Vishal J Singh interview

Vishal J Singh is Indian guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and producer known in the independent music scene for his band Amogh Symphony. The band are working on their fourth album that should be released later this year. I spoke to Vishal about the album, his work as a producer and composer and also his other projects.

What is the current status on the new album from Amogh Symphony? When can we can expect it to be released? What can fans expect from the upcoming album?

Things were pretty slow after Jim moved to a new house, Andrey had an eye surgery and Derick and I are busy with our regular studio works. Andrey was not allowed to play wind instruments for 2 months and he is the guy who plays maximum number of instruments in the songs. After Derick joined us, we discovered some great new ideas, techniques and concepts of songwriting and production. It’s a joint effort, as you can imagine already. It seems like we are almost done with “IV”. Just few final touches once drums are done. Jim spends a lot of time in writing his parts (which I or anyone else in the band cannot write at all). There were some major abnormal talks and differences in opinions as we four are equally skilled multi-instrumentalists and producers (except me). But sooner or later, we find our common spots to hang out musically. I gotta be honest – my guitar parts make no sense without the sounds that these 3 guys (Derick, Jim, Andrey) create in AS. It doesn’t sound like ATOS, TQHC and Vectorscan at all yet, it’s pretty catchy and tricky. Goregaon Brass Orchestra did fantastic as usual, some brilliant tribal wind instrumentalists from my tribe in North East were recorded too, some ethnic and poppish vocal parts. Almost like an art- action movie soundtrack. We really can’t wait to show this to everyone. And this is not a sequel to Vectorscan. It can be art-pop or avant garde or just soundtrack. About release, I think it should be out in 2016 winter.

Amogh Symphony released a single Aai earlier this year. Tell us about it.

Aai is one of the songs from “IV”. Actually, this is the first track in which i used my custom-newly made hybrid ethnic guitar (Fretless baritone acoustic guitar with hybrid tuning of sarod and sitar) for the first time. Also, it’s the first track with new member Derick Gomes’ synth, foley and percussion inputs. We thought we should upload a track from the new album so that some fans can get back to us with their feedback and criticism. Surprisingly, we received decent response. I, personally, take healthy criticism very deeply to understand the point of “connection” between us and the fans/listeners because it challenges my writing, playing and producing skills every time. You know, everyone need some push so I get that from some honest fans. Like, someone described our music “Robot Jazz” on bandcamp and we really liked it. lol

What is your typical day like as a Producer/Instrumentalist?

My typical day is exactly like a Chef or a Head Cook. Mostly, working on tunes of other artists of creativity. There are just too many ideas and tunes floating inside the brain that sometimes wants to burst out of my skull. Mind works faster than the body. Yeah, sometimes I wish I could turn into a ghost. Sometimes it’s really fantastic and sometimes it’s very saturating. At some point, you just don’t want to hear any music because you know what’s coming up in the next 5-6 months with major promotions everywhere. Not that you hate it but it’s already “too old” to your ears. No matter what, you always have to be on positive side because in artist-life, sometimes there is no reason behind depression and you have to learn the art of getting out of it or to learn how to use it creatively. Working with other people let’s all my creative ideas flush away or flow away to make space for fresh new musical ideas which sometimes I use for Amogh Symphony with my bandmates Derick, Andrey and Jim who are, in reality, way more skilled and developed in creativity than me. I think I must have answered all this in my very old interviews(from year 2009-2013) that I cannot stick to one style of music or song just like how I like to travel to different places as much as I can. I do not have the fear of rejection because I believe that there is acceptance and understanding for all. Sometimes, it’s like reading minds. It can be beautiful or it can be a nightmare. I really appreciate artists/film-makers/musicians who let me feel their heart-beat and who let me see their artistic vision from their eyes, before I get into composing or producing/mixing the music. People can lie but their art cannot. I can put 10,000 ideas in rows but that would lead them to confusion and quick-saturation and things will turn into a giant clusterfuck. Well, that’s not the point and that’s not how we connect through art. I believe in the artist a lot. He/She must have the vision or I will simply turn into a dictating demon into his/her creativity. Because, being a composer/instrumentalist/producer myself, I do have a signature/trademark and limitation. I simply do not want my personal musical influence going into that particular music. I am talking about a perfect balance between brain and heart. We have to keep inspire each other in our lives because one cannot be inspired by itself. While working, I find lots of creative challenges. Sometimes, it’s way beyond my capacity but where is the fun when things are easy? Every day is a test of either extreme simplicity or extreme technicality. Now, tell me, where is the time and space for socializing? I do not socialize much while performing in corporate gigs. When I meet my friends, I get as excited as a 9 years old kid at a circus. I listen to people. I do that a lot. Every physical movement has its own background music. It’s very important for me to hang out with right bunch of people with whom I feel the good vibe and with whom I feel completely disconnected from my “pro-musician/producer world”. Also, best company gives you lot of links to great non-popular music. So, there is inspiration…always.

Ideally, what is your personal approach to compose and produce music? Like, for anything such as film-music score, ads, Amogh Symphony etc.? Do you follow music theory a lot?

There is no strict rule but I keep changing my approach to avoid saturation. But usually it starts with imagination of sounds and patterns in my head with a random story sequence. 4-5 years back, being a Guitarist and Drummer, my main mediums for writing music were Guitars and Drums. So, if you listen to all my old music, almost all of them are too much “Guitar oriented” or “Complicated drum pattern oriented”. If I ever feel depressed or lacking inspiration, I listen to all my music from initial days till date to remind myself how far I am standing today from where I started. You know, I wish I could start music earlier. I totally regret. Before I started playing Drums (I was 9 or 10 years old when picked up Drums as first instrument), my parents (both musicians) made me listen to various artists and varieties of music. Initial years of focused “listening” helped me a lot to become a Music Composer. Like, if you want, you can apply all the knowledge OR you can ignore all the things that already “happened” in music to write something new. I got into Electronic music some years ago and whatever musical piece I composed on acoustic instruments, their sounds were later engineered to synthetic sounds by me. I studied about synthesizers after Sound Engineering. I do not feel connected with anything standard – standard jazz, standard rock, standard electronica or whatever. You can write a good prog-rock song in 4 by 4 because odd time signatures sound boring after sometime and sometimes simplicity kills complexity(sometimes, it’s the other way round too. Anything is possible). I produce “standard” only when the band/artist/film-maker want something standard and if everyone seems happy, I say “Yeah, cannot be wrong if everyone is happy with it”. You see? I also need money to stay alive.
Today, I see myself more of a “Composer” than a Multi-Instrumentalist. Sometimes, I like to write a very simple tune with only one or two instrument(s). Sometimes, very dense and layered with twisted Brass sections and lots of synthesizers. But I cannot compose without a storyline. You know, that story can be very complicated for a very simple song or a very simple story for a tricky song. It’s the habit of doing background music for art films – I love it so much because when you have a story with an artistic edit, you have a non-punctual/non-linear sequence. When you have such sequence, you have different sets of feels and emotions. To imagine sounds and musical patterns, you need to have a lot of creative ideas, datas stored in your head. You know, coming out from your comfort zone. It challenges you so much that you prepare like a knight to get inside that nightmare to win. Things start with random ideas like “What will happen if I put a holdsworth-like improvisation in E-Piano on top of a Aphex Twin bassline, Buddy rich like retro jazz drums with a Shehnai player trying to copy Miles with sudden Green Day riff moment that keeps coming and going and Lykke Li singing with bad throat?” Mix fire with water and watch the unseen magic. It’s like Chemistry or preparation of a medicine. Sometimes, I say, screw that, I love that verse-chorus-bridge-chorus format because the story/lyric is about something very morbid or very spiritual/love. I got to work with some really creative guys in films, ads and bands who literally forced me to think of something else. I think, I like the fact that whenever a film-maker or a band/solo artist ask me to create/produce/mix sounds for them, they always expect something which is not common. But I simply say no when they ask me to produce something like Amogh Symphony. I cannot do that because Amogh Symphony is my alter ego and you can see how niche the fans are. It’s a little personal yet different music to connect with different people. It’s like giving away your own baby. Usually, it’s all the “rejected” ideas from film-makers and artists which later turn into a new story for new Amogh Symphony song/album.

Sometimes music theory is used for certain parts but mostly theories are not used because then you start seeing borderlines while composing. If the intention is to cross that line in your mind, then first you need to know what new improvised or planned out “idea or concept” in your composition will let you to cross nicely to blend with earlier musical theory. Let’s give you a small example – It’s like making a driller out of diamonds, because diamonds are sharp and tough but not sharp enough to drill into the deep ground to search crude oil. If you combined rotating wheels with diamonds attached to form cutter rings attached to a heavy metallic non-rusting armor, then it can cut any solid rock like things deep underground.

Vishal with engineer Ariel Samson at Benchmark Studios, Thane

How do you deal with session music instrumentalists, music programmers and session singers while working with them for any project?

I connect with them very quickly and easily. Probably because I have done many session works as Session Guitarist and as a Producer with Bollywood Music Composers. I am very strict when it comes to getting the right performance from them in the studio. But I try my best to inspire them with good vibes. A lot of cheerful vibe is what we all need. I let them play whatever they want to, initially, so that they connect with the music immediately. I believe, it’s an indication of showing deep respect from my side to all the session guys and girls who work so hard with patience. I make sure that they are credited properly. There are some really incredibly amazing young instrumentalists and singers who just make you think like “Ok! I better not sing and play to him. I am nowhere close to this guy. Damn. I must practice.”

What advice do you have for younger musicians who like to become full time musicians? Is it very tough to survive financially?

If you want to be in a band and play only one style of music, then simply get a job. But if you want to become a full time musician, the first basic rule is to be a versatile musician with knowledge and taste in all kinds of music. Most importantly, avoid hanging out with rich kids and scene friends but pro-musicians of earlier generation and struggling artists. Be nice to everyone and respect hard work of others even if they are sold out popular ones. Get inspired but follow your own path. Avoid gossips as much as you can. Also, learn to save money. Do drugs but only to a limit when your creative side of the brain gets accelerated.

The lesson that I learned till date: Your unique/creative nature in your music gives birth to your identity but your versatility in nature in your music pays your bills. You must be able to pull both 100% with balance and focused mind if you want to survive in “any” industry. There is no other short-cut. Keep yourself updated with generations. Be nice to everyone and all the artists should help each other – to get work, to help with small money matters etc. We have to look for each other. Sometimes, a Ten dollars project will bring you a Thousand dollars project. Depends on your honesty, word of mouth and time-table.

To certain extent, it is true that surviving as a musician is tough. There are musicians who are still earning a lot but the incoming money-flow always fluctuates and not stable. But how dare you even think to give up? How? Never.

What projects are you currently working on at the moment?

Nothing special really. Few months back, I finished composing and producing songs and background music of US based film-maker/producer Vijit Sharma’s Thriller film called “Mirror Game” starring Parvin Dabas, Omi Vaidya and Sneha Ramachandran. Soundtracks of this film are produced by Amogh Symphony and Mixed by Ayan De. I am quite excited about this because this is also my first BGM collaboration work with my Mother Kasturi Nath Singh (who wrote all the orchestral string parts in the BGM) and my debut as a playback singer. Then, producing music albums of some really refreshing new sounding bands and solo artists from India, UK, Australia, USA and so on. Few ads/commercials with some UK based agencies. Job becomes easier when artists/bands come up with really refreshing, honest and great songs. Financial ups and downs (let’s not even talk about it). Some collaborations with various phenomenal bands and artists/songwriters/producers. My good friend Siddharth Basrur and me are planning something in between our crazy studio work schedules and hoping that we will be able to pull it off. Then…there is Fractured Dimension’s new record – I am done recording the guitar parts with Jimmy Pitts (who is an extraordinary Keyboardist and composer). There is more but I can’t really talk much about it at this point to be honest. Apart from all that, composing and producing soundtracks and Background music for some upcoming film projects with some good Film-makers from different corners of the globe about which I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about. Let’s see if the Earth survives by then. We all know that film work takes a hell lot of time to finish.

What’s up with your other projects like The Library, Vijay Xavier’s XSCT, Feathers of Jatinga and Superzero?

The Library – We have enough materials. I just have to record myself on drums, do few arrangements with Siddharth Basrur. Don’t really know how and when we can finish this first album with crazy schedules. Eh. We already had husband-wife arguments over this band.

Vijay Xavier’s XSCT – Finished producing Vijay’s album. We just did one gig with me playing drums. Though, I am not a part of XSCT anymore for some reasons that I don’t think I should talk about at this point.

FOJ – I cannot write sad songs anymore. I need proper North Eastern Winter to re-write and perform as Feathers of Jatinga. But where is the time?

Superzero – Derick and I can come up with songs in 1 day. But the point is – who will listen to us? Nevermind! After Amogh Symphony “IV”, there will be new Superzero immediately.

 

You are launching a label Vmbrella with Tom Geldschläger, Andrey Sazonov, Fatum Black, Jimmy Pitts and Matheus Manente. Can you tell us about it?

Too early to talk about it. But I think there will be an update very soon from Fatum and Andrey.

Any final words? Anyone that you would like to thank?

Peter. For being connected, always supporting and for being patient with me.

Amogh Symphony Interview

2014 was a good year for the independent music scene in India. One of my favorite release from an Indian band was “Vectorscan” by Amogh Symphony. The release saw the band moving away from technical metal and into “Avant garde” territory. I spoke to the band about the album, how Andrey became part of the and also what the future hold for the band

How does it feel now that ‘Vectorscan’ has been released?

Jim – Like a load was lifted off my back. Now, i can practice my doublebass for fun, not to achieve BPM for a track. It is no fun to have tempos that i cannot play at the time to record. It makes practicing like work, which is detrimental to the creative process.

Andrey – A huge relief. Like it or not, the music finally shaped itself. Creating the album was no easy task for all of us.

The storyboard for the album is quite extensive. How long have you been working on the story for?

Andrey – The story has just begun.

Vishal – The story was written in 2 months but later I had to do a lot more research on it. Especially with tantric mantra style rhymes as song titles/chapter titles. This time, I had to treat it like a proper storyboard with images and visuals. Overall, 3 years of work.

With Jim in USA, Andrey in Russia and you in India. What was the songwriting process like?

Jim – Slow for final arrangements. Vishal is the kind of guy who can create a 5 minute song based on a 7 second drum loop i send him. With all parts in an hour or two. It’s hard to get Vishal to stop changing things. Vishal sent me new song demos, i did listen to them more than once and they went to my trash folder. I learned from TQHC when i would spend two weeks on 4 measures, and i was finally ready to record the next day, that night Vishal would send a new version with that section deleted.
This album did not have re-composing and fitting the drums to the music like TQHC, by chopping them up, changing, adding bass drum parts, starting the groove on th & of 3 etc…
All the songs were set in stone before i hit record. Vishal did change things and recompose, but that was done on top of the drum tracks.

Andrey – Lots of communication, countless phone calls, emails, messages, thousands of shared ideas to be refined later. And thousands of hours, obviously. No random noise. Focused work.

Vishal – lol. I know you guys hate me so much for doing that. You heard them, Peter.

How did Andrey become part of the band?

Jim – Andrey was wandering around the My Little Pony section of Toys R Us crying. We followed him around. Then he found a plastic xylophone and played an incredible etude. Vishal and i looked at each other and immediately bought the giant My Little Pony Stable Playset and a couple of ponies for Andrey. We never saw such an excited guy. He then ran and grabbed a Barbie guitar and played Eruption note for note. We knew that we had found the third member.

Andrey – Started as a new member of RPL, wrote some unusual extra parts, which Vishal liked.

Vishal – I discovered Andrey through Mark during Robots Pulling Levers guest sessions. Andrey amazed all of us with his playing and ideas and I knew that I found the third puzzle of Amogh Symphony lol and Jim made up the story because he is a genius.

How long did the recording process for the album take?

Jim – About a year.

Vishal – About a year? Aye, more than a year.

Andrey – More than a year. Too many ideas we’ve gone through. We could write an entire discography based on leftovers.

How difficult was the recording process for the album? I believe an entire recording of the album was scrapped.

Jim – That is correct. But the amount of songs were more than one album. It was like two albums. And each one had a different style. We knew something was wrong when Vishal had some Irish-like folk song violin parts.

Actually there is a bass line that survived the cut and made it to the album. Except it is not shifting time signatures like a broken record.

Andrey – ‘Finding the right sound’ for a certain idea was the hardest part for everyone. More thinking, more playing, more unique, unusual sounds.

Vishal – I took help from few recording engineers. I wasn’t happy with same old “hi-end” and “crystal clear digitally” styles of production. Same synth, same presets….never. Hence, it was a non stop search for the right sound which means even the scratch recordings were tweaked to get the basic skeleton structure.

What is next for the band? I believe you have been working on instructional videos and a DVD.

Jim – This is top secret info. Since we pissed of many fans of the metal Amogh sound, the next album is designed to piss off everyone else. As far as video, i want to do some lessons on YouTube.

Vishal – You know, that’s been going on since quite a long time but I want to make sure that I do not end up making a regular DVD video where I sit and show off same sets of guitar and production/music composition lessons. All I want is to share something that others do not and/or never shared. For example, how to make top notch music with minimal gear and cheap equipments when you are broke and cannot afford to buy those expensive gear on Youtube demo videos.

Any Final words?

Jim – Don’t blow dry your hair while taking a bath.

Andrey – Thanks for listening our music and thanks for support.

Vishal – You never know where the direction goes. No matter what, a lot of fans supported and accepted our directions that we chose. I really want to thank them all for being with us and believing in us.

Listen to ‘Vectorscan’ below

Feathers of Jatinga

Yesterday while checking soundcloud I found out that Feathers of Jatinga released a 4 track instrumental EP here. Going through my emails today I found an interview I did with Vishal J Singh and Vedant 3 years ago for Indianrockmp3.

Feathers of Jatinga is a new project of Vishal Singh (Amogh Symphony) that features Vedant (Shades of Retribution) on vocals. They have released 2 singles, “Frozen Lies” and “Master who Bleeds” and are currently working on their debut album. I had a chat with Vishal and Vedant about their new project, what to expect from the album and if we would see them live soon.

Hi Vishal and Vedant, Hows it going?

Vedant: We guys are doin’ great! We are really happy with the way things are shaping up….

You know each other for some time now since you are childhood friends, when did you decide to start “Feathers of Jatinga”?

Vedant: Exactly! We are from the same town, Duliajan (Assam). We are great family friends.
So it all started very young for us, I would say from the very basics. We wrote songs together, rehearsed together, played in our first band together,(Infinite Ashes),shared the same apartment together in Pune…..So…Yeah!
Vishal: Actually, Vedant and my brother Vikram are childhood friends and that’s how I met him. We are more like blood brothers. The understanding between us is very naturally mutual and we trust on each other’s decisions in songwriting. I think back in 2000, it was Iron Maiden that influenced both of us. We used to play almost a whole setlist of Iron Maiden covers during weekend rehearsals.

We decided to start Feathers of Jatinga last year when Vishal came home for a few days and we were having beer on my terrace. It was In July and the next thing we knew…we were writing and composing left and right….hahaha.

Vishal: Yes. We were actually talking about all those earlier songs that we wrote together between 2001 – 2003 for our first band “Infinite Ashes” but we never got the chance to include them in the setlist. It was because of differences in thoughts and ideas between us and the rest of the band mates. In September 2003, I remember it was Vedant’s birthday. There were many friends and another band in the party. I was so badly drunk with the rest of the band mates and I had a fist-fight with Uday (Bassist of Infinite Ashes). The situation turned worse. Vedant and I also had a big fight and argument. That evening, I said goodbye to the band and moved back to home (Duliajan, Assam) for a month. We all were young and a little wild. I was the youngest member in the band (I was 18 years old) and a complete hot-headed teenager. I regretted about it much later when I started missing my band members especially Vedant with whom I was so close like a brother. Then I heard Vedant also decided to quit Infinite Ashes and joined death metal band IIIrd Sovereign in New Delhi as their new front man. I knew that IIIrd Sovereign got the best death metal front man for their line-up. Few years after that incident, we met at my Late Father’s last ritual in our hometown. We share a common story of life (Vedant, who was also very attached to his Father, lost him when he was very young). I think since then we started talking to each other once again and finally in July 2010, we recalled everything during that beer session on his terrace. Feathers of Jatinga was actually a song that we made in 2002. We both agreed to keep this name for this project because it’s related to our personal experiences in life.

Tell us a bit about then Album, what are the songs like? Similar to “Frozen Lies” and “Master Who Bleeds”?

Vedant: The sound gives you a cold and dark ambience of the North-Eastern winter in Upper Assam which will be heard on most of the songs. The songs I would say will be mostly about the sing along choruses, clean atmospheric vocals and very importantly, melody playing a key factor.

Vishal : All I can tell that if you are sick of hearing extreme technical death metal, progressive metal and djent and looking for atmospheric metal with simple structures for a change, I am sure you will love this album. Instrumentally, the songs are all about straight-in-your-face arrangement and Doom influenced riffs. I would honestly say that Amogh Symphony fans would not enjoy this album so much if they are expecting anything like Abolishing the Obsolete system or The Quantum Hack Code. This album is for the listeners who are philosophers and thinkers in their daily life. It’s dark but yet very positive. Positive thoughts of our mind that makes us a human on occasions. It’s all about realization in life. Everyone has a story just like mine and Vedant’s. And this album is a fuel for those positive thoughts about life.

What are the songs about?

Vedant: The songs are based on human instincts, paranormal behavior, parallel existence, mixed emotions and feelings and personal experiences as well. For example, “The Master who bleeds” talks about a Pupil’s sacrifice of all his master’s preachings, principles, moral ethics and values and above all, his oath to follow the light of truth. All these turns to dust when the pupil stains his hands with sins to eradicate evil from the society which the Master cannot bear and banishes him from his life and wisdom.

Since you live in cities in two different ends of India, how are the songs written?

Vedant: Vishal comes up with the melody and the pattern of the songs, mails it to me with the arrangement sheet, I write the lyrics and the vocal melodies, record my vocals in Guwahati at Lucid Recess Studios (thanks to Siddarth Barooa from Lucid Recess), mail it to Vishal who finally does all the overall layering, mixing and mastering.

Vedant, why the shift from IIIrd Sovereign and Shades of Retribution to something mellow like Feathers of Jatinga?

Vedant: Not a shift really… I always had these ideas and concept written down for such projects and Feathers of Jatinga is the perfect ground for executing these ideas and concepts.

Vedant on clean vocals is a bit of a surprise to those who know you from IIIrd Sovereign and Shades of Retribution.
Do you have any formal training? Do you have any practice rituals or exercises that you do for your vocals?

Vedant: Naaaaahhhh……it was just the tapes for me! The loo is the place for me that provides me the practice pad…hahahaha.
Vishal: You guys should listen to Vedant when he sings Bhojpuri songs. His Bhojpuri vocal version of Iron Maiden’s “The trooper” is just insane.

Vishal, you always manage to get a clean and polished sound on all your projects. Where do you record and what equipment do you use?

Vishal: I used to record at my buddy Prashant’s home studio setup. His equipment is very awesome. I don’t rely on too many Equipments and plugins for production because it’s a very bad habit for a composer/arranger. Mixing is all about how you and your own ears want to hear it. I made a very simple setup for Feathers of Jatinga track arrangement. In DAW, I use Nuendo 4, Wave effects plugins and in Synth, Omnisphere by Spectrasonics. I used the same Aria Pro II Custom made Cardinal Series Guitar in the songs with Pod XT bean.

If given an opportunity which Bollywood music producer would you like to work with?

Vishal: Oh well! I am not sure about Producer. I think Benny Benegal (my former Trainer) is one great Bollywood producer with whom I would love to work with. Talking about music composer, I would say Vishal Bharadwaj (not because we share the same name). Even though A.R Rahman gets all the praise and support from thousands of fans, I think Vishal Bharadwaj is another phenomenal Bollywood music composer/producer who is kind of underrated. It’s a similar situation like Periphery and Animals As Leaders (if you understand what I mean) in Djent. Consider Rahman as Periphery and Bharadwaj as AAL.

Will the Album be released through a label or independently? What are the plans for distribution of it?

Vishal: Well, we are talking to few labels here and there. Not really sure about that but least we can do is printing some CD’s and distribute everywhere. Digital copies will be up as well.

Since you both are based in India, is there a possibility of doing live gigs after the release of the album?

Vedant: Haven’t planned anything yet. We will keep you guys updated though.

Vishal: Depends on our extreme busy schedules. I am very greedy when it comes to gigs. We need good money first and then we are on. We are not living in the past era of “Playing metal in the name of unity”. Like I always say, I want the session musicians (Drummer, Bassist, and Second Guitarist) to be paid well on time after shows. There are many great bands in our country who are still unpaid and they face such problem everyday. I love each and every fans and friends but before any legal work related to decent payments on time, doing live gigs will be suicide for us. If you guys buy our album and support us, may be Event Groups will show some love to us. Just like Amogh Symphony, everything depends on CD sales. It’s really a bliss to have greatest fans and friends who supports your music. But “Support” doesn’t help a band or artist to grow up financially. And there is no point in sacrificing your lifestyle just in the name of “supporting the scene”. I am totally against of this thought.

Are you working currently on any other projects?

Vedant: Yeah…I’m with shades Of Retribution as well and soon we will be releasing a new single produced by Vishal.

What are your plans for the rest of 2011?

Vedant : Let us release the album first…that’s what we are concentrating on as of right now!

Any final words?

Vedant : Hope you like the album.

Interview with Skyharbor

Skyharbor the progressive metal band of Delhi based producer Keshav Dhar is one of the most promising acts of emerge from India recently. The band generated a lot of buzz online when it started 3 years under the “Hydrodjent” moniker. Their set at the NH7 Weekender in November last year was one of the highlights of the festival for me. Earlier this week Basick Records, a progressive Metal label from UK released their debut album “Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos” and it kicks ass. Read my review of the album here.

Find out more about the album, getting signed to Basick Records and their future plans in my interview with Keshav below

Hi Keshav, how do you feel now that “Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos” is all set for release after 3 years in the making??

Keshav: Very, very happy and proud! I feel we’ve written a solid debut record and there is nothing that I would do differently in hindsight. The album was finished around the fall last year though, so I’m quite anxious to get cracking on the next one and plan ahead for the future.

“Illusion” features Dan Tompkins (White Moth Black Butterfly, Piano, Ex-Tesseract) on vocals and Chaos features Sunnieth Revankar (Bhayanak Maut, Providence) on vocals. How did you go about writing the songs with 2 different vocalists?

Keshav:Interestingly, the album wasn’t really written with the point of view that there would be different singers for different songs, or for that matter even that all the songs would have vocals. It started out obviously instrumental since it was my solo project back then. I had always wanted to collaborate with Sunneith on some material though, so around early 2011 he recorded vocals for ‘Trayus’ and I was absolutely blown away. We proceeded to extend the collaboration with songs like ‘Aphasia’ and ‘Insurrection’. He’s a phenomenal metal vocalist with an incredible sense of phrasing and groove. Then shortly afterwards I was contacted by Dan on MySpace, and he was interested in guesting on ‘Order 66’ – which I was really excited about since that song sums up the other side of our music quite well, the more delicate and proggy side. I sent him some more material along those lines and he enjoyed it and offered to sing on that as well. One by one we ended up doing 7 songs in total. Even some songs, which were meant to be instrumental from the get go like ‘Dots’, just sounded so, so much better with his vocals that I totally gave him free reign to do whatever he pleased vocally.

Basick Records has released “Blinding White Noise: Illusion and Chaos“. How did you get signed to them?

Keshav:My good friend Aaquib from Rock Street Journal was in contact with Barley and Lisa at Basick, and he put us in touch. I described the plans and long term vision I had for the project with Barley, and we came to an agreement very quickly. The whole deal took literally just a couple of weeks to sort out.

Skyharbor’s only live performance so far has been at the NH7 Weekender in November last year. Tell us a bit about the whole experience.

Keshav: Ahh, where do I begin! What an absolutely fantastic festival and experience. First of all there was Anup coming all the way from the US to rehearse and play with us, then the actual rehearsals which was an incredible feeling as I jammed these songs that had thus far only been sitting on a computer, in a room with a full band! Then the festival itself – awesome organization, awesome crowds, awesome sound, awesome lineups – I can’t say enough, how much fun we had at the NH7 Weekender.

From “Hydrojent” to “Skyharbor” what has been your most memorable moment so far?

Keshav:There are so many – the numerous wonderful collaborations, all the good things being said about us online and in the press, etc – but I would say our getting signed to Basick Records was really very special to me. I hugely respect and look up to them and the bands on their roster, and it’s extremely inspiring to know that they enjoy our music enough to want us in their family.

You were in Another Vertigo Rush for a short period before the band split up. Have you been in any other bands previously?

Keshav:Another Vertigo Rush haven’t disbanded actually – just on an extended hiatus. We’ll start writing again when the time is right, but we all have our individual priorities very clear right now. Besides that, a couple of jam bands in college which was fun but nothing serious.

You are also a much sought after producer, what projects are you currently working on?

Keshav:Heaps of projects at the moment! I’m producing Dan’s solo EP for his project ‘White Moth Black Butterfly’ which is wonderful ambient mood music, Limit Zero’s (Bangalore) full length album – kickass prog metal band! – and an ethnic folk trio called Just Ittefaq. I’m also producing singles and EPs for a lot of other bands, but these are the real ‘bulk’ projects as of now and the most notable.

Now that you have a live line up in place, will there be any more gigs in support of the album release?

Keshav: We still aren’t quite there as a live lineup yet, and we will make announcements about this in due time, but there are definitely plans – keep an eye on our facebook page for updates!

Have you started writing for the second album? What can we expect from the new material?

Keshav:There is some material left over which didn’t make it to the first album because I couldn’t finish up the songs in time, but these ideas are the basis on which I’m going to start writing for the second record. I also have a lot of ideas which I’ve yet to record or demo, and I plan to take a couple of weeks off sometime soon and start writing earnestly. It’s too early still to judge what kind of shape the second album will take, but I can say that the writing process is starting somewhat from where we’ve left off last time.

Final words?

Keshav: Thanks for having me on here, and a ton of thanks to you and all our wonderful fans for all their support and patience! Keep those awesome messages rolling in on our social networks, and look out for some more exciting news from us soon!

Stream/Buy “Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos” here