Call (Pakistani band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Call


Img_capt = From left to right: Junaid, Xulfi, Waqar and Sultan.
Img_size =
Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|PAK Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Genre = Alternative rock, hard rock
Years_active = 1994 – present
Label = 2 Republic Music Group
Associated_acts = Entity Paradigm, Entity, Paradigm, Naqsh, Shehzad Hameed
URL = [http://thebandcall.com/ www.thebandcall.com]
Current_members = Waqar Khan Junaid Khan Xulfi Sultan Raja
Past_members = Omer Pervaiz Danish Jabbar Khan Sunny Usman Nasir Shahzad Hameed Khurram Jabbar Khan

Call is an Alternative rock band formed by Danish J. Khan, Khurram J. Khan, Xulfi and Omer Pervaiz.cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/call.htm|title= J4Jumpy.net - The Call - History|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net] The vocalist, Danish J. Khan left in 2001 and the band was disbanded.cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/call.htm|title= J4Jumpy.net - The Call - History|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net] However, the band reformed in 2002 and after a few line-up changes, released their debut album, Jilawatan in late 2005. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = Discography|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com]

History

Creation (1994)

Call was formed in 1994 by Xulfi, Omer Pervaiz, Khurram Jabbar Khan and Danish Jabbar Khan. cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/call.htm|title= J4Jumpy.net - History|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net – The Call] They started out by providing background music for mime performances at NCA, Lahore under the name Undrap Nexus. Undrap Nexus' line-up was with Xulfi on the keyboard, Omer Pervaiz on the guitar and Danish Jabbar Khan on vocals. Soon, Xulfi and Danish Jabbar Khan, Khurram Jabbar Khan bought himself a drumkit and Call was officially formed. cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/call.htm|title= J4Jumpy.net – The Call|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net] Call still needed a bassist and recruited Shahzad Hameed.

Early History (1994-2000)

Call's musical inspirations included bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden. Their musical style was experimental as Shahzad Hameed stated;

:cquote|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... cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com] |20px|20px|

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.cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com] Their setlist was composed of 10 original tracks, a rare thing for underground musicians to do back then. cite web |url= http://jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2005-weekly/nos-18-12-2005/instep.htm#5|title = On Call About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = The News] However, in 1996, the band's bassist, Shahzad Hameed left. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com] After a while, the band's guitarist, Omer Pervaiz left as well in order to concentrate on his solo project, Naqsh. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com] Xulfi and Khurram Jabbar Khan decided against disbanding the band and thus ended up recruiting Ahsan Fida Khan on guitars and Faisal Murtaza on bass. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com]

Disbanding (2001)

On October 20, 2001, Danish Jabbar Khan, the band’s vocalist and lyricist, performed for the last time with the band at a rock festical on his birthday. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com] 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, Xulfi concentrated on his band Paradigm (which later became EP) while Ahsan and Faisal moved on to fulfill family obligations. cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/xulfi.htm|title = J4Jumpy.net - Xulfi|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net] cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Thebandcall.com]

Revival (2002-2004)

In September 2002, Khurram Jabbar Khan, being a core member, returned from the United States to revive Call. Khurram and Xulfi got together and auditioned for new band members and decided that this would be an urdu project.cite web |url= http://www.j4jumpy.net/interviews/call.htm|title= J4Jumpy.net - The Call - History|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = J4Jumpy.net] They found Junaid’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 (Xulfi’s student) on bass. Khurram joined in on drums. cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher=Thebandcall.com]

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. cite web |url= http://www.umrevolution.com/features_02.html|title = Call - The Next Big Thing|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Umrevolution.com] 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.cite web |url= http://thebandcall.com/flash/|title = About|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher=Thebandcall.com] The band then released an unplugged song titled Kaash.

Soon Khurram had to part roles with the band because he had to run Jilawatan Productions, the company which used to manage EP, Jal, Call and Roxen (band). Eventually Sunny and Usman left the band as well. The band said that Usman didn’t deserve to be in any band and was only there because of his brother, Sunny. Sunny, who was the real musical contributor, couldn’t contribute to the band due to his job and thus had to leave the band. cite web |url= http://www.umrevolution.com/features_02.html|title = Call - The Next Big Thing|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Umrevolution.com]

Khurram was replaced by Waqar of EP and Xulfi took Sunny and Usman’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.

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.

Recent Events (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 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.cite web |url= http://www.pakmanzil.com/revamped/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=93|title = Not On Home - Xulfi Idept|accessdate= 2007-08-20|publisher = Pakmanzil.com]

Prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Call recorded and made a video for a song entitled "Hum Se Hai Yeh 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 20th, Call released the music video and put it up for download on their official website

On September 9th, Call released the music video of their song Asmaan through their forums. The video can be downloaded from [http://loudcult.com/asmaan.htm] .

Band members

Current

* Xulfi - lead guitar, keyboards (1994-2001)(2004-present)
* Junaid Khan - vocals, guitar (2002-present)
* Sultan Raja - bass guitar, rhythm guitar (live) (2002-present)

Former

* Shahzad Hameed - bass (1994-1996)
* Omer Pervaiz - lead guitar (1994-1996)
* Ahsan Fida Khan - lead guitar (1996-2001)
* Faisal Murtaza - bass (1996-2001)
* Danish Jabbar Khan - vocals (1994-2001)
* Khurram Jabbar Khan - drums (1994-2001)(2002-2004)
* Sunny - lead guitar (2002-2004)
* Usman Nasir - rhythm guitar (2002-2004)

Temporary

* Farhan - bass (live) (2004-present)
* Fahad Khan - drums (live) (2004-2006)
* Kenny - drums (live) (2006-present)

Discography

Albums

ingles

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)

ee also

* Jilawatan
* Irtiqa
* Entity Paradigm (eP)

External links

* [http://www.thebandcall.com/ The Call Official Website]
* [http://loudcult.com/ Call's Official Fan Club]

Notes