A promising band good for a rocking good time, with a little more practice and less reliance on Pearl Jam songs, Corduroy may well be on its way.

By Mohammad A Qayyum

It is said that Moby, more formally Mubashir S. Noor, has an attitude problem. It could actually be cockiness and isn't necessarily a problem. Yet, it was with mild amusement that I looked on while Moby accosted a friend of mine after his Civil Junction, Islamabad show with the now classic introductory lines "Hi, nice to meet you. No hard feelings right?" Apparently, Moby and his band Corduroy (not to be confused with Adil Salik's Lahore based Dyed Corduroy) had previously had a run-in with this friend of mine who is a DJ at FM 101 in Islamabad and had stormed out of a Battle of the Bands organized by the same when Moby and his band were asked to play Urdu songs.

Performing At CJ

Walking out on FM 101 notwithstanding, it seems Moby's cockiness keeps him in good stead at times as a writer of interesting outspoken music articles (it gives an edge to 'Moby's Rantings' on Muziq.net), and at others apparently as a hyperqualified (double masters) PR consultant to IT firms. Reading his articles made me curious about Corduroy and Moby in performance: I wondered how he would fare. I was aware of his music as he had previously sent me a copy of his band's eponymously titled CD (rather good, if a tad too derivative of Pearl Jam). More than all of this I was most curious because it is not often that outspoken critics (read frustrated musicians) have a go at living up the dream of most music critics i.e. to play live music themselves.

So, on a recent Saturday while in Islamabad I went looking for Corduroy in performance. It was with some difficulty that I managed to find Civil Junction hidden away off of Jinnah Super. Moby had said the show would start at 9, but when I arrived at five to nine, I was surprised to hear music already playing. Apparently, as Moby explained later, the crowd had gotten there early and had been getting restless. So the band had started early.

This was a new one, a concert starting before time. But that pretty aptly describes, as I was soon to find out, the band's ethic: Give the audience what they came for. The set list while it had some originals (Leeway was the best) was clearly loaded down with a number of crowd-pleasing numbers (a lot of Pearl Jam, a lot of Stone Temple Pilots, some REM, Def Leppard and some surprises too).

The first song of such crowd pleasers, Stone Temple Pilot's 'Interstate Love Song', was already being played as I hurried up the stairs snaking up to the small concert space at the top of the restaurant. The room was packed and one had to jockey for a place at the back of the room. The band from the outset was in fine form and the song being played had a nice momentum to it.

The band was interesting to say the least: it comprised of five members: Ameel on the Congas, Sarmad on lead guitar, Mazhar on rhythm, Ahmad on bass and Moby on vocals. Mazhar and Sarmad on extreme stage right and left concentratedly played guitars, while Ahmad and Moby were stage centre. Yet towering above them a goateed, burly Ameel back stage centre was a site to behold with wristbands on and menacingly playing congas. The band's setup was in fact extremely effective with undistorted electric guitars and congas and the music managed to come through quite nicely. Their performance made compelling viewing and their confidence is quite impressive. While they were certainly not tight, they were definitely together and more than most they appeared to be a band that deserves to be up on stage.

Moby was chiefly the centre of attention and took a good crack at leading the band. He has great presence, a good sense of humour on stage and can really bellow out tunes well in a Liam Gallagher sort of a way (even though he apes Eddie Vedder to a note). He has all the moves and indeed the growl down pat. However, in performance on the day he had really bad microphone technique: he rarely sang into the microphone. Most of the time one heard his voice off mic and only rarely did his voice wander out through the mic. His performance suffered because of it. Part of the inability to hear him may well have been due to the bad acoustics of the room or the modest sound-rig of the band. Yet, with a house-shattering performance of Roadhouse Blues at the end of the show, Moby made up for all the negatives.

Performing at CJ

At the end of the day, in the songs they played, all that mattered was the energy they put in. And the band did put in loads and the audience feeding off it appreciated it tons. Def Leppards' 'Two Steps Behind' for all its cheesy pop-metal connotations had everyone singing along in unison, if not in key. One of the highlights of the evening was when the band that wouldn't play Urdu songs threw everyone a curveball with their choice of song, a rearrangement of String's 'Anjaanai'. Once more sing-alongs were an order of the day, and the pleasant surprise choice of song was indeed refreshing. The Band had the audience in the palm of their hand, with all of the audience singing 'Huaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Anjanay Kyoon' for each of choruses.

The heavier guitar numbers really showed Sarmad, the lead guitarist in a good light. He quite clearly has a following and the audience. But the audience response was at times somewhat grating. A quick bit of tapping seems to bring the goateed scenesters to their feet while the more lyrical and excellent solos by Sarmad were less appreciated by the audience.

Initially actually I found the trendy audience a little off-putting like most things Islamabad. Yet after the ones less interested in music wandered out, the audience really seemed to let their collective hair down and enjoy. It made the experience all the better for it. It was also nice to see a significant female presence as well, something that is often sadly lacking at rock concerts in Lahore.

Overall, as we neared the end of the evening I felt the band definitely has potential. With a little more practice and less reliance on Pearl Jam songs and affectations, they may well be great. But the key thing at the end of the day was that the performance was fun. Everyone clapped, everyone had fun and that is all that mattered.

The night ended with a rendition of 'Last Kiss' by Pearl Jam on popular request. The audience sang it mostly for the band and the band was left smiling and sweat drenched. Moby checked out with the comment "See you next week. Same time, same place. That is unless they chuck us out of here. Or we make it big and head to play at Wembley." Little chance of either actually on the evidence of the night. For now, Corduroy remain a promising band with potential and good for a rocking good time.

(You can catch Corduroy Live every Saturday at Civil Junction F-7 behind Hotspot in Islamabad at 8:30 pm. Their debut CD is also available for purchase and their music can also be found on the net.)

Album
Your Song
Leeway
Aas
Goddamned
Dystemper
Blue Chip
Ground Zero
End
Wide Awake
You're Everywhere
Prologue