Rabea Massaad may still be completing his ACM Guitar Degree (graduation 2013), but in the last 12 months he has been steadily nurturing his online profile and involvement in a number of exciting international music projects.
Project 1 – Toseland
It was another ACM Alumni, Zurab Melua (ACM Alumni 2011), who introduced Rabea to two time Superbike World Champion James Toseland who was looking to form a band with young talented professional musicians. After a series of meetings Rabea agreed to join ‘Toseland’ as their guitarist alongside fellow ACMers Ben Minal (business degree yr 2) and Dave Hollingworth (production degree yr 2).
In September 2012, ‘Toseland’ recorded an album with Steve Harris (producer of U2, Coldplay etc) and Toby Jepson of the Little Angels, with the first single ‘Life Is Beautiful’ being released in May 2013.
This activity has lead to a number of major labels showing interest in the band and with confirmed appearances at Download Festival 2013, a supporting slot alongside The Darkness, a headline slot at 2013’s Isle of Man Festival and a number of other major support tours planned (including Thin Lizzy), things look set to hit the high gear for ‘Toseland’
Project 2 – Dorje
Dorje are a new media focused band, which includes internationally renowned and YouTube’s most viewed UK musician Rob Chappers. The band, who have been together for nearly two years, also features three members of ‘Toseland’ (Rabea, Ben and Dave), and have already had two successful UK tours the last of which was funded through crowdfunding. The band raised £20,000 through interesting fan packages, which included:
- A guest guitar solo on our debut album.
- A tuition DVD from the tour experience.
- Creative fan experiences on tour e.g. hanging with the band, playing through our gear and getting complimentary merchandise and photo taken professionally.
The Result: Dorje sold out O2 venues and creating a surge of interest in utilising new media platforms to promote and develop new music. The bands debut single ‘Aeromancy’ reached number 3 in the UK YouTube Music video charts beating a video release from One Direction
Project 3 – Stand Alone Artist and Affiliations
Rabea has been developing his online network via his Facebook page and YouTube channel – now with a fanbase of 7,300 subscribers and adding 750 YouTube subscribers per month and in-excess of 3,000+ Facebook likes, Rabea runs competitions, gear reviews for wampler pedals, marshall amps, faith acoustic guitars as well as ongoing video blog.
More recently Rabea has secured a signature guitar model with Chapman Guitars (owned and run by Rob Chappers). The guitar was completely designed by Rabea with the consumer in mind, but the wood, finish, hardware choices were made by Rabea himself and is now available to pre-order via Andertons Music Store.
Rabea is also in the process of developing his own range of merchandise (t-shirts, hoodies, hats, guitar gear etc.) through iGame. All the artwork will be completely hand drawn before being digitally re-worked for printing and sold online.
ACM would like to thank Alumni Rabea Massaad for keeping us up to date on his busy schedule and we wish him well for his forthcoming projects. For more information about Rabea Massaad follow him on Facebook and YouTube.
ACM Alumni Rabea Massaad is endorsed by the following:
