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[trbble-blog]

Hustle your way to glory

The Story of Adessi and Scott Isbell

This week on When Artists Talk to Trbble (WATTT), we have with us, two artists who personify this quote. These two artists are students at the Berklee School of Music and their recent blockbuster named Tonight has put them on the global charts of Soundcloud with over 10 million plays to it. Team trbble is proud to present, Justin Malinow AKA Adessi and the pop sensation, Scott Isbell!

WATTT Episode 8

We got to talk to Adessi and Scott who told us about their struggles, experiences , their recent collaboration and the road that lies ahead. Here’s what they had to say:

On their new blockbuster single

Adessi: “Scott and I connected about a year ago via LinkedIn . At that time , my production quality was not really where it had to be to do anything with Scott, but in the last couple of months I’ve improved and my production quality has picked up significantly. So we got together and did something and it turned out to be good!”

How Adessi improved his production in only a couple of Months

Adessi: “ After I connected with Scott, a few months later I started school at Berklee . It’s really an amazing environment out here and you get to meet a lot of amazing people. Through them ,I’ve been able to pick up a few more neat techniques that I wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise. Also, I got a new computer which runs so much better than the one I used to work on. So I’m able to do a lot more and get a lot more out of my sounds”

On Donald Drumpf as Scott’s Inspiration

Scott: “Donald Drumpf is a no BS type of guy, a master performer and a PR machine. Nobody does PR like him. He has given me the courage to stand up and let my voice be heard. It is time we take back our country and it is time we put our troops and vets first. Our veterans are treated horribly. But all of that will change once Mr Drumpf is our POTUS.”

Reason for Scott’s impression as an earnest artist among the fans

Scott: “ Thanks for recognising the relationship I have with my fans. I guess the impression has come up because I just am myself with everyone and I can only be myself. Perhaps my political views don’t line up with everybody’s, but I respect all views as long as they respect mine. That is what the new generation of Conservatives is and will be. I am a sincere guy and I never stop working. There are many weeks where I will be up 48 hours straight to do what I need to do to win in music and in life.”

Is Music Education a must for artists?

Adessi: “Well not necessarily. Berklee is an amazing school and a really great place to learn. But I don’t think that music school is really a place that anyone should go to unless they have a great passion to learn music. If not, it’s just a waste of money”

The Story Behind the Name Adessi

Adessi: “ I wanted to pick something that sounded awesome but also translated into something that could be musical. Adessi in Italian translates to a punctual or fast person and also translates into now, at this time. Since music is mainly based on timing I thought it would be a good name”

Adessi’s influences from the World of Music

Adessi: “ I’ve always been a fan of Zedd, Martin Garrix and Alex Metric. I don’t try to incorporate their sounds into my songs because I want them to sound original and like me and not like a rip-off of someone else’s music. But I do have a vision of what I want my music to sound like and what my characteristic music will be like — just like Deadmau5 has a distinct Bat Sensein his songs.”

The Story Behind Scott getting Signed by Wu-Tang Management and sharing the stage with Sean Price and Others

Scott: “ About six years ago , Jimmy Kang, the VP of Wu-Tang Management discovered me after seeing me perform at an open mic night at a club of his. He has been with me since the start and he’s the person I trust more than anybody in life outside of my immediate family — I think that says a lot.”

“Rest in peace to Sean Price. Though I only met him a few times, Sean was a really down to Earth guy and a true legend. I am honoured that I have shared the stage with the most legendary hip hop artists in history.”

On How Scott got to perform at WWE events

Scott: “I am a huge WWE fan. How did I meet so many wrestlers and end up performing at professional wrestling events? I simply never stop pushing and grinding. I win because I work my butt off and I am never satisfied. I never settle. You have to have thick, thick skin to be a pop star. If you don’t the negative vibes from haters I get each day would kill me. I get death threats even which is nuts. I just am me and that is that. I get way more love than hate. Way more. I have the most amazing fans and I am thankful for each and every one. We are in this journey together. My goal is to put out music that inspires and motivates.”

The Struggle to get music heard

Adessi : “ It’s really hard to get your own music heard by people out there especially if you don’t have a huge following on soundcloud or anywhere else. It’s really hard to make people become a fan. People will give your songs a listen and appreciate it but they won’t go back and follow you or even follow you and won’t take enough of an interest. I’m still struggling to figure that bit out by myself. Even within Berklee, people do appreciate what my songs but I guess there are a lot of people here who are really great so it’s even harder to impress them. I guess musicians are the most difficult to impress at the end of the day”

On what lies ahead…

Adessi: “ I have with me around 55 unreleased tracks as of now. And Scott and I are coming out with an EP this summer. I also have a video coming out soon with Ross Mintzer. Apart from this, the plan is to try to book some gigs and tour for a bit; it’s a bit hard to book gigs since I don’t have a manager and haven’t signed for a label yet. But the plan is there to get out there and play.”

Adessi and Scott Isbell: The Essentials

And here’s the podcast:

[trbble-blog]

Re-creating the Black Sabbath Era

The Story of the Heavy Metal Band, Bevar Sea

After discovering some amazing new Electronic music this week like this one, we wanted get down and headbang to some old school heavy rock/metal - Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy etc. - the kind which got us interested in the first place.

In our quest to go back in time, we head out to a pub near us and got to meet just the band. The winners of Rolling Stones “Best Emerging Act” award in 2013 and the men behind two critically acclaimed albums, one of which was included in Ninehertz’s best albums of 2012, team trbble is proud to bring to you, Bevar Sea.

WATTT Episode 7

We got to talk to Srikanth Panaman, the man behind the Black Sabbath like riffs of Bevar Sea. Here’s what he had to say:

On their fast rise to Success

“When we started in 2011, there was nobody doing exactly what we were doing. We went back to the roots, we put up posters everywhere and got the old school metal fans back out. In our concerts, there were people in their forties who attended a concert after ages. At the same time, we were able to pull in the younger crowd who were at that time, more accustomed to a different style of metal. For them, we were a welcome change from what they usually listened to - a shift from the usual growls and stuff. We just played stuff like Black Sabbath, with a hook being present in any thirty second piece of a song. Also, with every album, we try to keep ourselves fresh and not repeat what we did earlier, so that keeps our fans also expecting and helps us get shows in colleges where our fans are studying. So there’s always a focus and direction with a set of unwritten rules of sorts that helps us create music and entertain.”

The Origin of the Name Bevar Sea

“We didn’t have a name when we started. Back in the day, I used to have a band called Dirt Bucket, for which I wanted a new name. So in the time when there was no name for the band, a friend of mine gave me a few suggestions which included Bevar Sea. Somehow the name stuck with me and I liked the idea of playing a pun on the word Bevarsi, which means ‘bastard’ in Telugu and Kannada (South Indian languages). So we kept the name Bevar Sea and did an entire nautical theme around the word ‘sea’. If you look at artwork, we have everything being represented under the sea.”

On Covering Black Sabbath live

“We as a band have a really short tolerance about playing the same songs all over again. We don’t want the audience to get bored with our music. So we try to mix it up and play some covers sometimes. It also helps us understand other people’s music and makes us grow as musicians. The creative process gets better every single time and sometimes we do covers our way with our own arrangements a the Bevar Sea touch to it.”

The Story of the Song Abishtu

“When Ganesh, our singer, joined the band, we wrote a few new songs. Abishtu was the second one that we wrote with Ganesh. The song revolves around a short guy named Abishtu, who rides a bike fuelled by blood, along the east cost, killing hipsters. The whole ‘fuelled by blood’ concept is from a horror movie and the word Abishtu is a Tamil word that means ‘idiot’. Ganesh is from a Tamil family - I’m sure he’s been called that all his life. That’s where the name came from. We’ve tried to make the character sound like this bad-ass slimy kind of a guy who goes around killing people.”

Experiences on the Road

“The funniest and probably the coolest moment from our career was probably this one time when we announced a cover gig for the first time. We slogged and learnt 17 songs and played for ninety minutes but at the end of the day, the crowd wouldn’t let us go without playing Abishtu. We fought hard to not play Abishtu and the band was determined to not play it since we wanted people to get used to our new work. Our singer went backstage, our equipment was unplugged and dismantled , but the crowd didn’t relent! We eventually had to come back, regroup and perform Abishtu. It was a forced Encore by the crowd. Abishtu has become our Stairway to Heaven!”

Introduction of Ganesh from Kryptos

“Back in 2010, when we had the whole band ready and I connected with Ganesh, who I’d known since a long time. I messaged him saying I was looking for a singer and he said that he didn’t know anyone who could sing like Dio, which was kind of the style I was looking for. But he volunteered to sing for us and add his own style of singing in a way that he thought the band should sound like. We loved what he was doing and were happy having him onboard. Once he joined the band, we had no other option than to play live soon after. From his time in Kryptos, he had a lot of contacts who could easily get us our Debut gig and we got to open for Orphaned Land (From Israel), thanks to Salman, our Social media guy. Also, whenever he goes to Europe with Kryptos, he gives out albums and thanks to that, we have some fan following from there too. Even I have a good network within the Doom Metal Community abroad and that too helps in gathering following. So we all do our bit to contribute. But Ganesh’s presence does help us a lot in getting out there.”

What’s in stock for the Future

“Honestly, the last album came out in 2015 and it hasn’t had its fair share of promotion. So we would love to go out on gigs and get the songs heard. The album is pretty different from the previous one so we want to get the crowd a bit more used to the new songs. At the same time, I’d like to get back to writing new music. The new album took a year for us to write the material and then record and perfect it, so if I start writing new stuff now, we’ll hopefully be ready by next year to start recording the new album and put it out as soon as we can.”

The best possible intro to Bevar Sea is an intro to the best of their songs - Bevar Sea: The Essentials

And finally, the podcast:

[trbble-blog]

How a Knock on the Door Changed our Lives

The Story of the American Rock Band, Dream Alive

We all love Pink Floyd don’t we? What about Coldplay? How about a band which draws inspirations from these two legends and adds a secret sauce of its own to create magic? With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt (and one more on the way), all the way from Los Angeles, California, team trbble is proud to present, the winners of this year’s Artist Aloud award for the best video, Dream Alive!

We got to speak to Nik and Karan, who recounted starting from an apartment in Los Angeles to performing around the country and in India. Here’s what they had to say:

On Winning the Award for The Best Video

“It’s a pretty surreal feeling. It came as a surprise because this was the first video we shot and it was on zero budget. The video was a group effort with everyone contributing to it - we rented a stage area and our friend Irwin was the cinematographer, Nik’s Sister was the lead actress and Karan’s cousin was in it too.

We played in India earlier and it was an amazing experience  -  the audience was really receptive and for us to be recognised and awarded by the jury for it is really a humbling experience.”

On the Beginning of the Dream Alive

“It really all started with a knock on the door. Karan and I used to live in the same apartment complex and coincidentally shared a wall too. So he used to be able to hear me playing the keyboards. One day when I was jamming to some classic rock tunes, he came over and said , “Hey that’s some awesome stuff you’re playing. We should definitely get together and jam!” And then we started jamming. Coincidentally, the video that we won the award for was the first song we jammed together on.

So literally around three weeks after we first jammed, we played our first live gig. This happened somewhere in 2012 (Phew, time flies!)”

On gathering a mass following in India

“The legwork for getting a lot of following in India was always in works. Whenever we did any promotions via Facebook or YouTube, we always targeted India since that’s Karan’s hometown too. We also started mailing MTV Indies with our videos. Artist Aloud also signed us up and helped promote our first album. All these factors put together helped us gather followers in India.“

“So one day Karan came to me (Nik) and asked me if it would be feasible to play in India at Blue Frog (Mumbai) and the Baroda International Marathon - he was like, no pressure, just give me an answer within this afternoon! Lucky for me, I had a ten year Visa and so I said, yeah why not and he was like, good ’cause your plane leaves in six days!

The experience of playing in India was pretty amazing, the crowd is so involved and passionate that it makes the entire playing experience a lot more fun!”

On the Concert at the WorldArts Studio

“So we created a profile for our band on their website and they invited us to perform at their studio to broadcast our concert live via periscope like they usually do. The only issue was that only three of us were available that day so we decided to do an unplugged/acoustic version of our songs. We usually play as a five piece band with a bassist and three piece harmonies. That was, playing an unplugged version was a big learning experience for us because sometimes when you reverse engineer a song and strip it down, you learn a bit more about the song, even if you’ve played it hundreds of times. The guys at WorldArts were really amazing and did a good job with the organisation of the concert — they even promoted our music afterwards and gave us a few videos of our performances that we cherish till date. It’s always nice to have organisations support the indie music community both morally and also by providing a platform to showcase ourselves.”

Chances of collaborating with any Indian Bands

Karan:

“So I grew up in India and I’ve always followed the rock acts from there  -  I love bands like Parikrama, Indian Ocean, Agnee, Thermal and a Quarter and many others. I used to listen to them so often and attend their concerts. Many of them used to play stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica and I used to enjoy them a lot. The music scene in India is pretty big these days and I especially love the way bands infuse Indian Classical music with Rock music.

If I were to pick a band that I’d love us to collaborate with it’d be probably be Thermal and a Quarter or Indian Ocean. I’ve always been a fan of the blues sound that is native to TAAQ’s music and Nikhil Rao, the guitarist of Indian Ocean is a good friend. We’d love to maybe jam with them whenever we come to India next or maybe go on a tour with a band that sounds similar to us!”

(Imagine the sound of both the bands together  -  that would be something!)

On funny experiences on the Road

“So there was this one time that we were playing at the House of Blues here in LA and we were the second last band to go on stage. We had made this fancy intro for the show which we were going to play. For the intro, we wanted to use the newly acquired Moog. Now the thing about the Moog is that it’s an analog instrument and requires like five minutes to warm up before it gets in tune. Sadly, the guys at the center told us that we had like five minutes to set up and we were not able to use the Moog at all  -  it was just standing on stage like a prop! The funny part is that at the end of the concert, people came up to us and said, “Woah! dude, that was some amazing stuff you played on the Moog!”

On the production of the Drifting Away album

“The entire EP was done in less than a month (like Gn’R just coming up with songs in a day!). Martin and David (Bass and Drums) are real magicians. They laid down the album by recording bass and drums in one room and we grooved off of it. They laid down the groundwork that made it so easy for us to just add layers on top of their work!

We sent the songs songs to MTV and after a few months of follow up Emails, they got back to us and said that they’d be airing the songs one after the other. The effort put into the album really paid off that way!”

Future Plans and the Upcoming album

“So we’ve currently been bitten by the writing bug. The last album was really spontaneous and was made really quickly and we love that. Now that we have time in our hands, we’re writing new material and experimenting with new sounds. We can’t wait to share it with everyone, it will be something different but will be distinctly Dream Alive”

“Apart from that, we’re planning a few gigs come June and also, want to come back to India, this time all five of us, and play. We’re trying to contact the organisers of the Mood Indigo Festival(IIT Bombay’s Cultural Fest) and also will try to book a few gigs in other cities. So all in all, a lot to look forward to!”

As always, the 3 minute Dream Alive: The Essentials playlist.

[trbble-blog]

The Common Man’s Band from the World’s Biggest Democracy

The Story of the Tamil Rock Band, Oorka 

This week on When Artists Talk to Trbble (WATTT), we wanted to get in touch with the roots of India. So we spoke to a band that has stuck to its roots since it’s inception. They call themselves the common man’s band and epitomize that notion by performing directly in front of audiences without an exclusive setting - stopping along the way on road trips, draw audiences and playing for them. Their song Peraasai was even voted as the track of the week on BBC Asian Radio Network. Team trbble is proud to present to you, the Tamil Rock band from Chennai, India — Oorka!

WATTT Episode 5 — Oorka

We got to speak to Bharath Sankar, the Vocalist and Keyboardist of Oorka. Here’s what he had to say:

Oorka’s Origin Story

“We all live in a community where there are a lot of artists. So on a daily basis there is some or the other music related activity going on. There’s always someone getting together and jamming. When I was introduced to this community, it started becoming THE place to go for me, so much so that we’d never go back home at all. So when I started writing my own songs, the others picked up their guitars and started jamming along. Eventually I was able to connect with a few people and I started playing along with them and that’s how Oorka started”

On the Name Oorka

“The word Oorga in Tamil means pickle. We wanted to trick people into thinking pickle but actually the name Oorka means For the People”

On their way of performing shows

“We did a road trip from Chennai to Pondicherry and on the way, we stopped at a few villages and played to the people who were present. We find that this method is the easiest way to reach people  -  go out there and play to anyone who is willing to listen. This way we don’t depend on events to come up or for venues to pick us up. We have no restrictions. I think social media is making people really lazy so we beat that feeling by going out on the road and performing live. We don’t ever publicize these events by documenting it or even photographing it. It’s something we do spontaneously so anyone who’s out at that moment can enjoy our music.”

The Album Launch

“Before the album launch, we put out a concert organized by an NGO in an area that was ravaged by the recent floods. We went ahead and stuck posters all around the city inviting people to the concert. We couldn’t find a better cause to play for.”

“The album was launched one month after this concert. For the launch, we rented a small pick up van and draped the Oorka poster over it. Our friends followed us on bikes while we drove around the city and played all through the drive. We covered a stretch of 3 different beaches with the city. Again, this was a way for us to reach out to people. At each location where we played, we distributed our album and also gave out links to people who wanted to download a digital copy. The entire event was pretty thrilling!”

The reason they call themselves the Common Man’s band

“The lyrics in our songs are pretty simple — they’re in colloquial Tamil which means that anyone can understand them. Also the themes are also around a common man’s feeling on a daily basis. Apart from this, as I mentioned, we try our best to reach out to people directly without the facade of advertising or a screen obstructing us. This works out really well for us. After our performances, we are often approached by members from crowd who quote out lyrics and give us a pat of appreciation”

The effect of being Chosen as BBC Asia’s Radio’s Track of the Week

“Well nothing remarkably has come up as a result of that. But the thing that we are happy and excited about is that our music is being heard by people across the borders and we are being appreciated there too. So that’s very exciting for us”

On the Pay what you want approach for their album

“We are not planning to make a lot of money through the first album, we just want to be heard. We as artists also do need money to survive but the sad state of affairs is that people don’t mind paying a large amount of money for one dinner but they mind paying a small sum to buy an album from an artist. So the thought process was to inculcate the habit of buying music within people . Once the audience gets used to that, then we can go ahead and quote a price for our albums.”

Oorka’s Plans Down the Road

“We have around 40 songs ready with us so we can record a new album at any point of time. We are just waiting for the right time to do so. In the meanwhile, we want to tour across different cities and gather fans wherever we go. That’ll happen after the summer ends. And after the tour we’ll probably regroup for the new album.”

The Essentials playlist from their first album.

Check out the full episode of WATTT with Oorka below:

[trbble-blog]

Lucky Number Sapta

The Story of the Indian Electronic Band, Sapta

Our fourth episode of When Artists Talk to Trbble (WATTT) is indeed a really special one. Not only is this artist’s song a fan favourite on trbble (#2 of trbble charts currently!), but this was the first band that we at trbble went to watch live as a team! With 6 albums under their belt and a seventh one in the works, these guys have been making music all over the world — from San Francisco to Paris and now in India! We present to you, the Electronic act with an Indian touch, SAPTA!!!

WATTT- Week 4 Episode 4

We got to chat with Marti Bharath, the frontman of Sapta, who gave us an insight into the band’s beginning, the experiences on the road, their upcoming album and also his encounters with the Legend A.R. Rahman.

Here’s what he had to say:

On the idea of Indian Electronic Music

“It’s been a long journey. I was heavily into Pop Music back in the days and when I moved to France, I got deeply influenced by the Electronic Music there. Since I’ve always been a fan of Indian Music, those elements got infused naturally into my productions. Over the years, the music has varied quite a lot, it was hard at first, then soft and now we’re back hard again!”

Origin of the name Sapta…

“I’ve always been a fan of the number 7. That’s why all our albums have 7 songs and are released on the seventh of a month. So, when 2007 came, I thought of starting the band. So I researched a lot about a few names around the number 7 and found out some cool stuff about it. That’s how that name Sapta came along. It’s Indian and a little bit western so it ties up well with the band”

The introduction of Other Members

“Sapta was initially a one man act but I’ve always liked to have a band perform along when I play live. Back in France there were two other members of Sapta, Yoann Sego and Alexi Cariba on the guitar and drums respectively. When I came to India, it took me some time to find musicians to work along with. I met Tapas at a Skrat gig and asked him to jam along with me and he was up for it. He’s been managing Sapta throughout and has been involved since the beginning and now he plays along with us. I’ve known Shravan for 3 years now. He used to rip my songs off of SoundCloud and used to play violin over it and send it back! The pieces were really cool so I used them in my albums. He was kinda like Lindsey Stirling — violins over electronic music.Later I asked him to tour with us and he did! Now it’s back to Tapas and I, Shravan has moved.

The inspiration for The Sound of This Nation

“The song was kind of an awakening…I was composing the song when the Nirbhaya event happened in India. When I saw what was happening, I wondered why such horrible stuff was happening! That kind of reflected in the song. It was originally supposed to be a soft song with a few Mridangam pieces. But I guess after I saw the incident, the aggression poured out into the song and it ended up being really hard. We also put out a video for the song which represents the event”

On the sound of the Upcoming album

“We’re coming out with our seventh album now — we’re hoping to release it on the Seventh of July(number 7 here too!). I’m not sure as of now what the album will sound like myself so I wouldn’t want to make any promises on that! I’m still shaping the album and I have a vision for the album. I hope I can get there. Since this is our seventh album, I want all the songs to have a video.”

“We’ve already played a few songs from this album in our gigs and we’re shaping the album according to the crowd’s reaction. I want to make this album extremely tight since I’d want to be touring a lot after this album to promote it. So to do a good job, we need some funds — the gigs don’t pay extremely well. So we took to the crowdfunding approach! That’s working out well for us till now, 15% down in a couple of days only! Hopefully we can make it there!”

Sapta’s experiences on the Road

“We’ve played for big crowds like in NH7 weekender and also for small tightly knit crowds in pubs across various countries. The smaller crowds are more intimate, there are usually a few friends from the city you’re playing in so you have a few known faces in the crowd. In bigger fests, people usually come to watch known bands and are somehow drawn to your performance. So they react differently. It helps us in getting to know what people actually think of us that way.”

“We’ve had quite a few crazy incidents happen on the road. One time , I was performing live in a pub, and no one was dancing! I was not able to get a single person to move to the beat. And then this kid came up to me and asked me to stop playing for a while. He then took the mic, connected it to his mobile and started playing these really weird songs. And all of the sudden, everyone is bar was dancing! All this went down in like a matter of seconds and I stood wondering what on earth just happened!”

On his Musical Influences

“So I’ve grown up in San Francisco, Paris, Dubai and India and the musical influences from all these places have helped me put out so many albums. All the albums have been created in different places (from SF to India). When you’ve lived in so many places, you tend to tweak your music to what the crowds in those places move to. I attended a couple of live acts in bars of those places and tried to pick up on the crowds’ taste and tweaked my productions accordingly!”

On meeting ARR

“So I’m a faculty for electronic music production at KM Music Conservatory in Chennai. It’s the other side of my life where I help students compose music three days a week. That’s been great for me. My students too attend Sapta’s gigs once in a while. I also got to meet ARR who walked into my class one day and funnily enough introduced himself (like he needs an introduction!). I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few interactions with him. He’s a legend in the industry. He still doesn’t know about Sapta although I think he won’t allow me to teach anymore if he gets to listen to my compositions!”

Check out the best parts of Sapta’s songs here - The Best of Sapta Vol 1.0

All you guys out there who love Sapta’s music and would like to contribute to their new album, click here. There’s amazing merchandise to be claimed and a chance to feature in one of their Songs’ Videos!!

Or listen to the full interview here:

[trbble-blog]

When Metal meets Bieber: Nothing Else Matters!

The Story of Demonic Resurrection

This week on When Artists Talk To trbble(WATTT), we have a BIG one! We have one of the most renowned names in extreme metal music in India and around the world. This band has been together for 16 years and released 4 albums (with another one on the way); they’ve played at the Wacken Open Air Fest (Germany), Metaldays Fest (Slovenia) and have opened for giants like Opeth, Amon Amarth and Textures. Team trbble is proud to present to you, Demonic Resurrection!

We got the opportunity to talk to Sahil “Demonstealer” Makhija, the founder and vocalist of DR, who recounted the journey through the years. Here’s what he had to say about their meeting with Iron Maiden , his choice of song to sing along with Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and much more!

WATTT: Week 3-Episode 3

On the new Demonstealer album

“The new album is a bit mellow. It’s just what i wanted to express. It doesn’t really fit in with the sound of DR or workbench or Reptilian Death. It’s a really personal album with a lot personal lyrics and emotion in it. I love singing but I’m not the greatest singer(He’s kidding right?!) but it was all about getting the message conveyed which I wanted to do with this album”

On his inspiration to go into Death Metal

“It was all about the passion. There was never a thought process to start a heavy metal band and I did not think of it in a way of wanting to fit in! I simply loved extreme metal and started off with what I was listening to back then. The first metal song I heard was Running Free by Iron Maiden which in a way started the journey for me”

On Meeting Iron Maiden

“We were able to catch up with Bruce Dickinson and the rest of the band after their performance in Mumbai. I spoke to Bruce for a while and also gave him a DR CD. His son plays in a Death Metal band and Bruce said he’d give him the CD. The entire band was pretty cool and getting to meet them was definitely a dream come true!”

A Song he would sing along with Bieber and Lady Gaga

“I can’t remember her favourite song…But actually we should get them all to sing some Metallica(Ooohhhh Yeaaahh!), I’m sure they know Nothing Else Matters. Oh, and Yo Yo Honey Singh can sing along too!”

On the effect of exits and entries in DR

“Over the years, every member has managed to infuse his own music style to the band. Like when Viru(the Drummer) joined the band, his drumming style altered the way material was written. Daniel too added a new element to the band. Along with this, both Mephisto(keyboards) and I have grown as musicians. The contribution is always there but at the same time, the sound has always remained distinct.”

On the Narration in The Demon King album

“In all our albums, we try to convey a story. Like the previous 3 albums were kind of a trilogy . So after Return to Darkness, we needed a new story. If you look at the album artwork, you can see that we’ve taken certain elements from Ramayana(Ram vs Ravan). But we made a conscious decision to write our own story. In the story, the King of Earth dies. Halfway through the album, the Demon King is awakened and this offsets the equilibrium between good and evil on Earth. So God, who is normally a silent spectator of the universe, comes down to restore the balance but gets killed by the Demon King. This leaves us with an open ending which could go into another album, you never know”

On getting featured in the Global Metal Documentary by Sam Dunn…

“So Sam was on a global tour trying to give limelight to the metal bands in different countries like India,Indonesia,etc. He looked us up on MySpace and asked me if we could put together a show for the documentary and I agreed! The movie gave us quite a lot of exposure and eyeballs and people started noticing the metal scene in India and also DR as a band!”

On the experience and memories of playing abroad…

“In terms of the fans’ passion for the music , it is similar to the passion of fans in India. The only difference is that in India, metal is usually a phase in people’s lives between 18 to 24. The ones who usually turn up for gigs are usually college goers. But abroad, metal is a way of life. You can see people of all age groups coming out for concerts and supporting bands and having a good time! “

“Last year at Metaldays , the crowdsurfing was at another level! I can’t even begin to aptly describe the craziness — it’s like one of those scene in matrix with the thing with ten arms . The people looked like they were going over the crowd! We were all looking at the crowd with out jaws dropped! I guess I still have some footage of that on my phone”

On Metal bands he’d root for

“A few bands like Bhayanak Maut and Kryptos have been there for quite some time and will continue to be there for a while more. But one band I’d be rooting for and that I think has a realistic chance of cracking it in the global metal stage is Skyharbor. They’ve already opened for Lamb of God once in India and have now been opening for Tesseract in North America. So I guess it’ll be Skyharbor and Kryptos for me along with DR!”

Advice to Upcoming Metal Bands

“If you’re playing metal music, don’t quit your day job!”

You can check out Demonic Resurrection’s playlist here.

[trbble-blog]

No Water? We’ll Just have Vodka!

The Story of the Post Rock Band, AsWeKeepSearching

Where do most upcoming bands get a gig? That’s right — pubs. But what do you do when the place your band is based out of ensures a statewide ban on alcohol — no venues, no gigs and nobody outside gives you a chance because you’re not established?

This week on When Artists Talk to Trbble (Say WATTT!), we have a band that has made its way up from a liquor/pub-free town to making a killing in Russia and winning fans the world over! Presenting, the Post Rock band with an Indian twist — As We Keep Searching!

We got to talk to Uddipan Sarmah, the Vocalist and Guitarist of AWKS, who shared with us the band’s journey. Check out what he had to say:

WATTT — Week 2 : Episode 2

The Humble Beginnings…

“Shubham and I started this as a studio project and recorded a couple of songs in my studio. We realised that we needed a drummer, so we got in touch with a friend. Slowly we recorded a few more songs and took the act live.”

On the Music Scene in Ahmedabad

“You don’t find any bands coming out of the entire state! A lot of people do make music but none of them go ahead and take it on a national level or even go out and play. There is no bars (since liquor in banned) and hence no venues to play at. We had to go out and explore and find places to play. If more bands start doing this, then maybe more Indie music will come from Gujarat”

The Struggles along the way…

“Indie bands never make money out of sales. It’s all about performing. Given that we didn’t many venues to play in, it became difficult for us to get gigs in other places since people do not want un-established acts in their venues. This process took time for us. People appreciating you is different from people lending you a hand and giving you a chance”

Post Rock with Hindi Vocals??

“I have been singing in Hindi since a long time — even my solo album has been in Hindi. So when we started AWKS, we didn’t think too much about Post Rock not having any vocals. I wanted to use the vocals as a layer and when we recorded it, Shubham and I felt that this was genuinely something new. So we went ahead with it”

A Band with members staying in different cities

“We do most of our work online — we create our tracks and click tracks online and do our homework pretty well. So whenever we meet, in the limited time that we get, we execute as much as possible. It also helps that everyone is highly experienced in music — it helps us deliver tight performances which don’t deviate much from the recorded versions”

The surprise metal element in B-303

“B 303 was originally an instrumental song. We named it after our studio’s apartment number. Later we started talking to Sunny(Sunneith Revankar, Vocalist of Metal band Bhayanak Maut) and I thought his voice addition to B 303 would be great. So we got to talking more and he agreed! Till date people tell me that the vocal version is better than the original!”

On the tour in Russia

“This was in the works for a while. I was in constant touch with our current manager since 2014, discussing the album release and a possible tour. Not many people know this but our album was launched in Russia two months before we released it in India and we were promoting it there and then we went there to play. One year of proper planning and hard work resulted in a packed house and quite a good following! We even engaged with the fans and got to know their pulse during the autograph sessions!”

Water crisis? No problem, we had Vodka!

“Water was extremely expensive there, it costed around Rs.125 (~$2) for a liter of water whereas you could get a full bottle of Vodka for Rs.300 (Who needs water when vodka is cheap!)”

What’s Next?

“We are writing some new music and have some good material ready. We’ve already started performing some new songs live — There you are and colors and lights. We’ve already started including them in our set lists and people do catch them and us if they’re new. So I guess they need to hear them more to get used to them. We’re also shooting a music video for the song What If_? in Prague! ”

Check out the essential playlist of AWKS below:

An Intro to AsWeKeepSearching

Or just listen to the interview here:

[trbble-blog]

Kanye and Coke Studio are in! Are you?

First of all, we’d like to thank our awesome community in helping us get to where we are in such a short span of time.

And this blog is for all of you! We’ve finally managed to convince Kanye West and Coke Studio India to out up their song previews on trbble before they are officially released.

This would go a long way in capturing the public’s imagination even before the release and get the buzz going!

On a lighter note, if you forgot the date in all this excitement, Happy April Fools’! :)

Did you really fall for that? Much fun! Many apologies :)

[trbble-blog]

“Just Don’t Die!!” said Ms.Bonham

The Story of the Rock band Grey Shack

One of the reasons why we started trbble was to shed popularise music created by emerging artists all around the world. The entire team is a big Indie and Emerging artist fan, and strives to surface them as much as possible — so much so that the two most popular songs on trbble are by emerging artists (XYLO and Sapta). This motivation led us to create a completely new section: When artists talk to trbble (WATTT).

Every week, we’ll interview a new artist — we’ll tell you how they came to be, their influences, their ups and downs and also give you some insight into their lives; all through a podcast. We’ll also publish their songs on trbble for you to discover them easily! Hopefully everyone out there will find some more awesome music to explore this way.

Week 1: Episode 1

Are you a fan of Old School Rock N’ Roll? Did you grow up idolising the likes of AC/DC, KISS or Guns N’ Roses? Well then this week we have a treat for you — Grey Shack, a Rock N’ Roll band from Chennai, India. With powerful vocals, some really cool guitar riffs and two albums up their sleeve, Grey Shack has been making noise all over India and beyond! They were the Winners of the Harley-Davidson band of the year from Harley Rock Riders Season IV and finished third in the Hornbill International Rock competition. We got a chance to talk to Rohan Sen, the Lead Singer and Lyricist of Grey Shack, who recounted the band’s journey, experiences and also their chance encounter with Deborah Bonham (yes, John Bonham’s sister, that Led Zeppelin drummer). Here is an excerpt from our conversation with Rohan:

The Beginning of Grey Shack…

“Vikram (Lead Guitarist) and I were batchmates at MCC (Madras Christian College), Chennai between 2006–09 and we formed the band along with a Bassist from my school days. We went through a few drummers and played in a few competitions and gigs… Post college we went our separate ways and then later got back together and we’ve been on ever since then.”

What’s going on now?

“We’ve released two singles and have been wanting to release another album since a while… Currently we’re booking gigs regularly and have a few gigs lined up in the coming weeks. The plan is to go to different cities line up gigs, gather fans wherever we go and try to get to know the people”

Grey Shack’s musical influences…

“ We’ve all been influenced a lot by everything between the 50’s and the 90’s , everything from Elvis Presley to Chuck Berry to The Kings of Leon. But we never consciously make an effort to sound like anyone. The fact that we have such varied interests makes the creative process interesting…”

The Experience at Harley Rock Riders Festival

“We didn’t know about the contest initially when we entered it. We got selected from the Kochi leg and went on to the finals with two other Bands. Winning the contest was pleasantly surprising and the grand prize was to represent Harley Davidson India at the Harley Rock Riders in Austria! The experience was spectacular — we had over a 100,000 riders over 20kms of road …The highlight was that the Harley Davidson Street 750 was launched to our music!”

On Meeting Deborah Bonham…

“So one day when we were backstage, socialising with the other bands, we met Deborah Bonham (John Bonham’s sister and a successful musician in her own right) who was playing there with her band. She was really inspirational and supportive of us. She said — “Do everything that my brother did, just don’t die!” Ramkumar, our drummer, has a picture with her that he framed and kept in his room!”

Advice to other emerging artists

“Just keep at it — learn from the local community of musicians , don’t feel shy to write to The Rolling Stones magazine or anyone else who’s publicises your music…Most importantly, record at least one song, even if it is on your own iPad. It’ll take you places”

Check out Grey Shack’s trbbles and show some love for the band! We will come back next week with more such awesome music and artists!

To listen to the the full interview ,click here.

[trbble-blog]

We have *some* good news!

Hello dear trbblers!

Starting today, we will be able to provide some mobile functionality!

We know. We know. And we’re sorry to keep you waiting! From now on, you will be able to listen to trbbles (and the full song if you like) on your phones. Updates for mixes, browse and others will be added soon.

Another thing that had been troubling us was sudden/irregular stops in playback. Our lads have gone ahead and fixed that too - promising an awesome trbble experience :)

So till the next update (it’s soon), listen, discover and share - finding new music has never been easier!

And this is how we feel today!

https://www.trbble.com/trbble?q=fc088fd1-2f62-4712-8988-fe7746f5ce41

Updates to follow :)

[trbble-blog]

Discover new music by listening to a song's best part first!

Hear the hook of the song, by #Airwaves

[trbble-blog]

Discover new music by listening to a song's best part first!

Hear the best part of The Wrath Of Tambora - Simon Templar Remix by Airwave 

[trbble-blog]

One riff , two riff , three riff, bore - or why I need new music

One thing that I’ve come to realise is that “Variety is the spice of life”  - and this is all the more true when it comes to music. Who doesn’t like a new tune to dance to or a new song to sing along with? If we could live with our current playlists alone, then Guns N’ Roses would’ve called it a day after composing Sweet Child O’ Mine and November Rain (ironically, they called it quits soon after the latter). The point is, we all want new songs on our playlists.

New songs are not hard to come across. There are so many ways that you could stumble upon a new song - walk into a bar and more often than not, you will be able to listen to a new song before you leave, or go through Spotify’s playlists or YouTube’s recommendation and you might find a new song or two. But there is no substitute to the recommendation of a trusted friend. Think about it, from the last few times you discovered a new song, how many were suggested by a friend?

trbble is based on this concept. We believe that people can play a more important role in helping you discover new songs than some algorithm, simply because a friend knows you better than a computer does. But it doesn’t end there; we’ve added a small twist - instead of listening to the entire song, you can listen to the best part of the song first and then decide if you’d like to listen to the entire song. How is this achieved you ask? Simple. Let’s say that you love “Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses”. You can go to trbble.com and post your favourite part of Sweet Child O’ Mine. Others can listen to this snippet and give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down depending on whether they like it or not. Also, if they like it, they can listen to the entire song right there! It’s like tasting the creamy center of a cake before stuffing your face with it.

All user posts on trbble are referred to as “trbbles”. In other words, a “trbble” is your favourite part of a song - it’s the part that you play on loop, the part that you hum all day long because it’s stuck in your head. All trbbles are curated according to the votes that they receive by others - so you can be assured that you’re in good hands.

Since our website went live three days ago, I personally have discovered 10 new songs that I absolutely love ! A few songs that I have discovered are :

The Boat song by Agam: Link courtesy Vignesh Ramakrishnan

Over the hills and far away by Nightwish (I love this version of the song): Link

Dimmu Borgir by Dimmu Borgir: Link

Over coming weeks, I’m sure I will be adding to this list. Follow my playlist by clicking on the “Collect” button if you like heavy metal. If you’re a Trance/House fan , then you can check out this wonderful playlist created by Vinay Mimani.

Note: This article was first published on Medium by Saket. You can find it here.

[bothkindsofmusic]

Crushing.

[trbble-blog]

Another sad demise. You will always be remembered, David Bowie!

[trbble-blog]

Reel ’em in with the hook

Are you among the people who are absolutely rigid when it comes to music? Do you detest all other genres apart from the one that you religiously follow? Well, this one is for you! The others can enjoy the rants that I’ve made about you :)

I am an avid metal and Rock N’ Roll fan. Till a few months back, if you made me listen to any other genre , it’d evoke a not-so-nice reaction from me — I’d probably be driving a stake through you in my head (like I said, metal fan \m/) . But then, you always have that one friend of yours who constantly annoys you by playing songs that you’re not into (and it doesn’t help if he owns the speakers). Vinay was that guy in my circle (yes, I’ve killed him over and over again in my head).

Whenever I hung out at his place, I’d be bombarded with a never-ending list of trance/EDM songs; and as a metal fan, all I wanted to do to him, was this:

But then, one day, Vinay got tired of my ranting (since I always ended up ruining the best part of the song for him) and started playing a game with me. He’d make me listen to his favourite part of the song (the hook) and then would ask me if I liked it enough to listen to the entire song(silently). And more often than not, I’d agree.

Here is a list of the few hooks that still keep echoing in my head. Try them, they’re pretty cool (coming from a metal fan,that’s a compliment): Man on the Run — Dash Berlin: Link Under my Skin — Ilan Bluestone: Link Solaris — Astrix(GMS Remix): Link

These are just a few of the hundreds of songs that he introduced me to. Interestingly, it took just a few seconds to decide if the entire song was worth listening to .

Little did I know that him and Gaurav were secretly hatching a plan to take over the world with this concept!! (well, at least the music world). So I decided to join the bandwagon. The final piece of the puzzle was an audiophile techie — this is where Praveen joined us, and since then, we’ve never looked back.

So join us on this journey with trbble and get reeled in with the hook(or “trbble”) of the song.

This was originally posted by our very own metal-head, V Saket, and can be found here.

[trbble-blog]

It’s a crime!

[pitchfork]

I’d rather hear about someone’s bizarre obsession with something that isn’t quote-unquote “cool"…I don’t just want to be told what music is quote-unquote "cool”; it’s boring.

Rookie editor, Tavi Gevinson (via pitchfork)

All the music is awesome. For someone :)