ADP’s Blog Entry: The Mr E’s Eff Up
by
After our fantastic gig at the Shanaakht Festival, (November 2009) where we played with Laal, Fuzon, Taal Karisma and Noori, we did what we do best. Put our heads up our asses and disappeared.
Well not entirely. We had noble intentions. Buoyed by the success of Shanaakht we went back into the recording studio with renewed confidence in our abilities. So far the only song we had recorded at Mr. E’s studio was “Mujhay Sahara Do”. Now when we recorded that song with Omar Khalid back in the day ( July 2009), we thought it sounded pretty good. But upon listening to it after 4 months, we realized it was rather shit. We asked Mr. E to mix it for us anyway. Mr. E mixed it in a rather unconventional manner. By also putting his head up his ass.
For two weeks he didn’t give us the song. And then when he gave it to us it was unmixed. When we told Mr. E “Hey Mr. E, this song is unmixed”, he was most surprised. He felt that he had done everything he could. No doubt, Mr. E too had noble intentions, but his practice of trying to mix a song by placing his head slowly up his own butthole was slowing down the process.
So we did what any band would do under the circumstances. We said, “OK nevermind Mr. E, here lets record some more songs”. You see we had already paid him an advance amount of money to record our album. So we really were stuck in a corner. We could either beat his testicles with our shoes and hope that he gives our money back. Or we could get him to work. We chose the latter. But only barely.
This was not entirely a bad thing. We got Giles in the studio to play drums, and he did a fantastic job, so we were able to record the basic tracks for ‘Hum Na Rahey’ and “Jaaney Vaaley”. Like a bunch of dudes peeing in the snow, we felt pretty good. Soon it was time for us to get fucked.
So Mr. E decided to get up one day and leave the country.
So here we are again. Fucked.
I really wish I was making some of this up. But I’m not. The sheer levels of unprofessionalism are just beyond me getting mad anymore. To me the situation has become just sickly amusing. We are heavily in debt. We don’t have a studio to record in. We can’t shift to another studio. We don’t have any gigs lined up, concerts these days are getting more scarce by the day. We have 9 to 10 fantastic original songs that we are fully set to record. We’re basically sitting waiting for Mr. E to come back someday so we can tell him to go fuck himself and give us back our money. Now this, if you’re in Pakistan, you will realize, is un-fucking-likely.
Surprisingly, the band has remained fairly upbeat. We’re all frustrated. But I think there is a sense that there’s no point making a bad situation worse by bitching and moaning. So we’re back to jamming, and I gotta say I’m feeling very good about how the band is sounding. We took a break in the winter, Rahail was travelling, I was busy with family and Giles was busy with Christmas. It gave me some time on my own and for the first time in a long time, I actually got down to some serious songwriting. The results were a whole bunch of new songs, one of which I performed with Ali at Open Mic Nite, a fantastic event we did last weekend showcasing some great upcoming talent and my favourite performers.
So while we might be fucked in the recording process, I’m feeling very good about the bands’ sound. We’re sounding tighter than ever and the songwriting is coming around well. I really can’t say whats going to happen in the next couple of months, I can only hope we find a way to get back in the studio, or at least some gigs. But for now it’s all just up in the air.
Once again, I apologize for not updating the blog as often as I should. But it’s a new year, and this was one of my top resolutions, I’m going to try and stick by it.
