Instep
Sunday: Tell us something about the style and content of your
new album.
NH: My album Kaho is predominantly rock with an eastern feel.
'Tum Bin' is my flagship romantic number. There are some songs
I feel very strongly about songs like 'Manzil' and 'Shor'.
There's a groovy dance number too.
Instep Sunday: What inspires you to write romantic songs,
considering ….
NH: My age? You're as old as you think you are. Anything can
inspire me… I see a beautiful girl on the subway and
I'll go back to my room and write a song. That James Blunt
song, 'You're Beautiful'… I should've written that (chuckles).
Also, an aspect of longing for someone and missing someone
plays a part in my music too.
Instep
Sunday: No songs for your wife so far?
NH: Uhh… for that I have to observe her behaviour towards
me first! Imagine, I write a lovely song for her and she starts
getting an attitude about something (laughs). I haven't written
a song for her so far and I should. I wouldn't have been able
to pursue music without her support.
Instep
Sunday: And what motivated you to write songs like 'Manzil'
and 'Shor'?
NH: It comes from my disillusionment with where our country
is heading. I have such strong words that if I come on TV,
they would have to shut the program. I'm not being negative
or anti-establishment, just pointing at reality. I'm not in
that age category where I want to become a pop star. I just
want to make a statement.
Instep
Sunday: How do you see today's musicians as compared to the
ones from your era?
NH: Today's musicians are lucky enough to have their own music
studios with unlimited tracks and music shops where they can
buy the latest equipment. Getting good music is very easy.
Download it from the net, listen to it on your cell phone.
In our days, a walkman used to be a huge thing. We used to
listen to BBC Top 20 on the radio. There was only one recording
studio… a 16 track recording studio in our city used
to be a dream!
I was a musician in Zia's era. A concert used to be a nightmare
here. They'd ask, "Ganay ka show karna hay?" (You
want to do a MUSIC show?), and the request would immediately
be turned down. There were no sponsors. We used to climb electricity
poles ourselves to put banners. It was so hard to get permission
to do a show in Nafdec unless you tagged the name of a charitable
organization with the show.
Today's musicians have shops in F/10, F/11, F/8 where they're
getting everything from amplifiers to drums, while we used
to roam around pondering about replacing a broken guitar string.
But what is surprising is that despite the choices these days,
an artist's life hasn't become any easier. There is no company
that can actually take care of an artist. Bands like N' Sync
and Backstreet Boys never worried about record labels and
promotion etc. They only concentrated on their music. Here,
I'm worried about labels, websites, looking for a guy to design
my CD cover. What we still lack is the accessibility of all
these resources under ONE roof. It's still a milestone for
an artist to release an album.
Instep
Sunday: What does a city like Islamabad do to your career
as a musician?
NH: Islamabad is quite far behind other cities since it's
not a financial hub. Nevertheless, this may sound like a pretentious
boast, but yahan ki fazaoin may kuch hai (there is something
about the environment here).
A lot of good music comes out from here. Artists from Islamabad
are sensitive. The environment does play a role on a person's
mind. You just have to pick up your guitar and go to the Margallah
Hills and see for yourself. In other big cities, you have
a lot of motorbikes, rickshaws, noise. Out here the environment
is serene—-apart from the fact that they've literally
dug out the entire city these days.
Instep
Sunday: What was your role in the forming of Vital Signs?
NH: Initially, I was in a band that had Naveed Siddiqui on
drums, Ajay Rao on rhythm guitar and vocals, Clyde Francis
on bass, with me on keyboard. I knew Rohail Hyatt because
we used to hang out at concerts. He came to my place one day,
picked up the guitar and we started jamming, singing 'Down
Under' by the Australian band Men at Work. We approved him
and he joined our band. Later, Shehzad joined us too. But
we had to disband after a while because Naveed left the country.
He's a doctor now. Ajay also got busy with his job. He was
teaching in Rawalpindi and still is.
Those were the oppressive days of the mid 80s. Me, Rohail
and Shehzad still kept in touch and continued to jam. But
we got tired of playing covers, so Rohail and I came up with
the melody of the song 'Chehra Mera Tha', a Parveen Shakir
poem. We later met Junaid Jamshaid who contributed to the
melody too. Then we went to PTV to record it. That was the
only studio in town back then where you had to record a song
in real time.
Junaid came up with a name for our band—'Goin' Stray'.
After that, we went to do a show in Lahore and two other guys
joined us, making us a 6 member band. We got back to Islamabad
and decided to make a video for 'Chehra Mera Tha', which was
shot next to Lotus Lake and Rawal Lake. We thought it would
be unethical to ditch the Lahore guys, so all members were
called for the video, which looked a bit funny when the video
aired featuring 6 people!
That song was instrumental in making 'Dil Dil Pakistan'. When
Shoaib Mansoor saw that video, he contacted Rohail's elder
brother and asked him for the name of the brain behind the
band. He was informed about me and Rohail. So he called me
up and asked me to make a melody for a music competition,
and he would put words into it. We sat at Rohail's house in
Harley Street with Shoaib Mansoor for hours trying to come
up with a melody. Our original one was rejected… After
hours of playing my guitar, I came up with an intro and Shoaib
said "I like that… let's keep it". Junaid
came up with the melody of the next verse and that's how 'Dil
Dil Pakistan' came into being.
When the video of the song was about to be aired, Shoaib asked
us to quickly come up with a suitable name for the band. We
had a long list and couldn't really decide on any. The situation
was like "Jaldi batao bhai abhi clips may dalna hai"
(hurry and come up with a name, we have to add it in the clips
right now). We looked through our long list and said, "Alright,
fine, how about Vital Signs?" The rest is history.
Instep
Sunday: Do you and the Vital Signs boys ever get together?
NH: Not as much as I would want to. But we do meet. As a four
we haven't met in a long time. This August it will be 20 years
since the band formed. That will be a good time to sit down
and chill out.
Instep
Sunday: Flying made you quit music twice. Should we expect
that again in the future?
NH: For me, it's very difficult to choose between music and
flying. I usually sing and fly together (laughs). For now,
I'm putting flying on hold to release this album. But I will
keep doing both.