KARACHI: Scintillating performances by last year’s winner and runner-up of the music competition Pepsi Battle of the Bands, Kashmir and Badnaam, more than compensated for the inordinate delay in the start of the programme held to launch their debut albums at a local hotel on Thursday evening.

Last year, Kashmir and Badnaam emerged as the two frontrunners and BOTB helped their careers take off. Some of the biggest artists of the country have worked with them on their albums (each album has six original tracks).

Then Badnaam — Ahmed Jilani (vocalist/guitarist), Ahsan (drummer) Rahim Shahbaz (bass) — were invited by the host of the evening, who sounded under-prepared for the event, for a question-and-answer session. Jilani said coming out with an album was a dream come true for him and his fellow musicians. Ahsan enthused he was excited about it and Shahbaz called the launch “awesome”. Answering a question about those who influenced his music, Shahbaz said they ranged from Pakistani artists Abida Parveen and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Western rock band Tool.

Jilani said he and Ahsan formed the group in 2009. They had been making music for a long time but BOTB provided them with the right platform.

Next was Kashmir’s turn to respond to questions. They comprise Bilal (vocalist), Vaiz (guitarist), Usman (bass), Zair (rhythm guitar), Ali (keyboard) and Shane (drums). Bilal, like the speakers before him, was excited about the album. He said ever since their victory on BOTB, they’ve been doing concerts and tours, but they were “more focused” on the album. He hoped that listeners would like it.

Vaiz called it a “great moment for us”. When asked about the one difficulty that he faced being with the guys, Usman said it’s to make them get up early. Shane was of the view that it’s a great opportunity for everybody (that the album is out). Replying to the query about their influences, Zair told the host that there are too many, and that the band gets inspired by life. Ali was asked about his first celebrity crush, to which he first looked at all of his colleagues as if they all knew about it and said, “Mahira Khan”.

After the not-so-interesting chitchat, the real deal began. Badnaam came on stage and played three songs from their album (as did Kashmir, subsequently). The three-piece group began with a song called ‘Zindagi’. It was a typical Badnaam song, full of verve and passion. This was followed by a Punjabi Sufi poet’s ‘Ik Nukta’ to which also the band did justice. But it came as a pleasant surprise when they performed Iqbal’s verses beginning with ‘Aflaak se khainchi jaati hai’. The grungy sound of the composition, with strong bass riffs and thumping drums, not to mention hard guitar distortion made listening to the track a unique experience.

Kashmir changed the mood of the gig with a new song titled ‘Paraishanian’ from their album. It was a typical Kashmir sound where Bilal’s vocals dominate in the beginning, to swiftly give way to cool instrumentation.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018