Each time you hear a bass-heavy tune with desi melodies, one thing is for certain — Nucleya is manning the deck. The Westin (on August 15) played host to Sunburn Arena with Nucleya along with OnOffOnline, which gathered a massive audience on Indepen“dance” Day. The Bass Rani hit-maker had a set packed with his take on bass as well as originals, which is something music lovers in Kolkata look forward to. Post the gig, t2 chatted with Udyan Sagar.
You’ve been touring the past few months. Any gig that was exceptional?
Actually, all the gigs. I started touring after such a long time that I was a little hesitant and scared. To my surprise, more or less all the shows I have played so far have been sold out shows. And that makes me really happy. I have seen the audience and their enthusiasm and energy and that just makes me feel very good. Now, the only thing I have to do is release music (laughs).
You have been touring back-to-back. Does it get to you?
Yes, it does, especially when you have three or four shows lined up one after the other. Playing is not as much of a trouble as travelling because you need to be in a city at a certain time and then you have to do sound checks. That kind of becomes a task. How do I take care of myself? I try to get as much rest as I possibly can; during tours it’s difficult to workout but I do a bit of meditation. I try to eat healthy. Once I’m back from tour I try to catch up on sleep. Sleep is the most important thing, once my sleep is in place then I feel way better.
Electronic music has been been growing and how. Do you see any changes in the community?
Everyone has become a lot more open-minded when it comes to receiving new music, which is a great thing. So a lot more indie artistes are experimenting and trying to release music which they feel is amazing, original and unique. Things are going in the right direction.
The event was an amalgamation of good music and laser lights
What about underground music? Is that something that interests you?
I like all kinds of music. Underground, non-underground, commercial... it doesn’t bother me. It needs to be interesting and different. But doing things differently is a task because a lot of times management and record labels don’t let you do things the way you want to do it. Everywhere there are numbers... views... and that kind of comes in the way. Is a song big on Reels? And does that mean it’s successful? Not really, because I listen to a lot of garbage on Reels and maybe it’s not successful. Music is supposed to be made from the heart and serve a purpose. Music is music and it needs to be played from the heart.
In the music industry, everything is heavily governed by music labels. You can only collab with an artiste if your numbers match. Would you care to elaborate on this?
Yes. For any artiste to work with another artiste... if both of them are on the same page it could be easier. If you’re an established artiste it is way easier to reach out to someone, send them your music, if they like it they can work on it and collab. For someone who is not established enough and wants to work with a lot more established artistes, across the globe, it is a bit of a task because you have to go through so many different levels of management and record labels and all.
That’s where things become a little difficult because a bigger artiste would just like to work with another artiste if the numbers match. This is what I have learnt. For example, if you have 10 million followers and I have 2,000 then most likely a collaboration is not going to happen. If we have the same number of followers, then it’s likely. That’s how it is unfortunately but that doesn’t mean you can’t make music. You can always find someone who is like-minded.
The audience dressed up in quirky accessories to add to the fun
Some artistes prefer labels and some prefer to be indie....
I don’t think I am wise enough to answer that question honestly. I have had management pretty much throughout my entire career, so I don’t think I have enough experience.
Musically, what collabs and releases can we look forward to?
I have a lot of really cool collaborators. Some fairly new people on the scene, some old people on the scene. Everyone is there. Can I give you names? No! (Laughs). But hopefully soon we will release the album and everyone will get to know about it.
A lot of musicians are currently jumping on to NFTs to create more opportunities to spread their work. Have you done the same?
I have or rather I would say my previous management got me on to it. Do I like it? I have mixed feelings. I’m not sure about this whole NFT situation. I think it is a great move and maybe it is going to work in our favour, maybe it won’t. I still need to do a lot more research.
Pictures:Sunburn Arena