‘ It was just me getting bored of doing the same thing’. Veteran artist Vinayaka discusses his current explorations with Live electronica
Hello Vinayak. It’s a pleasure to have you with us for this interview. Could you tell us how you took your first steps into the world of electronic music? Did you have another background in any other form of music prior to it ?
Thank you the pleasure is all mine .. wouldn’t know which was my first step but i did learn to play the tabla , harmonium and guitar at a young age, in 1997 a close family friend in bombay took me to a recording session at a studio in Andheri and I fell in love with all the gadgets around and hearing music from those big a** speakers .. something told me inside that I want to spend my life in the studio to make noise or Music ..
I worked as a Dj playing at different clubs and Restro bars in Bombay for sometime, moved to Bangalore in 2002, quit playing mainstream and started making music and from that day onwards I never looked back ..
It’s been a while since we heard some originals from you. We read earlier somewhere that you’ve taken a break from writing originals or that you’ve had a writer’s block. Are you past that ? Could we expect something new soon?
It’s been a while since I heard my own music 😂, I was calling it a writer’s block till I recently realised that it wasn’t .. it was just me getting bored of doing the same thing and that I couldn’t follow trends .. i suck at it … Also understanding & delivering based on quality Over quantity… yes you will hear from me very soon ..
You have a live electronic project with No Latency. Could you tell us a bit more of the idea behind this and how it came about? Did you decide to make a conscious decision to focus on the live performance aspect as compared to writing tunes in the studio?
NOlatency and me have similar interests in sound and music , of course playing music live together and experimenting has always been our Motto , writing music in the studio and playing live are 2 totally different things .. so we have fun playing out live with no pre sequences and of course no laptops..so it’s just us, our instruments and the lush moments we create.. Each gig we choose to perform spontaneously and get people friendly with us just jamming and performing music, so we don’t repeat ourselves ..
Your most fav piece of gear from the live setup and why?
Moog Mother 32. Because it’s just so good
How do you approach your live performance? Do you have sequences that you rehearse before the gig or is it spontaneous ? What advice would you give aspiring acts who are more keen on hardware only live performances ?
Pretty much everything is Spontaneous with no pre-sequences, no computer. I for sure
practice before the show. My live setup is to keep sound simple and the moments exciting …. About giving advice to the aspiring, As the great Pandit Ravi Shankar says I have no advice I would probably learn from the young.
We think it could be great to have an album or release recordings of your livesets. Is that a thought that has occurred to you before ?
I have a very special project with OBE tabla maestro Talvin Singh, which I’m truly blessed about and a travel music project to preserve tribal folk music with the rural communities across India with Rest of my Family so Yes you will hear music from me this and the coming years..
Are there any artists currently active that you’d like to collaborate with ?
Many hard to name a few
What does Vinayak do to unwind ?
Spend time with my wife, family, few friends also I have recently started cooking or should say learning and trying some experiments with food..
A track/song by an Indian artist that you would love to remix
Ilaiyaraaja – Aye Zindagi Gale Lagaa Le
Thank you for taking your time to speak with us. To end on an interesting note where do you think the electronic music scene in India is headed next ?
Thank you for hearing me out … and also
Thanks to the Internet you will surely see more and more people enter this lucrative industry. Good or Not time will tell. Hari Om
Follow Vinayaka
Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/vinayaka
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/VinayakaOfficial
