Odyssey

Interview with Hussam Raza

Hassan Umer of The Iron Markhor conducted an online interview with Hussam Raza (Orion, Odyssey) in September 2008. Mr. Raza told us the story behind Orion, the recording process behind the band's full length debut 'Angel of Dust' and also some other things you'd find interesting. So, read it all now on Archaic Metallurgy!

Hassan Umer: So, Hussam, how long have So, you been playing the guitar and what made you pick it up?

Hussam Raza: I've been playing for about 3 years now. The second I heard the main riff from 'Master of Puppets' was when I knew I just had to play guitar.

HU: What's the story behind Orion? No one knows much about the band. Who formed it, etc. Tell us the whole story.

HR: Well, it's a long story lol.

The band was formed by myself and Bilal Nadeem (drums). It was just us two in the beginning as Waqas was busy with Kain and I didn't know if he'd be interested in joining. And we had no vocalist either, till Bilal joined another school for his A levels and got introduced to Ameer Hamza (vocals).

One day, myself and Bilal were jamming in his basement and I came up with the intro riff to 'Cold'. I remember that was the first thing we actually played in time with each other, lol. We even video taped it haha. I had plenty of other riffs lying around, so we would work on a new one every day. One riff every day, getting the drums perfect for that one part. And eventually most of 'Cold' was written. One day Waqas came to our jam and after listening to us play, was so impressed with the song that he grabbed his guitar and asked me to show him how to play it. Then we got wind of a gig that was supposed to take place in a few days (it never did btw :P), and it was at that point that Waqas and Ameer started jamming with us regularly, and we became a band. I don't ever remember making a formal request to them to join or anything, the chemistry was so good and we worked so well together that everything sort of flowed from there. That's what happened, in a nutshell :P

HU: So, when did Orion start recording? I heard that you guys made a 3 track demo before releasing 'Angel of Dust', tell me about how you recorded that demo and what difficulties you faced when recording it.

HR: We started recording in, hmm... It was in the summer of 2006. We didn't really do a demo of 3 songs, we recorded two or three songs and put them up for download. Then we discovered a way to make the recordings sound much better, so we re-recorded those three songs again for the album.

We faced a lot of difficulties. None of us had any experience in recording or anything, so we had to learn as we went along. The most difficult thing was probably to get a good vocal tone in the album. In the demos that I talked about earlier, the vocals were either too spacey or too dry. I think in the end we got a pretty good result though and the hours of tweaking paid off.

HU: Yeah, the hours working on 'Angel of Dust' really paid off. I had dial up internet when it was released online and I spent the WHOLE NIGHT downloading the album from the website! It paid off, because the album was fucking sweet! I mean, it had variety that was unheard of in Pakistani metal. You had blistering thrash songs like 'In the Mouth of Madness' and 'Aushwitz' and at the same time had songs like grungy songs like 'Epitaph' and 'Kaleidescope of Lies'. You guys even had a concept song in the form of 'The Final Sign', which is best described as ten minutes of pure bliss! Also, according to Orion's website, you've got over 3000 hits from different IPs.
And I think it's safe to assume that most of them must have downloaded the album which means at least a thousand people must have listened to 'Angel of Dust', how does that make you feel?

HR: That makes me feel really good. We put the album up on a torrent and it was downloaded more than a thousand times from there as well. Even now you'll find quite a few torrents of it online if you search on google for it. It's a good feeling knowing so many people have heard your music. The torrent forum it was posted on had many positive comments on the music as well.

HU: Does the fact that thousands of people listened to your music make you think of selling your music instead of giving it for free? Or are you one of those people who are against making profit from metal?

HR: I'm not against making money through your music. But it was never the priority in our case. We just wanted, and still want to have our music heard by people and to get some recognition. If money comes along then great, if not then no problem.

I always believed, especially in Pakistan where the population are not as open minded and diverse in their choice of music, that once you start making music for the sole purpose of making money, it will end up influencing the music you make in the end. You will conciously, or sub-conciously start making music that you think other people will listen to. And that will sacrifice your musical integrity, especially in our case and considering the type of music we make.

HU: I agree one hundred percent man, one's musical integrity must always stay intact. Anyways, did Orion do any interesting gigs after the release of 'Angel of Dust'? How was the Awakening Tour by the way? A lot of other good bands played in the Awakening Tour too.

HR: We did four gigs in total. They were all pretty good. Unfortunately I wasn't there at the Awakening gig because i had an exam the next day and couldn't make it. The other guys told me it was a small crowd but they had fun.

HU: Speaking of small crowds, do you think that in the future Pakistani metal can attract slightly bigger crowds? A lot of people go out of their way to promote the Paki metal bands they're into, but when asked to come to a gig they suddenly hesitate, even if the gig has no entrance fee and the guys asked to attend the gig have no better plans. Why do you think people are reluctant to come to gigs? The people who do come have a good time, the 'Communal Grave' vids on youtube are proof of that, but a slightly bigger crowd, maybe just 10 more people, would really make the gig a lot more lively, don't you think?

HR: Yeah we really need people to support the gigs by coming to them. Unfortunately the gigs, at least in Lahore, have really dried up lately. That's got something to do with the political situation in the country as well, but people really need to come support the bands they like. It's hard to arrange a totally free gig because the money in renting the venue and the sound is more than many bands can afford, therefore people need to realize that if they want bands to organize gigs themselves, they need to pay the minimum fee so bands at least come close to breaking even when they organize gigs. This is one of the major factors why bands like us don't go and organize our own gigs when there are no festivals or sponsored gigs happening in town.

HU: Do you think it would help the scene if some national metal festivals started?

HR: In a way, yes, it would definetely help. Some years back we used to have a rockfest in Lahore once or twice a year. Even though there were some pretty substandard bands playing, there were some good ones as well. But there hasn't been a properly organized rockfest in a while now.

HU: So, tell us about Odyssey. Is it a side project of yours or do you hold it in the same importance as Orion? Tell us the story of the band, like how you told us about Orion. And why did you decide to form Odyssey anyway? Did you want to pursue a different sound with Odyssey?

HR: Odyssey came about in the wake of Orion. Bilal (drummer) and Ameer (vocalist) from Orion left for Canada to continue their studies. Myself and Waqas were left, and we still wanted to create more music. So we formed Odyssey with Omer (drums) who is a good friend of Bilal's. After trying out a vocalist who didn't quite fit, we were introduced to Nabeel who was a good friend of Ameer's. The great thing was, he played keyboards as well, so we got a very good vocalist who loved the same bands as us and who played keyboards very well too. We had already recorded the instruments for 'Falling into Infinity' before he came and sung on it. It turned out quite well and we are well on our way to making our first album.

It will sound different to Orion, but it will be recognizable to fans of Orion as well.

Odyssey to me holds the same importance as Orion did. All of us are friends and get along well plus we also connect on a musical level so it's a pretty good combination, much like Orion was.

With Odyssey, we're interested in pursuing a more progressive direction as compared to Orion.

HU: What is "progressive" to you? Many people have different views on the word progressive, but whats your take on it?

HR: Interesting question. Progressive music to me, is something a little different from the norm. It's more technical and often more creative (odd time signatures etc). It's a little difficult to explain this, but the feel of the music is just different, if you know what I mean.

HU: That's an interesting explanation, one that I completely agree with it. So, moving back to Odyssey, what are your future plans with Odyssey? Do you guys intend to record an album?

HR: Yes, we're already working on an album. Two songs have been recorded, and we've got a lot of interesting ideas for the rest of the songs. Hopefully we'll be done with recording the album by the first half of 2009.

HU: Do you feel under any pressure at all after the success of Orion's 'Angel of Dust'?

HR: Pressure? LOL no, none at all. I'm having the time of my life, playing the music I love. Playing music takes away all the pressure of the other things in life. I just met Nabeel (vocals and keyboards) a few minutes back and we came up with this REALLY cool, ridiculously progressive section that I think is going to be sound awesome when it's recorded. It made me completely forget about the crappy day I had.

HU: Do you have anything else you'd like to say before we finish this interview?

HR: I just want to tell people to spread our music to as many people as they can, and to open their minds to music that is different to what has been force fed to them by our media.

HU: Thank you Hussam for taking the time to answer my questions, and good luck with Odyssey's upcoming album!

12/02/2008 20:31