These outcasts are having the last laugh

PHOTO: Nervecell

IT pays to stick to your guns.

The members of United Arab Emirates-based extreme metal band Nervecell spent a large part of their school years as “outcasts”, but as lead guitarist Barney Ribeiro tells LOUD, they’re “having the last laugh right now”.

In a phone interview from his home in Dubai, the 28-year-old long-haired musician, who is of mixed Indian and Portuguese heritage, made no bones about sticking out like a sore thumb among his teenage peers.

“When I was in high school, I’d be that one metalhead kid wearing my Slayer (referring to the American thrash metal legends) T-shirt, whereas everyone else wore their nice clothes,” he said with a laugh.