| Call | |
|---|---|
From left to right: Junaid, Xulfi, Waqar and Sultan. |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 1994–2001 2002–present |
| Labels | Sadaf Stereo, Fire Records |
| Associated acts | Entity Paradigm, Rubberband, Naqsh, Shehzad Hameed Project |
| Website | www.thebandcall.com |
| Members | |
| Junaid Khan Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan Sultan Raja |
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| Past members | |
| Waqar Khan Omer Pervaiz Danish Jabbar Khan Sunny Usman Nasir Shahzad Hameed Khurram Jabbar Khan |
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Call is a rock band from Lahore, Pakistan, formed by Zulfiqar J. Khan, Danish J. Khan, Khurram J. Khan and Omer Pervaiz.[1] In 1996, the band's guitarist, Omer Pervaiz left to concentrate on his solo project, Naqsh and the band bassist, Shahzad Hameed, left to pursuit his own solo project. Ahsan Fida Khan and Faisal Murtaza recruited their places.
On October 20, 2001, Danish J. Khan, the band’s vocalist and lyricist, performed for the last time and later on left the band. Khurram Jabbar Khan moved to the United States, Zulfiqar J. Khan concentrated on his band Paradigm (which later became Entity Paradigm) while Ahsan and Faisal moved on to fulfill family obligations.[1]
However, the band reformed in 2002 and after a few line-up changes, released their debut album, Jilawatan in late 2005.[2]
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Call was formed in 1994 by Zulfiqar J. Khan, Omer Pervaiz, Khurram J. Khan and Danish J. Khan.[1] They started out by providing background music for mime performances at NCA, Lahore under the name Undrap Nexus. Undrap Nexus line-up was with Zulfiqar J. Khan on the keyboard, Omer Pervaiz on the guitar and Danish J. Khan on vocals. Soon, Zulfiqar J. Khan and Danish J. Khan, Khurram J. Khan bought himself a drumkit and Call was officially formed.[1] Call still needed a bassist and recruited Shahzad Hameed.
Call's musical inspirations included bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden. Their musical style was experimental as Shahzad Hameed stated;
| “ | Playing in the garage and just jamming and doing strange sounds and sometimes real weird sounding things was fun, we were experimental band -we were all naive... And we were doing music truly as a unit we were passionate about whatever strange sounds we were making... The live sound and show was our main concern plus, the live show of call was a theatrical / musical experience - Danish being the art student and the true rebel of the band brought in these influences...[3] | ” |
The band's first gig was in 1995. The site was decorated with flame torches and complimenting the band's music were live mime performances.[3] Their setlist was composed of 10 original tracks, a rare thing for underground musicians to do back then.[4] However, in 1996, the band's bassist, Shahzad Hameed left.[3] After a while, the band's guitarist, Omer Pervaiz left as well in order to concentrate on his solo project, Naqsh.[3] Zulfiqar J. Khan and Khurram J. Khan decided against disbanding the band and thus ended up recruiting Ahsan Fida Khan on guitars and Faisal Murtaza on bass.[3]
On October 20, 2001, Danish J. Khan, the band’s vocalist and lyricist, performed for the last time with the band at a rock festival on his birthday.[3] Once the band’s primary lyricist and vocalist was gone, the members of the band got busy with other things. Khurram Jabbar Khan moved to the United States, Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan concentrated on his band Paradigm (which later became Entity Paradigm) while Ahsan Fida Khan and Faisal Murtaza moved on to fulfill family obligations.[3][5]
In September 2002, Khurram Jabbar Khan, being a core member, returned from the United States to revive Call. Khurram Jabbar Khan and Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan got together and auditioned for new band members and decided that this would be an urdu project.[1] They found Junaid Khan's voice to befitting for the band’s musical direction and recruited him as the band’s vocalist. Soon Sunny was chosen to be on lead guitar, Usman Nasir on rhythms and Sultan Raja on bass. Khurram J. Khan joined in on drums.[3]
The band’s first single, "Nishaan" was released through various Pakistani music websites and gained widespread fame. It went on to top the charts and also won the band its first award; Best Rock Song at the Band Baja Awards 2003.[6] Indus Music made a live video of the song which was to be exclusively aired on the channel itself. Call then came up with a second single titled "Pukaar", which came with a promotional video directed by Xulfi, eventually won the Indus Music Award for the Best Alternative Rock Song.[3] The band then released an unplugged song titled "Kaash".
Soon Khurram J. Khan had to part roles with the band because he had to run Jilawatan Productions, the company which used to manage Entity Paradigm, Jal, Call and Roxen. Eventually Sunny and Usman Nasir left the band as well. Sunny, who was the real musical contributor, couldn’t contribute to the band due to his job and thus had to leave the band.[6]
Khurram J. Khan was replaced by Waqar Khan of Entity Paradigm and Zulfiqar J. Khan took Sunny and Usman Nasir's place. A new single was released and was accompanied by a video directed by Xulfi. The song was titled "Shayad" and topped the charts.
Now that the band’s line-up was stable, Call started recording their debut album, Jilawatan. The album was finally released in November 2005 and immediately topped the Vibes charts and stayed there for a lengthy amount of time. The album release was accompanied by a single titled "Sab Bhula Kai". A video was released with the single and was directed by Sohail Javed. The single topped the charts and fared extremely well.
A while later two more singles were released, both of which were accompanied by videos. The singles, titled "Kuch Naheen" and "Bichar Kai Bhee", both topped the charts.
Although they haven’t year announced the release of a new album, the band has released several songs on their fansite. The first of was a national/patriotic song, "Kal Hamara Hai" made for Warid Telecom and was released on the 23rd of March (Pakistan Day). The video of the song shows the band performing with Warid Telecom t-shirts, which were later edited out. An acoustic version of Kal Hamara Hai was also released through their fansite. A second song, titled Rang Dau, was also recorded for Warid Telecom. The length of the song was 1:26 and was used in Warid Telecom ads.
In early 2007, Call released a song named Laree Chotee for the Bollywood flick titled Ek Chalis Ki Last Local and a video followed the audio release. The song was Remixed & Arranged by DJ Suketu & Aks.[7]
Prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Call recorded and made a video for a song entitled "Humse He Ye Zamaana". This was to be the official song for the Pakistan cricket team during the tournament. However due to the team's early World Cup exit, the song never was released and had instead, been held back for a future release. However on September 20, Call released the music video and put it up for download on their official website.
On September 9, Call released the music video of their song "Aasmaan" through their forums. Call released three smash hit singles; "Ho Jaane De", "Yeh Pal" and "Dhadke Jiya", the latter two being tapped in to by Bollywood as soundtracks for two different movies, which topped the charts and received positive reviews. Xulfi graces the album with the romantic number, "Dhadke Jiya", that may take some getting used to since it is much different from the band's popular genre, alternative rock. It can also be seen as the band's attempt to go more mainstream as far as the South Asian region is concerned. "Dhadke Jiya" doesn’t offer the same high as Laree Chooti", soundtrack from Bollywood film "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local" or "Yeh Pal", snapped up by the movie "Aasmaan", though the arrangement holds its own with an orchestral feel in the chorus, as opposed to relying on strumming the chords throughout the song.[8]
Call have also released a new single "Ho Jaane De" for their upcoming album Dhoom. The single was widely appreciated throughout the continent but was criticised by some as the pop oriented song didn't keep the image of the rock band as rock. However the song was awarded 'Tune Of The Month' by BBC Asia and was also used in the Wall's ice cream advertisement in which the band members have also modeled.
On January 26, 2011, Call released their second studio album along with a single, "Mein Aisa Hee Hoon", from the album.
On February 22, 2011, Call had a concert at University of South Asia, Lahore but due to complains by surrounding neighbors, they were forced to lower their sound level, which angered many students there.
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