Faisal Abu-Nawwas was born in Portland, Oregon, and has had music in his blood since he was a child. His grandmother was in a band for most of his childhood and played all over the Pacific Northwest. In high school, Abu-Nawwas discovered his voice while trying out for jazz choir. After high school, he taught himself to play guitar on YouTube, and at a young age was a contestant on "The Voice." He's been playing his brand of live covers and original music — country, rock, '80s and '90s material — all over the Pacific Northwest for the last 12 years. Abu-Nawwas moved to Bend in 2020 for his job, and now, for a new set of musical stages.
Abu-Nawwas joined Publisher Aaron Switzer for this week's Bend Don't Break podcast. Below is an excerpt from that conversation. Find the entire recording on our Podcasts tab at bendsource.com.
Source Weekly: I was curious to sit down with you and rap after you played the Little Woody [Barrel-Aged Beer, Cider and Whiskey Fest]— we produce the Little Woody, and I was so taken with your style and the musicianship and I thought we could just sit down and talk about what it's like to be [a musician] in this day and age. Where do you currently play?
Faisal Abu-Nawwas: I got to kind of try to balance it out a little bit. On top of the full-time job, I've also got three kids and a wife at home. So, I gotta make them happy, too. Lately I've just been trying to fill in — during the weeks is my strong point, really, for playing gigs. Right now you can catch me at Midtown Yacht Club here in town, GoodLife Brewing, The Lot on the west side of town.
We've got the Cascade Equinox Festival everybody's been talking about, and to be out there, Saturday, and Sunday both days, that's going to be a blast. I kind of just pick them up as I can.
SW: You said that you've been a musician pretty much your entire life, right?
FAN: I taught myself how to play guitar and then almost immediately after that, I went to a family barbecue and my stepdad had a buddy that was there. He's an older guy who's 25 years older than me and we kind of hit it off and started jamming around a fire pit. And I think two weeks after we met, we were playing at one of the local bars in town and then they picked us up just about every weekend. It was about 12 years ago.
I grew up in the Moose lodges and Elks lodges, all up and down the Pacific Northwest, followed my grandma around. I lived with her for a little while, me and my mom, my little brother lived with her for a little bit and so we would kind of pick up and go with her, and it wasn't very long. It's not like we were jumping on a tour bus and like that, but we would get in the van with the, with the trailer attached to it and take off to the local Elks Lodge, a Moose Lodge or whatever it was and just kind of hang out and, you know, I got to see her on stage with my grandpa singing songs and stuff like that. So it's been in my blood for a long time — I got photos of me standing on the countertop in her house with the little plastic guitar just trying to do something.
I kind of just jumped into it and it's been something that is, it's almost like a therapy for me —to be able to go out and play music and see people's reactions to some of the songs that I play, and then playing with somebody that was older than me, too. It just gave me this vast knowledge of this older generation of music that I never really was introduced to.
SW: Do you still feel like you're growing musically?
FAN: I do. Yeah, I mean, just in being a self-taught guitar player, you know, I joke around all the time, but people are always like, can you teach me how to play guitar? I'm like, you don't want me to teach you guitar. There's no cameras in here, but my fingers are like little sausages. You know, it's hard for you to play sometimes, so I had to kind of figure out my own way of playing. So unfortunately, I tell people like, I'd rather not try to teach you because I'm still learning myself. And when I play with my other buddies and stuff in town, it's like man, I look over at them, what they're doing. I'm like, OK, that's way easier to do. Like, I'll move my finger like that. And, you know, so I'm always progressing with playing guitar, for sure. So, no end in sight there.
− Find Faisal Abu-Nawwas on Instagram: @music_withfaisal