Sajid & Zeeshan Interview

Sajid & Zeeshan Interview

Published in 'In Chorus'

August 2007 Issue

By Fariha Rashed

1. What kind of a response have you had after the recent release of your debut album 'One Light Year at Snail Speed'?

Zeeshan: At first, the response was somewhat OK because there were distribution problems. Later on, MashAllah, we got good reviews from different sorts of people and our inboxes were flooded with good responses. There were very few criticisms about different things in the album, but that to me is a very healthy sign. It'll be one complete year in July, I can't believe how fast time flies by.

Sajid: The response was quite good considering we had a few problems regarding the distribution initially. But over all the response was good and
we're happy with that.

2. Any particular reason for choosing such a long title?

Zeeshan: The title was chosen by Sajid and it's seems sound, because he was the one who wrote all the lyrics (with the exception of one in the album) and he was the closest one in defining concepts for all the tracks.

Sajid: The title says it all. I believe the reason is right there.

3. When preparing for a gig, how do 'Sajid & Zeeshan' plan their performances? Do you try and do something different every time?

Zeeshan: Our performances have different intros and outros. The way we perform is that some of things (drums and bass) are sequenced before hand and we play on top of that. The reason for me to be sequencing things for stage is that we don't want to give up our electronica sound. The beats used are different from the album to some extent and we do try to play differently as well.
Sajid: Yes we do try to do different things, and one should do too. It makes
it all the more enjoyable and not just for the audience but for us as well.

4. When performing live what are some of the things you pay particular attention to as artists?

Zeeshan: I don't pay attention to anything to be honest. Like I'm the sort of a person who won't even try to look up at the crowd when I'm playing because I'm busying doing the job of 2 people. I just pay close attention to my playing and what my next moves are going to be.

Sajid: the sound, lights (because too much in your face just kills the mood), our place on the stage, basically all those things which need to be looked at.

5. How do you respond to the comment by certain media publications that any artist's success is rated by how many live show they are doing, and that you might not be doing enough?

Zeeshan: Success lies in a lot of things in my opinion. One part of it comes with the degree of how much the tracks of that particular are liked and how much his art is being appreciated. The other part is of course how many gigs the artists are playing. Lastly, it also depends on downloads and album purchases. Let's analyze us now. Mashallah, our songs have been appreciated a lot when heard, at least that's the general perception I get to hear and we're damn happy about it. Our gig rate, on the other hand, is low because most of our shows are sponsored ones and the music we deliver satisfies a small crowd. Just like our concerts, our album sales have been low as well, not because people didn't want to buy it, because it's distribution / promotion was not done as it was promised by our record company and we suffered greatly in that. It was physically unavailable in the stores since its launch and even now, I'm sure you won't find it in the racks.

Sajid: I'd say there are many who'd over play themselves but then they might
have a good reason for it. Usually its money, because if success was just based
on playing more live shows then I guess the small little bands that play in
marriage ceremonies would've been the top artists by now. Having said that,
yes more shows also support the “supply and demand concept” but that works
for a very few artists in this country.

6. When is your next video coming out and for which song? Do you have any particular director in mind for it?

Zeeshan: Our next video in the pipeline is for our Pushto track "Lambay" and I'm directing it. We shot it in Peshawar some weeks back. It's in the editing process as we speak.

Sajid: I'll let Zeeshan deal with that question.

7. Have you started working on the second album and can you give us a little inside info on what kind of an album it's going to be this time?

Zeeshan: I have started recording for our 2nd album just some weeks back. It pretty much follows the same pattern of Sajid's song writing in the current album. The recording ethics in the studio are the same, totally relaxed, laid back, full of tea and coffee and only on those days when we're both comfortable with it. However, in terms of arrangements and instrumentation, we'll be experimenting a lot this time so that it totally differs from OLYASS. We'll be trying things we haven't done before.

Sajid: Yes we have started working on our next album and to be honest I
really cant say what kind of an album it will be. We're just trying to go
with the flow. At the moment we've only recorded a couple of tracks and plan
to have more recording sessions soon. The only thing that I can say for sure
is that, we're letting it take its own shape. Once we see what it turns
into, I'll let you know.

8. Now that you have entered the mainstream, how important has making money off of your talent become for you? Is it your top priority?

Zeeshan: I have chosen not to do a job for sometime. So that is why I would expect to generate revenue through things I've associated myself with - music and video direction. That is why I would expect to get paid well when I perform at concerts. I enjoy doing what I do the most but on the other hand, I treat it as my job as well.

Sajid: Making money of music never was our top priority. In fact if that was our top priority, we wouldn't be doing music in English. So our top priority is now to make better music, better than what we've done before. It's hard to do that really since one feels pushed in a certain way, but then its fun too.

9. Are 'Sajid & Zeeshan' planning on going international? If so, in what capacity?

Zeeshan: We do have an international fan following, but to say we're going international remains to be seen. We have been asked to play at different music festivals worldwide, but that's going to take some time to materialize. Our stuff is played in different radio stations in some countries but let's hope we get an international deal for an album release abroad.

Sajid: Planning? Yeah our bags are packed and we're ready to go.
Just kidding. No, nothing at the moment really. Frankly speaking, we don't have any such contacts and until we do, we can't say much about that. But of course if our music can reach beyond borders, we'd love that.

10. What kind of a working relationship do the both of you share? How do you separate friendship with professionalism?

Zeeshan: I love working with Sajid. We have a productive relationship because he absorbs my ideas as much as I'm open to his. We don't have to separate anything, because we're totally casual with each other. If there's something that needs to be discussed professionally, we'll deal with it like it's any other thing for. We try not to give too much weightage to small things around us.

Sajid: Its pretty easy, when we're working, we try to do it with all
seriousness and passion. Of course being friends makes it all easier
too, but when we're deciding matters related to Sajid and Zeeshan, we try to
be fair towards each other.

11. There is a lot of leg pulling in the music industry. How do you feel about this as artists and how would you go about dealing with it if it happened to you?

Zeeshan: This is a major problem in the industry where some artists or their managers forget their professional responsibilities and cut off somebody else's gig and that too, at times, right at the end near the date of the concert. I feel the act is immoral, unethical, greedy and paints an ugly picture of people who do this sort of thing to make a living for themselves but leaving other people suffered. I would tackle it first by looking everything from a legal point of view, whether the party can be sued or not. If there is not much material that would give out a proper legal stance I would then tackle this by doing nothing, because I do realize it's a dog eat dog world out there and in many ways, our world is unfair, cruel and not just. I'm a strong believer of the saying "What goes around, comes around". I do feel that these guys will meet their match one day in the oddest situation ever.

Sajid: Of course we don't feel good about that. Wish we didn't have that. I
just hope we all snap out of this cheap trick sooner than soon. It doesn't
do any one any good. And as every case is subject to its own circumstances,
so if any of that sort happened to us, we'd go about it in a way which we
consider most appropriate.

12. Has coming out with an album in English put you at a disadvantage in any way?

Zeeshan: Not at all. We don't have the attention of the general mass at large, but I never opted for that anyway. All I can say that it was a sincere step and I'm glad we took it.

Sajid: From a listener's perspective? No, but from a wider range of

listener's perspective? Yes, since it's an English album and so we cant
access the masses.

13. It has been rumored that you might be coming out with a song in pashto. Can you tell us a little about this and why you have decided to do it?

Zeeshan: I've always wanted to do a Pushto track as well since our inception. Both of us have this strong attachment with our native language and we thought we should do it. Sajid wrote "Lambay" (flames in Pushto) quite some time back and I further enhanced arrangements on it. We were supposed to come out with it last year, but due to our album launch and concert activities, we were unable to. I guess this is the right time to do it.

Sajid: I wrote a Pashto song just for fun but then we decided to record and
release it since we think it's a lot different than the usual Pashto music.
Just felt like giving something back to Pashto, not much though.

14. What are some of the upcoming 'Sajid & Zeeshan' activities we can look forward to witnessing? Concerts? Videos? Tours?

Zeeshan: There are a few concerts in the pipeline though we're not sure about the dates and yes, there are more videos coming.

Sajid: yes to the concerts, yes to the videos and yes to the tours.

15. How many times a week do you both take out time practice? How important is keeping up a practicing regime for you?

Zeeshan: Practice is crucial. We have to jam together a few times per week to keep up with the sort of stuff we would like to showcase. And in the process, we're coming up with new material. I don't like practicing as much as Sajid does, but it's something you have to do, there's no way out.

Sajid: Actually we only jam like 2 weeks before any gig. Though jamming is
very important, we make sure we jam enough to feel comfortable playing what
we play, otherwise there's no point. It's like fooling others and yourself at
the same.

16. You have recently re-launched your website. How important is it for you to have an updated site and why?

Zeeshan: Websites are considered to be an important marketing and promotional tool that gives convenience to everyone worldwide when they want to know more about their artists. For the last two years, I managed our website and I sucked at it because we didn't have a proper team setup to do this for us, nor did we have the funds to be honest. I did whatever I could to design pages from whatever I had learnt in my HTML and Dreamweaver classes that I took a couple of years back. We gave our account to some people I know in Islamabad and I'm happy that it's their headache now.

Sajid: It's important because then we have a chance of sharing our music with the
rest of the world. The more listeners the better.

17. 'Sajid & Zeeshan' has a team of people working to market and manage them in all major cities. Why have you decided to create such a team?

Zeeshan: Well, musicians usually have a bunch of people with them who look after their interests and who work in getting them concerts and etc. It's like this worldwide. The other reason is that we do need people from mainstream cities like Lahore and Karachi to represent us. That is the only price you pay for living in Peshawar.

Sajid: Just because we're all the way here in Peshawar and we need people who
can help us out in other cities. If we didn't have them things would be
difficult to handle.

18. How do you both deal with any criticism that may appear, about your
music, in media? Have you had to face any that concerned you?

Sajid: I think criticism is very important, especially when it is fair
criticism. It helps us in seeing things which we might over look and so if
we can counter that at the expense of someone else pointing it out, I'd say
its still not a bad way to go about it, as long as we can counter it.

19. Any shout outs for your fans?

Zeeshan: Thank you so much for sticking around with us since the last few years. We love you very much and we'll make sure you guys don't get disappointed in the future InshAllah.

Sajid: Hey guys! Please keep listening to good music and please keep
supporting your local bands.