Attic was selected to open for international band, “Two Door Cinema Club” live in Bangkok on August 14.
Consisting of Shadab Shams, Sharar Shayor, Tauhid Shamsuddin, Gaurov Nandy and Sayem Chowdhury, Attic was formed of intimate bonds. Beginning with a few family members banding together to do what they love.
In discussion with some of these members, they share their story lined with their hopes and dreams coming into reality.
Shams reveals that their fascination with music and the urge to “create something special together” led to the inception of Attic. “Attic was formed in 2012, our members came together with a mutual dream. My brother, he plays the bass and my uncle, he plays the guitar. The three of us used to play music together at home. Our other two members are friends we met at school. We wanted to take the fact that we could create something together, take that somewhere. The dream was to make it big,” says lead vocalist Shadab Shams.
Attic guitarist Tauhid Shamsuddin expresses that this opportunity comes as a result of years of preparation, of reaching out to every chance to “take their music to a different level.”
Shamsuddin shared his belief that their band “is somewhat of an example of if you really want to do something, it will happen.” With palpable excitement at the chance to perform in front of a new audience, the guitarist states, “I hope and believe that this won't be our last international performance. We're special guests in this show, which is in Bhiraj Hall. It's a pretty big hall, it is pretty exciting to be living in this moment.”
Primary songwriter for the band, Shadab states, “The fact that, our music will transcend borders, and reach an international audience with a live show. That moment was an exhilarating experience for us. It feels like a realisation of our dreams and a validation of the hard work we have put in our music. This opportunity fills us with immense excitement and pride, they're a band we've looked up to for years. To share the stage with them is an honour beyond words.”
Revealing how they came to this point in their journey the Attic bassist notes, “The event is being organised by this company called Skesh Entertainment. They've produced a few music videos for us, we worked with them during another event called the 'Platform Live Bangladesh'. Since then we've developed a good relationship. Our friend from the company Nadeem Salam, really wanted us to take our music abroad. He mentioned booking 'Two Door Cinema Club' for a gig and that he wanted us to open for them.”
While not yet concrete with the set list, Attic will primarily perform songs from their second studio album that is currently in production. Written in the past two years, the new album represents feeling experiences from a “modern perspective”.
Delving deeper Sharar Shayor reveals, “The songs feature our experiences feeling things in a modern perspective. Say online relationships– relationships nowadays are changing in a manner we can't possibly comprehend. We're still very confused with how we feel in all these relationship dynamics. I feel like we're all very lost, this album sort of highlights that feeling. From a personal standpoint, it features a lot of my experiences from the pandemic. How I felt, how we, all of us in the world, felt during that period.”
The album is set to showcase the band in their current state, featuring influences from bands such as “The 1975”, “Radiohead” and “Coldplay”. According to Sharar Shayor they're “experimenting with electronic and pop”, also including rock elements, however not as much as their first album.
Divulging the story behind some of the songs in their new album Shadab Shams states, “The song, ‘Purple Heart', I personally wrote it from a spiritual perspective. The lyrics are quite encouraging.”
Tauhid building on the premise, speaks of their song “Perfume”, “It captures mutual elements of the downsides of life and also how that encourages us to look forward to the good, good news, new beginnings, just cheering yourself up while being in that low zone.”
“It almost makes you feel powerful, embracing that feeling,” Shams adds.
Asking for the continued backing of their audience, Shayor entreats, “To our audience, we're very grateful for the support we have received until now. We ask for more of that support, we need our fans now more than ever. We're hoping that this is the start of something we've always dreamed of, to frequently represent our country across borders.”
