A local band of five creative music enthusiasts and like-minded friends came under one roof to create music for their band—Headline. Forming the band in 2010, the band gradually received recognition amongst the mass in 2015 with their album “Finding Cooper”. This week Dhaka Tribune team asked the band a few questions to learn about their journey and the life associated with the music industry.
What drew you to the music industry?
Ever since we were kids, we all had this fascination for concerts and live shows. It was a magical feeling when we saw a guitarist come up to the crowd and play a solo, or a drummer playing massive rolls in front of thousands of people. We were awed by the power of music and how it can sway so many people and bring about this positive energy that surrounds any person that is in the proximity of the music being played. Don’t get us wrong, we also wanted to be the coolest in the world and to be in a band, to us, was the coolest thing in the world.
How did you all meet?
The whole band went to the same school, Willes Little Flower. We were all friends before we formed a band. It’s just that we shared the same kind of taste in music and liked the same artists. Even apart from music, we all shared a similar taste in movies, sports, and many other things. It was a huge group of friends from which the 5 of us emerged as musicians. We were the only ones who actually persued this crazy dream of ours and went ahead.
Junaied Rayhan (Guitarist) and Kazuki Kunimoto (Guitarist) were friends since kindergarten and they both learned to play guitar off each other, by practicing together and would even play over the phone to show one another the new songs they picked up.
Farhan Masud Dipto (Drummer) and Nihal Chowdhury (Vocalist/Guitarist) were also friends since kindergarten. These two were very good from the start and they have a natural virtuosic style to their playing.
Sharar Shayor (Bassist) was a batch junior but he was still our friend and had joined the band only after the previous bassist had left. Shayor also went to the same school and we all used to hang out at his place because his house was full of artists.
PHOTO: AHNAF TAZWAR
Who are your individual inspirations, and how does that translate into the kind of music you make together?
If we give our individual inspirations then the list will go on forever! So, we will just talk about the bands that inspired us as Headline. The first band that has made the most impact has to be Radiohead. Their sound, in terms of using traditional guitars and drums over beat samples and other electro music, had opened our minds to so many new possibilities. We have probably watched every Radiohead show to understand and mimic the kind of sound they produce, of course ultimately failing to copy what they do. However, in failing to mimic their sound we started developing our own sound and it was very different from what we had heard earlier. We then started to create our own kind of music that was very new and had the potential to be recognized as something unique around the world.
Apart from Radiohead, there was Linkin Park, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Foo Fighters, Pink Floyd and Toe that made big impacts on the band as a whole.
How long does it take for you to go from ideation to a completed track?
Since the band was formed when we were kids, there was a lot of ‘trial and error’ kind of a thing where we would write a piece of music and then play and then move on to another music to find that we didn’t like the music we created earlier. So, this goes on on a continuous basis. Until 2015, we had tons of songs written in Bangla and English. But, in the next 2 years, we started focusing on only the English songs and started making instrumental music. We would constantly work with the old material and new material simultaneously to not get bored or frustrated with something the artists call “the creative block”. By the end of 2017, we had our album ready to be recorded and released. So, any song may take 10 minutes to make, or a year, or even more than a year, depending on the jolt of inspiration we get. Everything is a continuous process which cannot really be constrained to time.
What’s an average day like for you?
We will wake up an hour before work or class and then get there just in time. After we’re done with the socially acceptable work over the day, we will come back home in the late evening to freshen up. That’s when our day really starts because the whole band will then meet up around a tea stall in Shantinagar and plan out our next big project – be it a song, an album, a music video, a concert, or whatever. We will get on with our band’s work till midnight and come back home completely exhausted to wake up the next morning and do the same. Friday’s are a bit different though, that’s when we all practice together throughout the day.
Is there a hidden meaning in
PHOTO: SALMAN HOSSAIN NAKIB any of your music?
There’s a hidden meaning in all of our music, to be honest! The first album is 50 percent instrumental. So, there are no words, but you can sense this emotion inside you telling you things and giving you visions, that’s the hidden meaning. For example, ‘Hats & Coats’ is inspired by the serial killer ‘Jack the Ripper’, but it’s really about stereotyping people. ‘My Friend’ is about what the dead man’s soul would feel if he got the chance to see his loved ones from above, but you wouldn’t know that if you just heard the song. And this is completely fine because we all have our own versions and stories of the music we hear and the same song can mean different things to different people. That is the beauty of music and especially the songs that we write.
Do you collaborate with others? What is that process?
Yes, we do. Currently, we are working on this secret project and have been busy producing Electro Dance Music. This is very far from the type of genre that we usually serve but it’s very interesting for us because we are able to expand our soundscape. The process is very simple – if we collaborate with an artist then we try to find common ground first where everyone involved is comfortable and no one feels out of place. After that, we pick up with random tunes until a certain note or word hits a nerve and we all start jamming in. The music reveals itself once everybody stops playing. We usually record new materials when we make them so that nothing is lost and we can always re-arrange if something doesn’t sound right.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
Interaction with fans is mostly done on the comment section of different social media outlets such as on our Facebook Page or Instagram. However, real interaction occurs when we play a live set. During concerts it’s easier to understand what the crowd feels and wants us to do. Communication gets a lot better because the audience can just come up to us and tell us to our face what they thought about our performance or music. So, we prefer that over all the other internet stuff, but the world has become online and we just have to deal with that too.
What is your favourite part of this line of work? Also, your least favourite? And Why?
The most favourite part about this is making music. I know this is an obvious reason but this really is the only reason because music is a universal expression that allows us to talk to people without using words and get our message across to hundreds of people. Anyone would know this is an impossible feat if you have ever made a public speech in Bangladesh!
Our least favourite part is that we cannot really tour all over the country to present our music because there is no proper management or organization that helps to procure venues for performing arts. Even if there are, there has to be internal networking for them to move forward. We really do need an open service where we can have venues for rent so that we can do what we are good at, that is playing live in front of an audience.
Have you ever dealt with performance anxiety?
We always feel a bit nervous before every show and it’s only natural to feel a bit shaky. I think this shows that each of us is actually very serious about what we are doing and we hold value in every performance that we do. So, yes there are performance anxieties but it all goes away when the curtains are up and the audience starts to cheer.
Tell us about your favourite performance venues.
We’ve had the chance to perform at so many beautiful venues, it’s hard to name just a few. To start off, we always had a good turnout at Jatra Biroti in Banani and it’s a beautiful place. The auditoriums in Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and American International School Dhaka (AISD) are world class. Lastly, Shilpakala Academy’s Experimental Hall and Main Hall are very good to perform in.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Always be original and don’t you dare stop dreaming! Life is hard and that is exactly how it’s supposed to be, but any obstacle can be overcome if you work as a unit and help each other through practice. For any band, it’s important to know and learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses so you can work on those and combine things in a way that portrays the best of each one of you. It’s only possible in a band, where you can have no weaknesses at all because there is always someone right beside you to cover your mistake. That is very important. Believe in yourself and believe in the people that you’re with, and you’ll see that everything is possible.
The band will be performing on July 12 at The Third Space – Counter Culture Club, Dhanmondi. To learn more about the event, hit at the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/611804289303199/