MinUs+2, a band that only started jamming in mid 2009 and first performed to a crowd in the late 2009 has certainly come a long way in only two years time, since the time they first performed in a concert in October 2009, MinUs+2 has been making their mark, specially amongst the youth, a band which shouts out the statement ‘Success has nothing to do with age, but has a lot to do with talent’ . They were voted as the 1st runner-up of ‘Vote For The best Young Band Of The Moment’ organized by us, and are our featured band for the month of July.
Recently we talked to Mr.Bishoo Gold(the guitarist/founder member/manager of MinUs+2), about a lot of things concerning to the band MinUs+2, below we have put a part of the conversation for our readers all around the world to get to know this very young, very talented, very promising band better:
*When did you guys start? When was MinUs+2 formed? (Month & Year)
Good thing the question states when we started and when MinUs+2 were formed. Well basically we started jamming in July 2009 but MinUs+2 were formed when we started taking it seriously which was October 2009. And we got in the underground scene properly would be March 2010.
*How did you guys find each other? How did the band come together? How did it all start?
Well if you must know, me (Mr.GOLD) and WildChild Tazz are blood brothers and both of us are guitarists, it was pretty easy to find him! I actually found him on 28th April 1994. Tihan Shah (Drummer) used to study in the same school as Tazz and his elder brother Shourov Shah (who we featured as our vocalist on a couple of shows) is also a close friend of mine. Me and Tazz met EFX (Turntables) in 2008 when we were jointly hosting a Guitar Hero competition. Before Maheyan Hassan (Bassist), Ishraq used to play the bass for us, but unfortunately he had to leave, but Maheyan Hassan lived since the day we moved to our new flat which was 2007. And finally Rezwanur Rahman (Vocal) is a close friend of mine; I first met him at a concert where he was singing for a band called Cynic-x in 2006.
The start of the band coming together was in July 2009 when me (Mr.GOLD) and my brother (WildChild Tazz) Was just jamming around; I realized that we we had a good chemistry and I told him about my plan of forming a band which is when he mentioned Tihan Shah, Ishraq was a friend’s brother who played Bass so we called him; but he left us after our first show on the 16th of October so we got a replacement Maheyan Hasan, EFX was always there with the band. Rezwan joined us in June 2010 before that we did couple of shows with featuring vocalists (Tamzid, Shourov, and Nurullah).
*How did you guys come up with the name MinUs+2?
This is one question everyone always asks; there are many rumors about our name’s origin as well! We don’t really remember how we came up with it but there was a difference of two between each of our members. The rumor started with the fact that our age was 2 years different from each other and we played along with it really calmly, but recently we figured it wasn’t the age, it was actually the grades that we studied at! It was 4 of us (GOLD, Ishraq, Tazz, and Tihan) GOLD was in Grade 12, Ishraq was doing his O’Levels which is grade 10, Tazz was an 8th grader and Tihan in grade 6. And the recent rumor about the name is that we were math geeks and we had to put algebra in our name!!! World is a Funny place. But apart from rumors our name is spelled MinUs+2 but when we pronounce it we don’t mention the plus so it’s Minus Two.
*Influences?
Each one of our members has millions of influences starting from local, continental to western/International. We don’t normally mention the influences coz this really never ends… But I will mention our favorite genres but name *Tazz: Melodic Death Metal, *Tihan: Jazz, *Maheyan: Folk metal, Rezwan: Thrash metal, EFX: Rap rock, Mr.GOLD: Rock ‘n’ Roll
*Achievements so far?
Officially we have been runner-ups at ISD Battle Of The Bands and runner-ups at Youthsparks ‘Vote For The best Young Band Of The Moment’ But that is not our real achievement our real achievement is our stage presence where we don’t only play for ourselves but we also try our best to give the audiences/crowd something new to experience, surprise them and Rock with them, not just for them. For us our first concert in October 2009, first newspaper review in March 2010, first battle and focus on stage presence in June 2010, first featured article about us in July 2010, first international fan in August 2010, first headlining in November 2010, first guitar spin in December 2010, and a lot more firsts is an achievement. Basically when we perform as a band we always do something for the first time so every moment as a band is an achievement for us.
*Current state of the band, what is the band doing now? current projects( That can be published to the public)
Current state of the band is going smooth, if you must know, Mr.GOLD is out of country for studies, yet we are managing with one guitar and if needed, we feature another guitarist from different bands. Apart from that we are performing at shows here and there every now and then. We have submitted few demos to couple of mixed albums which we will inform the fans as soon as we get selected that is, if we do! And good news for the fans are that we have confirmed that we will release a single under Fahim Music named Play it NOW ! in the lineup we have today’s some of the best upcoming bands, you can check it out at (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Play-it-NOW-A-Band-Compilation/195895453791934?sk=info).
We are working on some new songs we shall keep uploading promo clips and teasers after every new song. So stay with us on facebook , where you will find all our details and links to other MinUs+2 sites on the left hand column (www.facebook.com/minus2theband).
*Future Plans?
Future is not something that we plan, it just happens we just try and enjoy as much as we can in the present. Even if we have a plan for the future and everything goes according to the plan then where is the fun? So, we let the future be a mystery.
*A brief list of a few concerts that MinUs+2 performed in( Give the names of the most memorable, give the names of any mainstream or well-known underground bands that performed with MinUs+2 in each of these concerts, give the month and year when the concerts were held)
This was a new type of question, till date MinUs+2 has performed over 24 shows but we would mention the most memorable ones. Our first big show was CONCERT FOR NASREEN! 05/03/2010 alongside Aurnob and Shunno.
As a band our favorite stage that we have performed at was ISD BATTLE OF THE BANDS 3/06/2010 where we came second and our drummer got the first prize and we were judged by Power Surge, it was also the first time we played together with the current lineup.
HYBRID.05 31/07/2010 was by far the best crowd that we have ever gotten, the most publicity and here we shared the stage with Arbovirus.
D’ ROCK MIC Vol.8 30/10/2010 was a pure surprise for us, this was the first time we performed at Dhanmondi we expected no one to know us except few friends, but the people really surprised us by cheering for us really loud, they really rocked. We were on stage with Crematic X.
AUTUMN FIESTA 27/11/2010 was the concert at Aga Khan School where Minus+2 and Bohemian was called to headline.
THE UNDERGROUND BLAST 3 23/12/2010 this was not only an achievement for MinUs+2 but the whole of Bangladesh, this was the concert where MinUs+2 pulled off their first ever GUITAR SPIN. Here we were playing along Severe Dementia.
ABC2 @ Melati Cafe, Nilai, Malaysia 26/03/2011 our first International concert.
Incursion Battle of the Bands June 2011 Was the first time MinUs+2 has ever used their turntables on stage.
*Tell Us About The Band Members of MinUs+2 and Do add a little something about their music life.
We are all basically the same but some things to notice about us are that Tihan is a party girl and we call him Pardey Grl, Maheyan has some problems with pronouncing i.e he pronounces flash as flush and cable as kabol! Rezwan is very emo he tries his best to act strong but in the end he gets pissed off!! EFX is also known as PAAKNA he does/forgets things at the wrong time! Tazz is a TEDDY BOY he can’t sleep at night without his teddy bear. Mr.GOLD thinks he’s awesome but in reality he is just lame (I mean who keeps a name like Mr.GOLD) Shona Mia :p. Our interest is common its Music and unlimited fun :D, Ages would be Tihan 15, Tazz 17, Maheyan 17, Mr.GOLD 21, Rezwan 21. MinUs+2 was basically all our music life if you ask us we’d say life hasn’t yet begun.
*Discography?
We haven’t released anything yet but you may listen to our demos on reverbnation.
*Any solo album plans? Can the fans be expecting one any time soon?
We won’t give hopes to anyone as of yet but if we keep on getting support and love as we are from the fans we are sure somewhere close to the EPs at least :D. But lets just pray for the singles at the moment. Hope you will like it and if you do, we shall proceed to the next step of making an album!
*Any message for all your fans out there?
We have only one thing to say and it is what we have always been saying. “We Rock because YOU Do!” So keep rocking and we shall try our best to keep up with you. We love you and always have and always will. You are the reason we are here and you are the ones who can take us high. Keep spreading our name around the world, and keep connected to us.
If you like this interview, then please share it with your Facebook Friends and your followers in Twitter, help familiarizing MinUs+2 to more and more people, help a promising band shine not for any other reasons, but for your own good, help them now and hopefully at some point in your life, they will help to inspire you with their music when you will be in need of inspirations, maybe some day, they will help you smile when you will be badly needing one, a 5 minute listen to one of their tracks before any exams may take all your tensions. Certainly MinUs+2 has the potential to do all that and many more, with a little help from their fans to aid them in reaching out to more and more people, they will certainly be able to reveal their latent talent.
