The 4th track on the album is ‘ The Shadow ’ which is again a cover , originally composed by the band Garaj Mahal . This is one of my personal favourites & I enjoyed playing a Drum Solo on this one . The first vocal track ‘ Run ’ is originally composed by Vasundhara Vee & Dhruv Ghanekar . I was very excited when Vasu said yes to doing a live version of this song . She sounds phenomenal on this one . ‘ Triple Threat ’ is the sixth song on the album , another band original , which is very popular among musicians . I had released it in 2017 which also featured bass prodigy Mohini Dey .
The final song on the album is ‘ Bandish Blues ’ another absolute favourite original , that originally had Parthiv Gohil on vocals , but this time , it features the amazing Varijashree Venugopal who joined us for the Bangalore concert .
3 . Each of you are extremely good at your own craft . How did the trio come about and how did you three meet ?
I met Rhythm & Avishek both around 4 to 5 years ago . I had heard of both of them through common friends & social media . I knew they were really good at their instrument & I could see their love for jazz-fusion . Over the years we have performed for several artists such as Amit Trivedi , Farhan Akhtar , Diljit Dosanjh & many more . When I was thinking about forming this Trio , I was very clear about working with these two incredibly talented artists & believe me , we had a blast on this tour .
4 . Tell us about the tech used in making of these tracks .
There is no special tech used to record this album . Mainly good equipment going through great mics . I would like to specially thank Ayush Malik & Pranav Raj for doing a great job with multitracking the band . Lastly , the amazing sound engineer Abhishek Ghatak , has done a phenomenal job with the mixing & mastering of the album .
5 . What were some of the challenges you faced in creating this album ?
The real challenge was to get good backline equipment & sound equipment as per our rider . I was very clear to not compromise with gear , as I wanted to put out the best quality while we were recording all the gigs . Dealing with small clubs can be quite a headache , which is why I ’ m so thankful as to how things turned out despite any challenges ! I would like to thank our manager Rani Kaur , gear partner Furtados & Gladson Raj for helping us out on this tour .
6 . You had two powerful voices lending their vocals for the album . How did the collaboration happen ?
I have been very fortunate to have these two stellar vocalists on the album . I ’ ve known Varijashree for over a decade now & I ’ ve been a big fan of her music so when our Bangalore gig got confirmed , I was very clear about collaborating with her . With limited time to rehearse , she did an exceptional job learning Bandish Blues & killing it on stage . I have been a big fan of Vasundhara ’ s voice & music . I took a chance calling her when our Delhi gig got locked , & turns out she was available & extremely excited to join the band for a couple of tunes . Initially , she wasn ’ t sure about doing a live version of her original ‘ Run ’ specially with a trio , as the original version is well produced . But during our rehearsal at my studio , after hearing the Trio , she couldn ’ t believe how big it sounded . I ’ m grateful to both of them for adding so much magic to the album .
7 . Upcoming projects
Currently the band is looking forward to perform at various jazz festivals across the country & across the globe . I also plan to come out with a live studio album with the trio featuring some international guest artists .
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