“This is our statement against the so called “War on Terror”. It is ironic that they kill civilians including women and young children through drone strikes yet talk about making this world a peaceful place. We as a nation are going through a tough time. There is need for motivation but that can be achieved by coming out of our state of denial and accepting the facts on ground. For once, this should not be politicized further as it has certainly not helped. We need to take into account a common man’s view and expand upon it. In the end, they can do whatever they want but we are here and we are not going anywhere.” – Qayaas
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Tom Delmar a Hollywood director who has directed titles like Braveheart, Snatch, Starwars and Shooter is here for a Project called “Waar” the strike in cooperation with Mindworks Media led by Umar Tariq (UT) and Umair Jaswal.
Qayaas is a Pakistani band that started when Khurram Waqar (previously in the successful bands, Knumb and Entity Paradigm) heard Umair Jaswal at a studio, shooting a show for ARY Musik that involved promoting upcoming bands in Islamabad. Umair was already in a band called Silversmoke, a band that is popular, with rocking songs such as ‘Zakham’ and ‘Soch’. For Khurram, his band Knumb weren’t progressing, due to a band member living far away. Knumb even made an album, but it is on hold. Khurram then contacted Umair, both being very enthusiastic with working together. The line up was complete when other members came into the scene. The line-up is Umair Jaswal (also in Silversmoke) as the vocalist, Khurram Waqar (from Knumb and Entity Paradigm) as the lead guitarist, Sarmad Ghafoor (from Rungg) on rhythm guitars, Sherry on bass and Fifu on drums, who were both from the band Surge. All members have had musical experience, combined to make a band unique in diversity and professionalism. With Qayaas complete, they could now make a name in Pakistan’s music scene. {Read More…}
City FM 89 Experience
The Isloo City FM 89 experience was a good experience indeed. It was probably the first time that a whole band was playing in their funky studio. They initially had planned for 3 members but when we told them that all of us would be coming, they had to make adjustments in order to accomodate us. Thx to Anita for being supportive of the idea. {Read More…}
With this blog, I really want to start an informal interaction with all of you whereby you get to to see the internal workings of the band, the various logistics that we face, my thought process and input in terms of songwriting,coming up with interesting parts, tracking the songs in their true essence and getting totally lost in the “art of mixing” … If you are a musician, then mixing is a counter-productive excercise. The reason being that your concentration gets diverted from your main strength (be it vocals, guitars or drums etc.) into the intricacies of sound engineering. It looks pretty simple on the outside. How difficult could it be to record a song and make it sound close to a song from a multi platinum selling rock album? {Read More…}
I really wanted to share the story behind Qayaas with all of you on my blog but that is still a few more days away. Since I just can’t wait to get it out of my system, so here it goes …. This all started when OP, a dear friend was shooting a show for ARY Muzik in my studio which involved all the upcoming bands in Islamabad. That is where I heard Umair with his band Silversmoke. Both OP and myself were impressed and I knew right there that if I am going to ever work with a vocalist besides Qasim (kNuMB), it will probably be Umair. kNuMB was not going anywhere due to various logistic issues , the main being Qasim living in Lahore. By the way, kNuMB album is also written and a few tracks recorded but it is on an indefinite hold for now. {Read More…}
So I’ve been listening to the two songs Umeed and Tanha on repeat for the past week and here are some of my thoughts. First of all, I’m already well aware of Fifu, Sarmad, Sherry and Khurram and how they are the best at what they play. However, what comes as a surprise is the vocalist Umair. I have never heard of this guy before but WOW! I am blown away. My first thoughts upon hearing him sing were that: “I didn’t know Chris Cornell had started singing in Urdu!” He has amazing vocals, really good control, versatility and an unbelievable range. Not to mention really powerful lyrics. {Read More…}
Posted by Guitar_freaKCategorized Under: NewsNo Comments
Qayaas is an upcoming band by Sarmad Ghafoor of Rungg, Khurram Waqar of Knumb and Umair Jaswal of Silversmoke. The band has already recorded it’s first album. Videos will be aired soon.
Artist: 
The lead guitarist of the band ‘Waqas Naeem’ confirmed that two tracks (one mellow and one heavy) will be released by the end of April..jpg "Qayaas")
The Art of Mixing
If you are a musician, then mixing is a counter-productive excercise. The reason being that your concentration gets diverted from your main strength (be it vocals, guitars or drums etc.) into the intricacies of sound engineering. It looks pretty simple on the outside. How difficult could it be to record a song and make it sound close to a song from a multi platinum selling rock album? 
I really wanted to share the story behind Qayaas with all of you on my blog but that is still a few more days away. Since I just can’t wait to get it out of my system, so here it goes …. This all started when OP, a dear friend was shooting a show for ARY Muzik in my studio which involved all the upcoming bands in Islamabad. That is where I heard Umair with his band Silversmoke. Both OP and myself were impressed and I knew right there that if I am going to ever work with a vocalist besides Qasim (kNuMB), it will probably be Umair. kNuMB was not going anywhere due to various logistic issues , the main being Qasim living in Lahore. By the way, kNuMB album is also written and a few tracks recorded but it is on an indefinite hold for now. 
