The soft and sad melodies of Poor Rich Boy make a gorgeous addition to the spectrum of contemporary music in Pakistan. Shy, nerdy, and bracingly honest, GT talked to the “poor rich boys” about their fears and inspirations
Saba Ahmed: How did you start out as a band?
Shehzad Noor: Zain and I used to be in a two-member acoustic band. Then we got two more members, made it a fully-fledged band, and began performing at The Guitar School. Hamza Jafri owns that school; he used to have Koven gigs there and we used to open for them. Then I became friends with Umer Khan, (whom we all call Duck), who had been doing songs online for a very long time. So we started writing together. Zain really liked one of those songs and that song became Alice. Then Umer Khan and I wrote a song together, Fair Weather Friend and both these two songs are featured in the new album.
‘My sister once responded to my whining by calling me a poor rich boy. It stuck with me. Our music is sad-sounding but, Mashallah, we eat three square meals a day. We like the irony of it’
Zain Ahsan: Yeah, we met and bounced around some ideas, played at cafes and recorded some demos until eventually we realized the need to grow into a band. We needed to add a bass player and a drummer. So we got Zain Maulvi and Ravail on board.
SA: How would you describe your music?
We composed the songs on this album many years ago with an electric guitar and the bass inside a gym room and the sound produced was like hard rock. Or so people have said. Our last album has been described by listeners as indie.
SA: Who are your influences?
Zain Ahsan: Everyone has his own influences: Zain Maulvi listens to a lot of Jazz stuff. Shahzad listens to a lot of singer-songwriters; he’s heavily influenced by Tom Waits. Duck, I don’t even know whether he listens to music, but he makes a lot of it on his laptop. Danny again, he sort of listens to everything, but mostly guitarists, I mean, he is a guitar player. I’m heavily influenced by the blues. For the past two years I’ve been listening to a lot of indie bands. I really like the tones those guys used, there’s the early 90s grunge like Rage Against the Machine, Sound Garden, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. I’ll need to listen to them, because I’m the one producing our albums.
SA: Who do you play for?
Zain Ahsan: Whoever wants to come and listen. We don’t want to say ‘hey you, you can’t come listen to our music and you, you can.’
SA: How do you guys reach a consensus about what you present to your audiences?
Shehzad Noor: Short answer, we don’t.
Duck: We just stop playing whenever someone gets tired.
Shehzad Noor: Whoever has the most energy at that point in time, he takes it forward and it’s usually this guy (points to Zain Ahsan). When we’re conceiving the music too, whoever has the most energy will take his idea forward. Nobody hates anything and everyone in the band is respectful of one another.
‘We are less badtameez and we swear less when we play for more conservative audiences’
Zain Ahsan: At the end of it, we give each other a green light; the song doesn’t go out until every one of us likes it.
SA: How far would you say the type of audience you’re playing for affects your live performances?
Duck: I have serious stage anxiety and I’m just scared regardless of where we’re playing. If the audience number exceeds, say, seven people, I start freaking out.
Zain Ahsan: I don’t really look at the crowd much. I just turn away and look at the band so I don’t really know what’s going on behind me.
Duck: We are less badtameez and we swear less when we play for more conservative audiences.
SA: Most of you work day jobs. How do you balance that with a musicians’ lifestyle, gigs, late nights, practice sessions, etc.?
Shehzad Noor: It’s still something that I’m learning to get the hang of. It’s difficult. I teach drama and music at an IB school in Lahore, it’s pretty demanding and there’s a lot of work. The weekend is when I can take some time out to meet with the band and work on some material. In order to make this album happen, we spent a couple of months together working and practicing. As far as gigs go, the Khayaal festival gig we recently played at, we met up a couple of days before and frantically rehearsed. Basically, I’m just trying to survive.
Duck: This would be a problem if we were really in the mainstream. Right now, with the music scene the way it is, it’s a big deal to get a gig even once a month. It’s pretty manageable. We’re not that famous yet!
SA: How did you come to name the band Poor Rich Boy?
Shehzad Noor: My sister once responded to my whining by calling me a poor rich boy. It stuck with me. Our music is sad-sounding but Mashallah we eat three square meals a day. We like the irony of it.
SA: What’s the best thing about being in a band together?
Shehzad Noor: When everybody’s on the same page it’s really beautiful.
Duck: I never thought that I could sing in front of people or that I would be able to share my creative abilities with a bunch of people who would not only understand what I’m trying to do but also support it for strange reasons that are beyond me. Of course I dreamt of it, and one day it became possible. And I’ve really enjoyed myself. When you go to university, there are idiotic people who say, ‘this guy’s crazy and weird.’ I meet these guys in the band and they are fine with who I am. They get how I am irreverent about some things, yet hold other things very dear.
SA: How do you distinguish yourselves from other bands out there?
Zain Ahsan: We’re broke, they’re not.
Everyone seems to be busy with shaadis and the fun and ensuing chaos that come with them. For last-minute crises (like dress malfunctions to the baraat arriving early) we bring you the fixes and tricks to keep your shaadi season stress-free and more fun than ever!
Wedding Dress Disasters
[fdropcap]1[/fdropcap]Multiple days of shaadi functions also means a slew of outfits to manage. Meaning, in other words, wardrobe malfunctions waiting to happen on your big day: clothes getting switched at the tailors, sleeves that won’t go up your arms, kaamwaalas and their broken promises, and so on.
Tip: Keep a detailed log of all kaarigars, designers, kaamwaalas and launderers working on your outfits. Write everything out: receipts, delivery times, and stay on top of it. Make little reminders on your phone if need be. Keep last minute alterations for much before the last minute and make sure all hooks and supports and naalas are in order. Just in case, always keep a safety pin or two at hand for a quick fix.
Jalal Salahuddin (event manager) says…
Many women spend their entire lifetimes dreaming about their wedding day. We’ve witnessed brides who have been left high and dry by their fancy designers and had to end up wearing samples.
Mehreen Raheal (actor/model) says…
On the day of my mehndi, we were all colour coordinated. But my father’s kurta got lost and he was the odd one out. That was quite a disaster. Keep a close eye on your clothes!
Shaadi Hall Trouble
[fdropcap]2[/fdropcap]Shaadi goers must all subscribe to the curfew. Venues shut down officially by 10pm and sometimes wedding guests are left in darkness as early as 9:45! After all, it is the law.
Tip: The best thing for anyone getting married is to plan ahead. Have someone always be in contact with the baraat and ensure that it is arriving on time at the venue. No one likes being a party pooper, but rasms like mehndi, joota chuppai and doodh pillai must all run on a fixed schedule with an allotted time slot for each rasm. Taking a leaf from weddings in the West, it’s not a bad idea to keep a rehearsal dinner a day or two ahead with a few key people present. It will help you get an idea of how time will pass during the function.
Jalal Salahuddin says…
Oh gosh, we’ve had too many but the worst by far was recently when the weather-proof marquee almost sank into the ground due to unexpected rainfall, we had to dig dikes, install suction pumps and build a proper drainage system to keep the water out of the canopy. And that too within 24 hours!
Aamir Mazhar says…
We managed a wedding in the summer where the client wanted extra air conditioning. We had ordered backup generators and extra AC units but as luck would have it, in the first hour all of them conked off. So extra AC’s had to be arranged last minute. One should always have a contingency plan when managing events and be prepared for the worst.
Asimyar Tiwana says…
On my mehndi, it started raining cats and dogs so we had to move the event inside our haveli in the village. My tip: Always check the weather forecast and have an alternate venue as plan B if your event is outdoors.
Makeup Messups
[fdropcap]3[/fdropcap]One has heard many a tale of brides being traumatized on the day of their wedding. Even the ‘pros’ can miscalculate and think it’s a really good idea to make you look like a tart. Be excruciatingly specific about the kind of makeup you want; make sure to take into account your skin tone, outfit, and the weather. Make-up trials are now pretty routine; a good artist should definitely provide a trial run.
Mariam Omar (makeup artist) says…
The biggest disaster is when brides are not confident. Looking and feeling good on the inside means looking and feeling good on the outside too. Another disaster that commonly occurs is when brides come in requesting looks that they have seen on movie stars, irrespective of whether ‘the look’ is right for them.
Jalal Salahuddin says…
Smokey eyes and red lipstick together is a big NO! Too many Pakistani bridal make-up artists make the mistake of layering on thick make-up in the mistaken belief that pictures will come out good. This is not true at all. Using too much make-up on your wedding day is a sure way to have all of your wedding day pictures look washed-out!
Music Blunders
[fdropcap]4[/fdropcap]Mehndis are becoming more and more synonymous with choreographed dances straight out of Bollywood. With more themed mehndis, organized dance routines and other theatrics like impromptu skits, the DJ’s role becomes crucial. We have seen raunchy and unsuitable songs come on just as your parents are due to be walking you in to the tune of Mehndi Hain Rachnay Vaali.
Tip: Hire a solid DJ and request references from past clients. Meet with the DJ and determine a list of songs to which they must stick, even if it means playing the same song twice in a night. DJ’s hate repeating tracks, so have a good long chat about the songs you want repeated.
Jalal Salahuddin says…
We rarely have music malfunctions at our events as we have a set playlist for each genre complimenting the nature of the event. But there have been incidences when DJ’s have let loose to play Nargis songs during rukhsatis!
Smokey eyes and red lipstick together is a big NO! Too many Pakistani bridal make-up artists make the mistake of layering on thick make-up in the mistaken belief that pictures will come out good
Uninvited Attendees
[fdropcap]5[/fdropcap]A friend of a friend of a friend arriving at your wedding uninvited is at the end of the day a gate-crasher. Extra people will mean running tight on the catering. Be on the safe side and arrange for an extra 30 odd guests. It’s also a good idea to have some extra wedding cards printed for those overlooked guests with whom protocol is important.
Jalal Salahuddin says…
We’ve experienced wedding crashers especially at events where a foreign artist is performing.
