East Side Story strikes the right chord

Refusing to compromise on their music, East Side Story release their latest single, Qatil Ankh.

LAHORE:

Unlike East Side Story’s debut single Daru Di Botal, which is about intoxication, the band has now struck the right chord with its latest single Qatil Ankh, which is about the looks and presence of a beautiful woman. The inspiration for their song title comes from how a widow spider kills its mate after mating.

The East Side Story, which birthed out of an unlikely music alliance a couple of years ago, is uncompromising when it comes to their sound. Therefore, they even turned down a corporate sponsored music show several months ago. “We were going to produce this song for a corporate show, which I will not name; however we didn’t because it felt like we would have had to compromise on our sound if we went ahead with it. I think we have a unique sound, something we can’t compromise on,” says Casim Mahmood, the band’s guitarist and the driving force behind the sound of the band.

The decision means that they are still where they were when they made their debut in 2012: a promising band in search for space in a heavily diluted music scene.

“We are putting everything aside and have made a decision that we should just have fun,” says Mahmood. While the local audience has not picked up on them yet, the band has received interest from across the border as their promoter who is based in India has added them on his panel.

They have been consistent with their western-folk music, even though there has been enough of an acoustic trend across Pakistan over the years, which reflects the band’s commitment to producing solid music. This time around, Mahmood has introduced the electric guitar into the arrangement for the first time. He has also incorporated Bluegrass Country sound in his music.

The video stars actor Juggan Kazim and has been directed by film-maker Ammar Rasool. The plot of the video has a dark theme, showing the murder of a man, deeply infatuated by Kazim’s beauty.

“Heeraji [the song writer] is a colleague of mine and we worked together and bounced ideas off each other. The main idea is about a man who is in love with an image he has of a girl and gets trapped in that,” says Tariq Yousaf, who is known as TG King in the band and is the vocalist of this song.

He says that Mahmood and him met at the right time and realised that they want to breed a new genre of music. He goes on to explain the concept of love that is presented in the song, saying that it revolves around a person willing to die for love.

“We met at the right time in both of our lives. Casim tends to get completely engrossed in the music he creates and I am also looking for the same kind of fulfillment, I want to do justice to our sound. We want to create a new genre of music,” says King.

He adds that the decision to tap unknown and local poets has been part of their effort to bring music back to its roots. King emphasises that poetry provides a lot more purity when it comes to music and expression. “I think our poetry is an important aspect of what we are trying to do. Many people emphasise on marketing and other things, but we are dedicated to this aspect of art,” adds King.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.

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