Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Imaad Wasif has teamed up with musical icons Karen O, Willie Nelson, and Nick Zinner to cover Queen’s iconic David Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure”.
Now, Wasif plays mostly psychedelic indie rock with Southeast Asian influence. But he started off with punk. “I took a very circuitous path to where I’m at now,” he explains. “I was exploring far darker music.”
But even there, Wasif keeps his options open, always exploring new genres and opportunities. His most recent project: a collaborative, country-style cover of the classic hit “Under Pressure.”
Imaad Wasif channels his identity through music
“My music is the essence of my being distilled into the vessel of song,” Wasif says. “I have no control over how or when that manifests.”
With this approach, Wasif’s music has changed and evolved throughout his career. Nevertheless, it has always retained a signature feel, reminiscent of psychedelic and prog rock of the ‘70s. He has released a total of 5 solo albums since 2006, but has a long list of contributions to many indie and indie-folk bands over the years. Wasif’s solo work alone covers everything from acoustic to psychedelic rock to bluesy raga. Throughout, he explores themes such as transformation, isolation, love, and madness.
In addition to his solo career, Wasif has worked with famous groups such as the New Folk Implosion, Alaska!, and the most mainstream, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, working alongside frontwoman Karen O. While he was second guitarist for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, he would spend odd hours writing his own music as well.
“I put myself in weird states of mind,” Wasif tells LA Weekly regarding his nocturnal songwriting, “[But] for sanity’s sake, you have to do that. It’s too difficult for me to break the discipline of waking up every day and playing music.”
Traditional influences fuel unique sounds
Among others, Wasif draws partly on records of classic East Indian music passed down from his father. “There’s a spiritual essence to this music,” he says, “I haven’t really figured it out. There’s a weird, not fully understood past-life connection to it. I immediately gravitate toward something like that when I pick up a guitar.”
Growing up in Palm Desert, CA, Wasif’s Muslim/Hindu parents took care not to pressure Wasif into adhering to any particular religion. Instead, they cultivated in him a lifelong interest in religion and spirituality, which he expresses through his music.
Wasif recalls hearing his father sing as a child. He was a ghazal singer, a form of ancient Arabic poetry. But Wasif also says he only connected with the “pining and longing” present in this music recently. As a kid, he found the songs strange.
“That music made less sense to me than a lot of the American music that I grew up hearing,” he recalls. However, he has now embraced many of these elements of his family history that he had not explored earlier in life.
Imaad Wasif teams up with Karen O and Willie Nelson to cover Queen and Bowie
Despite the negative effect of the pandemic on the music industry, Wasif has stayed busy. He recently contributed to a cover of the iconic “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. He joined Yeah Yeah Yeas frontwoman Karen O, with whom he had previously worked, as well as Willie Nelson and Nick Zinner.
Predictably, Wasif, O, Nelson, and Zinner took the classic hit and made it their own. Rather than the driving sounds and synth influences of the ‘80s rock piece, their version features a more country Americana sound.
- Karen O and Willie Nelson’s cover of “Under Pressure”, featuring Imaad Wasif and Nick Zinner on guitar.
Explore more music by Imaad Wasif on Spotify or buy it on Amazon.
