Sophomore Abrar Shahriyrar holds a unique perspective as a UR musician. In his hometown of Bangladesh, Abrar was part of the country’s closely-knit metal culture. Abrar made waves with his band “Ace of Spades,” but the script didn’t stop when Abrar moved to America for college. As a student, Abrar is active in NJR and can be found playing guitar at numerous school-sponsored concerts. We had the pleasure of speaking with Abrar, and discussing Bangadeshi metal culture, UR’s music groups, and EMG guitar pickups.
Jeff Howard: Shahriyar that’s an interesting name… Does that name have a meaning?
Abrar Shahriyar: Well… It basically means king.
JH: Wow that’s cool! In a way you’re kind of a king of Rochester, you’re a very accomplished shred guitar player and you’ve played numerous performances on campus that have left audiences mouths agape, mine included. Why don’t you talk first about what music you listen to and what music you like to perform?
AS: I listen to a really broad range of music. From really really heavy death metal to dub step, as long as it sounds good to me, I don’t have a problem listening to it. Personally, most of the bands I have played in have been hard rock or metal.
JH: Can you tell us about those bands back in Bangladesh and your roots as a musician?
AS: I was actually in three bands before I came to UR, but the one I was focusing most on was a prog/power metal band called Ace of Spades. Just before I came we had plans of releasing an album, but we didn’t get to finish it because I ended up moving here – there were also some internal complications in the band as well.
Justin Fraumeni: What was the music culture back in Bangladesh? Is it predominately metal that everyone listens to?
AS: Yeah definitely! Rock and metal are a very big part of the music scene in Bangladesh. People really appreciate it, and it was great to be in a band where we got to play the music people enjoyed listening to.
JF: What are some of the most popular Bangladeshi metal bands?
AS: Well, I would say Warfaze, Artcell, and Nemesis are three of the biggest bands. I consider myself very lucky because I got to share the stage and jam with these amazing musicians. The underground and mainstream music communities are very close together in Bangladesh, If you play for a while, you get to know some great musicians.
JH: Talk about your experience with NJR – what has it been like playing with them?
AS: NJR has been amazing. Its mainly the people that make it so special – everyone comes from such different backgrounds and have such different musical tastes, it really opens your mind to different genres of music that you would have never looked into before. It really broadened my horizons.
JH: Is there a performance that stands out as particularly memorable to you here in Rochester?
AS: One performance that I would definitely consider memorable would be the School of Rock show – there was just so much effort that went into it, and the songs that we got to play, plus musicians that I played with during my set made it especially memorable.
JF: How has the transition been from coming to playing with your own bands back in Bangladesh to playing with NJR here in Rochester? Is it different playing with kids that maybe don’t share the same music tastes as you?
AS: I would obviously love it if I could play with my band from back home – we’ve been playing with each other for so long and really know each other well. It really helps when you’re all into the same music and making music that you really love, but like I said before, having people from different backgrounds in NJR and fusing genres together is really fun. It can also be really fun playing smaller venues!
JF: Where have you played on campus, and what specific venue is your favorite?
AS: I’ve played all over –Starbucks, Drama House, the May Room, Strong Auditorium – but I really like playing at Drama House the most. You’re the closest to the audience, and we can really interact with them more. Playing on stage and seeing people’s reactions to the music just makes it so much better.
JH: What do you like so much about Fernandez guitars?
AS: The reason I got a Fernandez was because of the heavier music I play, There’s an EMG-81 pickup on the bridge and a sustainer pickup on the neck, which gives me theoretically infinite sustain. Combined with the floating bridge and the whammy bar I can do some pretty crazy stuff. The fret board is also so smooth – my hand just flows so freely. My first electric guitar was actually an Ibanez though, one of those GRG series guitars. I played it for a very long time, and I really like Ibanez guitars still. But when I started playing at larger venues and recording an album, I needed a better guitar, and Fernandez was my first choice.
JF: Where can people hear your music?
AS: You can check out Ace of Spades music on our reverb nation account, on our Facebook, or on YouTube, it’s all on there.
Howard is a member of
the class of 2017.
Fraumeni is a member of
the class of 2017.
