As they are planning to come ehre in India next month...so i m going to introduce one of the best rock band from pakistan Akash....here is the interview of them.they discussed each and everything abt thier band ,music and the album called Aks....so enjoy and .......KEEP ROCKING
Sam: Vocals/Lead Guitars/Song Writing/Composing & Production
Miki: Keyboards & Rhythms
Fiz: Bass
Kenny : Drums & Percussions
How did all the members become part of the band?
Sam: I have been into music for the last six years. I have done a lot of sessions with many artists and most of them were from purely Eastern classical background. After playing two years of professional music I started my own band ‘Akash’ with Miki who is my childhood friend. Then for two long years Miki and I just practiced and worked on compositions and continued our professional music careers. A couple of years ago Kenny became part of the band. He was my neighbour and wanted to join us. Fiz joined us in Jan 2006 as bassist. And now it’s been two successful years since ‘Akash’ is working as a fulltime mainstream band and we are ready with our debut album.
Given the diverse musical preferences of the band members how did you begin to work together as a team?
Sam: Miki and I both have classical influences in our music, while Fiz and Kenny were more into hard rock/metal type music. Coming from different backgrounds has actually helped us create a unique sound, plus we have very good chemistry between us. ‘Akash`s’ team is very understanding and open to ideas, so its never been a problem working as a team where everyone has their space to experiment with ideas. Our music has a lot of soul, with a rock feel to it. It’s hard for us to define our music genre because we make hard rock, alternative rock, etc., but I would not hesitate in defining our genre as soul rock.
FiZ: It’s not hard at all; the kind of music we are creating is not bound to one particular genre. Even though it’s rock music, we have room for every band member like technical drum beats, strong rhythm , groovy bass lines and of course the hypnotic melodies and guitar solos, so we all really enjoy working as a team.
Who does what usually --- production/writing lyrics/compositions, etc?
Sam: I handle all production related matters. For our debut album I have written most of the lyrics, and Sami Khan from ‘Lagan’ has helped me with a couple of song lyrics in the album. ‘Akash’ has more than forty compositions in stock that we have been working on for last couple of years. We have used these in our album.
What was the concept behind the band and name ‘Akash’?
Sam: ’Akash’ means sky in Urdu, that is the highest peak and we want to achieve that peak. Our music is all about the feel and soul and most of our compositions are of a darker mood. As we know the colour for sadness or loneliness is Blue and also for the sky, the name ‘Akash’ kind of depicts our feelings for music.
How would you describe your songs?
Sam: Most of them are based on Soul/Rock. My compositions revolve around the darker side of things, though the album has a few happy tunes in it too. I can describe ‘Akash’s’ songs as songs of the masses, because we have tried our best to translate peoples’ emotions through our music in our style, so everyone can relate to them. We have focused and worked really hard on our melodies, with simple easy to remember lyrics, and we hope this altogether will have long lasting effects on our listeners and even after years when someone will listens to our songs, they would still sound fresh and young to them.
What can we expect from the debut album?
Sam: Well you can expect a lot because we have used and fused many live instruments with rock music. It’s a mature production and we have worked very hard to make it sound better. FiZ: All our dreams depend on our debut album and like all other artists we hope and wish ‘InshaAllah’ that it is going be the biggest hit in the history of Pakistani rock music, but at the end of the day it depends on our listeners --- how they accept us.
How long do you think you’ve carried on with that concept in mind while making music?
Sam: The name of our debut album is AKS because this album reflects all four of us coming from different backgrounds of music. As such there wasn’t any concept behind this album, we just wanted to make sure that our songs never sound monotonous. We experimented a lot with different genres; hard rock, semi-classical, punk rock, pop rock and other flavours, and have used a lot of live instruments in our album like violin, arabian tabla, sitar, tan pura, flute and harmoniam. We are quite satisfied with the outcome and quite close to the sound we wanted to create. Now we are looking forward to positive feedback.
What kind of problems has the band faced as an upcoming underground act trying to break into the mainstream?
Sam: We have worked very hard to come onto the mainstream. The main problem was finance and we don’t have proper event management companies here who can arrange proper gigs or concerts. Plus the sound systems we have are not that professional, and we have to depend on the support of different TV channels.
Miki: There is a famous saying that ‘there is no shortcut to success’, we too faced many problems. It’s really hard to make high budget videos, which is very important to get noticed in the mainstream. We were lucky that we have our own studio to record our own music, otherwise this would’ve been another problem.
What makes ‘Akash’ different from all the tons of local bands out there?
Sam: I think ‘Akash’ is the most down to earth band and I will not say that we are doing very different music, but I will say that we have the guts to experiment a lot with different instrumental arrangements. Our album is a commercial album for the masses, but not just another commercial album.
Given the vast experience performing live, what are some of the issues you think the event management companies need to focus on?
Sam: Event management companies need to realise that artists need to be respected. Respect is one important issue, and with that as mentioned earlier good sound arrangements are important. They should also realise that the only source of income for an artist is concerts and organisers don’t tend to pay artists well or market their events properly. Whereas artists suffer a lot, event management teams are always make a profit from different sponsors.
Miki: First and foremost is the quality of the sound equipment. Then the artist must be paid because the music they are doing is the only way for them to earn.
FiZ: The events should be properly organised, and artists should get paid properly and on time.Kenny: They should be organised in every aspect related to concert and yeah, they should respect the artists.
When can we expect the new album?
Sam: Soon!
Check more posts about the band AKASH here.
AKS-Debut Album Of Akash Is Out NowAkash is back with thier ArmaanAkash's AKS is gonna out soonVideos of Akash interview at The MusikKEEP ROCKING
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