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Rockin' doctors revive 80's sound on new album
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
What do you get when you put two doctors from Canfield in a room with a guitar, a microphone, a drum kit and a keyboard?
Answer: A great album of original songs that sounds like a cross between the Psychedelic Furs, the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen.
Drs. Asif Khan and Zafar Sheik don’t deny the ’80s rock influence; it’s what they listened to in their musically formative years.
Dr. Khan – drums, guitars and keys – specializes in allergies and immunology and has offices in Boardman and Youngstown. Dr. Sheik – vocals, guitars and keys – is an eye surgeon and opthalmologist with an office in Warren.
Together, they are the band Spy Convention, which recently released its debut album, “Tidal.”
Musically, it fits right into the 1980s, with guitar lines and keyboard riffs layered on top of a repetitive but irresistible bass line, and a drum beat like a metronome. Distant and oft-gloomy vocals tie together these compelling sonic paintings.
It’s a sound that defined the ’80s for many, including the two doctors, who were teenagers in that decade.
“For some reason, that era stuck in our heads for years,” said Dr. Khan, who actually was a professional rock musician when he was in his 20s.
Dr. Khan grew up in Canfield, but moved to Philadelphia to do his residency in internal medicine, and then to New York for another residency in allergy medicine. While in New York, he was the drummer in the band Johnny Hi-Fi, which had a good bit of success. The band toured the world, opened for Sebastian Bach and once played before 20,000 people in China. It even had a video on MTV.
Dr. Khan would later join another band that toured Europe.
Dr. Khan, in fact, was in bands all his life, and his interest in music never went away, despite the time constraints of a busy practice. He even has a recording studio in the basement of his house.
On the other hand, Dr. Sheik wrote lyrics for most of his life, but never was in a band.
The two men discovered each other’s musical tastes and abilities almost by accident.
“When we first met, we had no idea that the other played music,” said Dr. Khan. “He had come over to my house and picked up one of my guitars and started playing and singing. The singing is what caught my attention. He had so many lyrics, which he had started writing when he was young. But he was never in a band and had never written a song. He’s a natural, and it’s strange that he was never in a band. I said ‘I have a studio downstairs ... do you want to run down and try it?’ We did, and it mushroomed after that.”
Dr. Sheik is from the Cleveland area but has lived in Canfield for the past two decades.
The band’s songs usually start with lyrics and maybe a short bass line by Dr. Sheik, with Dr. Khan jumping in to expand it.
Spy Convention enjoys the flexibility that the ’80s sound allows, and has even taken pains to recreate it – especially the keyboard embellishments of the genre, which are seldom heard today. “We had to dig in the [keyboard’s] memory to find some of those sounds,” said Dr. Khan, with a laugh.
The structure upon which their songs are built allows for a lot of creativity. “It’s a ‘less is more’ kind of thing,” said Dr. Khan. “We are fans of creating emotion, and you have to have a foundation to build on. Once you have that, rooted in a repeating bass line or drum line, then you have free reign. A lot of bands today are focused on their chops, but we are more interested in textures and emotion.”
Songs from “Tidal,” including “Baltimore” and “Waking from a Dream,” have gotten airplay on the Homegrown Show on CD-93 FM and The Summit-90.7 FM.
The two doctors play all the instruments on their album. They have yet to play a gig, but are planning their first for late October at a location that has not yet been determined.
Because it would be impossible to recreate their sound without the use of a backing track – something they shy away from – Spy Convention has enlisted four musically accomplished friends from the local music scene who will become its band at that first show: Hayden Brooke, Patrick Majernik, Paul Guzman and Michael Miller.
As for the band’s name – it’s all in fun. “Spy convention” conjures up a silly visual of secretive double-agents mingling with drinks in hand. “Zafar thought of it,” said Dr. Khan. “It’s just a funny dichotomy ... spies getting together for a convention.”
To learn more or to purchase the album, go to spyconvention.com.