In the words of the late, great Public Enemy: ‘Don’t believe the hype.’
Power Trip: There has never been a more inapt- or inept-ly named band. On the evidence of their recent performance on the roof of St. Anthony’s, Power Trip lacked power and certainly took the audience for no trips. In fact, by night’s end, there was a distinct feeling among the audience that all they had been taken for, after having leafed over Rs. 200 to get in, was their money and the proverbial ride.
Power Trip has apparently
risen from the ruins of the long-defunct band, the Trip which comprised
the late Baber Khan, Omer Yousaf,
The Trip during its
lifetime, and thereafter, has had a significant reputation in the underground,
so its newest incarnation’s first outing was highly anticipated. That plus the
fact that
Yet, one still looked forward to the concert. When I met with Cecil at the soundcheck earlier in the evening, his enthusiasm for the band was quite contagious. He said he was looking forward to playing live for an audience after a long time and the band members were ‘just getting together for the fun of playing live.’
However, on the night if any fun was had it was probably only by the band and possibly at the expense of the audience: on the night, from the outset, the event was a mess. The concert started almost an hour and a half late. Technical difficulties were blamed for the delay, but an hour past the announced concert-time one saw the band milling around downstairs rather than on the roof trying to fix the said difficulties.
When the playing finally started, the performance was a disaster. While the sound system was good, the sound mixing was simply bad (Meekal, what were you doing?) All night long Dr. Zeerak’s bass dominated all other instruments to their collective detriment. Rock music is about rhythm and where, if one of the most important cogs, the drums in this case, go A.W.O.L the whole thing falls apart.
Sikander Mufti whose drumming on the Coven e.p. Not in your world made me a fan of his could not be heard for most of the night and in moments when he could be, it appeared that he had not brought his drumming chops along. His drumming on the Lenny Kravitz cover, Are You Gonna Go My Way was so badly out of sync with the rest of the band, that the less said the better.
Zeerak Samuel with his booming bass showed that he is an excellent bass player but with the same over-loud bass he really did most of the songs in. The band only played covers on the night (even the Trip’s Eternal Blues would technically be called a cover, right?) and all but a few on these were of the ‘70s riff-rock variety (normally driven by guitars and drum and bass interaction). Loud bass is a no-no in such songs.
Of the main band members only Cecil Chaudhry was excellent. He demonstrated that he really knows and enjoys his music and thus came out of the concert with his reputation intact. When he plays there is a joy in his playing. Not only did he play well, but he also looked great playing, posing and playacting, in my humble rocking opinion, quite important aspects of performance that most guitarist tend to ignore. Qasim (Entity), Jamie (last seen with DJ Kash) take note: guitars are meant to be slung low and played with attitude and ought not be held so high up as to be under one’s chin. If they were meant to be played under the chin, they’d be called violins now, innit? Anyways, I have digressed; back to Cecil. Even his singing was more convincing than his two proper vocalists: when Cecil sings he does so with gusto (if not with the complete confidence of a singer) and that is infinitely more appreciable than unconvincing vocalists. His turn on Eternal Blues was fabulous and could have been the highlight of any night, what to say of an otherwise sub-par one.
Other than Eternal Blues, the band only came together well on the Beatles’ I want you (She is so heavy) which they transformed into an extended workout with a Doors-ey vibe and a stormy rendition of Born To Be Wild where Zahid Awan, for once, shone. Other covers were mostly a mess for one reason or the other. Points to note for the band: Never mix Pink Floyd (atmosphery music) with ‘70s rockers (Steppenwolf, etc.) in a set-list: each destroys the effect of the other. Never try to cover Lenny Kravitz if you don’t have a killer vocalist: Lenny has a very distinctive whine and most of his songs work only with that unique whiny voice. If one fails to approximate his sound, the end result is something like Are You Gonna Go My Way as butchered by Zahid or Fly Away as done grievous harm to by Yousuf. The band at times seemed so out of it that they even made U2’s Elevation which is an explosive song even if played on a kazoo, sound plodding and devoid of any intensity.
“Out of it” is actually quite an appropriate term to describe the band on the night. For one, it was almost as if they were not there to perform. After starting late and then stopping for a good ten minutes because of more technical difficulties, the band thought it proper to take a twenty minute break in mid-set. Perhaps to get a smoke? This gave the whole event a very shambolic feel which was in fact highlighted when Sikander Mufti twenty minutes into the break came onto the mic and loudly queried where the rest of his band members were and could they please please come back onstage. In true Spinal Tap fashion the band members emerged from various places and rushed onto stage to play. ‘Calling Mr. Zeeerak, Calling all band members, where are you?’ indeed.
The faux pas did not end there. Adnan on guitars, while invisible for most of the night, provided another tap-ish moment of the night as he has trouble for a few long minutes trying to tune his guitar with the chorus effect on. The chorus effect, it may be pointed out for the uninitiated, puts a guitar slightly out of tune in the first place. So to try and tune it with a chorus effect is a big no-no. It is sort of as silly and counter-intuitive as switching on a loudspeaker if one is trying to whisper.
Among all of this carnage, kudos must however be sent out to the hired guns of the band who acquitted themselves quite competently: Farhan’s keyboard solos were quite exciting and Kamal plays the sax well. However, Power Trip despite having two vocalists (or three if one counts Cecil), were significantly found lacking in their vocalists’ performance and presence.
The problem seems to be that both Zahid and Yousuf have quite a limited range to their voices. The minute they step out of their normal practiced range or take on not-normally-practiced numbers they are out of their depth. That plus there is the fact that they are as rigid on-stage as starched-up politicians and almost as (un)convincing.
Not only do the vocalists lack vocal ability, but they also lacked presence: A large venue like the St. Anthony’s roof requires large gestures and a hyper-kinetic or intense lead singer (Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant or any vocalist of a band that arena-rocks) or one who if he does not move radiates menace and attitude (Liam Gallagher from Oasis). These two gentleman had none of that. Zahid Awan while he mimes well enough and looked rockerlike with a mane and black-leather jacket often gestured woodenly and a beat too late or a beat too early in songs. On the night he tried to approximate Ali Azmat and Jim Morrison, but he did neither very well. He lacked the charisma and magnetism of the former and the intensity and shaman-like aura of the latter. Yousuf was preppy with a brown suit-jacket on and was good on the Pink Floyd numbers and few others (horrid on the Kravitz number). In fact when he, with his mannerisms, (purposely?) aped a Mullah declaming from the pulpit on the opener In the Flesh he made the lines ‘Get him up against the wall. / 'Gainst the wall!/ And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon… If I had my way I'd have all of ya shot’ a wickedly contemporary and appropriately current touch.
It was therefore unsurprising that the applause on the night came mostly from the bands’ more rabid supporters and well-wishers. The neutrals were non-plussed. A supporter of Sikander Mufti seated next to me waxed on about his drumming on the night when one could not really hear his drumming (except for his rimshots which were for some reason loud and coming through quietly clearly). I guess this is sadly the case with most rabid supporters of most bands i.e. that they are rabid. Still, one must not take much notice of such supporters and their comments: this particular supporter thought that a new band Attic Blues which came on mid-set to perform a number were playing funk when quite clearly, as one may also be clued in by the band name, they were playing blues or something akin to that.
And speaking of Attic Blues, if it had been a cunning plan on part of Power Trip to have Attic Blues, come on for a song and make PT look good by performing bad, the cunning plan failed. I switched my ears off a few minutes into Attic Blues performance, because Attic Blues were quite simply atrocious. The vocalist showed some promise but not enough to be encouraged to perform again. The other band members did not even show that.
Overall, one the concert was well-attended, but most people left before time. I stayed on longer than most and then left. However, I hear that the band performed a Dire Straits’ classic as their last song and that probably was might serve as a suitable epitaph to this dead performance. Money for Nothing ended a night on which money was mostly thrown away by those who wanted to rock and went away unsatisfied.
Finally, after all the disses, a note of advice to the band: While using the Trip
name in Power Trip allows them to capitalize on the goodwill of the Trip
name, they are likely to find out sooner rather than later that such capital quickly
runs out. Guys, be classy like Shahzad Hameed who upon leaving Blue Buzz chose to form the
Shahzad Hameed Band, instead
of Blue Buzz part deux. The Shahzad Hameed example may
perhaps also be more pertinent in this instance: even Shahzad
made a misstep with a below-par performance at the Green Gig Night; but he has
now followed it up with a reputation-making performance at the Rafi Peer Youth festival which gives him back the title of
the most righteous ‘70s rocker in