Interview on breaking up with eP n JaL Pakistani music band Herez the link of a break up of Ep n JaL from Jilawatan productions ...:shock: Acc to Khuram Bhai... How many years has Jilawatan Productions managed eP ? It started managing eP from 2002. Briefly explain what did you do in order to make eP a prominent Pakistani music band. Well, we provided all the services a band needs. We managed them, organized them, arranged their shows, persistently looked for publicity opportunities and strived to promote them in a positive way. We managed the individual band members, provided what they needed, and arranged shows based on their availability. I took care of them as an elder brother and they were like my own baby brothers. I even helped them with money when they did not have any. I did all the negotiations for them with other personnel. Jilawatan Productions started with eP and my identity started with eP. JaL used eP's platform to get famous and gain their ground. Call suffered due to both bands because I always kept Call as the last priority. Did Call ever feel disappointed that you kept them as your last priority ? Well, I knew Call would have a better time and future and the band all believed in me. How is Jilawatan Productions different from other management firms ? What qualities does it have which others don't ? Jilawatan's principles are based on brotherhood, love, unity, respect and humbleness. Arrogance and attitude are not part of our work policy. It is a big family where everyone respects one another. We see with JaL and some eP members that egos are becoming bigger than themselves. You have mentioned that eP band members Hassaan and Ahmed Ali Butt were involved in some way with the breakup between eP and Jilawatan Productions. What did they do ? Yes, they were vocal about it. What bothers me is that they should have informed me about their intentions before talking to anyone. What they did seems to show that they did not have any respect for me or for what I have done for them in the past years. The recent show in Qatar was supposed to have only Call and JaL performing. I added eP's name myself, at the sacrifice of Call's performance fee being reduced. I did this because I wanted eP to be there. I really did not care if eP wanted to be associated with Jilawatan Productions or not. I would not have minded if they had undergoed a more sensible clear approach in transitioning out of Jilawatan's fold. However, they approached a negative path, so I decided to disassociate Jilawatan Productions with them officially. Moreover, it is really strange that they did not inform Xulfi that they were calling promoters behind my back and telling them that eP was not managed by Jilawatan Productions. They even called the organizer for the Freedom Tour USA 2006 and told him that he had to deal with them because eP was not with Jilawatan Productions anymore, even though this tour is being promoted and organized by Jilawatan Productions. Why didn't Hassaan and Ahmed Ali Butt want to associated with Jilawatan Productions ? It is difficult for me to assess the reasons why. They might have not wanted me to make decisions for eP or they may have another reason. But i mostly feel that Hassaan, being the weakest part of eP, wanted to get some attention. At the beginning of eP, I had suggested to have a better musician than Hassaan because he was bad at playing. As for Ahmed, the reason of his actions is probably because he was not getting as much success with Rubberband as Call was getting. Therefore, his jealousy seems obvious. Xulfi was unaware that all these events were taking place. Do you feel he should have helped you in diffusing this problem ? I am surprised that Xulfi was totally unaware of what was going on. I do not want Xulfi to help me in this situation as I have always been neutral. Xulfi should be a part of eP, not me. Xulfi involving himself in this situation might break eP, and I do not want that to happen. Many eP fans will be disappointed by this decision. Would it have been wise to ignore the actions of a few band members in order to keep working with a top Pakistani band ? Fans have always been there with us right from the start. They know much more than average people, so I am sure that they will understand my point of view. After Hassaan and Ahmed's actions, is there a possibility that eP will disband in the future ? No! eP should not disband. I am not in favor of that, but maybe that is someone else's intention. Hopefully this will never happen. Freedom Tour USA 2006, set for August, was going to be eP, Call and Noori's first tour of the US. Will eP still be coming and performing with Call and Noori ? eP will not be touring with Call and Noori. I will announce the new band soon. Call and Noori are all set for the tour. Let's talk about JaL. Why did Jilawatan Productions stop managing JaL ? This happened slowly. As soon as JaL got established, I felt that Goher was not the same. I felt very bad on several occasions but I ignored my feelings. It all started when I was asked to stop managing and organizing JaL concerts in Pakistan. I accepted and said okay. Then I was told not to manage and organize JaL events in India. Again, I said okay. At the recent Qatar show, JaL talked badly about me repeatedly in front of many people. They totally forgot to give me any respect for the hard work I had invested in them. After their behavior in Qatar, I felt they wanted to do everything on their own. This was when I strongly felt that they wanted to degrade me. Therefore, I decided to let them go their own way before they degrade me any more. JaL always saw money before people. They cut me off whenever they saw money coming on the horizon. They did not realize that I did arduous groundwork before this money was made available to them. All JaL was concerned about was the money. They were getting greedy regarding money. I do not want to say whether JaL is a good or bad band, but Jilawatan Productions always supported them. Whenever someone did anything beneficial for JaL, JaL used to say that he also benefitted from JaL and there was no ehsaan involved. They feel that Xulfi only became famous after producing their album and directing their videos and Jilawatan Productions became famous after managing JaL. However, we had already been famous from the start before JaL. When JaL was zero and at its inception, we did favors for them and we were at the top. JaL used us. Farhan was never one of them but he seems to be a changed person now. Bottomline is that you cannot say anything or judge them solely from their face value. During their recent concert tour to Qatar, they said negative things about you. What exactly did they say ? Shazi, Goher, Goher's brother Khurram, Mumtaz and Farhan had been bitching about Jilawatan's management. One of them even said "Artist management key school se pehley parna chahiye" (Jilawatan Productions should first learn from an artist management school before working). They now feel that the management company that had groomed them from the beginning was useless. They said that Khurram Bhai was wrong and they even mentioned their hatred towards Call.
What did JaL have against Call ? I have no clue, but I now think that they cannot see it growing. Call had always given way to eP everywhere but eP was not worth it. Similarly, we released JaL's album when it was time for Call to release their's. We postponed Call's album and gave first preference to JaL's album release. It is common knowledge that Jilawatan was a big part of JaL's success. After Atif left JaL, Goher did not have a vocalist, studio, music directors or money. What did Jilawatan do to get JaL out of its sad state ? Goher came to me crying after Atif had kicked him out of his band. Zohaib Amjad, the web designer, is like a brother to me. He was in favor of Goher and he asked me to help JaL. I helped JaL only because of him. Goher did not have anyone in the band. Goher got a marsi singer and said that he would be the vocalist for JaL. I told Goher not to take that chance or else he would be killing his band. I stopped him from that. Xulfi, Sultan and I got Farhan into the band JaL. I even played drums for them till JaL became established. I made JaL perform at every eP and Call concert in order for them to get more exposure. Indus Music refused to air JaL. I had to break the ice with IM for JaL and made channels show JaL. Due to my reputation, no one says no to me. Goher had no money. Jilawatan put in the money to record JaL's album and to direct their videos. I made them my priority over everyone else. No one was releasing JaL's album. I got a deal with Sadaf to release JaL's album in Pakistan. Then JaL's album got released in India due to my acquaintances. After that, I managed and organized their US tour. They were able to successfully do everything before Atif Aslam because of my decision making. Why did Indus Music refuse to show JaL ? IM never believed Goher's story. They supported Atif Aslam. I believed JaL's story because of Zohaib. I believe now that Goher is smart enough to get things done his way. Here I would like to give a message to Atif: Atif, sorry brother. I was wrong. Do forgive me. So do you feel Atif's side of the story concerning JaL's initial breakup is the truth ? Yes, I felt that after the first 6 months being with JaL. Goher made good simple melodies, but the vocal melodies were 100% Atif's and Goher was weak at production. Goher's studio input is very average. I realized this during the recording of the album. Xulfi had to help in the album vocals, structure and compositions. In "Woh Lamhey" few allaps were even made by Xulfi. The album could not have been made without Xulfi's input. Even when the song "Addat" was made, it was Mekaal Hasan's and Salman Albert's efforts. Nevertheless, I am not taking any credit away from Goher. I am saying that he was not as well groomed a musician at the time. I don't know about that now either. Atif did steal Goher's compositions for his own solo album. Or were they Atif's as well ? Their compositions was an effort by both of them, not 1 person. JaL is now a popular South Asian band. Do you feel that JaL has not give you due recognition, respect and appreciation for your substantial help in their success? I financed many JaL projects. No, they did not give me my due respect. Did eP and JaL sign any contracts with Jilawatan ? Jilawatan Productions was based on trust, love and brotherhood. Using contracts is more of a business minded approach. I had been told that I should have gotten them in contracts when they needed me. I denied this because I thought contracts were not needed because they destroy the spirit of brotherhood and it becomes professional. I do not mind if eP and JaL want to leave. Thsi is their right. But they should have been brave enough to talk about it with me and not start doing things behind my back. This experience totally makes me feel that I must have contracts from now on. Some people may say that Jilawatan Productions only job is promoting new bands. When they become famous, Jilawatan Productions work is done. Do you agree ? What do people think Jilawatan Productions is, a service like a condom that they can use and throw away ? You currently are managing Call, Roxen, Akash and Inteha. What qualities do these bands have which eP and JaL do not ? They are better human beings and it is important to be good people first more than anything else. They are good musicans too, not less than anyone else. Are the breakups between eP, JaL and Jilawatan Productions temporary or permanent ? What needs to be done in order for you to reconsider managing eP and JaL again ? It is permanent. No reconsidering. I have been bitten by them many times in the past but I have always ignored it. I cannot take it anymore. I have confidence that the current bands I am managing will rule over them. Time will tell. After eP and JaL, will Jilawatan change its policies and will it run as a professional business with contracts and no brotherly relationship with artists ? Yeah I agree now. The world is too selfish, but the reason jilawatan became big Mashallah was never due to a professional approach. Any message to your fans worldwide ? I am sorry if I have disappointed anyone. I have to say that I had no better option. Yes, I am hurt but I have learnt my lesson too. I will still support Pakistani music and will always bring good music to Pakistani music fans. Thanks for supporting me. Love you all.
^^^really.............awwwwwwwwwwww.....i hate dem.....and i only like one song of theirs...rahguzar...and dat too only da solo
ahhhhhhh........did they hav good times???? rnt they supposed to be an south asian version of linkin park...cept ep's song hav solo's
^^^dats wat i thought....i read it in a review sumwer...make one change to ur equation.. ep = lp (solos) (no solos)
both are good... but i was a big fan of jal..... now looks like they have changed there genre from Rock to pop(coz there new album have 3 pop'ish songs..)... so i have to change myself tooo... @slipknot_555 : Nice thread.. information was from Pakstop.com, is'nt it ?
yea both r good bands..therez no prob coZ they both r established band so they can get rec comp n sponsors netime... ye the info is from pakstop interview was give by Khuram Bhai. the manager of Jilwatan Productions,, now only CaLL n Roxen r part of it... CaLL is the Next Big THing!!! :rock:
dont temme ep sucks!! their compos r awesome ,good vocs,nice guitars by xulfi.overall top rated band in Paki.
EP is just another LP clone infact I prefer listening to some LP songs than EP. Sooo many members in a band and they come out with shit.
thats pretty much true .. havent seen eP live .. but nothing gr8 abt their songs .. and seen a live performance of Jal .. the two guys goher and farhan were trying hard to behave like 'rockstars' and had a fake attitude .. the show was a flop actually .. strings were at the same show and trust me they did groove .. theyre really natural on stage and good musicians
