Four to tango

Energetic beats, live action and intriguing tracks are what keep city-based band ‘D’s Kitchen’ on top of their game. The foursome -- Madhusudan Raman, Rohit Kamath, Nipun Narayanan and Vaibhav Kumar -- with their different influences, make music that is full of life.

The tracks of their latest album, ‘This Side Of The Border’, have already started grabbing attention. In a candid chat with Tini Sara Anien, the members talk about their journey in the world of beats.

How excited are you about the latest album?
Vaibhav: Very! We started writing our lyrics for this even before we released our first album, which was really different. This album has eight tracks in it, after we scrapped around six songs.

Tell us more about the tracks...
Nipun: The album consists of songs like ‘Anthem’, ‘Bounce’, ‘Speed’, ‘Return Zero’, ‘Bitter Sweet’, ‘516’ and the title track ‘This Side Of The Border’. 

Have you just experimented with one theme here?
Madhusudan: Usually we just sit and jam and let the music take its own course. ‘516’ is a dark piece, ‘Bitter Sweet’ is about lost opportunities, ‘Bounce’ is an energetic number, ‘Return Zero’ is a love song and ‘This Side Of The Border’ is about being prepared for everything that comes one’s way. Our themes are all over the place.

Define the band’s music.
Rohit: We call ourselves a rock band now. Our music is spontaneous. We do not like putting labels to the band. Our lyrics are open to interpretation. When we are together in a room, we do not think about the origin of a sound and just go with the flow.

Artistes who have influenced the band.
Madhusudan: Our influences are many. Rohit has always listened to artistes like ‘Porcupine Tree’ and I grew up listening to jazz artistes like Miles Davis and Max Roach. For Vaibhav, it has always been blues, country music and grunge; he’s a huge ‘Nirvana’ fan. Now, we all listen to everything. Some bands like ‘Skrat’ and ‘Last Remaining Light’ have influenced us.

Has your music changed over time?
Rohit: Our music has become darker over the years. Earlier we used to write happier music. But now our tracks often have a sinister mood and are more heavier. 

The band’s name is interesting. Explain?
Vaibhav: There is no story behind our name. We just thought that it was an interesting title. While many have quizzed us about the title, some have asked us if D stands for devil. And no, it doesn’t! Our music isn’t Satanic.

How do you feel rock music is doing at the moment?
Madhusudan: It’s not a great time for rock music right now. We feel that rock faded away because it was overproduced, overmarketed and there was too much thought put into the whole process. However, many genres are making a comeback and rock will too soon.

What do you prefer, live acts or recording?
Nipun: We definitely prefer live acts more than recordings any day. We love the energy from the crowd and we love playing together as a group.

A memorable gig for you.
Vaibhav: We did a four-city tour last year and the last day was at Pune. It was raining cats and dogs and we hadn’t found a place to stay yet. We got a call from the organisers that we should reach the venue immediately as there were around 750 audience members at the venue and it was jampacked. This was despite the rain! Can never forget that day.