The front-man of neo-progressive music group Karakoram, who has played a significant role in Nescafe Basement and Pepsi Battle of the Bands, talks to Instep about the many roles he plays and whether he will continue to do the same in the future.
Shehreyar Khattak, better known as Sherry Khattak in music circles and beyond, is the front-man, songwriter and lead guitarist for neo-progressive music group Karakoram that also features Bilawal Lahooti (drums), Zain Peerzada (guitars) and Umair Farooq (bass). This four-man show dropped its first single, ‘Toofan’ in 2018 and had pure neo-prog-rock fans delighted that a new band that knew what it’s doing has come along. But it took two years before Karakoram dropped its second single, ‘Raasta’ with a performance-based music video. It’s a melancholic, neo-prog track that shows the versatility Karakoram possess.
Karakoram took a backseat though as various members of the band including front-man and singer Sherry Khattak spent the last few years doing session playing for other prominent artists.
Khattak, involved with Nescafe Basement since season 3, did a lot more than just play the guitar on the series and was involved in music production as well. The same can be said about his role in Pepsi Battle of the Bands where besides playing guitars on Meesha Shafi songs, he also helped create original tracks. With Fawad Khan, while he didn’t have a role in the world-music act that tanked or EP, he did have a strong role in ‘Uth Jaag’ but with both artists, Khattak downplays his contributions. He did play sessions with Meesha Shafi and I saw him guide the band at Super Salt 2019 gig, like a champion as the monitors before the musicians didn’t throw out the right sound.
This is where our story begins….
“It’s always wonderful and makes you feel blessed to be working with people you idolize,” begins Khattak. “I remember buying my first cassette and it was Irtiqa so for me EP played a vital role in shaping me. In fact, sitting in the same room as Xulfi and Fawad and working something out – it felt like maybe this is how EP used to compose songs in their heyday. And these two guys were leading the band so obviously it’s been great. Fawad’s energy while rehearsing, he’s a completely different person; he has that notion that he should be doing something like playing an instrument so it is an unlike Fawad Khan experience. But, it was great and it’s always an honour to work with a star like Fawad Khan.”
Having worked with Meesha Shafi for a lot longer, notes Khattak, “It was a great honour to work with an icon like Meesha; with Meesha I played a more extensive role. In Meesha’s case, it comes out naturally. We’d rehearse in the morning and the way I work, I start off with something on a guitar and then it turns into a song or main melody. I don’t know if it’s a blessing or what but I can make a hook on the guitar easily. I’m very sentimental about the guitar while composing on the guitar.”
Khattak continues: “I would start with a riff and she’d stop me there and say ‘this is it’ and Meesha has done such a great job with it (with respect to ‘Mein’) that as I’ve said before, working with these guys (Xulfi, Fawad, Meesha) – who wouldn’t want to work with them?”
And yet, Sherry Khattak is saying goodbye to all this for his own band, Karakoram as are the other band members. Khattak explains: “The time period between their debut single, ‘Toofan’ and the 2020 single, ‘Raasta’, is significant because all members of the band play music for a living. I play session with a lot of mainstream artists; it has always been a challenge that we fail to give time to our own music due to session commitments and you have to pay the bills.”
As Khattak reiterates, “Right after ‘Toofan’, we couldn’t get gigs and for a new band it is hard to get concerts.”
What now?
“We’re all very focused on Karakoram,” says Khattak, adding, “I’ve left all the sessions. It’s a risk but I think taking risks is necessary if you believe in yourself.”
The process of Karakoram, notes Khattak, and the way they approach the music is an odd process. “We don’t start off by thinking we have to write about a particular subject or sound a certain way. We just rehearse and jam and whatever comes out and where we feel this could be turned into a song, we do it. Obviously, everyone has a diverse-listening taste and that mix is a lot of fun.”
“For me,” says Khattak, “as an inspiration, since we are tech-savvy, we keep researching guitar tones and peddles and amps and what not. These things inspire me to write new music and it’s a process that enables us to write songs.”
Not one to take credit, Khattak notes that he may start as a songwriter and pen ideas, but ultimately they do it as a team, from a word to a line to ideas from the entire squad. “Whatever I write, I bring it up and we pool in ideas. I start the basic idea and it goes from there.”
Karakoram played at Lahore Music Meet (LMM) 2020 and Koblumpi’s Islamabad chapter. What was the response to new songs? “We played unreleased material as well and we were shocked because if the audience picks up the chorus and starts singing, it hits you. It was a goose bumps situation. We never think if it’s 5 people or 5000.
We gave it our all. We perform with our hearts. You have to give your own music full time. You can’t divide it so it’s a risk and we understand the consequences. Had you asked me a year before, I might have said sessions have to be done. But now, people are responding; they want good music of this sort, we get so many messages and DMs that they are waiting for our music and we think if we sacrifice a little, which is needed, I think better times are ahead.”
