Monday, March 12, 2012

Meet The Band: BANGLADEAFY!




Band Name: Bangladeafy! It's a portmanteau of the words Bangladeshi and Deaf. Atif Haq is of Bangladeshi descent and I (Jonny Germ) am hearing disabled (deaf is an exaggeration).

Location: We are located in the NYC/LI area and travel 50 miles to one another for rehearsal but, we make it work and send each other ideas through the internet to keep things fresh.

Formed: After numerous failed bands ranging from folk to klezmer to mathy nintendo influenced prog, Atif and I sticking together through them all, we started yet another band in hopes of acquiring a trumpet player and a keyboard player as we played out. Due to our ability to swallow up any remaining audio space for another musician, we decided to stay as a duo.

Members: Atif Haq - drums/handsome, Jonny Germ - bass/keys/vox

Releases: We have self-released one album titled "This Is Your Brain on Bugs" thus far, the theme of that one documents our start in Brooklyn which also spawned at the same time as the bedbug epidemic. We have been on numerous compilations on Riotous Outburst records. We are aiming our next release for the fall. The working theme at the moment is two allegorical cure-all medicine/elixir traveling salesmen obviously representing us and our current expansion and touring in North America. The fantastical idea is that we actually have a  working cure (awesome music) and the privatized pharmaceutical industry (modern music industry) is trying to stop us from being successful. It's playful but hopefully, thought provoking.


Lately we have appealed to the modern prog metal crowd (i stress the word "modern" because the 90's dream theater-esque sound is quite cheesy) and it's been working for us on account of our techniques and speed. I think it has something to do with inventive musicians such as Animals As Leaders and The Mars Volta currently dominating the demographic at the moment. Atif utilizes a variety of world rhythms (African and Latin beats) but, cranks up the tempo for them resulting in something we've agreed to be "world/thrash" music. I fill in most empty spaces with polyharmonic bass tapping so, until we get that trumpet or keyboard player we've dreamed of, I will be what most laid back hippies or cynics call an "overplayer". My vocal influences are jello Biafra, Refused, Beastie Boys, Trent Reznor and Mike Patton.

We come from different musical backgrounds but, agree on a lot of the same shit such as: Squarepusher, Zach Hill, Marnie Stern, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Meshuggah and so forth.

I am currently writing music with the drummer of A Fucking Elephant and one guitar player from East Of The Wall. The working title is Hush Money. It's yet another band that I have to travel miles by train to play with, but totally worth it. There are numerous projects and possible splits that I might appear on with reputed musicians in the near future....


Don't miss BANGLADEAFY! live with , So is the Tongue, BRIAN!, and Graupel 


The Space @ GreenStar, 700 W Buffalo St., Ithaca, NY 14850 | 8PM | $5 | ALL AGES

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