Aunty Disco Project: Our First Concert In Lahore.

As many of you are aware, we went to Lahore this past weekend to perform two shows, on in Peeru's Cafe and one in Nando's Lahore, which was a follow up to the Nando's Karachi gig. The following is my blog post about the day we performed at Peeru's Cafe, making our Lahore debut. It's really long and written in present, but there was no other way I could do justice to it. So here you go.

Saturday January 31^st, 2009

9:00 AM: I have only slept 3 hours and am woken up by a call from City FM89 confirming our radio interview at their Lahore station. I have no idea what I said but I was conscious enough to write down “2pm radio interview”. I go back to sleep. Lahore is cold and the blanket is warm.

10:00 AM: Call from Ali Alam asking the plan. I politely answer that I will call him back with the plan.

10:01 AM: Call from Yasir asking the plan. I tell him to suck my balls and hang up.

12:30 PM: My guilt over suggesting oral sex to Yasir catches up with me and I finally wake up. I call Omar Khalid, who is surprisingly awake, and even more surprisingly chirpy. He tells me he's at LUMS taking a trip down memory lane, ie. Omar is standing in the middle of campus checking out the freshmen. I was once told that LUMS has some of the hottest girls in the country all together in one place. I am envious and I hope he gets thrown out like Jazz from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

1:00 PM: I'm staying at my friend Asad's house, and he's graciously lent me a driver and car for the length of my stay in Lahore. The tea at Asad's house seems to be made in a nuclear reactor because it never gets cold. Ever. After a half an hour the damned mug is still the surface of the sun. Asad's cook and driver smirk at the pussy from Karachi who's waiting for his cup to cool.

1:45 PM: I pick up Ali Alam and get to the City FM89 where we're greeted by station manager Saami. Our interview with Fiza went pretty well, except that nobody knew who the hell we were and I think out of the 4 ticket giveaways we did for the Peeru's show, I think only one person availed them. Oh well. Otherwise the interview was a lot of fun, with us having a “who can sound sexiest on the radio” competition and me once again issuing a fake challenge to Ali Zafar to show up at our show.

3:00 PM: I am asked to do a voice-over for “Bata Shoes”, because apparently the lahori RJ's pronunciation of “Bata” wasn't satisfactory. So they needed a Karachiite to do it. Smirk Smirk. Snooty Snooty me.

3:25 PM: We discover that Saami is a huge movie buff and for the next hour we sit around trading discussions on Kubrick, Japanese Horror, Kung Fu movies and Quentin Tarantino. Saami is absolutely hilarious, re-enacting the most ridiculous scenes from a bunch of movies. It ends with him and me seeing who could do the best Al Pacino impression. (I win with my recreation of the classic line from 'Heat' “Cuz' she got a GREEAAAAAATTTT ASSSS! And your head halfway up it”.)

4:15PM: We grab lunch in Liberty market trying to kill time before we leave for Peeru's cafe. Looking all over for a Lahori restaurant so that we can get the real Lahori experience. Unfortunately we only see Karachi based “Bundoo Khan”. The other option is a place called (I kid you not) “Biryani Xtreme”. We're pretty sure this will cause potty xtreme so we look around a little more and settle on “New Tikka Corner. It occurs to me that we look so out of place as four dudes who are obviously from out of town. Ali Alam is sporting his scarf and open fuzzy hair look along with his famed red/pink Converse sneakers. Omar Khalid is wearing a suit jacket and jeans and looks like an art collector. I'm wearing a 50's style beige bomber jacket and here we are in the middle of Liberty market eating tikka boti, anxiously hoping that we don't get shit on by the crows. We're immediately impressed with the electronic parking token machine in the Liberty parking lot and we circle around it marveling at how the Lahoris have progressed and how this machine would have already been stolen and sold for profit in Karachi.

5:45 PM: The trek to Peeru's Cafe begins. It takes us about half an hour to get there from downtown Lahore. It amuses me how Lahori's consider a half an hour drive to be an insanely long distance. Half an hour is kinda average for everyone in Karachi. (Insert superiority complex here).

6:00 PM: After 3 near collisions with two cars and a donkey cart, we realize that our driver is fucking batshit insane.

6:30 PM: Peeru's Cafe is this beautiful, magical place and we're all absolutely stunned by what we see. It's about an acre of land with a Museum of Puppetry, a sprawling, green outdoor cafe and a giant amphitheater. We look inside and our jaws drop. The stage, the lights, the seating, its just incredible, We can't believe our luck. Plus the sound guys are already there and waiting. They've already set up the drum-kit and placed it on a riser. The boys and I are over the moon looking at the venue. Look at the pictures and you'll know why.

7:10 PM: Walking along the lush green lawns at Peeru's, we encounter three 14 year old kids and we hear them whisper “is that the Aunty Disco Project”. Thinking them to be young fans who've showed up to early, I greet them with a big smile and say”Yes yes, we're ADP, you kids here to see the show?”. Turns out these kids were the show. They were the opening act. Other three band members point at me and laugh.

7:15 PM: The name of the opening act is “Borstal Escape” and these kids were barely more than 13 or 14 years old. But they were all energy and rock'n'roll. They even had a single groupie girl, which according to Ali Alam is a must for every high school band. I don't remember having a single groupie girl in high school. Come to think of it, I don't think we even have one now. So they look like kids, we weren't expecting much. But at sound check, these little fuckers take the stage and proceed to rock the hell out of the amphitheatre. It was only a sound check, but these kids played like they were at Lollapalooza. They had all the stage moves down, jumping up and down, hammering out the power chords, shredding guitar solos. Their drummer was this bundle of energy, in fact I don't remember his name, all I know is that they referred to him as “Vehshee” which is Punjabi for “barbarian”.The boys and I look at each other and smile uneasily, simultaneously being very impressed and also realizing that there was a real possibility that we, the mighty Aunty Disco Project could get upstaged by a bunch of teenagers playing Metallica covers.

7:30 PM: We start our soundcheck in an empty stage, and its one of the best, most relaxed soundchecks we've ever done. The sound guy knows his shit and on our first run through, we're literally shocked at how good it sounds. For the first time we can hear everything all of us our playing individually and the venue has this beautiful, warm natural reverb that really makes the sound come alive. We've become so used to playing in tiny venues and cramped spaces that hearing ourselves sound like this huge rock band is exhilarating. Just then they turn on the lights and we're bathed in rays of blue, red and green and a slithering cloud of smoke. It's truly magical. I actually get a lump in my throat.

7:31 PM: Yasir ruins everything by complaining that he can't hear the darbuka. Now Yasir is generally never happy with his sound anywhere and the rest of us just kind of play along till he gets it right. Usually we can find no discernible difference. But we were getting visibly irritated because no matter what the sound guy tried, Yasir could not be satisfied. Usually by this time I tend to lose it with him and just force him to play as it is, but I didn't want to kill the vibe so I just left him to his own devices. Omar took a similar approach and just wordlessly played along with Yasir's requests to check the sound again.

7:45 PM: Everything looks and sounds great. Yasir is still not happy. Ali, Omar and me converge to decide what would be the best way to shove the darbuka up Yasirs butthole.

8:00 PM: This was the time we had officially put on the event. So we were chilling out. The temperature has suddenly dropped and we start freezing. The venue is outdoors with a marquee on top so we really have no place to go. And the Peeru's guys wont let us near the bonfire in the cafe area because we don't have reservations. So much for rockstar status.

8:30 PM: By now we are resembling something from a Russian novel, the four of us are huddled together, shivering from the cold which is getting unbearably worse and getting more tense as showtime approaches. No one has shown up yet, but we keep telling ourselves its too early.

9:00PM: The opening act take the stage and play to an empty auditorium. I feel bad for the kids because no one has shown up, but it doesnt seem to faze them at all. They rock out playing some AC/DC and a demonic cover of Metallica's “Seek and Destroy”. Sure their guitars are too loud, their vocals incoherent and drums out of sync, but man can they put on a show. Their lead singer who we christened “Chota Hetfield” was aping his idol right down to Hetfields' signature hunch over the mic and low slung guitar. I genuinely loved these kids, they totally rocked out with complete abandon. Watch out for them when they're 18.

9:30PM: No one has shown up. I'm trying my best to project outward calm but its not working and Ali Alam is constantly reassuring me that people show up late in Lahore. Omar Khalid is keeping to himself, and Yasir is sulking because we gave him a group yelling over the soundcheck.

9:45PM: We are being given a crash course in Lahori punctuality because still no one has shown up. The Peeru's authorities are beginning to pressure us into starting and I keep resisting. Yasir keeps coming up to me and asking me what to do. The five guys who have shown up keep shooting me anxious looks to start the show. I can't be around anyone at this point, so I take off for a long walk, trying to clear my head and calm myself down. I'm feeling horribly nauseous and bitter. Everyone in the venue is asking me what to do and I'm telling them to wait, but they keep pressing.

10:00PM: Peeru's announces that ADP is starting in 5 mins, effectively taking the decision out of my hands. A small crowd that has gathered in the cafe area starts making their way to the amphitheater. I stalk off on my own to go to the loo. Omar, Ali and Yasir take the stage and I can hear them warming up as a cheer goes off from the crowd.

10:05PM: While I'm outside the tent gulping down huge chunks of air, the noise in the amphitheatre seems to be getting louder. It seems like the crowd has just started to come in. I'm suffering from an unusual case of stage fright, I'm always tense before a show but its usually positive energy. But this time I am a complete wreck. My legs don't feel sturdy enough to hold me up, my hand are freezing and my fingers aren't moving fast enough. I'm hoping the rest of the band doesn't see me like this and am willing myself to go on stage and join them. This was definitely the worst case of jitters I've had, I can't describe how excruciatingly horrible it was, I felt like my entire body was shutting down on me.

10:15 PM: I finally close my eyes, say a prayer and walk inside the tent. A couple of my friends in the audience spot me and yell out my name. It doesn't help at all. So I just flash them a pained smile and keep my head down and make my way to the stage. Everyone probably thinks I'm such a prima donna by being the last one on stage. It's freezing cold on stage and my band members seem miles away from me on this huge platform. We've got a decent crowd in their and people are still coming in. I grab the neck of my guitar and I relax a little as I run my hands up and down the string. I switch on the amp and wait for the warm electronic hum to come through. I'm not looking at either of the guys. I take out the scrawled setlist from my back pocket. The first song is “Kiss”. I realize that I'm really uncomfortable, so I take of my jacket and a wave of cold hits me. It's showtime. The crowd is getting restless. I play one quick strum of the opening chord. Its Fmajor. I look over at Yasir and nod, I look to the right and do the same with Ali. I look back at OK and wait for the go ahead. He nods at me. I shuffle across to the mic and announce.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we're the Aunty Disco Project, and this is KISS”

one...two...three.....FOUR!

10:16PM: The moment I hit that first chord, all my tension melts away. We tear into our cover of “Kiss” and a huge roar erupts from the crowd. The song is upbeat, it's sexy and we play it tight as hell, the crowd is moving along to the beat and cheering at all the right moments. Suddenly its not cold anymore. The stage narrows down and there's this huge glow in the room. “Kiss” goes off without a hitch and the crowd loves it.

10:20 PM: I riff around the guitar for a bit and then I start the signature opening riff of “Sultanat”. The guitar sounds beautiful, loud and clear with the notes soaring high and cutting though the winter air. We play a ferocious version of “Sultanat” with OK being particularly brutal on the skins. We're playing as if our lives depended on it. It is a sonic assault and even though a lot of people in the crowd aren't familiar with the song, you can see them reacting to it. The energy on stage gets to a boiling point and Ali and me let loose. We end Sultanat with an extended, crashing finale and I windmill my arm at breakneck speed over the guitar drawing ecstatic cheers from the crowd. As the song ends, I want to collapse, I've spent nearly all my energy on this one.

10:25 PM: We power through the rest of the setlist including Tainted Love, Shehar Kay Aansoo, Likhta Nahin Mein and Rock The Casbah, where we finally released Yasir and his darbuka onto the unsuspecting audience who are wowed by his effortless interplay with OK's drums. I'm surprised that people are liking Likhta Nahin Mein so much, and theres a couple of guys in the last row dancing along to it.

10:30 PM: We do Ali's songs, although mid set, Ali vetoes the playing of “Dhoonda Taaron Mein” because we are so desperate to keep the energy levels high. We breeze past “Raat Jaagi” and struggle a bit through “Hum Na Rahey” because OK is clearly getting tired and beginning to cramp. We move to “Nazar” to give him a rest.

10:45PM: I perform an uncharacteristically dramatic version of “Nazar”. The lights go dim and the smoke machine spurts out. Now usually “Nazar” is a cue for everyone in the audience to start talking, but this time, there was palpable silence which was slightly unnerving for me. I also discovered that after yelling out the first 8 songs, my voice was giving way and the high notes were beginning to sound hoarse. Beads of sweat kept dripping down my head and onto my guitar. It was then that I realized my fingers were burning. I couldn't believe people in the audience were actually singing along to the chorus. It was a beautiful feeling and when I finally brought the song down to a hushed whisper in the end, the crowd erupted in heartfelt applause.

10:50PM: We start winding up the show by pulverizing the audience with our versions of “Womanizer”and “Baba O'Reilly”. I realize that the burning in my hands is because I have torn open a gash in my little finger and thumb from slamming my hand into the guitar strings. Its also kind of gross to see that the volume knob on my guitar is bloody.

11:10 PM: We announce we're going to end with our brand new unreleased song “Mujhey Sahara Do” and it is a huge success. People start singing along to the chorus and bopping their heads up and down. Ali and me move to the side of the stage so that Yasir can pull out his final incredible darbuka solo and him and OK take turns at wowing the audience who are absolutely thrilled to see this percussion battle. We build up to a frantic climax ending in a wall of noise with crashing drums and screeching guitars and the crowd is on their feet yelling themselves hoarse.

11:30 PM: The crowd isn't ready to let us go just yet. Screaming for an encore, they chant our name repeatedly. I'm exhausted and my hands are throbbing. I look over at OK and he's clearly sent but he's grinning from ear to ear, savoring the moment. We get back on stage and Yasir starts our encore, “Sympathy For The Devil”

11:45PM: A long and emotional cheer goes up from the crowd as we slam the final chord and I leap off the drum riser and nearly collapse on stage. They're all on their feet yelling, clapping and cheering. It isn't a huge crowd, but they are loud enough to sound like we're at LiveAid. It's an emotional moment for me as I look over at the guys and think of how far we've come and even though we've got a long way to go, this will be a special moment. The show was incredible. We played out of our skins. I have never been prouder of my brothers, my band. We did it. We played the show of our lives.

Who knew that architects could rock?

Man what a great show! we haven't had a show like that in a long time. The crowd was fairly small but energetic, the sound was perfect and for once, we were genuinely enjoying ourselves on stage rather than worrying about expectation.

It was a crazy day, Yasir, Omar and I went to the beach for a friends barbecue, so by the time we got back for the show, we were already exhausted, for sand is not an easy substance to remove from ones butt crack.

Our longtime sound guys Audiolink were already there. Over the last year or so, we're learned to just stick with one sound guy and no on handles us better than Navaid from Audiolink. It was the most painless and relaxed soundcheck we ever did. While were all in a good mood and genuinely pumped up about the show, we could tell that the crowd response might not be that great. Most of the people, the older crowd had just come for the food (which according to Omar Khalid was the best rice he's ever had). Some of the students were actually heard saying "ADP? Who got them? Why ADP". It's easy to get disheartened when you hear something like that, I just told the boys that it was a new opportunity for us to make converts out of them.

We started of with our long time opener "Kiss" and the straight up launched into Sultanat. By now, its become a popular enough song that people start cheering from the moment they hear the opening guitar riff, and let me tell you it always gives me goose bumps. We powered our way through a raucous Sultanat and a growling Shehar Key Aansoo and then I took a break from vocals so that Ali could sing. People remembered his song "Raat Jaagi" and it was great to see them singing along to it. Ali has a new song called "Hum Na Rahey" which is my favourite song these days. He hasn't recorded it yet, but when he does, I guarantee its going to be a hit so look out for it.

After a low key Nazar and a chirpy Likhta Nahin Mein, we unveiled our latest cover, which was a 15 minute tripped out freaky version of "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. This is when we really came together. I don't usually get a chance to pull out wild guitar solos but on this one I really cut loose and the guys felt it too. The crowd really got into it, it was incredible.

We ended with "With a Little Help from My Friends", but we were brought back to do an encore with our old favourite "Sympathy For The Devil" which had them dancing on their feet, bringing a perfect end to a perfect show.

Post show, we met with the crowd, signed some CDs and posed for some pictures, which really is the rewarding bit from doing this, just seeing that you have affected people in a positive way and just sending out a vibe of good energy (yes I know I sound like a hippie). Ali Alam was his usual low key self, and he wandered away to find his wife, I thought that was funny, we actually have a band member who is stable and horror of horrors...married? Sometimes I can't tell if Ali is excited or happy about something but I could see he was loving it on stage, as we traded jokes on the mic.

Thank you all you came, those who didn't, we'll be back on stage faster than you can say Meri Pant Bhi Sexy. Stay tuned.

Magic

I guess that really is the best way to describe it. Our launch show was truly magical. For once, everything fell into place. No last minute glitches, no running around worrying about tickets, excellent sound, excellent stage, the perfect crowd and just the right amount of chilliness in the open air. There is a lot to be thankful for, but what really touched me the most was the presence of the beautiful people who are our real fans.

The crowd danced, cheered, laughed and sang along throughout the entire performance and I was overwhelmed by the love and warmth we were receiving. There were so many people who were seeing us for the first time who were enthralled, and then there were our die-hard fans who had been waiting for this show for a long time.

We threw ADP t-shirts into the audience, we signed CD’s and had an all round raucous time. So for all you people who showed up, you are all really special and we hold you very close to our hearts. I’m sorry if I sound emotional, I really am just trying to communicate the really electric emotion I was feeling when we took the stage that night.

P.S: All you people who didn’t come because of shaadi season, I know who you are and I know where you live.

Excitement

We're performing at IBA today and I am really psyched. In true Omar Akhtar fashion, I have fallen desperately ill right before the concert (this will refresh your memory). Thankfully, its just your run-of-the-mill stomach flu from some bad chicken. (I can't help it, Karachi Broast is like crack for me...). I also realize I should stop discussing this topic to save whatever miniscule amount of sex appeal I ever had.

The doctor thinks I am prone to stress and my body automatically shuts down as a response. This is not encouraging. This is silly. Why couldn't I have a macho response to stress, like porcupine spikes or something. Instead I have developed the biological equivalent of sticking my head in the ground.

Things are looking up, we've been sounding good at rehearsals, the boys are itching to get back on track and do a cracking show. plus it's IBA where we've always had a loyal fanbase so I'm realy excited to do this.

I really promise to be regular this time....

No i'm not talking about my bowel movements.

The band and I have been through a very difficult period, collectively and personally. But we're still together and thats whats important. Since i'm on cliche's anyway, let me tell you that being in a band is the closest thing to a marriage, without the weepy sex. In my case, im in a 4-way. Now I'm wondering how my analogy degenerated into a gay orgy...

Like most marriages, we've added another member to save ourselves. Our long search for a manager has ended and we are proud to announce Samme Sani Ahmed as our manager. Check out his blog here.

Samme and me have known each other for a while now, and it appears that Samme has known everyone in media forever. We immediately bonded over our mutual love for dick and fart jokes so naturally I had to hire him as the caretaker of my bands future.

Now this takes a huge load off me, because I was damn near going insane trying to manage the band, book shows, media appearances, shoot videos and trying to play music at the same time. Plus having an outside guy really helps us resolve our issues better and not murder each other with a blunt object.

So far Samme's first show with us was, as mentioned earlier, a bit of a disaster. We were performing for Radio1FM91 at a private gig along with our awesomely talented buddies Zeb and Haniya. Now somewhere along the way, my beautiful cherished companion of 5 years (my Fender Amplifier) was tampered with and a short circuit pretty much fried it completely. I sent Samme and Lodhi off on a wild goose chase thinking a replacement fuse would do the trick, instead, it burst into flames as we were sound checking. In retrospect we must have looked pretty comical, in fact heres a picture of me completely at my wits end (courtesy Kohi Marri)

We finally scrambled to get the show started on time, using a tiny replacement amp with a distortion peddle. Trying to get a good sound out of it was a nightmare and I was left just helpless on stage. Check out the amp in the background of this picture as well as Yasir with his trademark "Mujhey awaaz nahin aa rahee...."

Needless to say we were well below our standard, and the crowd was pretty indifferent, except from a few of our longtime supporters. I was so frazzled and tense by the amp episode, my singing was off and I was quivering like puberty ridden teen. OK begged us to cut the set short so we did. I think the only thing that saved us was our on-the-spot rendition of Beedi, complete with Bipasha-thumkaas.

I was despondent after the show. There was no high of a good performance. The people who usually come up to me after a show weren't making eye contact. Saqib Malik, the awesome director of Ali Azmats "Na Re Na" video and Fuzon's "Khamaj" was in the audience and as silly as it sounds I was desperately hoping we would impress him enough to make our next video. Basically I thought we'd blown it. I suppose you take the good gigs with the bad, but I was especially hoping to come back with an impact since our last show was in August.

Anyway, like I said, we can't wait to get back to doing regular shows and i'm keeping December as the month for when we will officially release our album. Stay tuned on this blog...

Triumph in the Face of Adversity

We did it.

We pulled it off.

I can't believe it. I am so happy, I wanted to cry. After everything was almost down and out, we pulled through and gave the performance of our lives. The press reviews are in, and they are glowing...you can read for yourself.

Maheen Sabeeh at The News http://thenews.com.pk/instep_today.asp

Jaffer Ali Sharrif at The DailyTimes http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\30\story_30-4-2007_pg12_7 (Who once again get it wrong when they refer to us as Aunty Disco Party!!!)

Extiinct at Karachi Metblogs http://karachi.metblogs.com/archives/2007/04/adp_mauj.phtml

Plus we were able to shoot the video for "Ho Bhi Jahaan". All in one day.

Since I am currently hibernating, I can't write in much detail. But I just have one thing to say.

My band is the best band in the world, no matter what happens. I love the guys to bits and am ecstatic and the success we are now sharing.

And for everyone else, thank you so much for your love and support for when I was sick. ADP Loves you.

Anatomy of a Concert

Why am I posting after a month?

Tension
Stress
Illness
Absolutely no time.

And why would that be?

Because we are performing in our biggest and most widely covered concert yet.

With

MAUJ

That's right, we get to open for one of our favourite bands on Sunday 29th of April, 2007 at the PACC Auditorium. Show starts at 8:00 pm. Email me for tickets.

So why the tension then?

Well, the smaller reason (or as it seems now...) the sheer stress of trying to get sponsors for the event so we could make some money off the show. You see, being a poor band with no record deal yet, we have to make a video or two on our own before any of these companies will pick us up. Yep this is how Pakistan works. So we need cash.

Most companies however are more willing to spend money of Ali Zafar dancing on a train or Shaan wearing an Indigo condom to give an awesome concert any sort of money.

Eventually we just managed to cover our costs, thanks to last minute saviours, Citibank and City FM 89. For the record, we love the two Citi's.

Our video for Sultanat never got shot. After wasting a month on it, the budget eventually became too much and it never made it.

As a result we are shooting our second video (Ho Bhi Jahaan) first. It gets worse.
We are shooting half the video at the Basement Cafe on Saturday night. Then we are shooting the next half of the video on the PACC stage from 8am to 5pm. Then we are performing a concert at 8:00 pm.

Doesn't that sound retarded?

probably...

How did we get ourselves into this mess?

mostly because we were trying to cut costs

Dude what the fuck?

Dude don't even start, my band and I have gone back and forth and fought and screamed so much this last week, its a miracle we're even together. In fact, its brought us closer.

So then what are you complaining about?

On Tuesday, I developed an extremely high fever coming back from work. I've been diagnosed with some sort of flu virus. This means I am to stop handling everything and stay in bed for 5 days. This means I couldn't deal with any of the sponsors myself, and I couldn't practice with the band. in fact there is a slight chance that I might not even be fit for the concert. Given that I had a fever of a 102-104 and I had to make a trip to the hospital last night, I am scared as hell.

But the show must go on right?

I think I could make it for the show. But we haven't practiced at all, so we might end up being complete shit. I can't bear to have somebody right a bad review about us after all this pain.
But it's the video I'm worried about. 15 hours of shooting with a flu virus? It is going to take a superhuman effort.

Headaches
Backaches
Shivering
Delirium
Coughing
Pain
Weakness

So now what?

Everyone please pray. Inshallah, we still have tommorow. And I am still recovering. Maybe we can still pull this off. As I go into another drug induced sleep, I hope tommorow I can crank something out of this body.

Best Gig Ever? (Caution: VERY LONG POST FOLLOWS)

Now this was truly a concert to remember. An awesome crowd, great weather, great music and a killer response. This past Sunday at Alliance Francaise, we played out of our skins and rocked Karachi…

Things started off badly, when we arrived at the venue at 11 in the morning, the sound guy wasn’t there and the stage had barely been setup. The lights guy wasn’t there either and the organizers were throwing a fit. Plus I couldn’t remember the lyrics to Rock the Casbah. Maybe that was just tension. This was going to be the first show a member of my family attended, my sister was coming, so I was coping with a special kind of stagefright.


Then as soon as we were about the soundcheck, Sajid and Zeeshan showed up and asked to do it first, given that they had several electronic items to test. They have an interesting live setup. With Sajid playing guitar and singing, and Zeeshan providing sampled drum beats, keyboards and turntable...


So after what seemed like an eternity, we finally got on stage and soundchecked in a rush. The sound was pretty confused, I guess because with so many bands, the sound guys had been overloaded with inputs. Tensions were running high with people just beginning to trickle in.

Anyway, by the time Sampurna and the rest of the classical musicians had warmed up the audience, we were ready to go on, but were told to wait as a piercing wailing cut through the air. Apparently somebody had let a 8 year kid take the stage and belt out “Terey Bina Jiya Nahin Jaye”. I would have been amused had I not been grappling with my nerves. Even my band members got worried because I am usually never this nervous. I kept feeling like I was going to collapse on the stage. It took every ounce to get up there and Lodhi suggested we just jam a little to warm ourselves up. Even then I was jittery. But I saw the faces of the crowd, and somebody shouted “I love you OBA!!!”, I knew there was no place else I’d rather be.

I looked over at OK and he counted out “1…2….3….4” and then BANG, we slammed the opening chords to “Pride (in the name of love)”. Suddenly everything melted. The music was flowing, I could hear ever instrument and my voice was ringing out loud and clear. The crowd was loving it…

But if they liked that, they went downright crazy on the next cover. We launched into the punk rock stomp of “Shipping up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys. I was so glad we pulled it off because it was an extremely difficult song to do and we had almost scrapped it. But I figured that even if it didn’t sound good, people would just appreciate that we were ballsy enough to do it.

Our original “Sultanat” and “Such” got a raucous reception and I could actually see kids headbanging in the front row. I couldn’t believe it. It seemed unreal that people would enjoy a song I wrote in such a physical way.

Along with “Tainted love” and ‘Rock the Casbah” (where Yasir fired up the audience with his belly-dance groove) we ran through the covers and then we did Sheher Kay Aansoo where Yasir’s mic stopped working. After I did “Nazar” alone, Lodhi switched to guitar and did “Ho Bhi Jahaan”.

Now initially we were going to close with “Comfortably Numb” but we took a vote on stage and decided to pull out our old showstopper “Sympathy for the Devil”. It was in the middle of this 15-min finale that Yasir pulled out what I like to call the “Hand of God Darbuka Solo”. The kid went crazy, he never missed a single beat and then starting from a slow rise to a fiery crescendo, he played the audience like putty. We pulled out all our tricks in the end, guitar solos, bass runs, drum/darbuka interaction, harmonica solo and even fitted in Elvis’s “Let’s Have a Party” smack in the middle.

When we ended, I heard the loudest cheers we had ever got, with people screaming for an encore. I guess its better to always leave them wanting more….so we declined.
Getting of backstage, we just soaked up the reception we were getting, and we heard them cheer one last time for ADP. This feeling is worth everything in the world.

The rest of the concert was a complete blast. But I was disappointed because Sajid and Zeeshan (see pic), who we are huge fans of, had told us they were gonna come especially to see us perform. But they never made it. I guess they had some other commitment, but I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. I know it means nothing but I really wanted to show an established act how good we are. Nevertheless, they showed up in the end and performed incredibly in the evening, with the stage lights on.

I enjoyed Above’s tribute to The Doors, and I joined them onstage to play some lead guitar on “Roadhouse Blues”. I had labeled the guys from Az as “The Darkness” because they all wore black and were constantly smoking in a huddled corner. But they played a great set, with originals and Tool covers. Watch out for them soon.

The other funny thing is the Az boys sing with impeccable American/English accents when they sing in English. But if you talk to them normally, they have the stereotypical Pathan accent (the boys are from Peshawar) which sounds really melodic so I shared a couple of laughs with them.

As usual, the obligatory press arrived hours after we performed and then attempted to interview us. CNBC showed up and put us in a corner and handed us the mike.(see pic) Now the whole thing seemed rather silly to us, given that they weren’t really asking any questions. So we turned the interview into a piss-take session, with Lodhi plugging our album shamelessly and OK doing his best Inzamam impersonation (“Jee…the buays played well…jee”). I predict we will be edited.

I am really beginning to feel for our fans because I found we had some die-hard ones, especially from IBA, who cut short their college picnic at the beach to come see us. I was extremely touched, and pledged to give them free tickets to the next show.
It was a day to remember and we were still living off the stage-high well into the night. Thank you everyone who made it and saw us perform, and sorry to the guys who were expecting us to perform later and missed us. Thank you to City FM89 who organized an incredible event and thank you to my band, you guys are true stars. Here we are right after we got of stage....

The Sounds of the Underground

OK so this is an announcement for a killer gig that we are going to perform this coming Sunday Mar. 18th. Its called Sounds of the Underground and its being brought to you by City FM89.

The show starts at 2 pm (yep its in the day!!)

Now get the bands who are going to be playing:

Sampurna (classical chaps)
Above (awesome band from IBA)
ADP (crappy band with body odor)
Az (awesome band from Peshawar)
Leon Menezes (cool Bob Dylan type chap)
…..and special guests

SAJID AND ZEESHAN

Now the guys and I are crazy excited about this show, it promises to be a real rock festival and it’ll be a nice change to play during the daytime, get some sunshine. Its and outdoor show and its going to be held at the Alliance Francaise.

The tickets are Rs. 350 and I’ll keep you posted on where you can buy em. In fact they might be coming to a college or school campus near you….

We’ve been practicing our setlist and apart from our originals we’re going to be doing some insane covers. In fact this might be our best show yet. Ok I’ll stop. Please come.

Gig at IBA (I am so out of imaginative titles...)

I know I’ve been dragging my ass when it comes to regularly updating the blog but I’ve been under a mountain of work, some day job related and some ADP related. But it was all worth it when last Sunday we performed a surprise gig at the IBA City Campus.

Now if you’ve been following the ADP diaries, you’ll know about our love affair with IBA. We have now performed there three times (at both campuses) and we always love the crowd. This gig was probably our best yet. And the funny thing was we did it with a days notice…

So apparently the IBA City Campus was having some sort of event which got cancelled, and they decided to have a concert instead. Our pals from the band "Above" contacted us and asked us if we’d like to share the bill with them. Now given that the last proper gig we did was back in October ’06 I was both excited and scared shitless. But the boys seemed to be quite enthused with the whole thing, so miraculously we practiced just one day and were ready to perform on Sunday.

It didn’t start well, Omar came in with a fever, and while packing our equipment I forgot my guitar amp! So we gave Omar drugs and then Lodhi and I went barrelling back to get the amp. After Above opened with some great covers, we got on.

THE CONCERT WAS INCREDIBLE.

Sometimes everything just clicks, we took less than 15 mins to do a sound check, our sound guy was brilliant. When you have good sound and great monitors you just raise your level of playing. And that’s exactly what we did. Here’s our setlist.

Sunshine of your love (Cream cover)
Such
Sheher Ke Aansoo
Pride (In the Name of Love) – ( u2 cover)
Nazar
Vaadey
Sultanat

(Encore)

Sympathy For the Devil/ Let’s Have a party

This was the first time we played an encore. And one that went on for 15 mins of mayhem. I just didn’t want to stop playing. The fun bit was we were even joined onstage by Shoaib from Above and Khurram from Inertia to do a rock rendition of "Wicked Game".

The biggest thing for me was halfway through the set when people in the audience started shouting for "Sultanat", I was like…"you actually know our songs?".

Now I know we enjoyed the hell out of playing there. But the crowd seemed a little subdued. Granted I couldn’t really see them with the stage lights facing me. I guess because they had been seated on the ground with pillows and shit made them overly relaxed. Anyway they seemed to enjoy it.

Yasir was a big hit with his darbuka madness. He was seen surrounded by several adoring females after the concert. But they left pretty quickly after I shouted "Alright Yasir! Show those Bitches those Ten Inches!". I felt bad. Only slightly.

In the distance I heard what sounded like gunshots. I thought it was a driveby and maybe somebody had confused us with Jay-Z. But it was "Thhha Soda’. Apparently this beverage explodes when you open its cap. And it tastes like 7-up with chaat masala. OK described it as being "most vile".

OK cracks me up, here we have a guy who has a carefully cultivated image of being a hardcore mast-malang-mela complete with unshaven look, everpresent cigarette and few words. Which is why when he says something dainty like "most vile", it cracks me up.

That night we also discovered his fondness for…BEYONCE’S "IRREPLACEABLE". I hate outing OK like this but you guys have to know that this guy is The Prince of Fucking Darkness, he listens to Tool and Black Sabbath and likes to play music that sounds like Satan taking a dump on Bjork’s head. And then he sings "to the left to the left…"

Anyway, I digress. Great gig, great crowd, and great organization, we couldn’t have asked for more. So ADP’s back to perform gigs people, stay tuned for March 9th…something special happening…

I'm back. Like Shady.

First of all a very Happy New Year to all the loyal ADP Diaries readers, I am really sorry I haven’t updated in awhile, just been really busy, and then I got very jaded by a whole bunch of things. The start to the New Year was really slow. Anyway to give you a quick update on what we are doing,

We are pretty much done with the recording sessions, Ashfaq drove us mad by refusing to give us shifts and not showing up on days we had scheduled them. So now we are basically taking our recording tracks and getting them mixed somewhere else, preferably someone who isn’t a big name. Once again, this has pushed back our album release but hopefully we should be able to get our first single out pretty soon.

The band is suffering because we haven’t jammed properly with our full set up since October. So this past week, when an offer came for us to open for Falak at The Basement Café I thought we might as well for a bit of a jam. Plus Lodhi’s buddy Sibtain from the band Zzing (of “Mera Number” fame) was joining us. It was fun jamming with Sibti because he was a fellow Beatles enthusiast and we had a jolly old time jamming along to Let it Be, Norwegian Wood, A Hard Days Night and Hey Jude where I let loose my atrocious keyboard playing skills. When the time came however, the Basement was empty. Apparently the Falak chaps decided to postpone the gig leaving us to once again haplessly perform to an almost bare venue. I really don’t want to perform our originals any more without Omar Khalid. Without drums, I feel we don't do justice to ourselves. Not that we perfomed bad, in fact our open jam with everyone at the basement was great fun. It just felt like we were lacking our oomph.

The saga doesn’t end there. Read on for more fun and verbal abuse.

(P.S: This is how you can comment if blogger is being a pain - thanks to Khizzy of Cloud Khizzy fame for sharing this with me!

click the comment button,
then in the link space, you get this:
http://www.inblogs.net/files.php?file=http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10958515&postID=116652043886102886

get rid of this bit:
http://www.inblogs.net/files.php?file=

and re-load. Ta daaa)

A gig at last....

There’s nothing like a live performance to lift us out of our mire and put us back to doing what we do best which is play together live. Not that it was a big event…but a satisfying one. My good friend Saad Haroon (of comedian fame) was hosting a small musical/comedy evening this past Friday for his sister Sana who’s getting married this month so he asked us and the boys from Kaavish to perform an acoustic set. It was just like the Open-Mic nights we used to do at Caffeine, with a small intimate crowd.

It was great for us to get together and jam again, although my throat still hadn’t recovered and in fact at our last jam, I was sneezing so much I had stuff my nose with tissues just to make it through the song. Since the set was acoustic, OK had originally decided to accompany us on 12-string guitar rather than drums, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it to the show. It was left to Lodhi, Yasir and I to put on a show.

The comic stylings of Danish Ali and Saad started off the show and the corwd was great, really chirpy and enthusiastic. Then Kaavish took the stage and performed 3 songs. Let me just say I was honored to share the stage with Jaffer Zaidi and Maaz because they pulled off an emotional and beautiful performance. With just Jaffer on keys and Maaz on guitar, they sang a cover of "Mad World" by Gary Jones, "Tu Hi Re" from the Bombay soundtrack and ended with their hit "Bachpan". I was mesmerized by Jaffers voice, especially on "Tu Hi Re" (one of my favorite songs). Their performance of "Bachpan" was better than I had ever heard it before. I often feel that the depressing funeral video really took away from a song that is actually quite sweet and nostalgic, and masterfully composed. Hearing it live brought out its true emotion.

Having set the scene with a mellow and emotional performance, we took the stage with explicit instructions to "shake things up a bit". And that we did. Here’s our set list

1. Do you love me? (originally by the Contours)
2. Sultanat (original)
3. Inteha ho gayee, intezar ki (Kishore)
4. Neend Aati Nahin (Junoon)
5. Message in a bottle (The Police)
6. Kiss (Prince)
7. Such (original)
8. 500 Miles (Proclaimers)

I had a blast performing with the guys again…we had the crowd singing along with our harmonies on "Do you love me" and with our blues reworking of an old Kishore song. There was a sublime moment when everybody sang along to "Neend Aati Nahin" and at the end of Kiss, where I decided to put Yasir on the spot and introduced him to the crowd, his cue to pull out a scorching darbuka solo that took Lodhi and me both by surprise. It was also good to see Lodhi back to performing and he was really enjoying himself, even warming up the audience with an impromptu performance of "Jiss kee Biwi Motee"

We missed Omar, but it was such a relief to get back to performing live after a layoff of nearly 2 and a half months. I’m sorry our fans didn’t get to see us but I promise you guys we’ll be back to performing gigs really soon and when we do, we will calmly take over the Pakistan music scene. :-)