Arbovirus (band)

2002 - 2005: Early years and foundation

Suharto (guitar) and Ranjan were classmates mates at the Notre Dame College when they formed the band, along with Ishtiaq Ahmed Shovon on lead vocals and Ahsanur Rahman Himel on drums. At that time several musicians including the bassist Salek from Reborn, and drummer Tony from Black, played in the band. Till then - the band didn't have any permanent bassist. In 2002 vocal Ishtiaq Shovon and drummer Himel left the band; drummer Farhan Tanim, vocalist Sufi Maverick, and bassist Ishtiaq Jishan joined the band to complete the line up.

The band rose to prominence through their first single “Artonad” on the mixed album Agontuk 2, and received their first album deal with the record label G-Series. On the same year they also released their second single "Obhishap" on the mixed album Din Bodol.

In 2004 they released their 3rd single "Shopnadishto" on the mixed album Lokayot.

Their first music video of the song ""Artonad" was released on 2005, directed by Ilajar Islam, and released by G-Series. On the same year they also released the music videos of "Obhishap" and "Shopnadishtio", both directed by Rommo Khan.

2006: Debut album 64m 53s

Their debut album 64m 53s was released on July 20, 2006 under the banner of G-Series. The album included 12 tracks; recording mostly done on the studio Dreamdesk, and Studio Bass. Mixing and Mastering was done by Iqbal Asif Jewel.

The album cover and sleeve photography was done by renowned photographer Munem Wasif and all designs were done by the band's long-time friend and graphics designer Hasan Imam Shiplu.

On 26 January 2006, Arbovirus performed at the Salt Lake Stadium on the eve of Indian Republic Day along with Warfaze, Artcell, Metal Maze, Lakkhichhara, Cactus (Indian band), Insomnia (band), and Fossils. This was their first gig outside of Bangladesh.

2007 - 2011: Struggle with the line up

In 2007 - 2008 the band released few new singles - "Shohor" featuring Bassbaba Sumon Aurthohin, "Prayoshchitto" featuring the producer Fuad Al Muqtadir, "Shurjo Shontan", and "Addhek Kotha".

In early 2008 bassist Jishan and drummer Tanim moved abroad to pursue higher education, leaving a void in the line up. Aldnane joined shortly after Jishan left. Niaz Kamran Abir of DOT was offered the position as a drummer, but finally drummer Labib of Shunno recommended Shuvo (Ex Aurthohin) as a potential drummer. Band started doing regular gigs with Shuvo and also recorded a single "Bangladesh Gori". At the end of 2009 Shuvo left the band as he would permanently move to Australia.

Regardless of the frequent changes in the line up – they kept on releasing singles through the mixed albums of Rock Series compiled by Iqbal Asif Jewel.

At a given point of time - the band literally had no drummer, that's why they decided to release their single "Keu Karo Noy" with the electronic drums samples and loops. Producer/Mix Engineer Iqbal Asif Jewel helped them with the sequencing and programming for the track.

For another single "Prarthona" drummer Turjo from Miles came in to support the band and played for the track.

On 1 October 2010, they have performed at the BAMBA Concert for Sundarbans at the Dhaka Army Stadium along with Miles, L.R.B., Artcell, Nemesis and others.

In 2011 - drummer Nafeez Al Amin joined the band, and that stabilized the line-up of the band. In the same year they release one single named "Agontuk".

2012 - 2013: Montobbo Nishproyojon

After the joining of Nafeez in 2010 - The band immediately started touring with him.

In 2012 - long time partner Livesquare, and Apex Footware Sprint signed a deal with the band for the 2nd album.

Along with the second album ARBOVIRUS released two consecutive music videos "Shohor" in the Sound City Festival, and "Hariye Jao". The music video of Hariye Jao has recently crossed 2.4m views on the YouTube, which is the highest hit for any Bangladeshi band till to this date.

In December 2012 - the band performed in the "Urban Youth Festival". They made two collaborative tracks with Beatbaksho, rapper Amewu and one of the Voice of the Germany producer DJ Werd. They also performed the entire set on the Ekushey TV, including their title track "Raise Your Voice", and "Grime Time".

Around the same time they also released the music video of Shohor in their own rendition, different from the original release.

The recording session of the 2nd album started on January 2013.

The drums recording mostly took place at the studio Acoustic Artz, while the guitar, bass, and maximum vocal recording was done at the band's personal studio. However, the vocal take of "Durotto" and "Hariye Jao" was recorded at the personal studio of legendary singer Kumar Bishwajit.

Mixing and Mastering of Montobbo Nishproyojon was done by Iqbal Asif Jewel.

Arbovirus released their second album Montobbo Nishproyojon on 5 July 2013 at the Russian Cultural Center. The album consists of 8 tracks. In order to bridge the 7 years gap with their audience – the band decided to give it away as a free Digital Download, and never released any physical version of it until the release of Bishesh Droshtobbo. Though this spurred much criticism in the industry, but the move proved to be correct as the entire industry would later move towards the download and streaming business.

On April 23, 2013 Arbovirus has performed in a charity concert arranged by Bangladesh International Recovery Developments(BIRD) for street children.

2014 - 2016: More singles

ARBOVIRUS released two new music videos "Prolaap" and "Goal" on 2014. The song "Goal" was specifically aimed at the football lovers as it was the season of the World Cup Football.

There were more than 8 tracks ready for the 2nd album, but as the flavor would not blend with the existing album the band decided to keep it for the later release.

On August 3, 2014 they performed along with the 24 other BAMBA member bands at the Grand Eid Concert.

2017 : Bishesh Droshtobbo and present days

Their third album, Bishesh Droshtobbo, was initially planned as a B-Side album of the 2nd album with the left over tracks from their second album. But later on the band decided to add more songs to it and release it as a full-length album which now consists of 9 tracks.

Band organized their fist ever solo concert since their foundation to commemorate the 15 years of the journey and the launching of their third album. The concert was held on January 13, 2017 in Russian Cultural Center. The album was released on their YouTube channel, and double CD of both Montobyo Nishproyojon and Bishesh Droshtobbo was made available through pre-order home-delivery. Since the band didn't sign up wit any record label, they took over the CD production and packaging among the teammates. All the packaging were personally done by the band members and associated teammates.

The album was co-produced by record engineer Chisti M. A. Iqbal. Mixing and Mastering was done at the Funk Noodle Studio by A. K. Ratul.

Musical style and influences

Arbovirus has used elements from a wide variety of genres and styles, making it difficult to correctly classify their genre. Most conclude that Arbovirus is, at its basis, a rock band.

The band experimented through out their studio tracks as well as singles, mixing traditional as well as contemporary genres such as heavy metal, punk rock, nu metal, and grunge with funk, and mainstream hard rock.

Sound-wise - the band clearly denies to stick to only one genre or flavor and uses various electronic music, industrial music elements in their songwriting. Glimpse of these can be enjoyed on their tracks like 'Keu Karo Noy', and 'Oshonglognota'.

Lyrics

Almost all of the lyrics are in Bangla, mostly written by Ranjan, except for 'Ja Ichhe Tai' by Sufi, 'Artonad' by Shvon, and 'Shopnadishto' by Rumman Alam.

The band's lyrics broadly covers various elements from self-recognition to the political disarray of Bangladesh, from the 9–6 corporate life to middle-east peace politics, from the inner struggle to strong optimism, from the incoherent feeling of letting a loved one go to, although they portray a broader humane and optimistic view.

Their later releases are more vocal about the moral bankruptcy and political hypocrisy that all the members experienced over time. Several of their songs contain elements of Suicide, War Crimes of Bangladesh, Religion, Atheism, Middle East, Identity Crisis, Exobiology and many other issues.

Live performances

Arbovirus is known for their energetic live performance with potential shock value, with an intention that the audience will take home an audio visual experience instead of just watching the performance.

Much of that is observed on their performance in the Rocknation series organized by the Livesquare events. In order to pursue that - they went through body painting, wore pilot's G Suit, played live with the video of the drums track, set up a separate motorized rotating drums stage, and smashed guitars.

Brand image

Throughout their long career Arbovirus has created a unique brand image through their live performances, and writing songs addressing the contemporary issues. They have one of the highest Facebook followings of any Bangladeshi rock band. On 2013 they released a branded converse shoe by Apex Footwear Sprint. They are also part of two other brands: Beshi Joss Drums owned by their drummer Nafeez Al Amin and #infected, a music movement and a brand that is owned by the band. Their song “Hariey Jao” from their second studio album is one of the biggest mainstream hits among the band music and one of the most played songs on radio and TV. Till February 2017 the song has crossed 2.4 million views on their YouTube channel.

The band logo is designed by Khalid Ahsan Shomit.

Associated acts

Guitarist Ranjan has been contributing to different bands as a lyricist for quite a long time, even long before he formed the band. He has contributed lyrics to many prominent musicians including Miles, Artcell, and Aurthohin. Besides – he has an experimental project named Purple Haze, and Lare Lappa.

Sufi has contributed two tracks on Sisimpur, the Bangladeshi version of the children's television series "Sesame Street". In 2010 – under the pseudo name Phi – two of his solo tracks have been released in the mixed album "Shomoy" under the banner of Gaanchil, with collaboration of Adit Ozbert of Fatman Films.

On January 15, 2015 - Sufi along with Polash from Warfaze, Shakib from Cryptic Fate, Jamshed from Powersurge performed at the curtain closing show of Rockstrata, one of the pioneering Heavy Metal bands of Bangladesh.

Bassist Aldnane also have been playing and writing lyrics for the Experimental rock band "Krall". He is also a part of the Progressive Instrumental super group Air and Air who has released their first studio album in 2014.

Drummer Nafeez has been a regular session player; notable among them are Dethrow, Breach, Kronic, Elita Karim and Friends, and Jazzy Chopsticks.

Studio albums

Singles (in various mixed albums)

Current members

Former members