizable at a glance. Chawla is the only one of them who is over 21 years old, the legal drinking age in UAE, making it impossible for the band to perform in bars and most venues where other local musicians play.

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They remain undeterred in creating music and expanding their audience through social media. After all, they do have a niche they try to dominate.

“We are trying to attract as much audience as possible from the web3 space,” Chawla said.

Callous Minds released a single as an NFT, and are planning to mint the songs of their upcoming album.

“Don’t get me wrong, but most people you see in crypto gatherings are investors or nerds,” Manav said. “We have the opportunity to offer something different in this field.”

Despite the bear market, Manav is bullish on the industry as a whole.

“Five years from now, we may be seeing the benefits of investing in the market early,” he said.

For this recording session, their song is inspired by a popular NFT metaverse.

I can't escape this empty maze / It’s caving in

Minutes, Hours into Days / Yet time stands still

There’s me to kill / It Remains

“It Remains” is a post-apocalyptic metaverse that has recently created immersive exhibitions in Dubai, Paris, and Davos.

“This song is inspired by the dark themes and artwork of the project, which we truly admired,” Manav said. The band is hoping to expand its footprint in the web3 space by networking and collaborating with blockchain companies and artists. They plan to release their album in early 2023.

Aside from the marketing and royalty aspects of the NFTs, the band sees that web3 could be a more fitting medium for some of their songs than web2. To demonstrate this point, the band gathered in front of the computer while Hijazi played one of the band’s unreleased videos.

It showed flashing images of tanks, children throwing rocks and violent clashes. The soundtrack was ominous, coupled with words of the deceased American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Abu Akled was recently killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations Human Rights Office said the fatal shot came from an Israeli soldier. 

Then came the lyrics.

It’s been seventy years / The apartheid is clear

We’ll break down these walls / Get the fuck out of here

“With these kinds of lyrics, we know we can get shadow-banned from social media,” Hijazi said.

Several content creators accuse social media platforms of bias on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Last May, Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid accused Instagram of blocking her stories when discussing this issue. Hallis agreed, saying that major social media platforms have the power to limit the reach of certain content or delete it all together, unlike web3, where creators own their content.

The band is aware that political debates on such issues in the crypto scene are rare, at least for now.  They believe this novelty is an opportunity for the message to resonate louder. 

“It gives us more exposure,” Hallis said, “People first get interested in the NFTs, but after that, they do more research. A lot people just do not know what is going on.”