Adamant, a band only formed at the end of 2009, has covered a lot of grounds within the two years they have been in the underground music scene of Bangladesh. With electrifying concert performances and their talents they have won hearts in each concert they performed, their impact on the listeners reflected on their poll position on Youthsparks’ ‘Vote for the best Young Band of the Moment’. With 240 votes, they were amongst the top 4 bands selected by the underground music listeners of Bangladesh, as a consequence of their poll position, they have been selected as our featured band of the month.
As a part of the featuring program, we interviewed Yeman Ahmed, the guitarist of Adamant. Here is the interview in text below:
1. When was the band formed? Who were the founding members and how was it formed?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, the band was formed by the end of 2009. One day, me and my friends were performing at a show in Dhaka Regency, the show went kind of okay so it was then when we decided that we should form a band. Then we went on jamming, performing and things like that. That’s how it all started. The band was formed by me, Nayeem(Guitars) and Omi(Bass Guitars)
2. How did you end up with the current line-up?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, since the beginning, we had two changes of drummers, currently our drummer is Zakir. Nayeem had to leave for some personal reasons as well, he was replaced by Rafez Gulzar. Our initial vocalist was Shabab Rahman, who upon leaving the band was replaced by Murtaza, out current vocalist. Me and Omi are the only two members left from the origins.
3. There’s a story behind naming every band. What’s Adamant’s Story?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, the band initially had a different name, it was called ‘Forsaken’ back then. The name ‘Forsaken’ was given by our previous vocalist, who left the band and we met our current vocalist Murtaza. We thought of changing the band’s name because since most of our original members(The vocalist and the drummer) left the band, we thought of changing everything and making a fresh start. So, we were all thinking of different names and Nayeem, our previous guitarist, suggested the name ‘Adamant’, he said that its like an unbreakable rock. So, the others liked it and we kept that name.
4. Musicians/Bands that are Adamant’s Influences?
Yeman (Adamant): Our primary influence is Iron Maiden, we also follow Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd, Azam Khan, Metallica has a little influence on us too. Symphony X, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Judas Priest and a few others.
5. The band was formed back in the end of 2008, now its the end of 2011, so its been almost three years. You performed in a lot of shows and you do have a very good fan base, why is it that the band has not released any singles as of yet?
Yeman( Adamant): Well, that’s because we had to give a lot of breaks because of education and other issues. We had to give a big break when Nayeem left the band, we were waiting for him to rejoin us, later he couldn’t, we had to give a break for almost 5 months. But right now, we are active again, we are jamming, working on singles, so we are active now.
6. As a band, what are your achievements?
Yeman (Adamant): As of achievements are concerned, we did perform in a few very good shows/concerts like Rock The Stage 2. We were amongst the top 4 in youthsparks’ poll. Personally, I have had a big achievement in recent times, I was chosen as one of the top 10 guitarists who were selected for auditions in Guitarfest ’11. We did a few shows with Shunno, Labib, the drummer of the band was always a helping hand to Adamant and he gave us a lot of opportunities to perform with mainstream and top-rated bands. We don’t have many achievements as of yet, but we are working on it.
7. Adamant did a lot of shows/concerts, which would you describe was Adamant’s best concert?
Yeman (Adamant): Rock The Stage 2, this concert took place on the 22nd of January 2010 in Fu-Wang Bowling Club and was organized by UCHCHASH. There we got to perform alongside a great line-up of bands, amongst them there were ARTCELL, BLACK, ARBOVIRUS, NEMESIS, SHUNNO, POWERSURGE, BOHEMIAN. I would also like to add that, we did a concert with James in Ahsanullah Civil Festival 2010, that was a very big achievement too, like playing in front of 3-4 thousand people, and sharing the stage with James, thats a very big achievement.
8. So, currently what is the band working on?
Yeman (Adamant): Currently we are working on the compositions and recordings for two tracks, one of the tracks will be going into a mixed album. We are also hoping that we will be able to place the other track in a mixed album as well.
9. Well, you are an underground band, underground bands do face a lot of problems because the underground scene is pretty ‘messed up’, would you mention the two things that you think are the biggest problems in the scene right now?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, one of the problems basically is that there are people who plays the guitar for 1 or 2 days, then forms a band and basically buys their way into concerts. I mean, they don’t practice very much, its kind of like buying the first guitar from a shop one day and getting into a concert the next day. So, the problem is that the quality of their music is not very worthy when compared to other underground bands.
Another problem is that most organizers are not professional at all, for a few organizers, its all about money. I had a personal experience with an organizer, who told me that I have to buy a few tickets from them to get my band into the line-up of a concert. And the worst part is, the slots that they make up during concerts is very messed up, suppose they put in a very newly formed band ahead of a senior band. That is very depressing in fact.
But, there are a few very good hearted organizers, who don’t do it for the money, they bring out the talents and put them into concerts. I would like to mention the name of Rafatul Bari Labib, who helped us a lot in our journey in the music scene. He believed in us, and so far, I dont think we have not let him down.
10. Future Plans? In a span of 5 years where would you like to see ‘Adamant’?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, we would want more people to know about us and get to a respectable in the industry. But, right now, we are not planning for any solo albums, because right now we are all under pressures of education, but yeah, we do dream for a solo album, hopefully that will happen in 5 years.
11. Any message for all your fans out there?
Yeman (Adamant): Well, I can’t thank them enough, I don’t know how to show our gratitude to them. But on behalf of Adamant, I would just like to say that thanks for supporting us throughout our good times and hard times, we all love you.
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