the great gig on the second floor, by pink flam.

Finally i get the time to pay attention to this here bloj. Time to blab!

The Second Floor gig:

So as I mentioned a few posts ago, we were invited by the great Omar Bilal to play at The Second Floor and help them raise money to help them move and stuff. Which we were pretty excited about. The set-list was as follows:

Covers(english):
Blur - Song2
Backstreet Boys - Larger than Life (oh we so did)
HIM - Wicked Game
HIM - Killing Loneliness
Live - Lightening Crashes
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name

Covers(urdu):
Awaz - Jaadu ka Chiragh
Fringe Benefits - Tanhai Mein Chain
Junoon - Heeray

Originals:
Shab-e-Hijr
Tuu Haseen
Paas


We had a keyboard player brought in in the form of Sohaib Ali of IBA, holy shit is that guy nuts lol. He was supposed to play this wicked keyboard medley of Lateralus, Vicarious and the Stairway to Heaven solo thingy.

The only concern we had was we wouldn't really be able to get people to show up. We'd seen this happen on the 7on3rd show, which was part of the same series of events and also on the Spoonful gig. So it wasn't really a suprise that 125 people confirmed on facebook, 160 were maybes and only about 50 showed up. The number of attendees was pretty consistent with the figures the above bands gained but considering that we had more time to publicise and shit it was sortve depressing. I guess being a relatively unknown band worked against us. Though why would people confirm shit when they dont plan to come? Thats just lame.

A lot of friends didn't show up either for stupid last minute non-reasons such as 10 people waiting for one of them to take the initiative and declare they're going and only then would the others join in. Sheep. This lent further credence to the fact that we can't really depend on friends to keep supporting us forever if we are to be a band seriously.


The show went okay. Started really late though. It was supposed to go at 830pm, we accounted to people being tardy and thought 9 would be cool. The audience showed us up and arrived a further 30minutes late. This and the issues with the sound setup due to either our or their equipment and mutual understanding levels led us to cut around 3 songs from the setlist since we wanted to wrap up by 1030pm.

This also led us to a sort've shaky start since sound setup issues always acts like a needle busting into the balloon that is our confidence, but we managed to pickup the pace and by the time we were around 4 songs down we were playing hard and fast without a care in the world. A few screwups did go down and some were noticeable but most were covered up. All in all it was fun. Here are a few pictures from the show:






Other stuff:

Since the recent flurry of gigs and my newfound interest in the music scene revolving around The Second Floor, I thought we should take a few pointers from the people in Lahore and create our own version of "The System". Apart from being something with an unimaginative name, that is also the operation of sorts where musicians don't wait around for sponsors and stuff in these trying economic times and through a proper organization and fraternity of sorts make their own gigs. Which makes a lot of sense and though people do already make their own gigs happen, there is no structuring and hence a lot of randomness and inefficiency. Since nobody would listen to me I forwarded the idea to the OBA today and yeah so now this is me waiting to see it something works out.

By the way, a shout out to all to The Heebie Jeebies. An awesome awesome jam band made up partly of the people from Spoonful and a few other dudes. These guys are amazingly skilled and really cool musicwise too. Hope to see them around for a long time to come.


Monday will see us going to The Open Mic Night and playing without our singer, Anes. He's sick and has been so for a few days since he insists on taking stupid homoeopathic medicines. Hope stuff works out and we and the audience has fun. Seeing as how this is going to be it gig-wise for a while to come, we need to make a few good impressions so that in future people arent too unsure about helping us out if we need them to.

Oh it's heartache every moment
From the start 'til the end
It's heartache every moment
With you
Deeper into our heavenly suffering
Our fragile souls are falling
It's heartache every moment
Baby with you

What I've been upto

I realized I haven't been blogging about a lot of stuff thats happened recently and trust me a lot has happened. It's mainly band related and a little bit of other stuff too. Till I get time to post about everything properly, I'll brush over the band stuff in the form of an update I sent to our fans on Facebook.

News thus far and new media incoming!

Today at 2:42am

Flam! has been having a really busy time this past couple of weeks! Shows on the 26th, 27th and 28th of February and also on the 8th of March! Below is a list of the places we went and brought the thunder!

26th Feb- Azaad Foundation/UNICEF International Children's Broadcasting Day acoustic gig at an Azaad Foundation school for under privileged children(made possible through our friends at Radio1 FM91)

27th Feb- Eventus Battle of Bands(we didn't but kicked ass nevertheless and made lots of new phans!)

28th Feb- IBA SpringFest! We opened for Call!(thank you Luqman Mubashir)

8th March - IBA Charity Carnival! Brought the house down, won lots of fans, played a brand new original that everybody loved and opened for Shehzad Roy all in the same night!(thank you Farhaad mon)


UPCOMING INSANITY!!

Flam! takes over The Second Floor(t2f) for a night on the 20th of March as part of their series of fundraising shows held throughout this month to help them through the tribulations of vacating their current premises and moving to their new location sometimes in mid-2009! All details can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66016236094&ref=mf

You already know about this but what the heck we're still going to convince you. Expect firstly, a lot of songs. Among them we'll be doing originals, covers of yours and our favourite artistes as well as our special do-over versions of famous Pakistani singles from yesteryears! Don't miss out and drag your friends along kicking and screaming. They'll thank you later. Or kill you. Hopefully the former.


NEW MEDIA:

We'll be uploading pictures from all the above mentioned events that have gone through real soon so check out page when we start yelling about it.


So yeah. That's that.

I got my head checked
By a jumbo jet
It wasn't easy
But nothing is no

the most excited blogpost ever!

By jingo! Last night was eventful indeed. I shall start from the beginning....
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Okay enough of that.

Introduction

Our drummer, Owais, will be leaving in June..or maybe July. He is joining the army. Yes that is the best he could come up with. This and a particularly impressive jam with him while working on our originals led us to properly consider recording our work. Finally Saad Khaleel emailed OBA(OmarBilalAkhter) of ADP(AuntyDiscoProject) and asked him for ADVICE(advice). Being the uber-nice dude he is he apparently replied and said that this should be done on the phone and we can call him anytime and stuff. I say allegedly because well, this what Saad told me and I trust no one -_- ...

This was around the same time OBA-san wrote this post on his own blog....coincidence?...I dunno maybe..

We find out...

Then we found out that there was going to be an ADP gig at the Clifton Nandos on the 29th, a free gig. GASP! Free? ADP? Me? This has never been a good combination! For the very very few of you who are not regulars here, I would like you to recall this post!

No matter, this was Nandos(should there be an apostraphe in there?). There would be no "families only" bullshit here. We'd go and watch the show, maybe even talk to OBA and all afterwards. Though Saad had injected his usual weak spineness at this juncture by saying stuff like "dude he'll just have gotten off stage we can't go up and bug him about this stuff".To which I'd usually say something like "dude I hate you I hate you" and run off crying while I flung myself onto my hugeass four poster bed with silk sheets and red pillowcases.
.........


The day arrives

I'd discovered the day before that this was the launch of something of the other at Nandos and not just a free concert. Which made me turn into the bitchy don't-be-late person I become since I reasoned that it would start on time. So yeah, we went. Two cars; mine with Saad, me and Owais and Anes' with him and Kanwal(his fiance, oooooooooh). We got there on time, which was to be 7pm and since we were there by 642pm it was pretty cool. I didnt even drive fast. Anes had yet to arrive. We were walking in and I was all happy and relieved that there appeared to be no major obstructions to our getting in. The guy at the door asked us how many people were in our group and I told him, even remembering to make him write down Anes' name so that our buddy buds could get in hassle-free.

Deja vu

We got in and sat down on the lower level. We could hear a lot of noise coming down from the floor above us where the whole shebang was going down. At the door we'd seen a few tv people coming in and they all had gone upstairs. Logically we concluded that this wasn't where we were supposed to be. We asked the waiter when the concert was to begin and if we should go up now or later. He asked us if we had invites to which we suavely replied "uhh.....no?"*slight pause* "sir could you please step out with me". Oh crap. This was the long friday all over again! Nobody had said anything about invites! Nobody! Or had they?? Saad must've forgotten! God, I hate him! I'm going to kill him when this is done!

The guy at the door said we were supposed to get invites, we told him we were invited by email and he should ask Omar Bilal Akhtar. He was like "Bilal Akhter who?". We elaborated that he was in the band who were to play and such and such so he sent a waiter dude to call mister saleem or whoever since he didn't know enough. So we waited. Then God sent us OK(Omar Khalid) and Yasir Qureshi. ADP's drummer and darbouka man respectively. We breathed a sigh of relieft, we could get in now since they knew us we knew them blah blah. OK came over and started talking to Saad, Yasir went up to the door and was stopped by the guy so he told him he was with the band. "What band?" I heard, horror struck. Holy shit if THEY cant get in what hope do we have?? By then Saleem or whoever had showed up though and we got in along with OK and Yasir. Anes still hadn't shown up so we reminded the gate demon about him.

We're in!

We went up. There was a ginormous crowd and this lady going on and on about the Cataplana. Turns out they were introducing a new menu item. This well known chef dude from MasalaTV showed up and explained to everyone that it was a South African Portugalese dish which had rice, chicken and some vegetables in it. With a description that detailed I could taste it already. The hostess person also said that everytime anyone ordered it, the waiters would open the container in which it was served with a tada! I immediately made a mental note to NEVER order the catawhatsit.
While we were milling around aimlessly waiting for stuff to happen Anes and Kanwal showed up. Anes, as per usual, had to go the the bathroom. This only happens when we're out. I do not know why. Kanwal was stuck with us so Saad and her promptly got into a we-are-in-IBA conversation. Someone asked us why we were standing and if we needed a table. I told him we were with band and surprisingly we were made space for. How quickly times change. Then this witer lady told us to go down so that we could be served, yes there was free food! The excitement! Free music AND free food?? All was right in the world. Anes still hadn't shown up by the way. We went down, got to a table and waited.

Suddenly we heard the sound of a bass guitar and panic struck! They were going to start and we were stuck here! Nooo! No wait! Anes is up there! He doesn't know we're downstairs! He'll be himself and get lost! We'll go up and find him! And stay there and watch the show! At this point Anes showed up. Sigh. It looked like we'd have to eat.

The phood

We got a couple of caterpillars or whatever which the server opened with a very wilted "tada?". I was being my usual asinine self and trying to be funny. Then we got free chicken and free fries and free lemonade. So I shutup and tucked in. Since there was a lady present we all had to be polite and eat like civilised people and not cavemen. Sigh, what testing times we live in. But anyway, we kept at it and were done quickly enough. Then we moved upstairs with alacrity. Yeah baby, today is SAT english vocabulary usage day.

Upstairs ADP were all on stage and going through the final stages of their soundcheck. OBA came off and shook hands with me and graciously said a few words to the effect of "hey dude" to which I replied with great wit "uh...". What! He's a celebrity okay?! I was subdued into silence. Anyway he talked to Saad and Anes, asked them about the sound and all they told him the guitars weren't loud enough and so yeah that was that and then they started! Woohoo!

The show!

ADP as always, I have found amazing. They just have SO much energy. This show was no different. OBA was jumping around for all that he was worth. Ali Alam was very energetic too. OK had brought his shiny sparkly new drumkit. I was jumping and all too, singing along to every song and I more or less new the words to EVERY song. Needless to say I was very pleased with myself. They did around 10 songs i think. All their famous originals like Sultanat, Sheher ke Aansoo, Nazar, Likhta Nahin Mein etc. Ali Alam did three of his own songs which I also knew though I can't remember their titles(sorry Ali!). They did Prince's Kiss, Womanizer by britney(that was fun lol), Teenage Wasteland by The Who which was very cool of them. They were so loud and crazy that lightshades started dropping out of the ceiling! That was pretty awesome. My excitement was beginning to affect people around me like the camera man whos ear I was yelling the lyrics into and who asked me try and not shake him so much.

The awesomeness!

And just like that we were done. The show ended. People started to leave. Anes had already left since he had to drop Kanwal back home. We milled around for a bit so that we could meet the guys and stuff. I was excited by this prospect since it meant we could talk to them and also ask them about recording and general advice and what not. Though when Saad said that OBA was tired and we shouldnt bug him I was pissed enough at that to leave immediately. But he did end up going to OK and talking to him about stuff. Yasir at this point hailed me with a "hey starman" I was like whaaaaaat! He knows my secret identity! How?! He's read my bloj! Yes! This bloj! Amazingness! I asked him haltingly(didnt want to seem like a opportunistic douche) about RJing at fm91 and he said he'd introduce me to the guys then and there since they happened to have come too! All my dreams are coming true! Then Saad motioned me to come and join him as we joined OBA who was half lying on this bench, so tired he was. Ali Alam was packing up and I thought I should offer to help but alas shyness took over and I kept quiet and sat myself down next to OBA, who said "hey star dude"...WHAT!! He's read this bloj too! I should start charging you people! Ali Alam asked me for a rubber band! He recognised me by my hat from the forum show!! I was overjoyed.

Anyway we talked at length about recording, general direction we should be headed in and stuff and a few other things too. For one we are now in the running to be ADPs opening band. We were planning to ask them about this for a while now and as it turns out they were looking for somebody too and so....YAY!!! Plus I asked OBA about RJing at fm89 and he gave me some pointers on that too! Double yay!


I didn't get a chance to talk to Yasir since we left after that and the band was eating and what not and I didnt want to intrude. But nevertheless. I left a happy, happy man. Man..not boy...wow...I am getting old. Sigh. 22 next month. But no. Nothing can bring me down for now. ADPs gone to Lahore for a couple of shows. Hope they go awesomely awesomatic. We jammed today, started to work on our stuff with renewed purpose. Now we know what the immediate future may hold. Quite a few days of general down-ness have been forgotten. Washed away by the hope that the dream might just work and that one day; Saad, Anes and I will be like ADP, will be famous, will be making music.

Will be rockstars.

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home

the rockiad

so yeah since I have this bloj and love talking about me we return to the rockiad! The story of me! Lessee where'd i leave off...umm..

Ah! I had to be a bassist.

So I put the idea before my handlers(parents). I had the dough, thanks to grants received from various relatives due to le O leveles(did good there) and all I needed was permission. Why I needed permission to use my own money was a shitty reality of my existance then. The situation is a bit different now since I don't have any money to spend.

Anyway! To get permission, I had to get into LUMS. Hah! I got in while my A level exams were ongoing. The fact that I'd screwed them and in fact would not be going to LUMS was a matter no one could have predicted.

So I got the bass and a crappy little Yamaha amplifier. Initial stuff was simple. Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz, Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes etc. Saad Khaleel and Naeem Khan, a couple of friends going back to me O level days, which weren't that long ago then, and Anes Jaleel, a new acquaintance brought around by Babar; used to jam in those days. I used to loan my bass to them since I couldn't okay much then. Anes sang, Saad played the geetar and Naeem alternated between the geetar and bass.

For the first year of my bass posession, I didn't play much. Though I did play my first gig. At the City School Gulshan A levels Farewell 2006. The batch after ours. It was an absolute disaster. We had three songs; Sweet Child o' Mine, With or Without You and Lamhey by Jal which we planned to pull a 'feat.' with a junior and ask him to sing. Anes wasn't in this gig for whatever reason.

Sweet Child o' Mine started wrong. Saad's, who was singing, voice got stuck in his throat at the start and he choked off. We crashed to a halt, citing 'technical difficulties'. We moved on directly to the solo and since neither Naeem nor I knew shit about scales and what not, nor were we skilled enough to cope; we were all over the place. Naveed, another friend along as our 'manager', kept telling us how much time we had left. Every thirty seconds. Which didn't help with the pressure. I an attempt to save our sinking ship we called Zain Kazmi up to sing Lamhey. That went passably well apart from the fact that Zain sang along to a metronome in his head and Naeem's guitar fell of the strap mid-song forcing Naeem to sit at the edge of the stage, legs dangling; and play, prompting another junior to suggest he let him join in if he was messing around just for fun.

Hilariously, we ended that song big. Saad on his knees strumming furiously, me slapping the hell out of my bass and Naeem....well he was still sitting, oblovious of the wannabe-rocker hell we were raising behind him.

And then we were shut down. Our ex-principal told us to get off her stage despite the fact, as Naveed reminded us; that we had 7 minutes remaining. With or Without You got canned as a result and Saad collapsed backstage or rather sidestage, moaning over and over 'yaaaar, kitnaa fuck kardia yaaar shit yaaaar'.

Though the audience loved it. Weird. People really usually don't know shit.



More next time on the amazing Wannabe Rockiad!

Well Sometimes I Go Out,
By Myself,
And I Look Across The Water.

And I Think Of All The Things,
Of What You're Doing,
And in my head I Paint A Picture.

'Cause since I've Come Home,
Well My Body's Been A Mess,
And I Miss Your ginger Hair,
And The Way You Like To Dress.

Oh Won't You Come On Over,
Stop Making A Fool Out Of Me,
Why Dont You Come On Over,
Valerie