Photographer: Humayun M.
1. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
[Talha] Psychedelic rock from the 60's, shoegaze, a little bit of prog rock here and there. From the early gazers to the more recent bands, all have had some sort of subconscious involvement. I'd like to consider color and light as influences as well; I think I might have a mild case of synesthesia.
[Danny P] The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Oceansize, Tori Amos, Steven Wilson (all of his work with and without Porcupine Tree) to name a few. A part of me is still quite a metalhead as well so Meshuggah can’t stay out of that list either. As far as the non-musical influences go, it'll have to be a really cluttered list of things ranging from Tim Burton to Gordon Ramsay and Liverpool FC.
2. Why “//orangenoise”? What is the meaning behind the moniker?
[Talha] Yeah, we had to come up with a name for the band in one day, //orangenoise seemed to be it.
[Danny P] Hahaha, it’s the only name that made sense at a time when we needed to name the band, something in a short span of time for our first gig as a band.
Photographer: Humayun M.
3. The band hails from Karachi, Pakistan; how does this filter through your music?
[Talha] Pakistan has been traveling through the course of time undetected when it came to sub-culture, arts and the sorts. Our sounds, I feel, are only the representation of our thoughts and the way we grew up, our surroundings and everything. Does Karachi have a sound? Would that be us? I don’t think so, but our sounds are our own, and we're from Pakistan. The world is slowly dissolving its cultural borders and we are a product of these times.
[Danny P] To be honest, I'm really not sure how it would filter through the music, so I'd suppose it would have its references embedded in the music somewhere, somewhere where it's totally natural for us to perhaps not notice it? Everyone has got their own sound, //orangenoise is a mixed bowl of sorts that way.
4. This question is for a good friend of mine, who cannot stop listening to “Veradicine.” I think her neighbors know the song by heart by now! What is the story behind this song?
[Talha] Hahaha, poor neighbors! “Veradicinem” you can say, is about submission, to music. And how submissive listening can prove transcendental.
Photographer: Humayun M.
5. You have described the "//veracious" EP as a stepping-stone to your album. How so a "stepping-stone"? What are the future plans for an album, and will it continue to investigate shoegaze?
[Talha] This EP [“//veracious”] was like drawing the outlines for the stuff that’s to come. Breaking this sort of music in Pakistan requires a slow feed to the listeners, to not completely alienate them. All our wild thoughts and ideas were shaped in and now they've given us a general sense of direction in which we're headed. I don’t know if we'll solely pursue shoegaze, but I can assure you that we're not letting go of it! We try not to limit ourselves to a movement for our specific sound, but there is some sort of fluid containment that keeps us well gelled together.
[Danny P] Most definitely, there’s an entire world of sound out there. If anything “//veracious” may have taken a few listens for some people here in Pakistan itself to digest and understand. I guess one could say “//veracious” is the “//orangenoise-101” of what’s to come.
Keep up with //orangenoise at their Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp [where you can preview and download the “//veracious” EP], and Soundcloud.
(Also, if you wish to see more of photographer’s Humayun M’s work, please head over to Flickr.)
Here are two clips of live performances – “Veradicine” and “On the Run” – from the talhavai YouTube Channel.
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