It has been around six years since our last interview with The Yellow Diary , and they have turned out to be one of India ’ s most loved bands . Their consistency and dedication are two main reasons behind the positive effect they have on their fans . Here is the chat we had with the band .
We had our previous conversation back in 2017 . What has changed since then ?
Himonshu : The biggest change for us right now is that Harsh joined our band two years back . The song Mann from our latest EP is actually the first song that we have written with him . This is a big shift for us going forward . I also feel that things have changed for us on the live front . The shows have been getting bigger , and better . The audience has gotten more loving , we never thought that was possible , but the audience has gotten even more loving from what we got back in 2017 .
We feel the whole reception towards independent music in the industry itself has increased a lot in the last six years , especially in the last three years .
Rajan : We as a unit have become more tighter and way more mature in terms of the way we write our music and the way we emote and express within our songs . With time in any relationship what happens is that you find freedom , in terms of understanding each other far better . So , even what you are trying to express , what you are feeling , all of that stuff gets way easier for everyone to catch on to . This also simplifies the aspect of writing songs together because if it is easier for you to latch onto an emotion one particular person is feeling in the room , then you would be able to emote better .
And when that happens , that sync gets tighter and it shows in the writing . That is something that has happened to us .
Sahil : Also , The Yellow Diary ’ s family has started to grow ! Rajan is getting married . Himonshu is going to be a dad .
What is the dynamics of the band ? Does one person come up with an idea and then you all work on it , or do you all contribute individually based on your own lives ?
Rajan : To explain this I would like to paint you a metaphor . It ’ s like a pentagon , where each area is open to the universe and everyone can bring in their ideas out of thin air . The moment we have an idea , the basic functionality of the band is to kind of latch onto it , and try and understand it , and feel what the other person is feeling . There ’ s no one particular leader . The fact that we are five equal parts of the band also very loudly speaks to the fact that ideas are in everybody ’ s realm .
Your band emphasises a lot on the musical elements in your songs . As much as the singer sing , so does the music . How would you describe this quality ?
Sahil : For us in the grand scheme of things , we are all essentially servants of the music itself . We ’ re not here to take centre stage . It ’ s not about one person . When we sit down to write the music , it ’ s actually a blank canvas . We try to throw all possible ideas that we can on it . See what sticks and what doesn ’ t stick . The music takes the lead in this . The music we make is not a part of one person but all of our consciousness . I would play something on the drums and Rajan might say this could also sound cool as a pattern on the guitar , or the guitar riff could sound something different on the base . We are all very open-minded and it helps the cause at the same time . Himonshu : Like he said we are always in service of the music , and music is always in service of the emotions we put out in the song . We will always do what feels right just for the emotion , and try not to prove anything more out of that .
Can you tell us a little about your latest release Mann ?
Rajan : Mann , the EP , has three songs . Mann , Sada , and Kaun Mera . I ’ ll start with Mann . Mann became the first song we wrote with Harsh , that in itself makes the song very special for all of us . It talks about the initial feeling when you fall for somebody , feeling those butterflies in your stomach . We ’ ve all lived that emotion at one point or another in our lives . It wasn ’ t too difficult to capture that . Even with the video we wanted to emote this emotion specifically . So , from the casting , the story , to the way it has been shot , everything was based on that one particular thought . We are very happy with the way the whole product has come out , and the amount of support and love people are sharing towards us is always so appreciated .
Sada was a song we wrote back in 2016 . It took about 6 years for us to think that “ Yeah now we are ready to take it back to the studios and create an audio that goes out to DSPs , and people can hear it as the studio version of the song .” You can definitely call it an example of us maturing , in a sense . Certain songs take their own journey along with you , and you realize at some point in your life that “ Okay , now you have the right kind of expression to make the art you want to .”
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