When he was a 20-year-old student at university in Tampa Florida his warm and laid-back nature quickly made him a people magnet. One of the people drawn to him was fellow Tampa student, Sunil Newani. Not long after that, the pair started playing together at parties, just informal acoustic covers but they always got a positive reaction. After Sunil left in 1998, Hassan was undeterred and started to jam with local garage bands who were literally playing in garages or storage sheds, to improve his musical prowess, performing with anyone and everyone he could in order to make himself a better musician. “One rainy night in 1999 I drove home with my windows down when I suddenly heard a shrieking guitar lick coming from a venue called the Rare Olive,” he reminisces with a large grin. The sound he heard was coming from a band called Beanstalk, instrumental funk trio legends of Tampa. He started going to see their shows every week, befriending them and ultimately becoming their roadie. After a while they asked him to join the band and the newly-formed quartet played their first gig together in 2000, ironically at the Rare Olive in Tampa where Hassan first heard them play. Things were going well for the band until 2002 when tragedy struck and Hassan’s father Shaikh Rashid bin Hassan Al Khalifa passed away. He returned home to the Kingdom to support his family during the difficult time and, for a while, his musical passion was put aside to focus on more pressing matters. However, in 2004, he began to miss making music and was inspired to bring his former band mates to Bahrain to begin work on a new project. Later that year, Beanstalk merged into Brother Man Dude. After rekindling his love for horse riding, music took a backseat once again; well, more aptly, it took the passenger seat for a while. Hassan currently splits his time between living in Bahrain and Holland and believes the balance of different cultures and settings has a positive effect on him as a person. “Holland is great for horse riding and it’s so peaceful there. My house is far enough away from things that I can enjoy the quiet, but close enough to everything I need,” he observes. However, after a recent accident left him with several breaks and fractures he was devastated to be told he is unable to compete while his body heals. “I haven’t been able to get back on the horse yet,” he says tenaciously, “but the doctors told me that hopefully by the beginning of November I can ride again at home. From then on they’ll give me a bi-weekly update on when I can compete again. I really want to be ready for the Pan Arab games in December.” When asked whether he prefers music or horses Hassan looked perplexed, “I can’t separate horses and music, they work together to make me who I am. The riding makes me a better person and when I’m a better person I write better music so I hope to keep riding and keep writing too.” The New Album: Jackie Oh No The new album marks a bold new musical direction for the Bahraini rocker, who has come a long way since thrashing out Pearl Jam covers and distortion-heavy compositions. This is in no small part down to his new found maturity and focus; but it would be naïve to say it had nothing to do with the world class musicians who helped with the project. These musicians include guitarist and his long-time musical collaborator Charlie Casey, Melvin Duffy (Robbie Williams) on slide guitar, Seamus Beaghen (Iggy Pop, Paul Weller, David Gray) on Hammond and piano and Ali Friend (Red Snapper, Beth Orton) on bass. The songs for the new album were written in Holland, Spain and Bahrain and recorded in Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio in Wiltshire UK. The mixing was done here in Bahrain at 2Seas studio, which was originally built for Michael Jackson. Jackie Oh No is available for digital download now. E For more information visit www.hassanbinrashid.com. BTM November 2011 81
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