2014 which gave me an immediate Job to teach at the same school
and hence that landed me to where I was before moving to India.
What would you consider is the reason for the steady increase in
the number of fans that want music that is not cinema music?
I would say that India has grown Bigger when it comes to
receiving the independent music being done by independent
musicians and producers, I hugely feel there are 2 reasons for
the rise one as we call the west which has always influenced us
with their marketing techniques and their artist projection I see
more people are hip to the sounds of drum and bass, hip-hop jazz
besides the regulars so I feel that has made the increase.
Secondly I feel the growth in social media, you listen to some
music or create your own music, post it on instagram tag the
right people, hash tags and it spreads much faster.
How is the Indian music landscape currently and how is it
different from that of the international scene?
Having being worked in both the international and national
music industry, I feel the India Landscape is growing however
it definitely needs a strong committee of rules and regulations.
There are definitely a lot of loopholes that one goes and I see it
myself, a common example we give a tech rider for a gig, the
amp company I endorsee never is supplied and then in return
we get an excuse sir budgeting and all. However the biggest
thing I would say India has become the center of attention after
international artist have touch base and I really love that artist
from all genres of music are coming and playing so definitely
India is in a right direction however as I said again a strong
committee of rules or regulation needs to be setup.
Give us a little insigh t on the current projects you are a part of
and some future projects.
While being a session Bassist and a producer I am very blessed
to be working on different genre and with host of musicians from
around the world. Currently I am working with my most hip
sounding trio called DCF_Shapes, which comprises of Lindsay
Dmello and Bharath Kumar, the music is the mixture of pure
feelings and emotions and good vibes. I am also backing up the
brilliant Saby Singh on his Hindi Project, My longest running
Solid project Bollyjazz, couple of other artist I am backing up are
Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Jordan
Johnson, Sava Boyadzhiev
Trio, Nat Y amigos
Future projects well I
can only release
playing Synth bass in India which I never saw before but I was
already doing it in LA , I am glad now players are picking it up and
putting in live sets so there is always a big breakthrough in sound
and I am glad us musicians in India are aiming to explore Big .
We hear you’re a sneakerhead. Tell us a little bit about your
collections and your most prized possession?
Oh God! Haha it is an ocd thing now I have always had a love
for sneakers shoes since I was a child I remember taking my
mom and dad and buying me the same campus shoes in different
colors however with time I forgot but recently I have developed a
real collection I currently own 26 pairs of sneakers and there are
some real rare pairs which I have I shall name 3.
One is a Teal color Puma Suede I possess which is a very rare
pair and It matches my hair color now haha, another pair is a
Nike air force One/s which came out in 1998 I own them they are
white with orange and yellow Nike swoosh logo,third are the
Limited edition Nike air max Ice that came in 2001 it is in Pink
Ice color I doubt anybody has it in India.
Yeah I am pretty serious as you can see about shoes hahaha !
How did it feel to win the Outstanding Bass Student Award at one
of the most prestigious institutions, Musicians Institute in LA?
Take us through the story.
It was an unreal feeling, I was already runners up of 3
scholarships before at the school and I remember my teacher
who taught me the most telling me I always knew you were
outstanding just that I wanted to push you more and get more out
of you and reward in the end. I think it was the biggest lesson of
not taking the pride and working ever so hard to become better.
My parents were the most proud and so were my peers in India
as I was the first Indian in the Bass department to get the award.
Yaaay!!
Talk to us a little about your influences.
My mom put me on to listening to George Michael, Abba, bee
gees, Michael Jackson when I was a kid so the rnb soul Motown
sound was and has always been an influence to me as I grew up
I developed a knack to hip hop and then when I studies music it
was all jazz that was the icing on the cake. However with time
I developed a huge liking to the drum and bass sound and
even the Asian underground sound as done correctly by Nitin
sawhney, Karsh kale etc. but I have realized that
even while these being my influence music in
general the listening part has been the biggest
influence I am able to perceive anything just
because I am open to it.
Favorite Indian Musician/band?
some details as of now but I am on team working on New Ideas
with the legendary Karsh Kale, Blackstratblues in the studio. For
more you gots to interview again haha!
Id also add that so many of the artist and my friends have
literally shoute don me to get out my own music so hopefully
What do you think is the reason behind a lot of artists from
various genres exploring and experimenting in the realm of
electronic music?
Aaaah Good question I would quote a couple
musicians/bands I love most of the acts Late
Karan Joseph, Dhruv Ghanekar, Karl Peters, Ehsaan
Noorani, Lindsay Dmello, Naveen Thomas, Blackstratblues, Dcf,
Prateek Kuhad, Suraj Mani and the Tatva trip and the list goes
on from there ...
Favorite Artist of all time?
Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius and J Dilla (Got to give it up to these 3)
Favorite track?
Hejira by Joni Mitchell (PS – Jaco’s entry at 00:15 can sweep any
human away)
In Pure simple terms having an open mind and open ear ..
Musicians are listening or getting influenced by peers and
experimenting which is great , I Have bought out the concept of
The
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