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Sho? (band)
Sho? or Shو? (pronounced Shoo or Shoe) are a band formed and based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Their name is an adaptation of the arabic word, 'Shoo', which can be roughly translated into the English word 'What'. The band’s core comprises of Zara Quiroga on vocals and Rizal Khan on guitars. Rizal Khan is responsible for Sho?’s music composition as the lyrics to the songs are written by Zara Quiroga. On live performances they play with session musicians on bass and drums. Sho?’s music is best classified as a mixture of Alternative Rock, Punk, Funk, Metal and Reggae. The band has been active since April 2009 and is a regular of shows within the United Arab Emirates music scene, especially in Dubai’s Rock Nation and Metal Asylum nights. Sho?’s main performances include Diesel:U:Music World Tour in Vienna, Austria, Dubai Sound City Festival(UAE) in October 2009 and Yasalam Beats on the Beach Abu Dhabi (UAE) in November 2010. Sho? is also referred to as Sho or Shoband.
Biography
Taken from Sho?'s official website: "Punk, Rock, Metal, Reggae (Ska), Funk and a host of other forms of music find common ground in the musical expressions of Shو? The band which has been pulled into the limelight by its unique style, began as a small splash in Dubai’s underground music sphere and is now making waves as the band’s following grows. Shو? began with the meeting of two like minded musicians – Rizal, lead guitarist and Zara on vocals, backed by a dynamic line of talented musicians. Their mission: to spread the Shو? sound to as many people as possible. Shو? (meaning What? in Arabic) features an amalgamation of different genres of music strongly influenced by the amazing multicultural mix that is Dubai. Rizal uses 6 and 8 string guitars and a variety of pedals to give their music a unique sound. Zara's vocals focus on the message of nonconformity, standing up for what you believe in and fighting for what you want. “There are just so many acts we love out there. We wanted to write songs which take the best from our influences, merge them with our unique style and make them the ultimate song for the two of us to listen to” is how Rizal best explains it. The milestone moment came in October 2010, when they won the Diesel U Music Road to Sound City competition. This secured them an opening slot in the Dubai Sound City Festival 2009, and took them all the way to Vienna for the Diesel U Music World Tour at the end of that year. In August 2010 Shو? released their first EP entitled “I Don’t Wanna Go!” including fan favorites such as the reggae-metal Crash and the self-titled Sho? As of now, Shو? is accelerating at 200MPH and hopes to Crash onto a stage near you very soon! Once they're done with that they'll be recording a second EP in 2011."
Band Members
Zara Quiroga
Zara is the lead vocalist of Sho?. She is of Portuguese and Spanish descent and has been singing in different bands since she was 14. After being the co-singer of bands "Herba", "Codigo" and "Ironic Speech" during high school years in her home town in the North of Portugal, she then moved to Lisbon to pursue her studies in Mass Communications and Cinema and tried to meet people with similar tastes in music to start a band. Not meeting musicians with tastes alike, Zara decided to sing for different covers bands with the aim of gaining experience with live performances and hopefully meet other musicians. After an attempt to revive the originals melodic metal band "Dawn…" with some friends, Zara formed another covers band, "PlayLoudInsane", active in the Lisbon bars scene between 2005 and 2006. After a brief journey with electro-rock act "DLoad", she performed with original band "Ad Lib" (later renamed "String Vitae") between 2006 and 2007, recording some demos. Apart from her own projects, Zara has participated as guest vocalist in the track ‘Amarelo” of Portuguese prog folk band "Miosotis", included in their album of 2007 “Risco”. She was also the main voice of “Dawn on Pyther” the second album of multi-instrumentalist Hugo Flores’ studio project Project Creation, signed to ProgRock Records. After moving to Dubai in 2007, Zara worked for about a year organizing open mic events and small-venue live music shows in an attempt to burst the Dubai live music scene. Since Spring 2009 Zara started working on original compositions with Rizal, forming together the band Sho?
Rizal Khan
Rizal, born in Malaysia, is the guitarist of Sho? His style is influenced by many genre’s of music ranging from Metal to Rock to Punk to Electronica to many more. He is known to use an 8 string Ibanez RG2228BK guitar on some Sho? songs. Other Notable guitars are Ibanez JSY2K, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Robot Guitar and Baby Taylor. Rizal main guitar sound comes from either a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier connected to a Bogner 4 by 12 cabinet or an Orange Dual Terror connected to a Mesa/Boogie 2 by 12 Cabinet through a Sennheiser Wireless System. He also uses a lot of guitar pedals (such as Digitech Whammy, Dunlop Wah, Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man and Small Stone, and more) and synthesizers (such as Moog Minimoog Voyager, Alesis Andromeda, Roland TB-303 and more) to achieve a 'modern' feel to Sho?’s music. Prior to joining Sho? Rizal was the main vocalist and bassist for Kuala Lumpur based Thrash Metal band "Dust Components" from 1995 to 1997. He then did vocals and guitars for Kuala Lumpur based speed metal band "Burial Ground" from 1997 to 1999. In 2000, Rizal decided to move away from metal and work on electronica music while studying in Australia under the name of RK1. In 2003, Rizal embarked on a project called Morphed Aseembly. This was his first venture to try fuse the 3 genre’s of music he likes; Rock, Hip Hop and Electronica. After moving to Dubai, he met Zara on an online music forum and started working together to form the band known today as Sho?
Music
Sho?’s unique sound is through blending different types of musical styles in a song. Good examples of this mix of genres are the song Crash, known for it’s Ska/Raggae influence evident during the verse which moves towards rock during the pre-chorus and chorus, or Pfunk that has a funk riff in the verse and a punk riff during the chorus.
Paul Kelly from Middle East entertainment website TripleW.me says "Sho? have a unique style and sound that transgresses any real direct comparisons with any contemporaries. Riff-heavy, with hints of punk and ska, the songs are a largely a take on life with a distinct, and definitely unique, sound."
Gulfnew's Metal Detector describes the band's music as "unique": "Sho? has something unique, a hyper-energetic female singer and a sound that combines reggae, metal, ska and punk into a seamless, smooth sound."
Accomplishments
Road to Sound City and Diesel U-Music World Tour
Sho? won the “Road to Sound City” competition judged by Gary Dourdan and Kim Thompson alongside representatives from Diesel, Sennheiser and EMI Arabia allowing Sho? to play in the main stage for the Dubai Sound City Festival and be part of Diesel U-music World Tour travelling to Vienna, Austria for a concert in November 2009, along side acts such as The Vanities, Etepetete, Bunny Lake and The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt.
Time Out Dubai Night Life Awards
On February 2010 Sho? was shortlisted by Time Out Magazine in Dubai under "Best Local Band" category for their 2010 Nightlife Awards, attending the awards ceremony in Atlantis Hotel Dubai.
Press Coverage
Sho? has been covered extensively by the UAE media getting featured in major publications. Band-members are regularly interviewed for their views on the local music scene in UAE. Also the band has participated several times in UAE based radio shows, performing live acoustic sets.
"I Don't Wanna Go" EP review by Paul Kelly, TripleW.me
Interview with UAE newspaper Khaleej Times
Sho? talks to Gulfnew's Metal Detector on April 2010
Interview September 2010 about Fall/Winter show season
Discography
August 2010 – EP “I Don’t Wanna Go!”, self-release with free distribution and free download on www.shoband.com