Dusk

Metal has no boarders. Here an interview with Babar Sheikh, leader of Dusk Pakistan Metal masters since the year 1994!

-First of all, how did you discover Metal music in a Country like Pakistan?

Hello. So this was the early nineties and I guess in addition to the spill over from the eighties in terms of heavy or hard music there were also records from some really extreme acts from Europe and the then newly formed capital of death metal, Florida. For me it has always been Black Sabbath and who defined the dark sounds and Tony Iommi has been my prime influence but in the early nineties when I first heard Death, Morbid Angel and others, things really changed for me. This was around the same time that myself and some other metal heads, were scavenging through old paper markets of Karachi to find back issues of metal magazines. So, you can say it was the collective impression of extreme metal that was embraced.

-What was the 1^st band you’ve heard and was there already a sort of Metal community over there back then in the nineties, or maybe even eighties?

Black Sabbath was the first band I had heard which really turned me on to the world of heavy music. In the 80’s I used to visit record stores but that was a time when glam rock was big and there was nothing extreme about that image or style so I never really got into that. I remember listening to ‘It’s So Easy’ by Guns ‘N’ Roses earlier when it came out on the Appetite record and thinking that bass intro was super heavy. Back in the 80’s there was only a handful of bands playing in the hard rock genre here in Pakistan. Karachi which is the biggest city of our country comparatively didn’t really have an active cultural scene but still some bands were pushing those limits, raising the banner of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

-Are there gigs in your Country of bands from Western Countries, like from Europe and/or from the USA? And is there a sort of local scene with local bands? Are there some bands you can recommend to me and my readers?

Not really, we didn’t have many artists from abroad who would come to Pakistan so that exposure was missing. In the late eighties it was a fast-changing time for Pakistan – democracy was making its return and boundaries were being pushed. Some of the earlier bands that playing in the hard and heavy vein were ‘The Final Cut’, ‘The Barbarians’, ‘Breaking Curfews’ and later on ‘Overdrive’. With the exception of overdrive these were far away from being labelled metal but their style resonated with a lot of hard rock and proto metal from the west. Pakistan sadly never developed a full-blown metal underground since that time, several reasons for that and it could be a long story. Dusk was the first band which followed the route of releasing demos, photocopied cover tapes, zines, publications and tape trading through the 90’s which eventually led us to release our debut record with a (now defunct) label from Europe. Over the years unfortunately only a handful of bands from Pakistan made any mark in the international underground scene. I could recommend some bands like Dionysus which is fairly recent and sadly now defunct. Their album ‘Hymn to the Dying’ was a solid slab of death / doom metal. Reckoning Storm (progressive metal), Takatak (modern progressive metal) and Azab (death metal).

-What were the bands main influences? And what can you tell me about the lyrical content of your songs?

In addition to being influenced by the slow grinding sounds of doom, I have first and foremost like most metalheads been into early Vemon, Bathory and Celtic Frost! I still feel the foundations of nearly all memorable music in the extreme scene was laid out in the 80’s and 90’s. Everything else pretty much becomes a rework of the blueprint, with the exception of the Norwegian Black Metal approach to music of course. For me artists like Killing Joke, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, Einstürzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, The Band have all been equally impressionable and over the years along with a volume of world and eastern folk music, I carry all these influences to the Dusk song writing. The lyrical content for Dusk has always been based on abstract concepts and interpretations of live related events. At a young age I was influenced by writings of Pablo Neruda and learnt how to use the metaphor as part of my writings. I think it’s been a natural evolution but predominantly the same.

-How and when did you started Dusk and was there ever any feedback from the west?

I started Dusk because I wanted to play in a band and I was really bad at copying other people’s tunes, I still can’t play cover songs. Experiencing death and black metal music in the early 90’s was something that changed my life and it felt right to have a band where I can express my own tunes and write my own lyrics. Dusk started with the name Carcinogenic and with some help from local musicians I recorded my first demo in the year 1994. I was very lucky to be in touch with friends from the Singaporean metal scene which was quickly developing at the time. I was connected through writing letters and exchanging tapes. It was within the next few months and with help of some flyers that I was contacting fanzines, radio shows and bands from all over the place. I think the first impressions of people form the west were of surprise having known a band from Pakistan out of all the places. We got some memorable reviews to our demos and then our promo tape in 1996 and eventually it was through word in the underground that we got our first record deal with a record label from Portugal! Our debut album My Infinite Nature Alone was released in 1999.

-How many albums have you released and why have you changed style several times?

Dusk has released three full length albums and several Eps and split records over the years. Since I have mostly navigated Dusk through the creative process in these past two decades I always let the song writing process go through the same creative metamorphosis that I was experiencing myself. I think in terms of styles we have almost always been a little different from your average doom death band since we have been open to musical styles / genres etc, I always appreciated band such as Bethlehem, Cynic, Pestilence, Believer, Ulver and Sigh who were not afraid to push boundaries. Over the years and between the first two records our experimentation grew bolder and eventually we put out an album Contrary Beliefs 2005 which had no metal sounds and no guitars, I think that was a bit of a shocker for many people. Another gear shift was around 2010 when we played a mix of bestial thrash and death on one of our releases. Since 2012 with the release of ‘Through Corridors of Dead Centuries’ split Ep with Dying Embrace (India) we have celebrated our return to our roots in Doom Death Metal!

-How many gigs have you played as a band and have you ever gigged abroad?

Dusk has always been more centred around being a studio band. This is mainly because of the unfortunate fact that I never found like-minded musicians. We have played some gigs in our early days but eventually when we started to write for our first full length the song writing became complex and as a result our pool of live musicians diminished. We have always struggled to maintain a live line-up especially in the drum department here in Pakistan. In 2004 we embarked on a tour that included dates in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. That has been the only time we played in Europe. In recent times we had several opportunities to play at Asian metal gatherings but one thing or the other prevents us from doing so. Our Asian fan base is precious to us and we definitely want to go out there and play more live shows!

-Top 3 Metal Albums of all time!

The Obsessed – The Church Within

Manilla Road – Open the Gates

Bethlehem – Dictius Te Necare

-What can we expect from the band in the near future?

Black Moon Tapes – Lost Recordings 2010 is released by LA Riot Survivor Records on the 1^st of October 2020. This is a special treat for us since these recordings are a literal blast from the past and something we had forgotten about. Since the end of 2019 Tremor (drums) and myself commenced work on our new full-length album which has taken its own sweet time because of our remote locations and of course the pandemic which slowed everything down. We are very excited for our forthcoming full-length album and hope to release it in early 2021 through Cyclopean Eye Productions. This record also features American progressive metal mastermind and ex Pestilence guitar player, Santiago Dobles. Do keep an ear out for the Ep and the full length!

More Power to You!

-Patchman Marco