Hailing from Boston, they call themselves The Kominas. Comprising of Basim Usmani, Shahjehan Khan, Imran Malik and Arjun Ray, they play loud punk, grungy tune and make their own youtube videos. After 2008's Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay, the band is back with their new EP, Escape to Blackout Beach. Filled with grungy riffs, thumping bass and seven originals including the magnificent 'Manji Vich Daang', The Kominas have developed a solid following. Instep talks to bassist Basim Usmani as the band continues to tour the United Kingdom....

Instep: Tell us briefly about The Kominas?

Basim: The band has been together for about 6 years. We formed during/after college. Most of us have lived in Pakistan for anywhere between 1 and 6 years either for school or work.

Instep: Why the unusual name of The Kominas?

Basim: Kameena essentially means 'scoundrel', or a derogatory way to refer to someone. It's a joke and makes desi people either laugh or cringe. It is the closest thing to 'punk' in Urdu/Punjabi.

Instep: The Kominas are unsigned. How difficult is it being an independent band without the push of a label?

Basim: The artist in today's music industry has a lot of power independently to promote oneself, develop their own image, marketing themselves however they want to (myspace, facebook, youtube, etc...). It is also possible to put out decent sounding music using free audio software if you can't afford to go to a studio; it just takes a little bit of ingenuity with audio programs. Our first album was a combination of both 'low-fi', 'do it yourself' recordings as well as professional time spent in recording studios over a 3 year period. The second record Escape to Blackout Beach was recorded over 4 days in a Boston studio.

However, being independent and unsigned is still very difficult. We have only recently started to 'break even'; we still don't really make any money. A label can still help immensely with support for touring, album distribution, and other promotional assistance that a team of people can offer a band. We do all our own web design, marketing, press releases, video editing, everything.

Instep: You guys have been touring the United Kingdom. Tell us about the shows...

Basim: We have toured the US twice, as well as Canada, and are currently in the midst of our first ever UK tour. So far, we have been very well-received in the UK, and have played a variety of venues, big and small. We have traveled through London, Bristol, Preston, Glasgow, and Nottingham all in our first 10 days here. We will be heading to Stockholm (Sweden), and recording with the UK-based 'Tigerstyle' for about 5 days before our last UK show at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk.

Instep: Your following in Pakistan is slow and steady. What about touring Pakistan?

Basim: We would love to come to tour in Pakistan if we can set it up. We will be doing a 2-week, 6-8 concert tour in India in November of 2010.