interview
Providing musicians a means for visually expressing their musical creations while exposing their music to a wider audience, music videos are a vital tool for both expression and promotion for artists around the world. Influenced by diverse styles and visual effects, videos can play a huge part in defining bands and musicians in the minds of viewers. Pakistan, too, has had its share of ambitious and critically acclaimed projects, like Saqib Malik’s Khamaj (Fuzon) and Na Re Na (Ali Azmat), while at the same time there have been countless releases that have gone largely unnoticed. So as Akash release their new video, Rock Funda, we took the opportunity to talk to the band’s front-man Sam, and discuss with him the band’s new clip, as well as the importance and standard of visual media in our music industry.
Akash is:
- Sam – Vocals, lead guitars, song writing, and composition
- Fiz – Bass guitars
- Miki – Rhythm guitars
- Kenny – Drums
Ink: Tell us about Akash. How and when was the band formed?
Sam: Akash came into being in 2001, some six years ago, but our line up wasn’t finalized until around 2004-2005. Initially we didn’t release any audios so that we could concentrate solely on improving and polishing our musical abilities, and at the same time gain more confidence as we saw ourselves and our music grow. The band is basically a blend of four talented young musicians with highly diverse musical backgrounds brought together through our love for music. Having played sessions extensively, I’ve had experience playing with eastern classical musicians. I decided to start my own band with Miki and Kenny after playing professional music for two years. Fiz joined the band in January 2005 as the bassist. While Miki and I both have classical influences in our music, Fiz and Kenny are into hard rock and metal. Coming from different background has helped us in creating a unique sound with a lot of soul and rock feel to it.
Ink: How was the response to your debut album?
Sam: Our debut album, Aks, was released on the 24th of November 2007. It was the first debut album in Pakistan to have 19 tracks on it, and it was one of the best selling albums of that year.
Ink: How has the experience of making videos been so far?
Sam: We have released three videos till now: Ji Liya, Hum Azad Hain, Armaan and we have now released the video for our song Rock Funda. We are planning to release two more videos from our album in the coming months. The experience so far has been good, but in the future we are trying to improve our videos and their quality because we have learned a lot of things from our releases.
Ink: If you could change something about any of the videos you’ve made so far, what would it be?
Sam: I wouldn’t like to change anything about our videos, because those projects had a very limited budget, and in a limited budget we tried to do our level best.
Ink: Tell us about your new video.
Sam: Our new video ‘Rock Funda’ is quite different from our previous videos. The song, like ‘Armaan’, is an upbeat punk-pop track, and I’m sure people will enjoy it. Making the new video was quite an interesting process. We have played the role of mechanics in the video and we shot the video in Master Motors, so we would like to thank Master Motors and especially Shawash Sehgol for letting us use the facility and bearing us for the whole day and night. While we were making the video, police stopped our shoot because of the loud music, as you are not allowed to play music after midnight in the Defence area. We requested them to allow us to do so for shoot, but they did not. And when we started our shoot again, this time on a very low volume, they came again and misbehaved a lot. In short, a lot of bad things happened on the set!
Ink: Why did you choose to director the video yourself?
Sam: Why not? I directed the video myself because I believe that in a limited budget, I can express our music better visually.
Ink: How did you come up with the concept of the video?
Sam: I’ve always wanted to do a colourful video for this song because it’s fast and energetic. Never wanted a big storyboard for it. A performance video with a short concept, an energetic performance, and different style, that’s it.
Ink: Which videos are you planning to release next?
Sam: The videos for Na Mil Saka and The 3-4 Song are in the works and we are going to release them one by one, you can say a new video every month.
Ink: Any director you would like to work with in the future?
Sam: Steven Spielberg of course. ;) Seriously though, I like Saqib Malik’s work and I would really like to work with him.
Ink: How important are videos for any band/artist in our industry?
Sam: Videos are quite important for any artist, especially in Pakistan, because if you have a good video, television channels will give you decent airtime, but there is no room for average or bad videos. Internationally, it’s the record labels that bear all the costs of videos and album production, but unfortunately that is not how it works in Pakistan, and our system is quite wrong.
Ink: Any comments on the standard of music videos in Pakistan?
Sam: The standard overall is very good, but it largely depends on the budget. If the budget is high, then the video will turn out to be a good one, but I think that the audio is more important than the video because in the end it’s the sound that breaks through. But I also believe in good postproduction, because it can change a lot of things for you in video making.
Ink: Do you think there are any other factors that play a role in the success of a music video in Pakistan?
Sam: I think teamwork (between your DOP (Director of Photography), the lighting team and the whole ENG) is very important if you want to make a video that will be successful. And in Pakistan, if a channel plays a bad video with a bad audio, a lot then people here will still start recognizing that video; isn’t that amazing?
Ink: What’s your favourite i) International ii) Pakistani music video?
Sam: I don’t know why, but I like every English rock video I’ve ever seen. For instance, the Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ is among my favourite videos. From Pakistan, I really like the ‘Khamaj’ video because it’s a very well executed clip.
Ink: What can we expect from Akash in the coming months?
Sam: We are working on the second Akash Album. About 70 percent of the work is done, so let’s see when it comes out.
- Sameen Amer
Ink Quarterly, May '09
Providing musicians a means for visually expressing their musical creations while exposing their music to a wider audience, music videos are a vital tool for both expression and promotion for artists around the world. Influenced by diverse styles and visual effects, videos can play a huge part in defining bands and musicians in the minds of viewers. Pakistan, too, has had its share of ambitious and critically acclaimed projects, like Saqib Malik’s Khamaj (Fuzon) and Na Re Na (Ali Azmat), while at the same time there have been countless releases that have gone largely unnoticed. So as Akash release their new video, Rock Funda, we took the opportunity to talk to the band’s front-man Sam, and discuss with him the band’s new clip, as well as the importance and standard of visual media in our music industry.
Akash is:
- Sam – Vocals, lead guitars, song writing, and composition
- Fiz – Bass guitars
- Miki – Rhythm guitars
- Kenny – Drums
Ink: Tell us about Akash. How and when was the band formed?
Sam: Akash came into being in 2001, some six years ago, but our line up wasn’t finalized until around 2004-2005. Initially we didn’t release any audios so that we could concentrate solely on improving and polishing our musical abilities, and at the same time gain more confidence as we saw ourselves and our music grow. The band is basically a blend of four talented young musicians with highly diverse musical backgrounds brought together through our love for music. Having played sessions extensively, I’ve had experience playing with eastern classical musicians. I decided to start my own band with Miki and Kenny after playing professional music for two years. Fiz joined the band in January 2005 as the bassist. While Miki and I both have classical influences in our music, Fiz and Kenny are into hard rock and metal. Coming from different background has helped us in creating a unique sound with a lot of soul and rock feel to it.
Ink: How was the response to your debut album?
Sam: Our debut album, Aks, was released on the 24th of November 2007. It was the first debut album in Pakistan to have 19 tracks on it, and it was one of the best selling albums of that year.
Ink: How has the experience of making videos been so far?
Sam: We have released three videos till now: Ji Liya, Hum Azad Hain, Armaan and we have now released the video for our song Rock Funda. We are planning to release two more videos from our album in the coming months. The experience so far has been good, but in the future we are trying to improve our videos and their quality because we have learned a lot of things from our releases.
Ink: If you could change something about any of the videos you’ve made so far, what would it be?
Sam: I wouldn’t like to change anything about our videos, because those projects had a very limited budget, and in a limited budget we tried to do our level best.
Ink: Tell us about your new video.
Sam: Our new video ‘Rock Funda’ is quite different from our previous videos. The song, like ‘Armaan’, is an upbeat punk-pop track, and I’m sure people will enjoy it. Making the new video was quite an interesting process. We have played the role of mechanics in the video and we shot the video in Master Motors, so we would like to thank Master Motors and especially Shawash Sehgol for letting us use the facility and bearing us for the whole day and night. While we were making the video, police stopped our shoot because of the loud music, as you are not allowed to play music after midnight in the Defence area. We requested them to allow us to do so for shoot, but they did not. And when we started our shoot again, this time on a very low volume, they came again and misbehaved a lot. In short, a lot of bad things happened on the set!
Ink: Why did you choose to director the video yourself?
Sam: Why not? I directed the video myself because I believe that in a limited budget, I can express our music better visually.
Ink: How did you come up with the concept of the video?
Sam: I’ve always wanted to do a colourful video for this song because it’s fast and energetic. Never wanted a big storyboard for it. A performance video with a short concept, an energetic performance, and different style, that’s it.
Ink: Which videos are you planning to release next?
Sam: The videos for Na Mil Saka and The 3-4 Song are in the works and we are going to release them one by one, you can say a new video every month.
Ink: Any director you would like to work with in the future?
Sam: Steven Spielberg of course. ;) Seriously though, I like Saqib Malik’s work and I would really like to work with him.
Ink: How important are videos for any band/artist in our industry?
Sam: Videos are quite important for any artist, especially in Pakistan, because if you have a good video, television channels will give you decent airtime, but there is no room for average or bad videos. Internationally, it’s the record labels that bear all the costs of videos and album production, but unfortunately that is not how it works in Pakistan, and our system is quite wrong.
Ink: Any comments on the standard of music videos in Pakistan?
Sam: The standard overall is very good, but it largely depends on the budget. If the budget is high, then the video will turn out to be a good one, but I think that the audio is more important than the video because in the end it’s the sound that breaks through. But I also believe in good postproduction, because it can change a lot of things for you in video making.
Ink: Do you think there are any other factors that play a role in the success of a music video in Pakistan?
Sam: I think teamwork (between your DOP (Director of Photography), the lighting team and the whole ENG) is very important if you want to make a video that will be successful. And in Pakistan, if a channel plays a bad video with a bad audio, a lot then people here will still start recognizing that video; isn’t that amazing?
Ink: What’s your favourite i) International ii) Pakistani music video?
Sam: I don’t know why, but I like every English rock video I’ve ever seen. For instance, the Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ is among my favourite videos. From Pakistan, I really like the ‘Khamaj’ video because it’s a very well executed clip.
Ink: What can we expect from Akash in the coming months?
Sam: We are working on the second Akash Album. About 70 percent of the work is done, so let’s see when it comes out.
- Sameen Amer
Ink Quarterly, May '09
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