Call (band)

Call is a band from Lahore, Pakistan (not to be confused with the American band The Call), 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 20 October 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]

History

Early days (1994–2000)

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;

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 to concentrate on his solo project, Naqsh.^[3] Khurram J. Khan decided against disbanding the band and thus ended up recruiting Ahsan Fida Khan on guitars and Faisal Murtaza on bass.^[3]

Disbanding (2001)

On 20 October 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]

Revival (2002–2004)

In September 2002, Khurram Jabbar Khan, being a core member, returned from the United States to revive Call. Khurram Jabbar Khan 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, 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 who was already having a hard time with his current band EP, was asked by Khurram J. Khan and Junaid Khan join the band and hence took Sunny and Usman Nasir's place. A new single was released and was accompanied by a video. The song was titled "Shayad" and topped the charts.

Jilawatan (2005)

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.

Success (2006–2007)

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 23 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 20 September, Call released the music video and put it up for download on their official website.

2009–present

On 9 September, 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 into by Bollywood as soundtracks for two different movies, which topped the charts and received positive reviews. Then 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 modelled.

On 26 January 2011, Call released their second studio album along with a single, "Mein Aisa Hee Hoon", from the album. In 2012, the band was nominated for the best album award at the Lux Style Awards 2012.

In June 2013, Call announced their new band member "Yasir Jaswal", ex-member of Rock band "Irtaash". Although, no new albums or singles have been launched since the announcement, as Zulfi is busy in his successful project "Nescafe Basement" as the producer of the show.

Reunion

After a three years and three months hiatus, Call has finally decided to reunite and comeback in Pakistani band music. According to Xulfi, "Of course, we are returned to create music again, to give live performances for you again, to make you a part of our journey and to follow our dreams, once again".^[9]

Discography

Albums

Bollywood

Single

Band members

Current

• Junaid Khan – lead vocals
• Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan – Lead guitars, Songwriter
• Sultan Raja – bass guitar, rhythm guitar

Former

• Waqar Khan – drums
• Shahzad Hameed – bass guitar
• Omer Pervaiz – lead guitar
• Ahsan Fida Khan – lead guitar
• Faisal Murtaza – bass
• Danish Jabbar Khan – vocals
• Khurram Jabbar Khan – drums
• Sunny – lead guitar
• Usman Nasir – rhythm guitar

Sessional

• Farhan – bass guitar
• Kenny – drums

Music videos

• "Nishaan" (2003) from Jilawatan
• "Pukaar" (2003) from Jilawatan
• "Shayad" (2004) from Jilawatan
• "Sab Bhula Kai" (2005) from Jilawatan
• "Bichar Kai Bhee" (2006) from Jilawatan
• "Kuch Naheen" (2006) from Jilawatan
• "Kal Hamara Hai" (2006)
• "Hum Se Hai Yeh Zamaana" (2007)
• "Laree Chotee" (2007)
• "Aasmaan" (2007)
• "Dhadke Jiya"(Aloo Chaat)(2009)
• "Ho Jaane De" (2009)
• "Badal Do Zamanay Ko"(2010)
• "Main esa hi hoon" (2011)

References

External links

• Official Website