Khamoshi: Raging for rock

The band makes a comeback after six years, announces the release of its third album.

LAHORE:

After a long hiatus, Rage is making a comeback with their third album titled Khamoshi, set to be released later this fall. The band, which is widely considered a pioneer of rock music, was at the pinnacle of its success when it disappeared from the music scene in 2005.

Rage was born out of the counter-culture movement inspired by the oppression of the Zia era. In 1986, Haseeb Gora - who would later become the band’s manager - started out in an underground English cover band. In 1994, he formed a band with vocalists Salman Haider and Murad Hassan, drummer Ali Raza, guitarist Ahmer Kenneth, bassist Christopher Samuel and keyboard player Amir Abbas.

At the peak of their career, Rage was seen playing at concerts with Junoon, touring local schools and performing at big festivals, such as the inauguration of the South Asian Games in 2003. The band developed a cult following because of their diverse music, which ranged from pop to metal.

After Hassan and Raza left the band, Rage released their second album titled Deewana. The record was met with positive reviews because of its softer, romantic songs such as “Deewana” and “Akhian”. The band received international recognition when the UK label Gladiator Records, approached them to include “Akhian” and “Aitebar” and an instrumental number by the versatile guitarist Kenneth for the album Love Rocks.

In 2004, when Rage was ready to tour and release Deewana in England, Kenneth left the group following disagreements with Gora, the manager, and subsequently joined another band called Zavia. The drama of the whole incident, along with their personal concerns, took toll and Rage eventually disappeared from the music scene in 2005.

“The one thing everyone asks is where we disappeared to,” said Haider, referring to the plethora of questions on Rage’s Facebook page. “We’ve been around and we still jam. It’s just that we’ve been out of the public eye for a while. But now, we’re here to tell our fans that we’re back.”

Haider, who has his own studio in Lahore called Jam Sessions, is still passionate about Rage. Recalling the old days, Haider said, “We never grasped the idea of what we were doing and didn’t think of it in commercial terms. We didn’t know how to market ourselves and never planned our releases at the right time.”

Haider said that the music industry has changed over the years, and even bands like Entity Paradigm and Noori felt the need to ‘disappear’ for different periods of time.

Rage is now back with a pop-rock album that will feature 10 songs, three videos of which will be released soon. The first single off the album is a fun song called “Ek Aag Hai”. Its video will be directed by Haider in Lahore.

Keyboardist Abbas, who dealt with the sound of the album, explains that the goal is was to cater to the fans. He said that Deewana will include melodious music, as it always makes for good rock. “We have already played for our satisfaction, now we are doing so that everyone will listen.”

The charm of Rage has always been that they were able to make music that was more relevant to social issues faced by younger generations in the country. Bassist Samuel explained that their music always tries to give a message such as in their classic song “Chand Se Chehron Pe”. Although considered romantic, the video of this song shows the humane side of the less privileged people in our society.

“The music we are now playing is going to be a mix of the first two albums and something new and pleasant,” said Samuel. “When people play our music, they will definitely hear the signature Rage sound.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.