Arsh Sharma and Srijan Mahajan may as well be brothers. They’ve certainly known each other long enough to merit the title. They met when they were only four years old, and like many great school friends, they fused their creative interests and started making music together.
After school ended, they branched out into different ventures; Mahajan played in one of India’s biggest rock bands, Parikrama, while Sharma played in the touring band The Circus. Both of their acts hit the UAE separately — but this Friday, the 20 year olds will be at Dubai’s Music Room as a united front: FuzzCulture, an electronic duo signed by Universal Music India.
“In India, [the electronic scene is] very, very big,” Sharma told tabloid!. “In fact, right now, Skrillex is touring everywhere.”
It’s true. On Sunday, the same day that Sharma and I chat on the phone, Skrillex is playing a widely hyped show to an eager crowd in Delhi’s Huda Ground venue.
“The dance scene and the slightly left-of-centre, almost European electronic scene is big in India. There are a lot of producers and clubs that support them.”
From his younger years, Sharma remembers being a massive fan of Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy and London’s Ministry club, and in general, an “industrial dance sound”. These days, he listens to a lot of downtempo melodies and keeps his ear to the UK underground dub scene. Mix that in with him and Mahajan being “Delhi Punjabi boys”, and you’ll start to understand the basics of their sound.
“[Our music is] always in English. Our parents put us in English medium schools, so we learned how to speak in it, and unfortunately, couldn’t go back and forth,” said Sharma. “You sort of just grow up with it — you speak it and you sing it. I would say it’s very Indian-English. It definitely caters to us English-speaking Indians.”
Sharma has been producing music for a decade, and some five years ago, he and Mahajan reconnected and decided to take it to the next level. Though they both create the tracks and samples in the studio, they divvy up the work on stage: Sharma handles vocals, guitars, electronics and tech; Mahajan handles the drums.
Two years ago, the duo released an EP titled Indulge. Divulge, which won them a Thank You For Existing Award from the Malaysia-based VIMA Asia Awards. Rolling Stone India called it a “great example of rock musicians turning to electronic music and not messing it up”. Most recently, they released a full-length album titled No, which they plan to perform from heavily at the Music Room this weekend.
“I’m going to gauge the audience and see what they’re like — some audiences like to dance, some are slightly more into the slow rock ‘n roll thing, and some are more into just looking,” Sharma said. “I’ll actually design the set list maybe 30 minutes before we go on stage, to figure out what goes down well with the crowd.”
What’s his message to people who might come out and see them?
“Come out with the intention of having as much fun as you can. If you like to let loose and move and groove, it’ll be good fun for everybody, I think.”
Don’t miss it:
Tickets to see FuzzCulture at the Music Room are Dh75 at the door. Admission begins at 8pm. The event is 21-plus.