Interview with EP - the end of the road - MuzikPakistan

A few years and an album or two down…and another band bites the dust. That's the fate that almost every other band seems to undergo. They start out great, hit the charts and then poof, one day their gone. Vamoosed away into thin air.

In a music industry that's still at a jittery fledgling stage (albeit picking up tremendously), it does either make or break for our Pakistani artistes. The ruthlessness goes with the territory you see.
Calling the shots, EP recently announced the end of the Entity Paradigm honeymoon. Although the news had been doing the circuit, it was anticipated...EP's extended silence making it all the more palpable. Speaking to each member, the cloud of gloom and heartfelt loss was apparent. The question that everyone wants answered really is: what now?

Fawad

There had been a couple of misunderstandings but at the end of the day everyone felt comfortable with the decision to call it a day. EP was a joyride – all of us had a great deal of fun. Sure it does make me nostalgic at certain times but things had to take their natural course. At this point, I really don't think I could blame or be angry at anyone. It was fun while it lasted.

Currently I just finished shooting Shoaib Mansoor's Khuda Ke Liye, which is in its final stage so it should be out in about a month. I had one of the lead roles and it was something different, something that I enjoyed doing. I don't consider myself a 'model' because at the time I did a few commercials for the money. I needed to make my income more consistent. And people shouldn't be judgmental about that – if they don't want their musicians venturing out into other fields, invest more money in them so that they don't have to look elsewhere for work.

I've also been putting together my own recording studio, which I'm pretty excited about. I may even end up doing my own solo project, who knows but right now, I just want to leave it very open and spontaneous. I want to explore everything.

Ahmed

EP was a merger of two bands and we tried to make it work as far as we could. But there were seven of us, so that means seven different opinions. We had our differences and we tried. It worked at times but eventually it came to a point where too much was happening at the same time. I was pursuing my acting, Xulfi had Call, Fawad had his projects so everyone had a hand to play in the break-up and no one person can be pinpointed.
After a while it just wasn't a creative outlet for me anymore because it wasn't what it used to be four years ago. But come to think of it, it was better to have four good, solid years rather than staying together and continuously having disagreements.

I personally believe Jutt and Bond made EP. After a year of this sitcom,there was the Pepsi sponsored Battle of the Bands competition so people knew us. EP was a band of its own league and of course I'm bitter about the break-up, it was fun…the energy we had on stage was unmatchable.

Right now I'm working on my solo album, and Rubberband's album is due out in March. Not having EP anymore makes me really sad because our fans made it, they made us.

Xulfi

I have a pretty straightforward opinion about the whole thing. Basically, everyone wanted to do things in a different manner. For our second album, all of us wanted to do something collectively but on the other hand, no one could find time to jam. Everyone had their own commitments. Getting time together as a band was rare and towards the end we became less of friends and it became more professional, awkward and uncomfortable. EP was like my own child, that's why we named out first album Irtiqa meaning 'evolution'. It was continuously evolving. We, too, as a band, as its members were evolving.

I'm currently part of the band, Call, and we're doing a song for an Indian movie called Aik Challis Ki Last Local. It's a cross between a commercial and art movie and the entire movie has one song (which is ours), called, 'Lari Chutti' ('Lari' being train in Punjabi). I'm singing the song this time around and it's something very different, something definitely not 'Call-ish' – but more on the hip hop side.

I'd still love it if EP got back together as a band but there were too many ideological differences so I wonder how that would work out. To say that I miss it would be an understatement.