You’ve probably heard of Soch, the Lahore-based pop rock band that has been serenading us with their melodious tunes for over a decade. But even if you aren’t familiar with their names or faces, it is still quite likely that you’re familiar with their work. The duo – comprising of vocalist Adnan Dhool and guitarist Rabi Ahmed – have not only been making songs (like the social anthems ‘Bandeya’ and ‘Uth Jawana’) under their own moniker as a pop group, but they have also been producing everything from soundtrack tunes to television commercial jingles.

“We have been creating music as a band for a long time,” Rabi tells Instep, “and the core reason we started music production was to record our own music. We wanted to do it ourselves rather than go to some other producers. That’s how it started. But then we started receiving calls to outsource production for others, like TVC jingles, movie music, and all. And after that we somehow started producing for the drama industry as well.”

It’s their work on drama soundtracks that has given them some of their most notable moments of late. ‘Bol Kaffara Kya Hoga’, which the band composed with Asim Raza, currently has over a 100 million views on YouTube, while the theme songs for dramas like Dil Mom Ka Diya and

Ishq Main Kafir have also been considerably popular.

“We have produced quite a lot of OSTs, like Bol Kafara, Ishq Mein Kafir, Khasara, Thora Sa Haq, Bay Khudi, Deedan, Dil Mom Ka Diya, Dushman-e-Jaan, and Bharaas, among others,” says Rabi. “Making music for dramas is not similar at all to the music we produce for Soch,” Adnan adds. “Soch is actually what we are and it totally reflects our thoughts and experiences put into words and music. The drama soundtrack is a totally different venture. We have to read the whole story of that particular drama and write and make music according to that. We write and compose the songs, although sometimes they provide us with the lyrics.”

Seeing how much work they’ve done for TV dramas, it makes one wonder whether they feel the same level of frustration as some of us potential viewers do about the lack of creativity in our television industry. It’s always the same old woe-fest revolving around family and marriage with a mindboggling reluctance to explore anything different or inventive. How does Soch feel about this? “Actually we don’t watch dramas, honestly speaking,” Adnan answers, “but we have to read the stories before producing an OST, and yes, almost half of them have the same clichéd story. We also want to know why they don’t come up with something new!”

For their part, Soch are coming up with something new. The group is all set to release their song ‘Tera Deewana’. “It is a beautiful love song, with a little touch of modern era music,” reveals Rabi. “The video was beautifully shot and it depicts an amicable love story starring Imran Ashraf and Sadia Khan in the clip.” The ballad is expected to be released later in September. Its lyrics were written by Adnan with additional lyrics by Asim Raza, while the video has been directed by Adnan Kandhar and produced by Bilal Saeed’s One Two Records.

Thanks to their many projects and interests, the duo have remained busy during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “The entertainment business suffered the most cause of Covid,” Rabi says. “We haven’t performed a single gig since Covid hit the world, and we are sure it must have affected the drama industry because outdoor shoots were closed. But music production was fine and we kept working throughout, Alhamdulillah.”

Are they planning to release an album? “Yes we are planning for our album,” responds Rabi, “but after Coke Studio 14.” So … does that mean Soch is a part of CS14? That’s some tea the duo is not ready to spill just yet. “We don’t know anything about the future,” says Adnan. “All we know is that we want to produce quality music for listeners and keep entertaining them till the end.