KEERAY MAKORAY Interview

Here is an interview with another band from Lahore Keeray Makoray.

1. A bit of background about the band,Who is in it,Date formed etc.?

Well..Me (Misbah) and Altamash started the band. I had been playing with Takatak, an underground heavy metal band for quite some time when i was asked by shahmeel, the drummer, to play a gig for their band saya (composed of altamash on vocals and guitars, shahryar baig on bass and Shahmeel on drums). I wanted to do something besides heavy metal so i decided to go along and play. The gig was a Beatles tribute night at LGS and it was sometime when we were jamming for the gig that me and Altamash were travelling in a rickshaw thinking of a band name (Because the previous one sucked) and we decided to call ourselves keeray makoray for it was closest we could get to an urdu translation of the Beatles. The gig was in November 2011 and that is the month in which the band was formed.

2.How easy or how hard it is to be a rock/metal band in Pakistan?

Its definitely not easy being a rock band in Pakistan because you usually have a really limited following. Unless rock music, or any kind of music for that matter, is performed in urdu, the music never appeals to the masses which is quite understandable. Its also fun in a way because those who do follow your music tend to be hardcore fans whose encouragement is what keeps the band going, but to make it big in Pakistan one has to sing in the native language and that is what we plan to do in the future.

3. Do you have any Cd's etc out yet? Any planned? and if so how hard was it to get a record deal or are you D.I.Y.?

Right now were completely D.I.Y. Pakistan is not the kind of country where bands are approached by record label agents with money making offers at hand. In our country even established artists have troubles with record labels that in most cases reserve the right to all the music that the artist composes. So underground bands who have any idea of how the music industry here works would take the much more safer D.I.Y route. So yeah, we are planning to release an album, we have most of the material ready and all the production is done by ourselves in my room. 

4.Do you gig much or is it difficult to get gigs in Pakistan or is there a decent enough scene to be able to do this.

I would say there is a decent enough scene in Pakistan. Small gigs are frequently taking place in Lahore at venues such as guitar school, Peeru's cafe and the newly formed true brew records. Large gigs are however not so common mainly due to the political situation in the country. In many cases, huge gigs have been cancelled due to a bomb threat or political instability in the country.

5. Where do you think this band will take you? do you think it is possible to travel outwith Pakistan with your music?

As i mentioned before, for a band to make it become it big in Pakistan it is vital for the band to sing in its native language to appeal to the masses. It is only when a band makes it big on its home country, that it is able to travel out. In our case there are a few hundred fans who support our music and the only means we have of reaching fans across the globe is through Internet. So unless we have a huge fan base in Pakistan i don't think we could get out.

6.Who are you influenced by musically?

Pink Floyd, Opeth, Tool, Porcupine tree, Iron Maiden and Junoon and ali azmat...its a never ending list. Altamash is a HUGE iron maiden fan bringing in the maiden feel in the band.

7. Is equipment easy or hard to come by in Pakistan?

To get the right equipment one needs to know the right places. There is a huge influx of fake material sold by fake retailers with fake faces all over Pakistan but if you know what you're looking for and you want what you are looking for, you would most certainly find it. Of course we don't have guitar centres at every corner but that's just something we all have to get over sometime and accept that we live in a third world country.

Cheers!

Syed Misbah Uddin

 

Many thanks for the interview and keep your eyes open for this band.
 

TAKATAK Interview

 Here is an interview with Pakistani band Takatak, it's great to hear about bands from all around the world, and hopefully a wee bit more interest will be taken of the scene out there.

1. First of all a bit of background info,When were you formed,who plays in the band etc.
 Well. Me, Yusuf and Misbah met at Lacas during our a levels. We were looking for a drummer at the time and after jamming with Yusuf once we knew he was our guy. Plus we became fast friends so everything worked out. We heard Daud, Yusuf's younger brother and we were like fuck we need him as well! Why have one drummer if we can have two awesome ones right? Those guys are drum monsters. Lethal players. We had heard Bhatty on the first Odyssey record and had heard him live as well and he blew us away. So it made sense for us to approach him. We played our first gig in a little coffee shop without much rehearsal and that was that. We were Takatak. Over the years we've had a major line up change. First Jamil left the band, who was replaced by Isa Najam, a very good friend of ours and an extremely talented musician (he's going to be coming out with music soon with his own band so watch out for that!). We parted ways with Misbah a few months back as he wasn't really into playing what we were playing. But that's cool. No one should be forced to play something they don't want to. We're forming a side project with him in the very near future and are going to write songs for that. He's currently recording with his band Keeray Makoray. Everyone should go check that out! He's by far one of the best lead guitarists I've seen come out of the lahori underground scene. He was replaced by Ibrahim Imdad, who used to play in Bhatty's previous band Ruin. He's tight as shit and extremely talented and the stuff we're coming up together is phenomenal. I'm really excited.

2. Influences in both music and life?
 All of us together listen to a wide plethora of music, primarily based in Metal but then everyone has different things that they listen to individually. We're big Lamb Of God fans, as everyone knows. We're big into Gojira, Machine Head, Tool, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Mastodon. Dave Mathews Band is pretty cool. I don't know. What we listen to is all over the place. Pink Floyd. The Police. I find it hard listing down bands.
 
 3.Pakistan, What is the metal scene like there? How easy is it to get gigs and your music out?
 The metal scene in Pakistan is pretty small. Everyone knows everybody. We have a few bands in Lahore, few bands in Islamabad that we've played with. As far as gigs are concerned there are dry spells and ... wet spells? We could have 5-6 gigs a month and then none for 3 months. Depends on the time of year as well. Hahaha. Gig season. We've been getting lots of gigs recently. But sometimes promoters don't do their homework and book a metal act for a family carnival for example and that's when things get awkward. The internet has been extremely helpful with getting our music out there. Facebook and reverbnation help a lot.

 4. What other bands would you suggest our readers to check out?
 Keeray Makoray, Odyssey, Dementia, Poor Rich Boy and I.S.I.

5. Who writes your material and where do you get your inspiration for musical themes and titles?
 For a long time I'd sit and write stuff at home and bring it to Yusuf and Daud and then they'd figure out what's going on with the song and then add to that. The process is really fun for me because sometimes they'll flip one of my guitar parts and the feel will just completely shift. Isa also brings in ideas for songs. Some songs I'll have full written which I'll give to Isa and he'll figure the bass parts out. Ibzi has come into the band with so much material that we're working on as well. Its usually him adding to my stuff and me adding to his stuff and then making it work together.

6. Where do you think this endeavour will take you,beyond Pakistan or not?
 Well we hope this does take us abroad. We're hoping to release our album on iTunes through Afterwind Records. So hopefully that'll get us some international attention!

7..Any music releases out by you guys that people can check out?
 Two of our single's are available at www.reverbnation.com/reverbnation entitled 'Walls They Collapse' and 'Breakdown'.

8.Why metal? What do you think it is about metal that is able to translate itself worldwide despite cultural geographical differences?
 Why do people like metal? Its fast, heavy, aggressive music and some people like that! We do and that's why we play it. Metal transcends language boundaries because its more about the feel than the words themselves. Metal moves you emotionally and most importantly physically. Its very tribal. That could be it.

9. Anything you would like to add?
> DOWNLOAD.OUR.MUSIC.

Well cheers for the interview and do check them out on facebook and reverbnation, give them your support!!