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!!