BAND FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
Last Updated: 27.05.04
Hello and welcome to the band FAQ (Frequenly Asked Questions). There are some questions we get asked often enough for us to have standard answers for them. This FAQ below lists those questions and answers them for you. So, before you open up your e-mail client and send your question to us at bandfaq@corduroyonline.com, check to see it hasn't already been answered here, or on the band members' individual bio pages (links on the right). If you want to say/ask something about the website, check out the site FAQ here. Thanks.
Q) Why do you call yourselves Corduroy?
A) That's a long story. Well, not really. The band was last called Rust -- a name which didn't quite fit our image. Everyone came up with new names for the band, but there wasn't one name we could all agree on. Meanwhile, we went to play a gig. When one of the organizers asked what our band was called, Moby (for no particular reason) said "Corduroy". [No, no one was wearing corduroy at the time, and no, Pearl Jam's "Corduroy" was not stuck in his head, either]. Since everyone disliked it least (compared to all the other names we'd thought up!), we decided to keep it. We also liked the idea behind the name: the rough, textured feel of the fabric reflected, in many ways, the diversity and variation in moods of our music.
Q) So then what's Dye Corduroy?
A) *Sigh*...Dye Corduroy is a band based in Lahore. Their website is here.
Q) Why "The Morning After"?
A) Moby, who came up with the name, hasn't answered this question, yet. As soon as he does, we'll put it up here!
Q) Who mixes your sound; live and on record?
A) We do. Generally, that means Sarmad does most of the hard work, but we all pitch in here and there. We are individually responsible for the sounds of our own instruments (live and on record), but we're always open to suggestion from others. Ultimately, though, Sarmad determines what sounds good and what doesn't.
On record, once we've got our individual settings right, we sit together in the studio to mix the sound. We tweak away till it sounds good, then we master the mix. Once we're happy with what we have, we test it on various speakers (car speakers, earphones, crappy decks, etc.), then we leave it for a few days. We come back to it a little later (when our ears are fresher), and if it still sounds good, we pronounce it finalized and move on to the next song!
When we play a small live set (in CJ, for example), we mix our own sound. That means, we set up the speakers in an optimum position (something we learnt though theory and lots of practice!), then we adjust volumes till everything sounds good. This is sometimes the hardest thing to do, by the way. You have to account for songs that get louder and harder; songs that require different settings; and musicians who decide, halfway through a song, to let 'er rip! Oh, and you have to account for fifty people sitting and standing in the room, too!
When we play a large live set, the sound people (whom we regularly hire, see the Contact page for detail) do most of the preliminary mixing: adjusting relative volumes, adjusting individual instrument tones, etc.. They've been with us for a while, so they know how we like our sound. We still have to do our own tweaking, but that you have to do every time, anyway. When the hall fills up, they adjust the sound accordingly (since, in case you didn't know, the acoustics of an empty hall are different from that of a full one).
Q) Where did you record your album?
A) At our very own Shock Studios. See the Contact page for details.
Q) When is your video coming out?
A) Soon! We're talking to a video director these days. If things go well, you should see it on the cable channels sometime towards the beginning of July.
Q) Are you going to re-record your old songs, the ones available on the 'net?
A) Maybe, maybe not. Meaning: we don't know! Some songs have a way of coming back into regular playing (like Clear or Flawless), while some songs go further and make it into the album (like Your Song and End), while others fade out (like...well, there are quite a few!). We've released three underground albums already. Depending on how we feel, some of the songs in those albums might make into future above-ground ones. Honestly, we don't know!
Q) How do you guys make new music?
A) Ah, good question. Hard question. Long question. We're actually making new music all the time: playing random riffs here and there, singing random melodies, making up drum beats.... Every now and again, though, that random bit of music gets played during a jam and things start coming together. Slowly (or quickly, depending) a preliminary song structure is figured out, lyrics are sung (or written, or adapted) to the music, and a logical progression of melodies is formed. If we like it, we keep playing it, refining it as we go along. Sarmad and Moby do most of the basic groundwork -- making the basic melody, creating the song structure, and determining the feel of the song -- at which point Moby comes up with lyrics for the song (sometimes out of thin air!). Later, we play it together, each musician adding their part as we go along. Here it gets very organic: we change and adapt to whatever others are trying, and eventually, a complete song is born.
Some songs never stop growing, by the way. Take Leeway, for example. That song has gone through countless revisions (most developed while playing live), a few major evolutionary steps, and a myriad of minor adjustments. We think its pretty complete now, but we're pretty sure it'll keep changing as the years go by! :)
Q) What do the lyrics of song xyz mean?
A) Check Moby's individual bio page for answers to your question.
Q) Why haven't you included "Hit 'em Hard" and "Seashores" in the album?
A) Mainly because we have ELEVEN songs on our album, already! We wanted to put them in (and a few others), but had to leave some out for future albums and singles. The older versions are available on the singles page in the discography section, though.
Q) How do you play a song recorded for the album live? Do you have to change it much?
A) Some songs we play exactly like we do on the album, but some we like to, or have to, change. Leeway is played exactly like it is on record, for example. Prologue, meanwhile, can't be played without strings (oboe *and* piano), so we play a slower version of it using the congas, instead. [Which is actually how it evolved into the record version, by the way]. Often we change songs live because we want to. Sometimes it's because we're bored of playing the same thing over and over again (Leeway being a prime example!), sometimes it's because we want to try something new. That's how our songs evolve over time.
Q) Why do you sing (mostly) in English?!
A) Because it is our (importantly, Moby's) prefered language of communication. We speak in English most of the time and we listen (mostly) to English music. It is only natural that we sing in it, too.
Q) Do you use other peoples' lyrics?
A) Nopes, Moby writes all of our lyrics.
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