Artist of the month:
RAGHAV
MEATTLE
How would you describe your
songwriting process?
I write about the things that inspire me
and the songwriting process is usually
lyrics first.I've been writing for over
8 years now, so I tend to focus a lot on
the lyrical aspect of my music. Once I'm
happy with the words is when I start
creating melodies and the structure to
my songs. The process has been evolving
as I keep writing more songs though - I
sometimes write melodies first and write
the lyrics later. In terms of what I write
about - it's usually what I experience as a
27 year old living in a country like ours.
A lot of satire, political commentary
and things that I care about strongly.
What’s the most recent thing
you learnt musically?
Music theory is so vast and as a musician
with very little formal training, that's
what I've been trying to focus my energies
towards. Guitar voicings just change
the way I look at my instrument and
I've been trying to incorporate that in
my songwriting. I've also been teaching
myself Indian Classical warm up exercises
- it really helps me open up my voice
and gives me a lot of control over it.
Tell us about your gear and
what do you love the most
It's really simple - I use an acoustic guitar
(Taylor GS Mini). I really love the warm
sound of the guitar and absolutely love
the Taylor pick-ups. I recently recorded
two of my singles with the guitar.
I recently bought the TC Helicon Voice
Live 3 and it really helps me do more
with my vocals and guitar tones. The
processor also comes with a looper, which
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Score Magazine
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I'm still in the process of learning and
hopefully, start using it on my live sets. What’s the best gig you’ve
had till date and why?
You’ve been a part of intimate
house sessions. How did those
go and why do you love them? I think my favourite gig was at Lil
Flea last year - It was the first time
we were able to get an audience to
dance through the entire set of about
50 minutes and it gave me a lot of
confidence. There were about 200
people going absolutely nuts in peak
Bombay summer. It also impacted
my songwriting process to writing
more uptempo, groovy music.
I'm currently on tour with Saurav
Mehta, a stand-up comedian. We're
doing a five city tour and calling it
Giggles & Rhythm. We just thought
it'll be a great concept for us to gig
together since we're such good friends
too. Breezer bought into the idea - we've
been traveling with a videographer to
document the whole process as a result.
I love intimate gigs since I get to tell
people about my writing process, why
I wrote these songs and gives them
more context to understand the song.
All of these things usually get lost in
a bar scenario. It's also a great setting
for real fans of the music to come out
and listen to the music - the way it was
a written, with a guitar and my voice.
Tell us about your
upcoming projects
After this tour, I'm going to start
work on releasing the two singles
that I recently recorded. The masters
have just come in and I'm just
thinking of ways to release them
now. I'm also working on a special
set for music festivals with certain
design inputs - so that's what is
on my plate for the near future