One of the few rock divas in Nepali music industry, she’s not one to mince words. Here, she shares about her upcoming album, a new music video, and future projects. [break]
What has been Abhaya Subba Weise upto lately? Do share!
As an individual, I’ve been juggling my family, music, and Dashain shopping, and wishing for a 32-hour day. However, the last few weeks have had been unreasonably hectic for me.
We, as a band, have been squeezing in practice for live performances, and we just finished work on our new video, “Malaipani hasnadeu.” Right now, the focus is on setting up our new home studio to record our third Nepali album. Phew, busy days!
What can we expect from your highly anticipated, most awaited album?
Please don’t expect much (Smiles). It’s an album full of rock music with some old songs of ours getting new treatments, and some new rock songs with futuristic sounds. Our first album was safe, our second album delved into the folk rhythmic modes of our takes on Nepaliness, and the third is going to be a bit futuristic. It’s a rock album with an electro-funk twist to it!
How important is a music video of a song?
How important is oxygen for survival? Music videos have become that vital for songs. Over the years, we, as a band, have realized that the songs with music videos are the ones that people respond to while we perform live.
I guess we humans are visual creatures; people are so motivated by what they see; it’s become priority number one to make as many music videos as possible. So, rather than critiquing this new trend of listening to music, I guess it’s easier for us to be flexible. It’s not much of a compromise; it just costs us tons of money – that’s all! (Laughs)
Inside a recording studio or performing live?
There are two different experiences altogether. If one has the luxury of owning one’s own recording studio, then one can experiment and just go wild with creativity. It’s the process of creation; we get to express what’s inside our minds. It’s like the Photoshop for musicians; you can edit, tweak, and improve on your ideas.
On the other hand, live music is like Kinetic energy! It’s the energy that we feed off each other. I love live music because we get an immediate reaction. We go out there and bare our souls, and hope to god that the mass can connect with us.
You have to be your 120 per cent. If you aren’t giving your all in a performance, no way do we deserve to be there on the stage – it’s as simple as that. So yeah, I like both the processes – one of creation, and the other of harnessing everybody’s energy into that one song that we play!
We hear you’re planning an all-English, western album very soon?
Yes, this has been in the pipeline for a very long time. Doing music in Nepali is very fulfilling, but all artists look for larger audiences to sustain their artistic hunger. And since English is a language that reaches out to millions of people, we want to give a shot. It’s time we stepped out of our comfort zones and aimed higher, out of the little pond and into a new world. We may be liked, we may not be successful at all, but Abhaya & the Steam Injuns dare to take on the world. If we fall flat, at least we fall trying.
This is a tough industry to survive in. What keeps you motivated to stay with it?
It has to be the love of music. That’s the only reason why we keep coming back for more. Music is that proverbial love, beautiful yet hard to attain. It’s that elusive quality that keeps us hooked and together.
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