Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hey, guys, welcome once again to the Rajp podcast of where have I been first before I introduce the guests? I've been a bit unwell, so it's been a few weeks since we picked up the podcast again. So this is 21st podcast of 2025 and I've got a amazing guest, an amazing guy who's always supported me, my music as well. So. So tips over to you, bro. How you doing?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm all right, man. How you doing? Hope you're feeling better.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Yeah, getting better, man.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: What can you. What can you do, man? When. When the bugs start flying and the catch onto here. That's it, take a. Take a little mini break. It's all right.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was more to do with like, because as you were saying before, before this, because of COVID we haven't had the flu properly.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: And now we've had it.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Gosh, I'm hitting hard. Hitting hard.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Wife took me to the gps, so this is off, off, off. The wife took the GB because I was that bad. Gp. Call ambulance. Low blood pressure and stuff. Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: So, well, having said that, having said that, you're looking good. So I don't know, maybe help.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: There's no Christmas.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: That's the best way to lose weight.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Yeah, the best, the best way to.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Lose weight is a good Bamari.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. And before that my little one was Bermard as well. So we didn't actually celebrate Christmas properly or anything, so it's been a bit of a mad one. Anyway, anyways, how are you?
[00:01:38] Speaker B: All good, man, hanging on in there. Hanging on in. That's my, that's my response to everyone for, for that question. Yeah, hanging on in there. I think in the day and age we live in, there's so many people worse off. So when you compare your lives to them. Yeah, man, we're blessed and yeah, it's, it's, it's all good. Can't, can't overly complain.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: And even if I did, that makes no difference. Yeah, that's what me and my wife were saying, like, at least, you know, kids are healthy, we're healthy, you know, despite everything that's gone on the past few weeks for us as well. Despite everything and especially what's going on in the world these days.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: That's it, that's it, that's it.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Anyway, let's.
Let's talk about you. So I know a bit about you, the son of the famous singer. So just tell me a bit about your childhood before we start into the music and stuff. What was it like Growing up amongst.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah, look man, uh, it was an odd child childhood upbringing because not only was I kind of like at the start of this whole Bhangra thing, because my childhood revolves around. My whole life revolves around music and it's just unavoidable. Whether my dad was a singer or not. It would have. If it would have revolved around po music as a fan, which I still am to this day. So growing up as a kid, it was always music, music, music, always listening to music. It got to a point where, and it's still the case today, that I couldn't go to sleep without music that my mom would have to put on either Shabbat or Gitan or Laps like or Jagwala Mellah. Like I couldn't. There was no way I could fall asleep with. Without music. And it's always. Even now my. My Mrs. Gets vexed cuz I go to sleep with my headphones on.
And yeah, my. And, and. And so that was basically the beginning. It was always music. And then when you're of an age when you start to understand things like that, you know, oh, so my dad's doing this stuff as well.
It, yeah, it was. I can't lie, it was brilliant. It was, it was amazing to see that and then to be witness to the rise of hongro music in the 80s, obviously it was around in the 60s and the 70s and you know, we've got some, some of the OGs of, of that era. But what happened in the 80s was it just took a completely different dimension and to have my dad be a part of that. Yeah, man, it was, it was cool. And yeah, there was, it was, it was good. Literally. It's just at the beginning of this Bhangra revolution and experiencing it real time was, Was amazing as a kid.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Hi guys, this is Raj Kaul. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If you want to support the rest of my music, if you could go and check me out on Spotify or Napa Music and add my songs to your playlists if you like them. Thank you.
So I could relate to a lot of that as well because I don't know whether you know Suki's Suki chan. My mom is.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: So I was around like him and going to the house and his dad, Suki's dad, my mama passed away quite young. He was part of the scene as well. Yeah, he was brought up with obviously not as big as.
But yeah, I can sort of relate to that going in the people rehearsing, Sergio rehearsing And yeah, yeah, coming in Dave do.
What are you gonna say?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah, the thing is you say not as big as Ab Singi. The thing is if you actually look and you know, I know more about Pongra music than I do about anything else.
It's a bit of a curse. I, I, I actually don't know my own cousins names and that's, that's the God honest truth. My wife knows my cousin's names but you can ask me about an album that was made in 1987. I'll tell you that that's just the way I'm wired for some reason.
But going back to that point, yes, I'm not saying big name and all these other guys but there were so many other bands that just don't get a mention who all paid a massive role in this. So you, yeah, they may not have had the, the long term success but they were part of a movement which made other bands work harder, think harder, think different, maybe inspired stuff that was happening. You don't know who was inspiring who at the time. So yeah, everyone. Every musician, every writer, every singer, every what? Coach driver, van driver. It was part of that made a difference. They all made a difference. And yeah, again it was, it was just, it was, it was a blessing to be in and around. It was, it's exciting time.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it was crazy. I mean it's, and the other thing was that every band had their own unique style which I, you know, it's such a shame. We've, I think in music today we've lost that uniqueness. Like Sootus.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: No band like Soldiers. There was no band like DCS Excellency up north. Each had their own. You really, really unique style.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think, I don't think that's any different to. I think, I think we're a lot us Brown one day are a lot more harsh on ourselves.
Yeah, man. Because listen to mainstream, listen to the mainstream top 40 today.
How much of it sounds the same?
[00:07:55] Speaker A: It's true. Yeah, true.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: What songs, what songs are popping off as a big tune? What songs are being produced in a way that is different?
If Afrobeat is a big genre right now, how many of those sequences are the same and the sounds are the same?
It's not just a pungra thing.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: It's just an amazing point to be fair. To be fair. Because the, the reason why I say that because I listen to a lot of 80s rock.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: The rock bands had it.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: You know rock because they were all really live musicians. The rock bands had it. You know, and they had. So like. But you had Nirvana, you had Guns N'ROSES you had Bon Jovi, and they each had their own style.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: That's good as well, isn't it?
[00:08:42] Speaker B: In every genre, like, bands used to have riffs. They used to have little rhythm patterns and things like that that are iconic. You know, the door intro to Mira Yaba Java door is iconic.
In the 90s, there were other songs with other door intros on it that people remember, but that doesn't exist anymore. And it's just, it's just a sign of the times and society. And I'm very much a person who is.
I don't hate on where we are today and compare it to that. You can't, because it's, it's the same across the board.
You have to evolve. And evolving means it's now more than just the music. Whereas before it was about the music.
The scene that we're in now, it's more, it's more than just the music. There's a lot more work involved, if anything. So if the music is slightly taking a back seat in terms of creativity, well, then that creativity also has to be put into your social media content, the way you look, your pictures and, and your videos. There's more creativity being spread across things to get you noticed than there was before. Before, you just had to make an album, have a nice cover and do a few gigs. So every, every era has their own issues.
And I think we should always look at the 80s and go, yeah, that was amazing. And give it, give it, give it its flowers for what it was. Same with the 90s, same with the 2000s, and we're here and now, and we can't, we just can't compare this. You just can't do it. But you have to enjoy what's happening now. You have to appreciate what's happening now.
And you've got to find, you've got to find a way of making a difference and, and staying relevant. I think those.
I think I may do it a bit more complicated than it should be in my explanation, but as far as I'm concerned, the platforms are there, the creativity is there.
There's freeways of putting your music out.
Just do it. You should just be doing it. You should be doing more of it. There shouldn't be any excuses.
So, yeah, hopefully, you know, hopefully people will pick up on that. Just, you know, just keep making music and putting it out there.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: So let's get back to your childhood. How did you get into playing keys and, and, and Producing result. I'm assuming that you went keys first.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: I had no choice. No, no, everything. I had no choice.
No, actually, no. I said, I'll take that back.
I had. Me personally, I had no option because I was just so engrossed in music.
It would be like my dad would have a gig on a Saturday. He'd come downstairs, dad, where are you going today? Oh, yeah, here we go. Gotta go to Bradford first, and then we're gonna go to Leeds afterwards. Oh, yeah, okay. Cool, cool, cool. You see the van come up, Jump in the van. Off he's go. And. And as a kid, I'm thinking, I wonder what the gig in Bradford's gonna be like. I wonder if he's going to be any good. I wonder what it's going to be like. They going to wear these couple. What, what uniform? And I'd be like, dad, what, what, what? Which ones are you wearing today? What? What tops you wearing today?
And then once they're gone, I'd put in a vhs.
My mom would have done a night shift because she was a. A nurse for A E, so she would have done night shift. She'd be asleep upstairs. Dad would have gone off to a gig. I put in a vhs and I would set up any little instrument that I had and pretend to be in the band. That was my Saturday, every Saturday, religiously, as a kid. And I just used to mimic everything. I used to mimic everything. And then, you know, I'd start to learn tabla from a Jeet Singh at the Lastiji Keys. I just picked everything. I was just listening to tapes and recreating, listening, recreating, mimicking, mimicking, mimicking. That's all I ever did that had its limitations. Because when I finally did start playing with Upna Singi when I was 50, 15 years old, and I saw the other keyboard players who were in other bands at the time, yeah, I was out of my depth, completely out my depth. And I had to improve quickly, very, very quickly to maintain a spot in such an iconic band that other people would have wanted. The last thing I wanted to be was a nepotism higher. So I had to do a lot of improvement on my end. But as a kid, it was just about, give me a dolkie, I'm gonna replicate that. Give me a double. I'm gonna try and copy that, Put cassettes on, rewind that song and just do it. Like I could. I could probably on a dorky right now, play you the complete percussion arrangement of. He does Jaguar Miller I know it inside out Even now to the point where last year I actually played with he. There was. I did a dorky session with them live and I knew it. There was no rehearsal needed. It was just the way I was as a kid. I just couldn't help it. I was just obsessed with. New cassette. Put it in. What have they done? Let me try and copy it. Still do it today, to be honest.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Did you not try singing as your dad's a singer?
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I.
So I always say this. I can sing, but I'm not a singer. And the difference is if I'm in a studio with someone and we're recording vocals or I'm laying out the composition for him, I will tell them how to sing. I will hit those notes, I will tell them what they need to be doing, how they need to be doing it. I will sing it to them.
To be a singer is to have the additional confidence to go front and center of the stage and entertain people.
So that's not me. I'm not a guy who's going to go into the middle of the stage and sing at people and, and, and, and, and make them dance and that, you know, that's never really been me because I'm in competition with my dad kind of thing in my head anyway. And I don't want to do.
However, I could quite confidently say that I sing better than a lot of singers because I have that technical knowledge and ability to guide singers in a way that you know, you know and let you know and I'll sing it to them.
Plus this is just that self thing of yeah, I don't sound good, you know, I mean, so whatever. So. But yeah, I have recorded songs. My first recording was actually at the age of 10. Did that frantic Studios. It was just like literally on a couple of guide beats, recorded a couple of songs about a decade ago. I thought should I try this singing thing and actually produce and sang a song?
But yeah, it's not me.
I'm more than happy helping other people out.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: But, but, but the amazing thing is like this, this is really amazing stuff. Dips because I didn't know your, your variety of, of talent. You've got like your dollar keys. Even the singing because that's, that's like to me you're almost like a complete package in, in that sense, you know, without, without bigging yourself up too much. But you know, I'm just the best.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: At what I can do.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: The only way I can describe it is there's nobody like me in this industry. But that doesn't Mean, I'm the best. That just means that I'm the only one that can do that. I'm the only one that can do what I do.
And I, I can make things work, I can make things happen, I can fix things. But you put me up against oven hair on a harmonium, he's gonna kick my ass.
And I'm cool with that. But if I need to play a piece in a recording, I can grab that harmonium and play it. That's not a problem.
Same with the doll.
I'll record my own dolls. But you put me next to True school or succeed that they're gonna, they're gonna whoop me.
But that doesn't mean I can't get the job done. And I do. So everything I do at my studio and I've done for a decade is whether it's the dumbbee or the electric banjo. I even once took a. To the electric banjo, played a piece and turned it into a guitar by putting guitar amps and, and, and, and pedals and controllers through it to make it sound like a rock guitar. So I was actually doing ding. Like that, but it's that.
So. And the thing is I enjoy doing that kind of stuff. I enjoy having fun. Even now I'm working a lot with AI like producing songs, using AI to my advantage and then, you know, and things like that. So wouldn't say the complete package. I'm more of a.
Yeah, you need a guy to get a job done. Yeah, I can get it done.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Yeah. That's really cool. So let's go back to you.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: You know your.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: When you said that you were out of depth when you started playing keys for up. How did you go back and, and, and, and improve your, your skills in, in, in that. Because that must have been like, well, I'm in the deep end right now, so what did I do?
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So the way that actually happened was obviously iconic band. Whether my dad's in it or not is irrelevant. They were an iconic band with an amazing live set especially probably more than the recordings.
They had a good 10 year run actually. 10 years, 10 albums.
And in 95 decided right, enough's enough, we'll end it at the top. That's cool. Dinosadara started getting calls but he. Does he, you know, want to book? Yeah. Now we're not together. Well, you two carry on and just get some other musicians in it. In it.
And that's basically what it was.
And for a month they had a keyboard player. So good General Mile joined them. David joined them. They Provide a brand new drummer and on keys I had Nick Chowlia, who's currently in Canada with Farmer, a good friend of mine and they originally had him for a month and at that time I don't think he was feeling it as much and you know, they were like, look, we need somebody. I don't think Nick's going to be able to do the weekend. We need to get through this weekend because I still remember it. It was August bank holiday.
Saturday was a wedding in Graves and Sunday was a wedding in from Derby and Monday was the Movie Magazine Awards at the Hammersmith in London. Hammersmith.
So my dad goes look to salad kind of look, my son can play a bit. He's not great but I'll back, I'll back him on one keyboard, he can play the other one. We've got John Adams, our guitars. Let's just get through the weekend and we'll find someone. And that was in 1996 and they're still looking.
That's basically. That's genuinely what happened.
The problem I had was I was a kid who didn't have any confidence, lacked self belief.
Any mistake would decimate my confidence.
I'm on stage playing iconic music and pieces for a band where people I. You can't mess up the music to Sohoro Rote because everyone knows you messed up. It's iconic, you can't get it wrong. So I used to play with like, I used to play like this with my head down. Never used to look up. And you know, at the end of the day it got to the point where I was gonna quit and I was like, dad, I can't handle this, I can't do this.
And obviously, you know, it's your band, I'm messing things up. So that I wasn't overly happily with the fact that I kept making mistakes. And dad just turned around and said, look, you can go if you want.
But he goes, if you don't like it, if you don't like making mistakes, if you don't like people having a go at you, if you don't like people taking the mick out here, then you got a show, we'll find someone else. You're the one that's going to lose out. Or you can apply yourself to get better and prove people wrong. That's what I did.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: What a great bit of mentoring actually by, by your dad there.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And then there was another one. So that, that was one thing and then the other one was we had a drummer in the band who's like family friend. He like family in Jatinda. And he was our drummer and he had to go at me once. He was like, why you play with your head down?
And I'm like, oh, don't know, boy. He goes, no, why do you play with your head down? I'll go, oh, I just don't want to make. Don't want to make any mistakes, you know, and things like that. This was before a gig we were setting up. And he goes, I need to play with your head up. Come on, man, play with your head up. Oh, God, no. But what if I make a mistake? And he goes, doesn't matter. And I don't call now. Then I was like, but I'm not as good as the other keyboard players in the bungre industry.
And, well, how old was. I was like, 18. 17. 18.
And he goes, yeah, you're right, you're not. You're what? He goes, yeah. He goes, you're. He goes, but the thing is, for this band, you're the best.
Because you put you in any other band, you can't handle it. But put them in this band, they can't handle it. You're the best for this band. That stage that you're standing on, that spot, that's your spot.
So you need to own it, play with your head up and enjoy it. I was like, all right, cool, we'll do that then. And we did. And never look back since. If you look at my socials now, I'll just share videos of me playing and I'm just smiling. I'm enjoying it. And. And never, never really looked back since then.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: That is so cool. Cool journey. So how did you. How did you transition from that to the production side of it?
[00:23:27] Speaker B: The production side of it. It wasn't something that I really. I. I again, obsessed with music. So dad had a recording studio on Rookery Road, just off the Rookery Road in Handsworth and with Gujaran. And when it was Easter holidays, I was there.
Suki Chan was there as the engineer at the time. It was Christmas holidays I was there, summer holidays I was there. I'd just be sitting there watching, sitting, watching, sitting, watching, taking it all in, watching these songs, being record these albums, being record these techniques that were being used to record stuff.
Anyone coming, I'd be the T boy, I'd be the coffee guy. I did that for three years, four years, and always kind of wanted to do it. But again, confidence at that age, I just didn't have the confidence to do it. I could just about play keyboards, let alone produce something. I mean, my Little push into production actually came on Christmas Eve at the Bagleys in London nightclub at a gig when I met Bali Jackpot, who literally I bumped into. It's like, yo. And he was like. And I still remember the conversation now, even though he blanks my calls.
I just said to him, blanks my WhatsApp SE now. But yeah, no, he goes, you're Colon, aren't you? And I'm like, yeah. So this is B. Jackpal After Dark and Dangerous.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: So pe.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: It peak.
I go, yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes, you're good, you. I. Oh, thanks, man. He goes, yeah, I'll see you perform. So I know this off my heart. You go, yeah, I've seen you performing, man. You're good. Like, you're really good. Cheers, man. Thanks. You should do production well. Yeah. Because. Yeah, you should do it. Okay. I don't think I'm very good. And he goes, I've got the biggest song of the year. So this is what, 99. I've got the biggest song of the year and I can't play an instrument. You can't. You should do it. I was like, okay.
And then I just went into the studio and I tried and I was terrible. But that, that was the first push into doing production.
I don't know why he said it to me, but that's genuinely how it happened. However, I quickly learned that I was not good enough.
And I tried as hard as I could. I just couldn't. Just, just, just wasn't. Wasn't working. And then people would still say, now I'm not working as. As a good producer. But back then it was. Yeah, it just wasn't happening. But yeah, it was. It was bad. Jackpot. That one conversation. Wow.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: And it's funny how like sort of your door. Your doors, like your music production software, that's an instrument in itself now, isn't it really, as. Yeah, he couldn't play an instrument, but actually he's playing a different type of instrument.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And again, this whole. A producer is not a producer unless you learn how to play. Unless you know how to play an instrument. I've always called BS on that.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Because I. I liken it to a film.
So if the film has a director and a producer, are they the actors?
No. Oh, it's the script writer playing a role in the film.
Okay. So if the director and the script writer and the costume lady and the producer of this film are not seen on camera, are they any less part of the. The process of making that film?
[00:27:23] Speaker A: No.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: No. So if a Music producer gets the best musicians in to do a job because they feel that they are the ones that are going to deliver the vision for that song. Why, is that wrong?
[00:27:40] Speaker A: No, it's not.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: No.
So I've always called BS on that.
Yet you have certain people like a Almond Hair or Chaos Productions or True School or, you know, I mean, who can play a fair few instruments.
But again, with all due respect, if you put a bass guitar in front of Succendo Shinda, he ain't gonna give you a bass line, is he?
No, he's not. Of course he's not, because he's never learned how to play bass line. So he will get the best person in to play the bass line for him or he will put down something but say, yo, bro, can you just, you know, make this. Do you know what I mean? You've got to get the best people in to do the best job possible. A producer's job is to have a vision.
I had an amazing vision. If we go back to him, he just needed people to deliver that vision and he did. And I think this whole. You're not a producer unless you can play something. Oh yeah. It's nonsense. Absolute nonsense. And that's actually the trap I fell into into the beginning. The trap was I need to be able to. So actually my first album was that. My first album was me thinking that I had to do everything.
So I made a whole album where I played the tabla, the talkie, the door, the tumbis, the band, the kids, everything. I did everything start to finish.
It's atrocious. It really is. So if I've got. If I've got a hit song, which is Mr. Makana, that was originally done in 2003 without a bass line. There's a song that I've made with the Doors aren't Tuned and it's without a bass line because I didn't have the guts to play bass. So I thought if I call someone in, that's an admission of defeat. So I'll spin it by saying there's no bass line in there so the DJs can add their own bass lines. How stupid is that? That is dumb.
So when I redid it, that's why if you actually look at the album cover and the inlay, it sound. I've called it Mr. Mukala now it sounds better because this is what it should have sounded like a decade earlier. So, yeah, again it's. Let's start with anything and everyone. It's all. It's all a Learning process. It's all a learning process and the ability to evolve. If you don't evolve as a person, as a musician, as an artist, you're going to get left behind.
That's one thing I can confidently say I've done relatively well, which is evolve with the times and, and realize what I need to do or could do, or should do or do less of, whilst others have been left behind, unfortunately. But again, might not be relevant this time next year. That's also, that's also coming as well, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, I might not be relevant this time next year and doing something completely different. And again, that's another mindset you've got to have. If. Look, I've done nothing but music since the age of 15.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: Hi, guys, this is Raj Kaul. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If you want to support the rest of my music, if you could go and check me out on Spotify, on Apple Music and add my songs to.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: Your playlists if you like them.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: On this.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: I think one, maybe one circumstance where you, you, the knowledge of a, of an instrument might, might actually help is when you, there's a certain level.
By level, I don't mean like, oh, you know, it's level or you know, there's certain levels of music, like say you, you, you're producing for a film now.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Then the musical theory has to. Cast, has to kick in, isn't it? You know, you might have a relative major here, which you need to know that.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: But again, if you're Ar Raman and you're putting together.
Yeah. If you're Ar Ramon and you're putting together a film score and you're going to be working with an orchestra, if you're, if, if you're a critique of Punjabi music, you'd be saying, well, Ar Rama needs to play all 70 violins.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: You know what I mean? So that, that doesn't happen. So what he would do, even though he might score something and write something down, he's not just gonna go, here you go, play it.
There's a collaborative point in there. So the person is going to say, yeah, that's great. How about if we do this or actually, bro, we've got to change this a little bit here. And again, that, that just boils down to you being open and open to work with people. All these little things that we just don't do enough of in, in our scene.
So, yeah, theory is obviously important. It is important, but it's not the be all or end all. Absolutely. What you need more than anything else is the desire and passion to want to do it.
Buddy Jackpot had the desire and passion to want to do it. Going back, referring back to him, and he did it.
And then you can be ar Ramon on the other scale where he knows everything. Yeah, but he had the desire and passion to do. That's why he's. He's done it. If you. If you're going to be lazy about it, if you're going to, you know, come. Come at me with excus. Is my kismatism, Mari. All this. I ain't got time for you. I genuinely haven't got time for you. You're. You're in charge of your own destiny. Got to keep going. You got to keep going. I've had more failures than hits. Still here. Paying the bills. And it's all through music.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: That's. That's actually one of the best bits of advice, especially in this day and age. There's, like. There's no excuse, really, as you said, is there?
[00:33:42] Speaker B: No, there isn't. I know I'm. I'm to blame myself for not doing enough or doing more, but then I've got other responsibilities in terms of, you know, putting my show together for Asian Network, putting events together for, you know, for people's big days as a dj, working in studios with other people. I teach children music as well. Or on a regular, on a weekly basis. So I've got other things on. Which takes away from my ability to make more music, but as a complete package. Yeah, music's paying my bills, just about, but it's paying my bills.
And the only reason it's happening is because I'm. I'm all in. I'm committed. I'm gonna make it work.
So whether it's the Hippodrome with Surinder Shinda a few years ago, or whether it's in a restaurant, I'll do it.
That's how committed I am. It doesn't bother me. I just want to do the move.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: To Cyprus the other day, haven't you?
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
Went to Cyprus on a Saturday, came back Monday morning, had no idea who the singers were, had no idea what their songs were.
I'm part of a band doing something completely different with my computer, which they've never done. Which I've never done to an audience. No idea. But we went there, we made it work. It was brilliant.
But you just need to be like, if it was 10 years ago. No, I don't think I can do it. No. I'm not sure. No, no, you can't do that. So I did kid, yo, let's see what happens. And we made it work and it sounded great. It was brilliant. It was a good little vibe. So now I've come back going, right, I know what I need to do now to make singer sound good on stage.
So my plan now is to develop that to.
To take a singer or a group of singers or a band or whatever it is and just level them up to what I believe they should be. Because our. Our live scene, as talented as my brothers and musicians are, they're still very 1994, 95 in the way that they're still presenting themselves on stage. The rest of the world's move on. Moved on. We haven't tech is there to use. We're not utilizing it. Everyone else is. So for. My thing is like, look, I'm here in Birmingham, I could put a whole live show together for you. Let's do it. And then you tell me what musicians you want part of it, let's make them part of it. So I'm excited about, you know, what we could be doing in the future and, and, you know, just help. It's helping to elevate, that's. I enjoy doing that. I don't need to be front and center as a singer. I'm happy at the back helping and elevating whoever wants to. To go for it. But again, if they don't come with the. The desire and the passion and the commitment. Yeah, it don't. That don't work for me either. You've got to. You've got to be driven. You got to be all in. Don't you have to be. It ain't gonna work otherwise.
[00:36:49] Speaker A: So how did. How did you transition to the BBC dips again?
[00:36:55] Speaker B: It's just that thing of I need to. I need. I needed something to listen to, to go to sleep. So from cassettes, it was a radio, just to radio all the time. And I was just amazed.
For me, radio was so there's somebody in a room somewhere doing something that is being broadcast and I can hear it. I wonder what it's like in there. I wonder what that per. So you obviously you 80s and 90s.
There was no way of knowing what the radio presenter looked like. There was no way of knowing what the studio looked like. Yeah. So if I'm just sitting there and literally I'm. I'll be in bed. Okay.
I wonder what he's like. Wonder what he's wearing. I wonder, has he got a beard? Has he got glasses? What's she like, I wonder what equipment they've got. Have they got the actual albums or are they doing something? Like I'd always be doing that. And I was obsessed with.
With radio and as a listener, I was part of almost like the birth of the Asian Network in the sense that I used to listen to 5Live and 5Live used to have a feed which had Danny Trangi doing an show and I used to listen to that. And then that went into Danny trying to being on Asian Network, as it were, which was a feed of Radio WM in the evening. So you'd have Radio WM in the evenings, during the day and then the speed would split. So in the evenings you'd have like, see again, remember off the top of my head, you know, Pam Sambi as a presenter. You'd have Ray Khan, you'd have Amajitsu do. You would have Tony Mendez, Danny Tarangi, Jay Patel, Michael. But Sanjay Sharma, all these guys, these are the original presenters of the Asia Network and I used to listen to them on a. On a religious basis. Like it'll be weekends. The whole weekend was Asian Network and the whole of the evenings were Asian Network. And yeah, I loved it. I just listened to radio all the time. If it wasn't cassettes, it'd be Asian Network on the radio. And I got into it because on a Friday night, Nilukasi used to have a her Punjabi show and I used to.
I used to help out as a tabla player for. For an auntie who lived local, used to teach kids and stuff. Her name was Rajwinder and she goes, oh, I need you to play tabla. We've been asked to come on to the Asia Network to do a Vasaki performance. So can you help, like, you know the girls playing so far? Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is the dream come true. I get to see what happens behind this radio box thing in my room. So I went to Pebble Mill. Loved it. Brilliant. Played double out there and I knew one or two people there through family and they climbed a clock that. This. This guy's a bit of a nutter. He's into this, isn't he? And they were like, do you want to come and just do a bit of.
Yeah, just. Just work experience. Just come. All right, cool. Oh, so you had like family friend Sarbjit. You had Mukumbanessa who used to work at Natural Records. He was there as well. And they would be like, yeah, just come. So I'll just go and answer phones. So at the age of 17 used to go Elevation Network. What's your name? Yeah, right, okay. Where are you calling from? Yeah, cool. And what's your request? Okay, thank you, bye. Hello, Asia Network. What's your name?
Literally, that's what I would do. And I loved it. And then from there, like, oh, we need someone to do this. Yeah, yeah, we need someone to do this. Yeah, I'll do it. Can you do it? We'll see. Let's see what happens.
And I just spent from like 97, 98 to about 2002 just doing that. Just any job, anything that needed doing, I would do it. I put my hand up and try and do it.
And then the presenting thing again, I just. It was an accident because I had just started DJing. We did a.
A Christmas party and I was just roasting all the presenters and all the staff on the mic. And a couple of months later, this was 2003 in effect in February. Adel Ray couldn't do the show last. Literally last minute. I was driving the desk. So Nikki Beatty, she was the presenter. Drive time. I was on the desk making sure she's on air. That was my job, studio managing. And they go, can you call for adult? No, yeah, just do that DJing thing you did at Christmas.
Just do it tonight if you can help us out. Okay, cool.
All right, cool. Did the show went really well and I caught the bug because I never wanted to be a presenter. Just like I never wanted to be a singer, I never wanted to be a presenter. I was happy behind the scenes, helping everyone else out.
But then I did it, I caught the bug and here, here I am, still hanging on in there.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: Absolutely phenomenal. Yeah. You know, I love about your experiences that you just, you just put yourself up out there as a kid and just. Just did the jobs no one, so no one else wanted to do. And you, you're there.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: The thing is, that's the only thing I was passionate about. Like.
And if I say to you I failed GCSE music, I failed A level media studies, I failed my diploma in sound engineering.
For some reason, I thought doing psychology at Coventry Uni was a good idea, but I walked out my first exam in the first year. I actually walked out after 20 minutes and went to a gig in Glasgow.
But I ended up doing all those things as my career. Everything I failed, I did end up doing as a career. I just had to apply myself in a different way.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: And I think it's just that that's just life with any, with anything. You just gotta give it your yeah, don't get me wrong, there's times now, like in my head, I really want to do a live event where I can showcase what I can do. But it worries me, like, are people gonna come? Are they going to want to see this? Is it something worth doing?
Am I going to lose out? Am I going to owe people money? You know, you start thinking like that, you don't do it. So there are. Even now, there's still doubts in my head, but things that, yeah, back then it was, yeah, I'll try it. Yeah, I'll have a go. If you've got no one else, let me try it. And it was always that.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: I think the pressure comes when you've got a family you can't take. You know, when you're young, you can take all these risks. You've got a sort of, what's the worst that's going to happen sort of thing. But as you get a family, it becomes a bit more risky, doesn't it? Taking ventures, the risk is.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: For me, it's always monetary. That's the only thing. Not even that I don't mind losing out. Believe me, I've lost that. But I don't want to owe anyone, so that's why I probably don't do it.
But again, it's your mindset. Like, if my missus was here now, she'd tell you, I'll tell you. In 16 years of us being married, we've been on three holidays.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: Sounds about right.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Three holidays. One was our honeymoon, one was the year after and one was on our 10th wedding anniversary. We've only ever done three holidays now. I got next month, who my mates.
And it's a year, every year, every two, twice a year. And yes, my missus would love that, I know she would, but I can't bring her, I can't give her that. I can't commit to that because I've got to go and do someone else's wedding or I've got to go and perform here or. And she hates it, but she accepts it.
She knew what she was coming into. And I, I fully respect her, her, her opinion of the fact that I hate this, but I also respect the fact that she accepts who I am. But that's the level, bro.
If I told you when it was her brother getting married, my brother in law's getting married, we've got the chimney ceremony, we're in Coventry, so I'm at the Juni ceremony. It's her brother, his to be wife. We're there as a family and I leave my wife and two kids there, jump in my car to go and do someone else's function. She had no way home. You have to find a way home.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: Well, that's crazy.
[00:46:12] Speaker B: That's the level you've got to be at to be successful.
That's the, then there's not enough guys and girls in, in, in our generation or the next generation who are willing to do that.
It's not right.
But if you are somebody who's looking for the public's adulation, then you've got to be there for the public at the expense of your, the expense of your family. Everything you're doing is for your family as long as your partner understands that.
Whether she likes it or not is, she's just one of those things, but she understands it.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: Is she involved in your music in any way or.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: No, no, not in, in that sense. Like I'll run things past her. What do you think of this? What do you think of that? What do you think of this? And yeah, sure, yeah, she'll be honest about it. She'll give me a different perspective on any musical issues I may or may not have. But she's not like directly involved in terms of, you know, taking my book.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: My wife manag manages me.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Oh, does she?
[00:47:13] Speaker A: I've got it fully involved and you.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Know what my wife has offered. It's not that she hasn't, but I just don't, I'm just like, I need you to be independent. I need you to do your own thing and be there for me when I need you. And likewise, you have a problem at work.
I don't want you to be the problem. I need.
You know what I mean? I, I need you there for, to help me with mine, just like I'm going to help you with yours.
I don't know, it could have, it could have worked. It could have worked the other way around. It might have been the all conquering power couple.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Tell your story right in 2023, I think because of Ruby, my wife.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: I think I was the only artist that year who did 13 milli.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Nothing to do with me. Yeah, honestly, nothing to do with me. I, I, she just got the bookings and bang, bang, bang. Brilliant.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: And I think again, you, you just don't know. But again I, there's plenty of guys out there who unfortunately things just haven't worked out with their partners and it's a bit of a mess.
So for me, she puts up her there and I, and I, and I appreciate that.
But then she'll Then on the flip side, I also did tell her, look, there's a chance I might not be home seven days a week. Is that going to be a problem? She's the only one who said, no, it's fine. So that's.
We're stuck with each other now, but now it's. It's good again. You just have the levels of sacrifice you got to put in. Is. Is the next level. And remember, my dad sacrificed being in and around us at a time when there were no communications possible.
[00:48:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:57] Speaker B: Would see him go off to Canada.
See you later, dad. See you in two weeks. You might get one phone call. And every single night you're wondering, is he okay? Is he all right? We haven't heard anything. Is everything okay?
We, you know, I mean, you didn't see our birthdays, nothing.
But he's achieved what he's achieved because he's had to sacrifice his family.
So, yeah, maybe it'll change, maybe be different for the newer artists, but still, for me, you've got to be at that level.
That's the mind that you need.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: The next thing I wanted to ask you about was the live scene here. You've been part of the live scene for. For a very long time. Do you. Do you see a re. Because we've got like, tubs, these guys, you know, live experience. And there's. I think there's a one or two other.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Yeah, the Scope. There's the Legends band does. Oh, and Hair does his entourage as well.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: So where do you think the UK was. Was renowned for. For the live scene? Do you think that's. Is there a resurgence in that or.
Or where do you. Which way do you think we're going? I'll tell you my opinion afterwards. Yeah, but I just love to hear you.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: My opinion on that is in the.
In the 80s. So, okay, let's do this. Right. In the 60s and the 70s, the original guys. So I'm talking.
And so sorry, Kune and Desange and Bachangi and Anari and all these guys. Yeah, they were either at the Gordara or in a community hall or in a pub.
Whatever instruments they had, and they were doing whatever they could and absolute respect for them because they were limited.
What happened in the 80s was the live band scene started to look at, well, what is the mainstream doing? How much of that can we use to influence into our music? Along comes deeper. Kajanshi, who does that within. He does recordings. Because if you listen to Jaguar Mela, then you listen to Diamonds from here. It's. It's sonically Night and Day and those elements started to come into the bands like for me, but this music machine, one of my favorites, because they went, they took synth music and added the sampling. No one else had done that. And then that sampling continued into the 90s and. And the bands of the 90s just kind of became better at everything. But it was lots of inspiration from, from the mainstream.
I think what's happened and the reason why there isn't a massive live scene now for the UK bands is because we haven't evolved as a band since the 90s.
The sounds that we're using, the style that we're playing in the makeup of a band, nothing's changed. Still a bass player, still a guitar, still a keyboard player, drummer, door, that's it. And it's been like that. And that's what people have been listening to for nearly 20 years now, 25 years, that sound.
Whereas in the mainstream they've moved on. They're using backing tracks, they're using pre production, they're using stuff that they've done beforehand on stage with a live band. Which means that what people are hearing is night and day. A B band in 2005 is still an acoustic offering when 90% of the people are still hearing studio quality sound coming out of a speaker. So if you're at a gig and you've got a dj, you're not hearing acoustic music like you used to hear in the 80s.
You're hearing produced, mixed, mastered quality music coming out your speakers. So when you put that up against the band, people's ears are already tuned to a mastered mix sound. Then you're giving them an acoustic offering. What do you think is going to happen?
[00:53:19] Speaker A: There's a drop, isn't it?
[00:53:22] Speaker B: And it's been like that for nearly 10, 15 years.
And instead of going, well, hang on, there is a drop.
We need to level up. We don't know we're not going to move. I see any hill. We're not going to do backing tracks, we're not going to do none of that. But then complain you got no kicks.
Okay, cool. So then my argument is, how's Dajit's gigs? How's Dajit in 2024?
[00:53:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's phenomenal.
[00:53:52] Speaker B: Yeah. How many, how, how many thousands of people did you perform too?
They went to see it, they went to see a live band.
So the demand is there for live music. You're just not delivering it in the way that the audience of 20, 24, 25 expect to hear live music. The live Music bar for us are the thousands of people who paid ridiculous money to go and see the voluntarily paid ridiculous money to see the live and Corona Archla and all these guys.
That's the level now. But we're still here complaining.
So for me, that's why what we did in Cyprus might be a little thing. What I did with DCS at this he live shout to Shin, who goes, I need you on my.
To deliver that studio sound. And we did.
And there's a few singers who are adamant that they want to do it now. So for me, I'm like, yeah, let me help you facilitate that. So for me, it's. It's a sound battle that we're not. We're just not delivering the sound through the speakers that the audience would like to hear. We're still giving them what was working into that in 1994.
[00:55:08] Speaker A: I mean, especially if something's like really catchy, like say you've got a piece that you love and no matter how much, no matter how hard you try and play that, it's not going to replicate that. That, that. That sound that's been mixed and mastered.
[00:55:22] Speaker B: It's like if, if I sing, let's say tomorrow you're on stage, you want to sing, you have to play that. That. You have to play that tumbi. You have to play that sample. You could get my dad on stage, the original player of that. You could get B2 on there. You could get a runner on there. Amazing dumbbee players, all of them. It's gonna sound terrible.
So, okay, then you get a keyboard player who can play that sound or play a sound that sounds like a dumbbee and play it for you.
Not what people want to hear. Okay, so if that's not what people want to hear, what do you do? You need to hear that dumbbeam maybe pitch down because it's a different key or whatever. Yeah, pitch it down. But whether it's.
Whatever it is, they need to hear that loop.
So give it to them and then play on top.
[00:56:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's not cheating.
[00:56:29] Speaker B: That's not anything else. That's not. You can't do it or give the audience what they want, please. And I promise you, you'll get gigs.
[00:56:38] Speaker A: Yeah, and you've got.
And you've got these expensive synthesizers, but you're not utilizing them.
[00:56:45] Speaker B: So.
[00:56:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: So you've got, you. You've got the prodesi music machine. Who nine in 1987 would working with seven second sample time. And we're doing Pump up the Bhangra live. And if you don't believe me, you can watch my YouTube. I've got footage of that. Seven seconds of sample time and they managed to do pump up the pong for 1112 minutes non stop.
Yeah. And we can't do that now. Shmoni that, that. That's all I could say. But then you're not willing to change then carry like I'm at a point now. Yeah, carry on. I haven't got time to listen to your complaints. Let's let. Now I'm gonna say, look, whoever wants to come, let's come, let's do it. You've got to put the work in, you've got to put the effort in, you got to put the commitment in. You are. You're gonna have to put the money in. But it will benefit you because you're going to be giving the audience a live experience, a live sound that they would appreciate. It's in your benefit.
I mean, I'm making live sets now. I'm making live sets for.
I've made one, you know, recently for Buta Prodesi.
You know, the young singer Kushi call jk, have made live set for him, a folk one.
And yeah, they're just going out and performing it. It's brilliant.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: Chaos as well. He. He did the same with them.
[00:58:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so, you know, Chaos does everything with him. Anyway, Jit just wanted a. A focus and I said, yeah, I can help you out. It's not a problem. Again, it's not going to be as good as a Chaos production. But I, I'll. I could put something together. But the point is there's a singer there or Kushi or Buta or. I need this. Can you help me make it happen? Yeah, no problem. Let's do it. And we just need more of that. We need more of that mentality. How do we need to make our lives, performances better? How can we elevate our band? Why are we not getting enough gigs? I can give you. I can give you a rundown of everything. Every band, every issue, every problem, every single. I can, I can give you a rundown now if you gave me a list, I should, I should start a consultancy.
[00:59:00] Speaker A: Really, honestly, so insightful because I've interviewed loads of guests and this is, this is a totally different perspective on, on the live scene.
[00:59:12] Speaker B: I've got.
[00:59:13] Speaker A: I've got a little different angle.
[00:59:15] Speaker B: One more thing, though. One more thing. Yeah. Musician again. I know all the guys, I love them all. They're brilliant, but they're lazy. All the musicians are Lazy.
But why? Why am I the only one messing around with technology one the rest of you?
Because if you do, you'll have more gigs. Promise you.
And I think the. The whole life scene needs to just take a look at itself and go, right, you know what? We've been coasting now and we've. We're dropping off. How are we gonna elevate ourselves? I don't care if a whole bunch of new lads come in and do it, do it. I'll be at the side of the stage clapping you on.
[00:59:56] Speaker A: Is this the same issue because as Canada got the same issue or is just here because we've got a legacy of music here?
[01:00:06] Speaker B: No, we. Our legacy of music started after India, after Punjab. So why is good last one got back in tracks if good baseman is using backing tracks and a live band? What's wrong with you? What's wrong with us here?
[01:00:25] Speaker A: I think he did a trap beat recently, didn't he?
[01:00:28] Speaker B: Yeah, and so he should. Yeah, why not?
It just. It just blows the argument out the water. And karma. I remember speaking to Nick years ago. Oh yeah, our double dog. You players left. I'll go off. Damn. What you gonna do was. Yeah, we've got my laptop.
What's up? What do you mean? He goes, yeah, we're just gonna play Porky off the laptop. How's that gonna work?
[01:00:53] Speaker A: He goes, that's fine.
[01:00:55] Speaker B: He goes, I don't have to pay the laptop and it pays in B and it will never go out of B and we just carry on. Yeah, brilliant. So it's just here in the uk just not embracing technology. And until you do, you can't come. I. I will not hear any musician complain, to be honest. Again, they're all bros and we're all cool, but I don't think they're gonna ever complain in front of me because they know they're gonna. They're gonna get a response that they don't.
[01:01:22] Speaker A: Like the other side, like the smaller.
I'm coming from a perspective slightly. I'm not a massive artist, but we're looking to do like sort of really more intimate gigs. Yeah, like what? I mean intimate. I mean actual in your. You know, like in your house.
[01:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:01:41] Speaker A: That kind of.
[01:01:41] Speaker B: Even as parties. M. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:01:44] Speaker A: So we're trying to start a movement that way, you know, maybe later on. Go get bigger. That's what we're trying to get in. In your house sort of thing. Just remind you.
[01:01:57] Speaker B: Wwe.
[01:01:58] Speaker A: I know you're a WWE fan, but.
[01:02:02] Speaker B: Again, I've Got a similar mindset. I'm working on a Bollywood.
A Bollywood project. Exactly that.
[01:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: In our head. Yeah, yeah. We're gonna do like millionaire house parties. That's the plan. That's all you want to do.
Yeah, but that's doable. Yeah, of course it's doable. Like, why isn't it? You've just got to put the time, the effort and, and again, like, you know, I've spoken to people who have done live sets for and you know, it also boils down to money and how much you're willing to invest in yourself. So if I'm going to produce something for you and I give you a price and you're going to go, oh, my God, that's a lot. Yeah, I know, but do one gig, you've covered it.
Do 10 gigs off that same one set and you.
It's insignificant what you paid in the beginning.
Now if you're not willing to put the investment into yourself, if you're not willing to put monetary investment, time investment, sacrifice investment to put a set together, like, again, the guy I'm working with now, I can't say who it is, but he's like, right, I need a one hour.
I need a one hour set. Bollywood. He's. Here's the parameters. This is what I want to work with. Can, can we work on something? Yeah, let's do it. So I'm now halfway through producing a live set for him, a Bollywood one, which we can go out and perform with two, three musicians.
But it's going to sound amazing and that can be replicated. But he's putting the time and effort in to do it.
So. Yeah, so what you're saying is, yeah, of course it's doable, but it's how much you want to put into it beforehand to make it feasible on the back end.
But then you've also got to back that up with the right footage, the right everything, the right social media content again. And that goes back to the original point of how you evolve as a person. Yeah, you've got to evolve with the times. You can't just rely on the music. It's never going to work.
[01:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
So it's been an hour. Dips. I can talk to you.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: Carry on.
[01:04:36] Speaker A: I'm chilling, I'm chilling.
I'm gonna just, just wrap it up.
So this podcast is about musical excellence, and you've talked about musical excellence all the way through. It's been a master class, to be fair for me. What advice would you give to any, which you already have, but If. If you have to sum it up in the pursuit, what is. What is the pursuit of musical excellence for you?
[01:05:05] Speaker B: The pursuit for musical excellence is. Stop being lazy. Stop making excuses.
Stop blaming other people.
Stop blaming your kismet. It's got nothing to do with any of that.
If you want to be recognized by the audience, then deliver what you believe in to the audience.
And if it works, great. If it doesn't, tweak it and go again. And if that doesn't work, reevaluate and go again.
And if that doesn't work, get out another piece of paper and start writing again and try something else and go again. It's the only way it's going to work. If you're expecting gigs to fall into your lap, ain't gonna happen.
If you're expecting the quality of my vocals or my music should speak volumes over everything else and all the social. Yeah, no bro, thing gonna work. You need to be on it all the time. You need to be on it. You can't be lazy. You're gonna have to sacrifice your time. You're gonna have to sacrifice time with your family. You don't have to sacrifice those mixed grills because those mixed. Yeah, you can cut, bro. You know what? You. The rest of you guys have got to carry on. I've got to do this.
It's your application. You've got to be all in. You have to be all in.
It's no coincidence that the artists that you are listening to today, the ones who are, are on your Spotify and Apple Music and YouTube algorithms and streams and all that. The ones who are out gigging. The ones who are out gigging are the ones who are all in.
They'll have exactly the same story. The difference is they're probably nicer than I am. I just. I ain't got time to. To sugarcoat it.
Yeah, you've got to be all in. And it will work. Honestly, I was about Bag of crap in 1996 when I started as a musician, as a producer, as a radio person, I was atrocious. But I just didn't give up. I just carried on. And I'm probably still. I'm a bag of crap compared to other people. And I. And I fully appreciate that and acknowledge that, but I gave it up. There's so much more to do, and that's what we're going to try and do. And again, whether it's me behind the mic entertaining the audience or whether it's me on the side supporting someone entertaining the audience, it always boils down to this. If you're in for the audience and you want the audience adulation, you've got to be all in. There's no two ways about you. You've. You've got to be all in.
[01:07:54] Speaker A: That's fantastic tips. Before we go, are we gonna win the title?
[01:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know.
I'll say anything.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: I don't want to say anything.
[01:08:05] Speaker B: Went to. I went to watch. Luckily enough I got tickets to go and watch Liverpool at home to Man City.
Shout out to my brother in law, you know. Shout out to my brother in law. Infamous suck for the hookup.
And we battered them and I was sitting there on the Alfa Road and then I was like, are they going to start singing now? You're going to believe us. Going to be in the league night.
Nobody was singing it and I was like, okay, yeah, to be, to be bad. Don't worry about it.
[01:08:35] Speaker A: There's been a bit too many draws for my liking recently.
[01:08:38] Speaker B: There's been too many squeaky bomb moments, man, like with Man United and, and yesterday with. Not in for us, but I was.
We weren't supposed to win it, so if we don't, it's okay. But if we do, it'll be great.
[01:08:50] Speaker A: I was at the African Stanley game on Saturday.
[01:08:53] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:08:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So that was really cool. We had. My brother got me hospitality tickets for it.
[01:09:00] Speaker B: Nice.
[01:09:01] Speaker A: We met Bruce Grobler.
That's a good laugh.
[01:09:06] Speaker B: Good stuff. Well, yeah, let's see what, let's see what happens.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: It's the advert, isn't it? I can certainly remember.
[01:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who are they? Who are they?
[01:09:13] Speaker A: So I half expected it in Rush to be the, the guest behind the.
[01:09:16] Speaker B: Scenes, but I think it was there. I think he was there with the kid who was in there. I saw a picture of Ian Rush with a glass of milk with the kid who was in the original advert who's obviously like 40 now with a glass of milk. So they were both there together, which was. Which is quite cool. So. But yeah, no, let's see what happens.
[01:09:34] Speaker A: It's.
[01:09:35] Speaker B: Ask me that question in April. I'll give you a better answer.
[01:09:40] Speaker A: So guys, this is. I know everyone can follow you any, you know, in your socials and stuff but you want to just announce it for people who don't know and if you've got a website or whatnot.
[01:09:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So dip spammer.net is my website.
You can just go there and yeah, have a little smooch around and mooch around and see what's going on.
From there you can check out my show on BBC Asian Network, which is every Sunday, if you're into Punjabi music. I'll bring you the best in new school and the best in old school every Sunday.
From there you can get in touch. Got my studio, the Hyperlab, which is based in Birmingham. Again, that's basically what we're doing there now. Whether it's working with old school artists who want to come back, whether it's new school artists who need a bit of guidance, whether it's the traditional thing of producing a song, whether it's the obscure thing of producing backing tracks or. Or karaokes. Listen, I'm just there to facilitate whatever you need to do. So, yeah, if you need any help or assistance in that sense, there for you.
Yeah. And I'm not much of a social media person. I used to be. Not so much now. Again, I think I'd rather spend my time try, yeah, YouTube tutorials.
I'm more of a YouTube tutorial kind of guy now.
[01:11:13] Speaker A: Do you ever see books, Sagu's YouTube tutorials?
[01:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I think I actually featured on. On one during the COVID Covid days. But yeah, again, that's just somebody another one who has. Who at that time thought, right, I need to do something, I need to be proactive. And he. And he was. And yeah, like, you know, even with me back in the day, if you go to my YouTube channel, I did a whole video blog series about the making of an album from start to finish, where I was working.
[01:11:47] Speaker A: I've never seen that. I've got to check it out.
[01:11:49] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah. So I started.
It literally started from day one in the studio of me sitting in the car telling people that I'm gonna make an album. And it took me from, you know, working with Gary Sando at the time, this footage of that. This footage of me recording with Sunil Kaligan going out to India.
Recording people are Surindal, the violinists, the. The flute players, the mandolin players, all that stuff. I documented it all.
And then, yeah, I did a little review of what I thought the album was like at the end as well. So it was like a one year project. Books is in that as well, along with Jackie and gv. Actually, I think you might enjoy that. That was basically me kidnapping Jackie Cheat on the pretense that I was going to do a vocal and I needed his help when it was actually him doing a vocal for my album. GB promised to send the vocals through, was sending BBM messages, BlackBerry messages. He was remessaging the vocals through live. So I've got that on. On the video recording with JJ, who recorded 11 vocal layers in an hour.
A boopsy's place. So, yeah, we documented it all.
So, yeah, I used to do a lot more of that than I do these days. But again, it's just, you know, when you're spread out a lot more than you were back then, it's a bit difficult. But all that stuff is still there on YouTube. So, yeah, you can just go to my website and socials and. And follow me. There's. I was gonna say there's only one of me. There is another guy called Dave's Farmer as well. Don't think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think he's a. He's a DJ from London who goes by another name as well. So, yeah, you might. I am not DJ Dips. No, I'm not the other Dips. No, I'm the other dj. Dips is the one who did the giro D. He's a wicked amazing dj. I love him. So, yeah, I'm not him. I'm Dips Bar, the. The other guy the other day.
[01:14:01] Speaker A: Have you got any music coming out that you want to tell.
[01:14:05] Speaker B: Have I got any music coming out?
No, not the moment, but I do want to put out.
What I do want to put out in 2025 is almost like an instrumental album, Scratch album. EP. EP. I'm not committing to an album.
I want to put out just an expression of music. I did it before. I. I collaborated with Juggy Rihal of Masterclass and we did a. A project which was just showcasing and we. We did that in three different ways on one track.
What's it called? Beats by Bhangra. And it was amazing. Got a lot of love for it.
Recently found out that True School actually bought it for 79ft back then, so that's a win for me. I was like, did. Yeah, because, yeah, I was like, sick. All right, cool.
So I just think, again, as musicians, we need to express ourselves a little bit more. And you don't always need a voice to do that. So one thing I would like to do is that I did have an EP out last year, which was very low fi type of beats.
And I want to do something like that again where it's just nice chilled out lo fi beats and then, you know, just flutes and violins and that kind of just keep it nice and just keep it. Just keep it about the music. So that's definitely one project I want to put out. And, yeah, just doing loads of little Bits and pieces throughout the year as well. And again, to be honest, you just don't know what project's gonna pop up and when and, you know, more than happy to. To jump on it and just get stuff done. Oh, actually, there is a song coming out. I've done.
Done the production for Gujarma project called Sardi Dosti, where he's working with friends of his, but then he's also working with guys and girls who are disabled. And he just wanted to do a project which involved everybody and just showing that Unity endorsed, it doesn't matter, you know, what ailments you might have in life. And he's got, you know, you know, people who are not singers, you know, who have disabilities actually singing on there. So I'll be working with. Yes, I'll be working with their vocals and. And things like that as well. So I think there's about 21, 22 vocalists. So I had to do a lot of work on making sure everyone sits nicely on there. But, yeah, I think he's just recently shot a video for it as well. So did those things, which. Which I've produced for.
It's probably the first project that'll end up coming out in 2025.
[01:17:01] Speaker A: That's fantastic. I'm gonna close the podcast. You stay on.
[01:17:07] Speaker B: Anyway, thanks. I appreciate it.
[01:17:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So, guys, that was Dips Brammer, and it. Honestly, I wasn't feeling well before this podcast, but I'm so inspired by your Dips. Honestly, everything you said, it's been a masterclass.
This podcast is sort of a. A selfish project of mine, which inspires me to. To. To talk to musicians and get inspired more and more.
[01:17:31] Speaker B: And it should be. Listen, and it should be, you should be inspired not just by what I'm saying. I think we need to sometimes look for inspiration. And again, you're being proactive about it. So, you know, I wish you all the success. I think at the end of the day, like I said, you know, props to you. You've been doing this for a long time. You know, I remember playing your tune back when I was presenting Bungalow breakdown. Was it 2010, 2009, 2010.
Every time you sent me music, you know, I'm always there to help get it out to the people.
And yeah, again, it's. It's not a case of, you know, you've ever said, please, please, please, please play him a song at the end of the day, you've sent it, I'll play it. And, you know, I want people to know that it's out there. So, you know, you're being proactive about things and, you know, trying different.
[01:18:23] Speaker A: People are busy dips as well, like, including yourself. Like, I'm not one to. To badger people, you know, like, have you done this? Because people are busy. People got time and stuff. Like, you know, you got to respect that. And as you were saying, it's not. It's not in anyone else's hands. It's in your own hands.
[01:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
Look, at the end of the day, if you've been proactive and you ended up on 13 million, that's 30 more than me. So that shows that there's a lot of hard. There's a lot of hard work that's going into making things happen for you to be in front of people. So, you know, all credit to you for. For carrying on.
[01:18:58] Speaker A: The other thing my wife's got me doing now, I don't know whether you've seen it. Skits.
Okay, We've tied skits now. So we did one cooking. One we had to cook up on that track.
[01:19:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:19:12] Speaker A: We were putting beets and stuff there and we did a.
Recently we did a dodgy uncle.
[01:19:17] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, Dodgy uncle. So what's got me doing all these, these. These characters?
[01:19:26] Speaker B: Ah, it's good, man. You've got. You've got to try, man. You've got to try.
[01:19:29] Speaker A: The thing is, it's good fun.
[01:19:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:19:31] Speaker A: It's not me, but my wife thinks I'm good at it.
[01:19:33] Speaker B: So you just don't know what's going to work. Again, if you're hearing the song now at weddings called Sad, that was recorded by me 11 years ago, and 11 years later, it's a viral sensation.
Didn't know it was going to happen then. You've got my kids who are singing Good Morning Pineapple. You just don't know. You.
[01:19:57] Speaker A: That guy. That guy's just.
[01:19:58] Speaker B: Yeah, you've just got to. You've just got to keep delivering. It'll click. It'll work.
[01:20:04] Speaker A: He's really good, isn't he, that guy?
[01:20:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Again, I remember interviewing him in 2014when I was presenting on Brit Asia. I remember meeting him then, and he was just full of life and energy then. Nothing's really changed other than a bit more of a daddy than he had back then. But again, look how many things he's, you know, he's put out. And it just took, what, seven seconds of or 17 seconds of something for people to recognize him.
[01:20:33] Speaker A: And again, one thing I love about him is he's not isolated to the Asian community.
Singing. It's just amazing.
[01:20:44] Speaker B: If it's gonna work, it's gonna work for everyone. So, yeah, just keep going. Keep doing what you're doing as well.
Keep persisting with. With the music and. And here as well on the podcast. And. Yeah, man, it's. It's all good. It's all in a good place.
[01:20:59] Speaker A: So, guys, that's Dips. Make sure you follow him. Make sure. And if you're. If you're a musician or a singer or, or, or, or. Or if you want to do your passion project, contact Dips. He's there for you guys. Was it Hyper Lab Studios? You know?
[01:21:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:21:15] Speaker A: So make sure you contact him on. On socials. And the good thing about Dips, from day one, he's not the proper person who.
[01:21:23] Speaker B: Who.
[01:21:23] Speaker A: Who won't answer. He will answer your messages eventually.
[01:21:28] Speaker B: Eventually.
[01:21:31] Speaker A: Yeah, but he will answer your messages, guys, so it's. It's not out of reach. So if you please, if. If you want music done, he's your man. So God bless you guys. And make sure you leave a comment, a review.
If it's. If it's bad, leave it for me. If it's good, leave it for Dips. All right?
[01:21:52] Speaker B: We're in it together, mate. We're in it together. We're going down together.
[01:21:56] Speaker A: Yeah, you never walk alone.
Anyway, guys, with that, I'm gonna. I'm gonna leave you to it. And so look out for the next podcast coming soon, we'll have another amazing guest. This was Dips and God.
