4 | February 2019 | Rolling Stone India |Jason Fine EDITOR DEPUTY EDITOR Sean Woods MUSIC EDITOR Christian Hoard CREATIVE DIRECTOR Joseph Hutchinson DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE CONTENT Catriona
Trang 1> ISSUE 00133 > FEBRUARY 2019
> rollingstoneindia.com
TIME
Trang 2DIVINE & NAEZY:
Jordan Peele’s American Nightmares
The Get Out director is planning to scare the hell out of you.
By Brian Hiatt
TIME
The poster boys of desi hip-hop narrate the story of their hard-won
success in their most honest interview yet
By Nirmika Singh
C
Contents
Trang 3The U.K soul band’s
co-founder Tom McFarland on
coming to India, their latest
album ‘For Ever’ and his review
of the year gone by
BY ANURAG TAGAT
12 The Art of Being
Mino
The South Korean hip-hop star
wowed critics and fans alike
with his solo album ‘XX’; but
is he any closer to discovering
who the ‘real’ Mino is?
The New Delhi dance rock act
comprising guitarist Moses
Koul and vocalist Kavya Trehan
on the two years it took to
release their first record
18 Festival Review:
Orange Festival 2018,
Arunachal Pradesh
From guzzling orange juice to
going off-roading and taking in
a variety of music, the festival
has solidified its position…
BY PRASHIN JAGGER
22 Jonita Gandhi:
‘You’re Not Going to
Appeal to Everyone
The Indo-Canadian singer talks
about stagnation in current
Bollywood music, being part
of this year’s ‘Royal Stag Barrel
Select MTV Unplugged’ and
more…
BY DAVID BRITTO
Q&A
35 Rivers Cuomo
Weezer’s leader on the
Grammys, Toto’s “Africa” and
that wacky SNL sketch.
Department
56 Playlist
Future makes a song about
fancy watches and exotic
cars sound like some kind of
psychedelic blues, Metallica
give a head-banging classic
some country shine, Bad Bunny
sings gloomy, wonderfully
self-effacing lines and more…
ON THE COVER
DIVINE AND NAEZY
Shot on Iphone Xs Max by Ishaan Nair
Styled by Neelangana Vasudeva
Assisted by Aabha Malhotra
Hair and Makeup by Jean Claude Biguine
All Clothes by Numero Uno
Rings by Curio Cottage
18
Trang 44 | February 2019 | Rolling Stone India |
Jason Fine
EDITOR
DEPUTY EDITOR Sean Woods
MUSIC EDITOR Christian Hoard
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Joseph Hutchinson
DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE CONTENT Catriona Ni Aolain
DIGITAL DIRECTOR Jerry Portwood
MANAGING EDITOR Alison Weinflash
DEPUTY MUSIC EDITOR Simon Vozick-Levinson
ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS David Fear
Raoul Duke (Sports),
Josh Eells, Mikal Gilmore, Jeff Goodell, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Seth Harp, Erik Hedegaard, Will Hermes, Steve Knopper, David Kushner, Greil Marcus, Alex Morris, Charles Perry, Janet Reitman, Rob Sheffield, Paul Solotaroff,
Ralph Steadman (Gardening),
Neil Strauss, Touré, Jonah Weiner, Christopher R Weingarten
Gus Wenner
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
PUBLISHER AND Andrew Budkofsky
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER VICE PRESIDENT OF Kelly Vereb
MARKETING DIRECTOR OF Jessica Grill
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
ROLLING STONE INTERNATIONAL
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Meng Ru Kuok
CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Ivan Chen
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Tom Callahan
Jann S Wenner
FOUNDER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
ROLLING STONE (ISSN 0035-791x) is published 12 times per year, which is subject to change at any time, by Penske Business Media, LLC, 475 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017 The entire contents of ROLLING STONE are copyright
© 2019 by ROLLING STONE LLC, and may not be reproduced in any manner, either in whole or in part, without written permission All rights are reserved
International Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No 450553.
EDITORIAL OFFICE:
401, 4th Floor, Todi Building,
Mathuradas Mills Compound,
Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel,
Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi 110016;
33/1, Santhome Ist Stage, 1st A Cross,
Indira Nagar Bangalore 560038; 2,
Nabapalli (Bindanpalli), Kolkata 700084
Copyright © 2019 by ROLLING STONE LLC
All rights reserved Reproduction in whole or
in part without permission is prohibited
The name ROLLING STONE and the logo thereof are
registered trademarks of ROLLING STONE LLC,
whose trademarks have been licensed to
MW.Com India Private Limited
Published by Radhakrishnan Nair on behalf of
MW.Com India Private Limited
Published at MW.Com India Private Limited,
401, 4th Floor, Todi Building, Mathuradas Mills Compound,
Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013
Tel:67487777.
www.rollingstoneindia.com
Radhakrishnan Nair
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & PUBLISHER
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Nirmika Singh
SENIOR WRITER Anurag Tagat
SENIOR WRITER & Riddhi Chakraborty
VIDEO PRODUCER
STAFF WRITER David Britto
FASHION EDITOR Neelangana Vasudeva
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Sunil Sampat,
Soleil Nathwani
DEPUTY ART DIRECTORS Hemali Limbachiya,
Tanvi Shah and Anshul Bhansali
PRODUCTION MANAGER Mangesh Salvi
SENIOR DIGITAL MANAGER Jayesh V Salvi
ADVERTISING & SALES
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Minal Surve
GENERAL MANAGER Manoj Sharma
(DELHI MANOJ@MANSWORLDINDIA.COM) DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGERTulsi Bavishi
(BANGALORE TULSI@MANSWORLDINDIA.COM),
Noha Qadri
(MUMBAI NOHA@MANSWORLDINDIA.COM)
CIRCULATION MANAGER Bhautik Mehta (9819728984)
MIS & OPERATIONS Santosh P Gajinkar (9969571319)
Stephen Blackwell
HEAD OF PORTFOLIO SALES
Gerard Brancato
VICE PRESIDENT, PMC DIGITAL ACQUISITION
Eddie Ko
SENIOR DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING OPERATIONS
Trang 5Subscribe through Magzter, the Digital Web Store, on iTunes and Android Market
India’s original men’s magazine
www.facebook.com/ mansworld.ind | www mansworldindia com | on ipad at magzter.com
download your digital issue now
Available on: iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices
INDIA'S BIGGEST SOCIAL MEDIA STAR
2018'S BEST WATCHES
STYLE
HOW TO SLAY THE PARTY SEASON
THE DRINKING MAN SPECIAL
TRAVELS THROUGH SINGLE MALT COUNTRY GOA'S BEST PARTY SPOTS THE BEST INDIAN WINES THE YEAR OF GIN COCKTAILS YOU HAVE TO TRY
THE BEST
OF 2018
MOVIES
TV SHOWS GADGETS RESTAURANTS ALCOHOL CARS AND BIKES
NO CHILDREN,
NO PROBLEM
COUPLES GOING CHILD-FREE
U-17
WORLD CUP
POCKET WATCHES ONLY WATCH 2017 ICONIC WATCHES THE HOTTEST
AW17 STYLE
• MERCEDES-AMG GT R • HYUNDAI VERNA
• HONDA AFRICA TWIN
• BENELLI 302R
48 HOURS IN
BRUSSELS
FARHAN AKHTAR
WHAT ARE HIPSTERS EATING AND DRINKING?
BOUNDARY BREAKERS
JULY 2017 |K 150 DRESSING HACKS STYLE
FOR EVERY OCCASION
BENGALURU'S
HIPPEST NEW BARS
HANSAL MEHTA
LUXURY SMARTWATCHES
STILL A BADASS AT 55
TOM CRUISE
THE BEST
CAMERA PHONES (REALLY) SMART TVs
TINDER CONFESSIONS
PALACE INTRIGUE
WAS KUMBLE'S FALL INEVITABLE?
THE INTERVIEW
KIDAMBI SRIKANTH
SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT ON NEPOTISM, STARDOM AND
HOW HE EMBRACES FAILURE
THE BEST MOONPHASE WATCHES
KEEPING PACE INDIA'S FAST-BOWLING RICHES
THE SUPER BOXING LEAGUE
KICKING
A EUROPEAN FOOTBALL PRIMER
CULINARY
EATING (REALLY) WEIRD IN NEW ZEALAND
KIRORI MAL FECUND DRAMATICS SOCIETY
THE INTERVIEW
PUJARA
TAIWAN'S AWARD-WINNING
WHAT ARE WE ADDICTED
TO NOW?
2017'S
BEST COMPLICATED WATCHES
THE DEFINITIVE
HALEEM GUIDE
WHISKIES
TURNS UP THE CHARM FACTOR
AYUSHMANN KHURRANA
THE CO-LIVING STARTUP BOOM
WHEN VVS LAXMAN ANNOUNCED HIS ARRIVAL
HOW TO INVEST
SIHH 2019 PREVIEW
THINGS
TO LOOK FORWARD
TO IN 2019
A CULINARY JOURNEY IN
NORTHERN IRELAND
HOW ELEVAR IS REIMAGINING THE CRICKET BAT
50
RANA DAGGUBATI
FOR THE MAN IN FULL | www.mansworldindia.com
KING KOHLI
THROUGH THE EYES OF WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
IN CONVERSATION WITH NANDITA DAS SMART TVS ARE
• AUDI RS6 AVANT • INDIA'S BEST
• MARUTI SUZUKI CIAZ
FOR THE MAN IN FULL | www.mansworldindia.com
SEPTEMBER 2018 |K 150
THE MANY MOODS OF
KARAN JOHAR
MS DHONI
HOW THE FORMER
THE INSTAGRAM FITNESS CRAZE
SHIRTS YOU HAVE TO OWN CELEBRITIES AND SHIRTMAKERS HOW TO WEAR PRINTS
WATCHES
THE YEAR'S BEST MINUTE REPEATERS
SHIRT SPECIAL
THE BEST HEALTH
THE BEST IN-EAR PODS
48 HOURS MUSLIMS IN
TIGER SHROFF
THE RETURN OF VINYL
INDIA'S BEST
THE INTERVIEW
ASHIM AHLUWALIA
WHAT'S NEXT FOR INDIAN CRICKET?
WHY NAWAZUDDIN REINVENT HIMSELF
CURRENT CINEMA
THE INTERVIEW
THE FINEST MOONPHASE WATCHES BEJEWELLED WOMEN'S
FATHERS AND SONS FEMALE DESIRE IN BOLLYWOOD
NEERAJ KABI
THE WATCH SPECIAL
TV SHOWS
TO BINGE
VICKY KAUSHAL
LEADS THE CHARGE OF THE NEW BOLLYWOOD
MEN AND THEIR SNEAKER COLLECTIONS THE BEST RUNNING SHOES TIMELESS DRESS SHOES
THE SHOE SPECIAL
#SINGINDIASING
DEBUTS IN INDIA
RANGE ROVER SPORT DUCATI SCRAMBLER 1100 ROYAL ENFIELD 650 TWINS
WHEELS
FOR THE MAN IN FULL | www.mansworldindia.com
DECEMBER 2016 |K 150
MEN OF THE YEAR
BEST CARS & BIKES OF THE YEAR
BARBEQUE LIKE A BOSS
THE INTERVIEW SUJOY GHOSH
UP CLOSE ANOUSHKA SHANKAR
72 HOURS IN MIAMI
THE YEAR'S BEST WATCHES
RANVEER SINGH
INDIA'S BUSIEST BAR CHAINS
WHEELS
THE CARS AND MOTORCYCLES
TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS YEAR
HOW WOMEN ARE WINNING THE INTERNET
DOES AAMIR KHAN HAVE
A SAVIOUR COMPLEX?
THE NEW BREED OF
INDIAN CRICKETERS
GOA'S INNOVATIVE LIQUOR INDUSTRY
HOT
IN 2017
THE MARATHON TRAINING GUIDE
GADGETS FOOD TRENDSDRESSING UPMOVIES
A PART OF MY LIFE."
celebrating
18 years
of success
FOR THE MAN IN FULL | www.mansworldindia.com
FEBRUARY 2019 | K 150
JAGUAR XJ50 ADVANCED CAR SAFETY SYSTEMS SUZUKI V-STROM
650 XT
WHEELS
STYLE
THE COOLEST BAGS OF THE SEASON
THE BEST WATCHES FROM SIHH 2019
DHRITIMAN
MRINAL SEN AND SATYAJIT RAY
NEW CRAFT BEERS
36 HOURS IN MOSCOW
T-SERIES
AND ITS CONQUEST
OF YOUTUBE
CHETESHWAR PUJARA
THE ASCETIC IN THE MIDDLE
INDIA'S BEST
SMALL-BATCH COFFEE
Trang 8The U.K soul band’s co-founder Tom McFarland on
coming to India, their latest album ‘For Ever’ and his
review of the year gone by
Trang 9his neo-soul band Jungle’s
India debut this month for
more reasons than one “So
we’re actually going to be
playing the festival on my
30th birthday, which is quite
exciting as an occasion as
well,” he says
Jungle, who have seen a
global meteoric rise in acclaim
and popularity thanks to their
slick soul, R&B and funk
sound, will make their way
down to Nashik to headline
the 2019 edition of wine and
music festival SulaFest And
the shows before that include
Kiev, Moscow, St Petersburg
and Tokyo McFarland is
having a laugh just thinking
about the way he’s counting
down to his birthday on February 2nd He says, “It’s going to be super cold in all of those places and we’re going
to come to Mumbai and it’ll
be boiling.”
Soon after, from February
to April, the seven-piece band – also featuring co-founder Josh Lloyd-Watson – tour through Europe, North America and Australia It’s safe to say that everyone’s coming to India for the first time, though “I think, culturally and in terms of that – we’re really excited
I think people are maybe a bit nervous about what to expect but I’ve spoken to some friends who’ve been to India and played before and they say the crowds are really receptive to everything, so we’re excited too,” McFarland says
The appearance comes on the back of their 2018 album
For Ever, which released
four years after the hugely successful self-titled debut
While Jungle catapulted the
band into global stardom for millions-viewed videos such as “Busy Earnin’” and
“Platoon,” it became clear that McFarland and Lloyd-Watson were all about projecting a specific visual identity and aesthetic Even today, Jungle’s popularity rides on their energizing, feel-good choreography and sublime storytelling, all going over smooth, groovy funk, disco and soul vibes
McFarland says dance is a
“very important aspect” of the group’s music “I think we like
to imagine people in the real world reacting in the same way to our music that you’d see in our videos I think the
two are very inter-linked but I don’t think they’re necessarily always symbiotic with each other,” he adds
Whether it’s playing to thousands at big-ticket festivals or selling out indoor venues, Jungle likes to “retain
an intimacy” when it comes
to performances It’s one thing to have seven members
to live up to the sound of Jungle songs like “House In L.A.,” “The Heat” and “Heavy, California,” but McFarland says it also helps each of them realize there’s other people
to connect with on stage He adds, “I think for us that’s the most exciting thing about playing live music, just being able to have a dialog with your audience whether it’s
600 people or 10,000 people
We always try and make sure
we have as much energy as possible.” ANURAG TAGAT
Trang 10The Mix
If you’re an original artist creating English-language music, this is your chance to collaborate with A.R
Rahman, Clinton Cerejo and others
Trang 11Nexa Music, a nationwide
hunt for emerging artists
The platform, created in
collaboration with digital
media company Qyuki, is
looking to support creators
of English-language original
music across the country
Rolling Stone India has joined
hands with Nexa Music to
help curate the year-long
series
Aspiring contestants will
need to share unreleased or
non-promoted original music
compositions on the Nexa
Music website after which
a jury, comprising Grammy
award-winning composer
and co-founder of Qyuki A
R Rahman and Bollywood
composer Clinton Cerejo,
will shortlist 24 contestants
who will be chosen for a
mentorship program at the
Nexa Music Lab Out of these
24 contestants, only the best
four will be shortlisted and
guided by celebrity mentors
to create four more additional
tracks and music videos In
addition to Rahman and
Cerejo, the celebrity mentors
who will be guiding the contestants are Mumbai singer-songwriter Nikhil D’Souza, singer/performer Anushka Manchanda and rock band Indus Creed’s frontman Uday Benegal The final four candidates will also get to tour and perform at
12 live events across India with their mentors and begin their journey to build a steady fanbase
“Nexa and my company Qyuki share a common goal,” said Rahman about Nexa Music in a statement
“We want to provide
independent artists creating original English music a real opportunity to be discovered and promoted on a global stage With Nexa Music any deserving artist stands a chance to collaborate with some of the best bands in the industry to produce music
that reaches audiences across the world.”
R S Kalsi, Senior Executive Director of Sales and Marketing at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd stated, “We are glad to announce this refreshing new initiative to create original international music and discover aspiring musicians The launch of Nexa Music opens new horizons for musicians It is
a matter of great honor to be associated with global music icon A R Rahman—the man who has earned prestigious international recognition.”
Rolling Stone India will
be joining the project as a curator and editorial partner
to help spread the word and find a wider range of independent artists who can make an impact on
a global audience “Our partnership with Qyuki
and Nexa Music couldn’t
be more fitting because we all share a common goal: to create a creative ecosystem for independent artists to
flourish,” said Rolling Stone
India‘s Executive Editor
Nirmika Singh “As the Indian edition of the world’s greatest
music magazine, Rolling
Stone India is committed
to discovering and putting the spotlight on emerging talent In fact it is the only international title in India that has been consistently reporting on the subculture
of artists creating original music in English, thus, telling important stories that need to
be told.”
Qyuki co-founder and managing director Samir Bangara said about the partnership, “We’ve created
an interesting collaboration with perhaps the most iconic magazine in music and pop
culture, Rolling Stone India
They will help us curate a lot
of the talent and when we talk about packaging its also important [for artists] to be covered editorially, get your voice out there So I think we’re doing everything in our power to sort of amp this up.”
ROLLING STONE INDIA
— R S Kalsi, Senior Executive Director of Sales and Marketing at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
“We are glad to announce this refreshing new initiative
to create original international music and discover aspiring musicians The launch of Nexa Music opens new horizons for musicians It is a matter of great honor to be associated with global music icon A R Rahman—the man who has earned prestigious international recognition.”
From Left:
Samir Bangara, Cerejo, Maruti Suzuki India’s
Executive Vice President and Executive Officer
Tarun Garg, Manchanda, Benegal and D’Souza.
Trang 12The Mix
February 2019 | Rolling Stone |12
The South Korean hip-hop star wowed critics and fans alike with his solo album ‘XX’; but is he any closer to discovering who the ‘real’ Mino is?
to do but the idea itself is so dazzling, you need to give it a shot anyway Tall and blonde with bleached eyebrows and sharp features, Song—better known mononymously as Mino—cuts quite the intimi-dating figure He’s intelligent, polite and forthcoming on every answer and there’s
an elegance to him that’s instantly appealing There’s one little thing that proves
to be more charming than any of this, however, and it comes in the form of a little note he sends on email after the interview: “Thank you for your interest!” it reads cheerfully, accompanied by a smiley emoji “I hope we do it again when Winner’s back!” It’s simple but sweet and suddenly there’s yet another dimension to the chic, fierce rapper we’re used to seeing onscreen
Before sitting down with
Rolling Stone India for a
con-versation in December, the 25-year old musician’s sched-ule through 2018 included the release and promotion of a full LP with his band Winner, a Japan tour, a more extensive Asia tour, a series of per-formances across his home country South Korea, starring roles in several variety shows and a feature on YG Enter-tainment labelmate and his senior Seungri’s viral hit track
“Where R U From.” November was busiest for him with the
release of his first solo LP XX,
a 12-track feast of hip-hop, tradition, emotion and cul-ture December finally closed with yet another single with Winner and a series of year-end performances in Korea
Trang 13While a bit of a break is
warranted after the whirlwind
of activity, Mino confirms he
has no plans to take it easy in
2019 “Winner will release a
full album this year,” he reveals
cheerfully “I cannot talk about
our plan in advance, but we
are preparing a surprise gift
with a great musician!” The
four-member K-pop band are
working on their upcoming
third LP and have already
begun their tour schedules in
full force—they’re currently
on a six-city run of the United
States with stops in Seattle,
San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Dallas, Chicago and New York
As an artist, Mino is full
of surprises with an
evolu-tion that’s been thrilling to
map He started his career
as a rapper in South Korea’s
vibrant underground hip-hop
scene back in 2010 (when he
was just 16) but success took
a while to come along He
debuted briefly in 2011 with
a group called BoM before its
premature disbandment in
2013, and then finally signed
with leading music label YG
Entertainment as a trainee
In 2014 he got his big break
after participating in TV
channel Mnet’s reality-survival
program Win: Who Is Next
and ending up as a member
of the winning Team A–which
would go on to form Winner
and debut that same year He
shot to fame quickly this time
around, gaining attention as
a solo artist after finishing
as runner-up on the fourth
season of South Korean
hip-hop survival competition Show
Me The Money in 2015 With
several eyes on him, he wowed
with a more bluesy,
melan-cholic persona on Winner’s
2016 EP EXIT: E That same
year he and YG Entertainment
labelmate Bobby announced
a duo project titled MOBB,
which showed off a completely
different, swag-heavy,
fun-lov-ing attitude, but in that EP he
included “Body,” a solo single
that blended sex and passion
with angst and regret
Win-ner’s discography as of late
has been bright, tropical and
electronic-pop and he’s able to
adapt to it effortlessly as well
His career trajectory spells
‘chameleon’ and even in times
of trial there’s a sense of chill
around him, as though deep inside he knows everything’s going to work out
Over the past year Mino has embraced a life of avant-gar-
de with ease, stepping away from his swag-heavy hip-hop image and slipping into a more elegant avatar He seems more comfortable and willing
to express himself in ways outside of music He’s always had fondness for art but now seems to revel in it, regularly posting images of artwork he’s created on Instagram, partic-
ipating in media projects, hibitions and editorials Last year, he displayed some of his own artwork at an exhibit titled ‘Burning Planet.’ The pieces were a combination of installation art with media and performance art which explored the idea of burnouts, stress and humanity’s exhaust-
ex-ing pace of birth, work, death
It’s morbid, futuristic and almost prophetical in its warn-ings about the pressure society puts on young people, and quickly gained critical acclaim
Mino remains modest in the wake of all the praise, saying,
“I do not know if I have had any talent when I was young, but I painted as a hobby since
I was a kid So I have become interested in art naturally It was a very good opportunity
to exhibit ‘Burning Planet’
with [eye wear brand and
col-laborator] Gentle Monster It was a good time to learn and experience many things.”
It’s this artistic and emotional evolution which seems to have had the biggest
hand in the creation of XX
“I wanted to give a tweak to
my existing image, which I guess has been heavy with
hip-hop and rap I wanted to start afresh,” he stated at a press conference in November, according to a report by the
Korea Herald XX is an
exten-sion of his performance art—dramatic and creative with
an ambiguous title to boot (he’s explained he wanted his listeners to have their own in-terpretations of it.) The video for the lead single “Fiancé” features imagery around birds, dreams, fantastical landscapes and more In addition to being involved in the entire concept, Mino also contributed to the set design—there’s a giant mural of a bluebird featured
in the video which he painted himself Several fans as well as popular YouTube channels like DKDKTV have attempted to decipher the meanings behind
it and he’s thrilled to see all the various discussions “It is one of the things I enjoy the most,” he says when I ask if he ever watches these theories
“Making parts that can be interpreted in various ways… I love watching them in various interpretations.” Could he tell
us which theory got closest to deciphering his work? “I will never tell which one is correct
or incorrect for more diverse guesses!” he teases
“Fiancé” has also been appreciated for its unconven-tional combination of trot, a form of Korean folk music, and trap To do this, the track samples Korean veteran singer Kim Taehee’s 1969 track
“Soyanggang River Maiden” and blends it with bass-heavy, rolling trap and Mino’s drawling rap “There was no intention to use ‘Soyanggang River Maiden’ from the begin-ning,” Mino says “When the song was almost 80 percent complete, [YG Entertainment CEO and music producer] Yang Hyun Suk gave me
an idea of putting a part of
‘Soyanggang River Maiden’
as a sample source, and it fit perfectly into the message and vibe of this song.” The haunting sample had younger fans enthralled and searching through YouTube to listen
to the original track while applauding Mino for putting
a limelight on Korean pop culture and history Because
in addition to the retro sound,
February 2019 | Rolling Stone |13
“When I work alone… I get sensitive because
I am dissatisfied with any result When I work with Winner, it’s really a load off my mind
Each member has their own roles, and I think
we fit in nicely with each other.”
Trang 14the music video for “Fiancé” is
a fever-dream blend inspired
by the Korean Joseon dynasty
and modern-day angst In
the clip the rapper wanders
between fantasy and reality,
dressed as an emperor as he
searches the past, present and
future for his one true love
Is it possible that with
younger artists like him using
older genres like trot or paying
homage to their history in
music videos, it can help
young listeners appreciate
tradition a little bit more?
Mino reveals that wasn’t really
his intention at all “In fact, I
considered this song for older
people than younger
peo-ple,” he says, adding his plan
was to erase misconceptions
about hip-hop and ‘young’
music in the minds of older
generations “Even if the genre
of hip-hop is popularized, it
is still hard to catch up with
higher age So it seems like
sampling of ‘Soyanggang River
Maiden’ was a good plan for
this song.” “Fiancé” has indeed
added to the buzz around
rappers defying expectations
and stepping into traditional
musical and visual territories
Hip-hop no longer has one
definition, and inspiration
can come from anywhere For
Mino, the ideas for “Fiance”
and XX came from several
fragments of art “I have so
many things inspiring me, so
I do not know which one to
say first,” Mino says “Among
them, some works of (Italian
painter) Piero Fornasetti,
various plants—especially
blue roses—and the Japanese
anime Devilman were in my
mind However, it’s my inner
self that affected it the most
I stayed alone in the studio
every time so I could be deeply
involved in my work and I
looked back upon myself.”
XX as a whole has been
well-received thanks to its
use of complex metaphors,
puns and double meanings
in its lyricism, but for Mino,
making this record was about
finding his true self “I got
down to work in earnest in
the beginning of 2018 for this
album,” he says “It contains
various songs ranging from a
song written two-three years
ago to a song written two
weeks before the album came
out.” The rapper has written
and composed each and every track, taking a dive into his own psyche to unleash several different sides of himself In a
video teaser right before XX‘s
release, Mino explained he’d made the album by “grating [his] soul into it” and the result is an LP that is diverse, clever, saucy and undoubt-edly one of the best hip-hop albums of 2018 Lyrically, he tackles everything from wait-ing for a lost love (“Fiancé”)
to calling out obsessive fans (“Agree”) and bold eroticism (“Hope”) He gets emotion-
al on “Alarm” and “Her,”
exploring heartbreak, his relationship with his fans and self discovery “I was getting
to love myself, and everything [about that experience] is in this album,” Mino tells me
“I got a lot of thoughts and experiences from it and I am
so proud of the production process.”
It’s clear from the get-go that wordplay is key; in the vicious introductory track
“Trigger,” Mino uses syllables
in its Korean title to play on the curse word ‘shibal,’ blazing through verses of self-praise with swagger, while on
“Rocket” he drops references
to art, Korean mythology and more It’s the realest taste of what he’s truly capable of and
it surprises and delights in equal measure The impressive roster of collaborators on the record includes YG Entertain-ment’s biggest in-house pro-ducers Choice37 and Millen-nium, comedian and actor Yoo Byung-jae and up-and-coming vocalist Blue.D, among others
There was one artist, however, that Mino was particularly excited to work with “It was all fun, but working with YDG was extremely impressive,” he says proudly of his collabora-tion with the Korean hip-hop veteran on “Bow Wow.” “It was one of my dreams from my childhood.”
With XX being his first
massive solo effort, Mino confesses there were hurdles along the way that he hadn’t expected “The toughest part was familiarity,” he says, adding, “When I listened to songs hundreds of times to make a song, I always got confused That’s the hardest thing to me.” Working alone
means more pressure and he says he finds it more peaceful when he’s working with the members of Winner—Hoony, Yoon and Jinu “When I work alone… I get sensitive because
I am dissatisfied with any result When I work with Winner, it’s really a load off my mind Each member has their own roles, and I think we fit in nicely with each other.”
Mino’s journey has been wild, difficult, rewarding and
a little messy—we’ve covered a lot of it over the course of the interview, but it still feels like we’re scratching the surface
He seems to agree; there’s a lot more he wants to consume and learn and a lot more he wants to show all his fans, old and new “I am always thank-ful to fans who have supported
me from the beginning and everyone who has known me since yesterday,” he says “I will try to put a little more of my own personality and style on next album, and I also want
to challenge something that
no one expected.” While the search for the ‘real’ Mino con-
tinues, XX is a chapter in his
story that marks a significant turn; he’s found a balance be-tween the sexy rapper we see with Winner, the exuberant hip-hop dudebro he turns into with MOBB and the expres-sive poet he is as a soloist It might not be lightning in a bottle just yet, but it’s pretty damn close
•Embarking on a Japan tour with Winner in February
•The release and promotion of a full LP
•A more extensive Asia tour in July followed by a solo feature on Seungri’s viral hit track “Where R U From”
•A series of performances at universities and festivals across his home country South Korea through the year
•Starring roles in variety shows like
New Journey to the West
November
•Another single with Winner in December and a series of year-end performances in Korea
Mino’s 2018 included:
February 2019 | Rolling Stone |14
Trang 15God Is This Woman
At first, she seemed like a pop star designed in a lab Then
tragedy struck, and she was forced to grow up in public
W hen ariana grande first showed up on
the radio, she came off like the ultimate teen-pop robo-princess, a bubblegum diva wearing a pair of kitten ears She relished the role of the coy starlet, flashing her Mini Mari-
ah pipes, Bardot ponytail and Edie Sedgwick fashion sense
In her videos, she kept trying to sing with her fingers in her
mouth Her smizing never stopped, even when delivering
the kind of dippy lyrics only Swedish producers could write
(“I only wanna die alive” — really?) Yet she was so great at
this role, nobody really asked for more In a way, the
mo-ment that summed her up was her 2014 disco hit “Break
Free,” when she belted that ridiculous hook: “Now that I’ve
become who I really are.”
Who knew she’d blow up into a world-beating artist
fight-ing to reshape the whole idea of how a pop star operates? It turns out
that under the surface, Grande is gloriously weird at heart — watching
her now is like the scene in the horror movie where the prom queen
whips out an ax And she keeps making history, topping the triumph
of Sweetener with the chaser “thank u, next,” which could have been
petty celebrity shade yet felt more like her philosophical statement
After her massive 2018, she’s hunting even bigger game in 2019,
with her world tour and new music ready to roll
No-body can predict her next move All we know
is that Grande is finally becoming who
she really are
Her new strategy is to drop
songs whenever she feels like
it, or whenever she has
something to say — a pop
queen flexing the
sponta-neity of a hip-hop artist
“My dream has always
been to
be obvious-ly not a rapper, but,
like, to put out music
in the way that a
rap-per does,” she told
Billboard recently
“It’s just like, ‘Bruh, I
just want to fucking talk
to my fans and sing and
write music and drop it the
way these boys do.’”
Ari always seemed like she
could have been designed in a lab
as the perfect pop droid, with the
coldblooded poise of a
Nickelode-on child actress Everything about
her was pure showbiz, like the way she got discovered by ria Estefan on a cruise ship karaokeing “My Heart Will Go On.” She could team up with Nicki Minaj to demand oral sex
Glo-in “Get on Your Knees,” then don a pair of reGlo-indeer antlers to sing “Santa Tell Me” for the kiddies She even managed to stir
up controversy with a doughnut-licking scandal
But then she was forced to grow up in public with a dy: the terrorist bombing at her 2017 concert in Manchester, England She did more than just rise to the occasion — she ex-uded gravitas and compassion, leading a benefit concert that even inspired a crank like Liam Gallagher to get up and sing
trage-“Wonderwall.” Sweetener combined her new maturity with a celebrity whirlwind romance with Pete Davidson of Satur-
day Night Live When they split, she summed up where her
head was at: “Remember when i was like hey i have no tears left to cry and the universe was like HAAAAAAAAA bitch u thought.”
Her 2018 hit “God Is a Woman” seemed as far as she could go — especially the video where she sits on top of the world and loving-
ly fingers it, while Madonna recites the Samuel L Jackson Pulp
Fic-tion speech from Ezekiel 25:17 But she’s already left it behind “thank
u, next” was a Saturday-night special, dropped as a surprise right
be-fore her ex went on the air with SNL It was graceful,
mov-ing, soulful, not just her best song ever but a ber One hit that repositioned her as an artist
Num-It doesn’t bring the aggro of a rap diss track, but it has the off-the-dome en-ergy of one, like Meek Mill roast-ing Drake in “Wanna Know”
and Drake slamming back with “Charged Up” and
“Back to Back.”
Ari’s been bragging that she wrote her next
LP in a week — she’s summed it up as “fem-inine energy and champagne and music and laughter and cry-ing.” There was always something deliciously unscripted about her, even when every move was choreographed — so many hints that under the veneer, she was authentically crazed
Now she’s letting it all hang out
In other words, as she once sang:
This is the part where she breaks free
ROB SHEFFIELD
SOUND AND VISION
P I C K S
ON TOUR NOW
Cher
THROUGH MAY 18TH
2018 was Cher’s best year in decades — she ran away with
Mamma Mia! Here We
Go Again despite only
showing up onscreen three-quarters of the way through the film, then parlayed that success into an entire album of fantastically flossy ABBA covers Now she’s bringing her live fireworks to U.S arenas, complete with
an opening set from Nile Rodgers
Vince Staples
THROUGH APRIL 3RD
The Long Beach, California, MC is one
of rap’s top live draws
— he’s precise with his delivery and always on point with his stage presence In the past, he’s per- formed in front of boldly minimal stage setups, the better to accentuate his lyrics
On his latest tour, which follows his ex-
cellent LP FM!, Staples
will bring the heat to clubs and theaters across North America.
Lucy Dacus
THROUGH MAY 5TH
Dacus’ 2018 album,
Historian, was a
standout in a year full
of great indie rock, alternately raw and conversational as well
as deeply melodic Live, Dacus’ power- house voice means she can command a room without making
a lot of noise, though she’s also known to stomp on the fuzz pedal Take your chance to see a young songwriter who’s worth the hype.
15
Trang 16The Mix
Trang 17During his drive
time commute
somewhere in
Delhi NCR,
guitarist and
composer Moses Koul is
talking about how he and
vo-calist Kavya Trehan – the core
members of dance music duo
Mosko – put their foot down
about their long-awaited
debut EP Teeth He says, “We
thought, ‘We need to put this
out and if it doesn’t, we need
to call it quits.’”
Released on Apple Music
exclusively last month, Koul
says he and Trehan weren’t
even ready to compromise
on a few days delay “People
have been waiting for so long
It’s not a million people, but there were a fair amount
of people.” In the works
since late 2016, Teeth
features sparkling songs like “Mosey Pants” and
“Drance 109” that were written with bassist Abhinav Chaudhury and drummer Karan Malik, while the commanding groove on “Smooth” and the half-chaotic “Ydek”
feature contributions by drummer Suyash Gabriel and bassist Amar Pand-
ey Following their ous show at Ridermania festival in Goa in November,
previ-Koul says Mosko will carry
on as just a duo without live drums or bass, occasionally inviting sessions players
There’s a surging energy that Mosko brings on Teeth, which puts Trehan’s inimitable voice in control of all the hooks, while Koul riffs on, even feeding in complex harmonies like he does with rock band Kraken
The songs will still be part
of their duo setup, which includes Trehan handling vocals, keys and a bit of live mixing Koul adds,
“It came down to ‘Let’s just try to make dance music
that’s avant-garde.’ It’ll be a keyboard with me, my guitar and we’ll program the beats
on stage We’ll build it up on stage.”
With a few shows in the works since the launch, the
release of Teeth has been a
learning process for Mosko, who have been around since
2014 There’s certainly a new perspective in it for Koul
“One of the biggest learnings has been that if a band doesn’t function as a proper business – with a roadmap and strat-egy, there’s no point it being more than passion It has to
be treated as a business,” he says ANURAG TAGAT
The New Delhi dance rock act comprising guitarist Moses Koul and vocalist Kavya Trehan on the two years it took
to release their first record
Trang 18of Adventure and Music 2018,Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh
From guzzling orange juice to going off-roading and taking in a variety
of music, the festival has solidified
its position
When our plane landed at Dibrugarh airport in Assam, we could only see one strip of concrete that was the runway, while the rest of it was brimming with greenery, hinting at what the rest of the days
in the North East would look like The travel from the airport to Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh—which played host to the Orange Festival of Music and Adventure last December—began in a long and bumpy bus ride full of scenic views with patches of low lying clouds Right from arriving at the farthest airport in the country to the second longest bridge, Bomjir slowly arrived by the end of the night The long commute meant we arrived by the end of Day 1 and left before the end of the festival, missing a few
important hours of performances.While documenting a festival, it’s ideal to stay closer to the venue grounds to interact with people and musicians There was basic stay and accommodation available for the artists and the festival attendees, at the festival camping grounds
in Dambuk and we were hosted at Bomjir, roughly
a half-hour drive away from the venue, in a more comfortable tent setup The view outside the tent was beautiful, with a river flowing by and a long
stretch of mountains in the distance.The day began at 9:30AM with a view of oranges being sold in bamboo bags outside the camp The plan was to have a look at the other activities
at Orange Festival which included 4X4 and roading Sadly, we lost our way and weren’t able
off-to make it and watch those activities As the bus approaches Dambuk, there’s a noticeable hustle-bustle at the road itself, with the festival’s orange and white branding visible everywhere There are women selling oranges there too, there’s some jewellery, trinkets and stalls by locals there The moment you enter the festival grounds, you start seeing camping sites set up and run by locals in different areas of the festival It’s a good 10-minute uphill walk to the stages, all the while passing camps and stay for people and musicians There was music playing at every camp’s sound systems,
feeling cozy and inviting
Shillong band Tarik.
Trang 19| February 2019 | Rolling Stone |19
Two stages,
many moods
The festival had two stages, a
Day Stage and a Night Stage
The day stage was a smaller
stage with a lovely thatched
bamboo roof that had artists
like Aarifah Rebello, Lydia
Hendrikje, Yugo, Suraj
Mani and Valerie D’Souza
perform As we stayed at
Bomjir, and were trying to
see other outdoor activities,
the acts on the day stage
were missed It was nice to
see artists hanging around
the stages checking out every
other performance Day two
showcased quite a
mood-shifting spectrum, starting
with Mizoram band This
Chord opening the evening
stage with slow, mellow and
colorful sounds They had an
impressive sound considering
they wrote all their songs
(“Caffeine,” “Closure” and the
funk-leaning “She”) in the
last month and are currently
producing their EP
Shillong act Tarik got
on stage with their punk
sound making the crowd
yell “Aayiye Ko Ye” which
translates to ‘Mother said so.’
Their music was a lot about
standing up for ourselves
and making a point, along
with corny song names like
“Boro Plus.” Meanwhile,
“Model Police” was making
a statement about cops who
think they could do whatever
they want Their sound was
very energetic with punchy
riffs and a bassline that stood
out in the mix while the
bassist sang as well Their set
featured an all tongue guitar
solo, a spectacle that was
made even better thanks to a
‘HI MOM’ sign stuck on the
back of the guitar
Homebred indie rockers
Yesterdrive battled a few
sound issues, but broke
the ice when their guitarist
Haggai Rongmei yelled out,
“Someone please buy me a
new guitar!” Their music was
full of happy melodies with
upbeat rhythms and choruses
with carefully strung words
that played up vocalist Molie
Lollen’s sweet voice
Next up was genre
bending band The Bluegrass
Journeymen with singer
Nabanita Sarkar from
Kolkata who played a lovely
set that included bluegrass numbers like “Carukesi”
and “Things in Life.” They also performed a poem
by Rabindranath Tagore, comfortably switching between Indian classical and bluegrass numbers
The final act was Bombay Bassment who had Mumbai-based Gillian Pinto on backing vocals and bassist Ruell Barretto was noticed playing guitar as well The crowd was barely on the ground through their set and spent more time in the air jumping, pretty much obeying vocalist Bob Omulo aka Bobkat’s lyrics The grooves of the bass guitar and the fluid style of Bobkat gave the audience an awesome time as they danced away
Out and Outdoors
On day three, we managed to
go for some outdoor activities like white water rafting, scuba diving, parasailing and lighting the odd fire in the middle of the hills as
we were really cold This section of the festival was well organized and manned
by National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (NIMAS)
We also got a chance to browse through the food stalls as the day stage kicked off The cuisine was from different villages in the area and carried their own flavors
The most amazing orange juice was also available, freshly squeezed right in front of you and ready to drink It was Rs 100 a glass and 200 a bottle, but it’s definitely something widely distributed fruit juice brands should aspire to be
The Day stage had Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Ramya Pothuri performing her tunes with guitarist-vocalist Ronit Sarkar The view of the mountains in the day gave you a great feeling about being in Dambuk The girls from jazz/funk band Ladies Compartment also joined Ramya on backing vocals to add harmonies to her songs
Germany’s Lydia Hendrikje had a set that was full of variety and music from all
Rafting, one of the activities at the festival.
Molie Lollen from Yesterdrive.
Trang 20across the globe, including
songs in Portuguese,
French and English With
her mellow voice and the
band playing songs like, “If
You Never Came To Me,”
“La Javanaise” and ”Rosa
Morena,” the crowd was
settling into the music as the
sun set
The Night stage on
day three kicked off with
multi-genre bands such as
Ladies Compartment (whose
members Aditi Ramesh,
Ramya Pothuri and Aarifah
Rebello were also performing
solo material at the festival
on different days) Their
vocal harmonies with some
jazzy piano and slow moving
grooves in songs like “Logo”
and “Don’t Waste Your Time”
transitioned beautifully to
Kolkata-based acoustic/folk
band Fiddler’s Green They
kicked off with tunes that
people resonated with like
“Dama Dum Mast Kalandar”
and “Resham Firiri.” Most
songs had vocal solos with
more childlike sounds made
as he sang There was a
certain playfulness and
innocent attitude towards
their music and sound,
soaring throughout
Myanmar’s The
Reasonabilists was a band
whose musicians were aged
from 17 to 23 years old
A certain portion of the
audience was sufficiently
tipsy and started asking for
Bollywood songs, which wasn’t very surprising The band couldn’t really hear
or understand much of the audience banter and continued playing their energetic set Their sound was
a high energy rock band with harmonies and broad smiles
The Many Roots Ensemble picked up on the same energy levels, bringing back the world-fusion vibe of Fiddler’s Green, albeit with more of a jazz approach, MC Tod Fod also joined them on stage with some of his songs Although there were some sound issues
on stage with respect to the guitarist, Subid Khan, it was soon Chennai electronica act Sapta‘s turn They took day three to another level, playing tunes like “Take the Flow” and more They kept moving the mood of the music, revelling
in jungle and drum and bass
Breaking out of the regular duo setup, Sapta featured Shakti on vocals, with Bharath Shankar on keys and Jhanu on guitars
From what we experienced, the Orange Festival of Adventure and Music still gets points for music programming, considering they plan out a good flow
of different genres, but they perhaps need to find a better way around transport and timings so that everyone can make the most of their time at the festival.PRASHEEN JAGGER
Oranges up for grabs at the fest.
Bombay Bassment performing to a packed audience
Trang 22has always been
part of her life
for as long as she
can remember Growing up
in Canada she recalls how her
father, a musician, ensured
music was always around
her She says, “Slowly my dad
started making me sing at all
these events and Bollywood
became a big part of my life.”
After initially getting
noticed for her cover videos
on YouTube, Gandhi has
gone on to become a sought
after singer in Bollywood
and has worked with likes
of composers A.R Rahman,
Clinton Cerejo, Pritam,
Salim-Sulaiman and more
Ahead of her appearance on
Season 8 of Royal Stag Barrel
Select MTV Unplugged,
which premiered last month,
Gandhi spoke to us about
stagnation in Bollywood
music currently, the country’s
independent music scene,
her future plans and more
Excerpts:
This year’s MTV Unplugged
has Bollywood biggies Sonu
Nigam, Guru Randhawa and
the likes featured, how do
you feel being part of the
same lineup?
I grew up being the biggest
Sonu Nigam fan, like I am
still a fan obviously But growing up it was like next level because I have always aspired to be a versatile singer and I felt he is the epitome of versatility – he can sing anything
I remember during IIFA
2009, it happened in Toronto and that was when I was in between my university of course, I was interning at a bank and he had come for that to perform There was this whole music panel and
I remember I was dying to see him and I’m just like emailing his team saying
‘Hi I’m a fan can I please meet him’ and finally he was not well so I wasn’t able
to meet him that time – I was so upset And now I’m like literally sharing the stage with him He was my introduction to Bollywood and I couldn’t have asked for
a better introduction A lot
of the credit I get now for singing well live comes from him
Do you have any standout
MTV Unplugged performance
that was your favorite?
I remember really liking Benny’s episode – shout out
to Benny Dayal, you’re the best!
Coming from Canada and
moving to India – have you faced any obstacles over the years?
Of course it’s always tough – even now there are struggles and ups and downs But I feel I’ve been really positive and really focused – so I’ve never had an extreme low, touch wood I’m sure I might because it happens to everybody but it’s been a big roller coaster ride I would say
Of late Bollywood music seems to sound quite repetitive and stagnant, what
do you have to say about that?
I think it is stagnant now, over the last five years that I’ve been here it hasn’t been
At least for me because I was still learning the ropes – luckily I’ve worked with a lot
of different people and I’ve sung a lot of different types of songs and that’s always been
my goal Plus I’m touring with
a lot of different artists and I’m learning so much being
in different bands – but I feel now in the last year or two it has become quite stagnant because it’s all been remixes, right? Which is hilarious because I started out as a cover artist
The country’s independent scene is as talented as those in
Bollywood, but don’t seem to get the same recognition, do you think that gap will ever
be bridged?
When I first came I did
a collaboration with [electronica/rap act] ViceVersa – and I was so happy to do it because then
my eyes opened to this whole other scene Everybody is so multi-faceted and to bridge that gap is not necessary
I feel you can do things in parallel – especially in India, the audience is so vast and there is so much variety and diversity – you’re not going
to appeal to everyone with every song you do There are people who like me for my unplugged stuff and there are people who will still talk about that song I did with P-Man called “Lose Control” where I’m signing like really low and full English I just want to explore, it’s exciting now in our atmosphere, in our music scene
What else do you have in store for the rest of the year?
I want to do more for my YouTube channel and I want
to do more independent music Songwriting is something I really want to get better at because I feel I suck at it (laughs).DAVID BRITTO
“I feel now
in the last year or two it [Bollywood music] has become quite stagnant because it’s all been remixes.”
Trang 23The Mix
WHERE WE BEGIN
MONO: ‘This Album Portrays A Story
About Parting With The Past’
The Japanese post-rock band talk about their just-released album ‘Nowhere Now Here,’ working with producer Steve Albini and their India experience
album title Nowhere
Now Here might evoke
a sense of simplicity that’s unlike the
Japanese post-rock band’s deeply
emotional music, the theme is one of
transition On their 10th album, the
veteran band traverse and transcend
hatred to find hope
Guitarist Takaakira Goto aka Taka
says over email, “I left a story about
regenerating from the pitch-black
darkness which felt like ‘nowhere,’
then through dawn, welcoming the
new chapter ‘now here’.” Even at the
cusp of completing 20 years as a
band, Taka says MONO were faced
with troubling times, which included
founding member and drummer
Yasunori Takada leaving the band in
2017 They soldiered on, recruiting
drummer Dahm Majuri Cipolla and
tapped producer Steve Albini (whose
credits include Nirvana, Godspeed
You! Black Emperor and Mogwai)
and began work on Nowhere Now
Here, which includes vocals for the
first time (from bassist-synth player
Tamaki Kunishi on “Breathe”) and
over 30 orchestral instruments and
synth flourishes (“Sorrow,” “Meet Us
Where the Night Ends”) across
10 tracks
Released via Pelagic Records in
Europe on January 25th, Nowhere
Now Here sees MONO at their
poignant best yet again It’s
some-thing they’re backing up with their
relentless touring schedules They’re
touring Asia, Europe and North
America all the way until June to
promote the album “Now the band
is filled with fresh strong energy like
we were reborn We really feel that a
new chapter has come,” Taka says
In an interview with Rolling
Stone India, the band’s guitarist
talks about the making of
Nowhere Now Here, their visit
to India for Ziro Festival of
Music in September last year
and the Japanese music industry
Excerpts:
It’s safe to say that MONO is
always going to be the one band
that keeps touring rigorously But
what changes for you every time you
embark on a new tour, apart from
the music?
Sorry for not being able to think
of a right answer but even during tours and off times, I’m always think-ing about music so I can write even better songs and can play even better shows than before I don’t have much head space to think about any-thing else because I know our time is limited in life I always did it this way since I was young and nothing will change in the future
A lot seems to have informed this new album Was there ever such a difficult time in MONO’s past?
There were many tough times
in the past but this time was very strong and miracle feeling I didn’t think we would welcome our 20 year anniversary like this
In order to continue as MONO,
it was the time for us to underpin ourselves greatly I have to say some un-seeable great power just made this work Now the band is filled with fresh strong energy like we were reborn We really feel that we became what we should be
You know, you’re of course bound
to face many kinds of problems if you continue a band for 20 years I always think and feel that the ‘time
of adversity is when you can stand life’ We always got stronger by swimming against the waves, and the most important and valuable thing in life is deciding what kind
under-of dreams you want to dream for yourself
You mentioned that “After You Comes the Flood” was like the angri- est song the band had ever written
Yet, it seems to stand out, because the rest of the album follows a different pace, including the vocals for the first time on “Breathe.” In the writing process, was “After You Comes the Flood” one of the first songs you wrote for the new album?
Yes, for this album I started to write from “After You Comes the Flood.”
I left a story about regenerating from the pitch-black darkness which felt like ‘nowhere’, then through dawn, welcoming the new chapter
‘now here’ Because of this, this album is filled with completely different energy compared to our last albums
Trang 24If you cut the word ‘nowhere’ in
half, it becomes ‘now here’ I wanted
to express that by pouring the feeling
of love and positivity into that one
single space, you will be able to change
everything
This album portrays a story about
parting with the past From
won-dering a pitch-black darkness filled
with hatred, anger and a sense of
incongruity in the deep pit of your
heart, to facing yourself and fighting
through struggles, hidden light and
hope of what you wish to remain, then
eventually in the last scene “Vanishing,
Vanishing Maybe,” you part way with
the past
“Funeral Song” seems to have a
horn section, is that correct? What
was the inspiration behind the song
and will it be performed live?
They’re trumpets “Funeral Song” is
using different chords to the opening
track “God Bless” but on purpose,
using the same melody
The album starts with
fog-filled-like disharmonious “God Bless,” and
through many feelings and scenes, it
leads to “Funeral Song.” I wanted to
write a piece which was like
welcom-ing a calm mornwelcom-ing, after clearwelcom-ing and
saying goodbye to all the past in the
deep night
I wanted to express the transition
of the state of mind which lacked
harmony and starts to harmonize
You mentioned in an old interview
that often, Japanese bands tend to
start and finish in the country, never
going overseas It was an interesting
perspective, because to many, Japan
feels like a self-sustaining scene,
where bands can survive and not
worry too much What is it like right
now?
90 percent of the Japanese bands,
music industry and their surroundings
can’t be helped They’re all just shitty
They’re all so conservative towards
the sound which was popular overseas
two or three years ago and fusion with
poor quality J-Pop They also dress up
like rock artists with trendy clothes,
change their hair color and do their
make-up They’re more like TV talents
rather than musicians All they think
about is their status, prestige and how
much money they’ll be able to make
I don’t think this stance as an island
country will not change forever
On the other hand, the other 10
percent are fantastic artists and
bands That’s a fact For the last years,
we’ve been running an independent
music festival called After Hours with
our trusted friends and all the bands
that play at the festival are very real
They’re like us and our colleagues,
who seek true music and tour
world-wide
You worked with Steve Albini on
this one, like so many more MONO
albums What did he do differently with you and the music this time, if anything?
When we announced our mer leaving officially, the person who got in touch with us right away was Steve He wrote to us, ‘Is the band ok? I look forward to seeing MONO again.’ We replied, ‘We plan to have
drum-a new drummer drum-and record our new album soon We’re really looking forward to it’
After this, when we visited Steve at his studio in July for the first time in
a long time, I requested to him, ‘We want the new album to sound like
Nirvana’s In Utero’ It’s been 17 years
working with Steve and this was the first time we asked him to make our sound like certain someone He’s a really smart guy so he immediately understood what I meant, that with the new drummer, a different MONO that’s nothing like before was born, and we need the new band’s sound
to be even heavier, more rock and emotional
He’s one of our most important partners and friends who understand about MONO the most in
the world I want to continue ing albums with him for as long as
creat-we can
When you played in India, what was the overall experience like for you? Does MONO like playing bigger festival stages now, or are you still happy with even a club room? Or is it the best of both worlds right now?
Our first visit to India became one
of our unforgettable memories We’ve always wanted to play in India for a very long time We met so many of our fans and truly wonderful people
We also made many friends and it truly was a fantastic experience.But within MONO’s activity, it was one of the toughest tour journeys ever The distance to Ziro was truly a long way (laughs) Right after, we did our European tour but by the time
we arrived in England, everyone was exhausted I like playing at both big stage and small venues I don’t really mind as long as the sound and the environment of the venue is good for what we want to tell and express through music
What else is coming up through
2019, after the release of the album? Will there be more music videos?
After releasing our album, we’ll be busy We plan to do a long world tour for roughly a year, till January 2020 This time will be our 20 year anni-versary so we plan to do some special shows as well As far as music video goes, I can’t say much about this right now but I want to create more cine-matic pieces that are different from normal music videos We’re currently
PHOTOGRAPH BYChigi Kanbe| February 2019 | Rolling Stone India |31
Trang 25The guitarist felt stuck
singer-creatively and typecast as
a bluesman
To move forward,
he had to free his sound and tap into the rage
he felt living
in Trump’s America
THE ANGER
t’s already past midnight, but Gary Clark Jr wants to keep going
The guitarist is standing in the center of a darkened room at Arlyn dios, an unmarked building hidden behind a housing development in South Austin Clark has been hard at work all night teaching his band a new song, “This Land,” taking breaks only to smoke spliffs and sip 90-proof whiskey Clark counts yet another take of the song — a thunder-ous blues stomper marked by synth-bass and a hip-hop beat — before unleashing a flurry of wah-wah notes on his Gibson SG He howls about living on “50 acres with
Stu-a Model A/Right in the middle of Trump country,” next to Stu-a neighbor who “cStu-an’t wait to call the police on me.” He closes his eyes for the chorus: “Nigga, run, nigga, run/Go back where you come from.” ¶ Clark wants to get “This Land” right because
he considers it the most important song he’s ever written “It’s about being black in America, in the South,” he says Clark wrote it after a confrontation with his own
Trang 2728 | Rolling Stone India | February 2019
neighbor near his new 50-acre ranch outside Austin,
where Clark lives with his wife, model Nicole Trunfio,
and their toddlers, Zion and Gia One day, Clark drove
over to tell the neighbor his donkey had wandered onto
Clark’s property “He was very disrespectful to me in
front of my kids,” says Clark “And I don’t play with that
shit He started saying, ‘You don’t live here There’s no
way you could live here Who really owns this place?’
“It pissed me off,” says Clark “I got a good chunk of
property I worked my ass off to be able to buy a place
that my people can enjoy and run around — and to have
this guy question me?”
Clark, 34, has experienced that kind of vitriol his
en-tire life Starting around the age of nine or 10,
grow-ing up in Austin’s middle-class Oak Hill neighborhood,
“these racial slurs happen behind you, like ‘What’d you
say?’ and everyone’s laughing.” Explaining what else
in-spired the song, he recalls “being called nigger every
day, people wanting to touch my hair, throwing shit in
my mailbox, rolling up to my house with Confederate
flags, saying, ‘Nigger, go back to Africa,’ writing ‘nigger’
on my fence.”
It took the 2016 election and the policies of
Don-ald Trump to make Clark write about those horrors
Clark describes feeling disbelief at how those who dared
to speak up about racism were treated, namely Colin
Kaepernick, whose stand against police killing
Afri-can-Americans left him accusing the NFL of
blackball-ing him “How could this shit happenblackball-ing with
Kaeper-nick get taken out of proportion?” Clark asks “The silent
protest of police not upholding their oath? The home of
the brave doesn’t mean the same thing for everybody —
until it does, maybe we shouldn’t acknowledge it.”
Clark gets emotional describing a recent visit to the
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr was killed “You
walk in and see a replica of the slaves underneath these
ships, shackled,” he says “When we came over here, we
weren’t even supposed to survive the conditions So if
I don’t scream, ‘Fuck you, I’m here, I’m gonna make it
for everyone that’s been mistreated because they were
born a certain way’ I think that it’s only right at this
point in time.”
“This Land” came at the right time Before it, Clark
felt he’d hit a creative wall His career-making set at Eric
Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010 convinced
many he was going to save the blues and maybe rock
& roll, too Barack Obama invited him to the White
House twice, calling him “the future,” and Buddy Guy
compared him to T-Bone Walker But Clark’s first two
albums — 2012’s Blak and Blu and 2015’s The Story
of Sonny Boy Slim — disappointed commercially and
failed to capture the explosive energy of his live shows
For his next album, Clark’s label suggested he work with
a veteran producer like Rick Rubin or Pharrell Clark
said he was open to those ideas “But I knew he really
wasn’t,” says his manager Scooter Weintraub “He really
had a vision in his head of what he wanted to do.”
Clark decided to produce the album himself Working
with a co-producer/engineer at Arlyn, he spent months
layering drums, bass and keyboards all himself (before
bringing in heavyweights like drummer Sheila E to
overdub) The result is This Land, due March 1st, which
ranges from Delta blues to dub reggae, Stax-style soul anthems and Prince-like epics, capturing Clark’s prom-ise at a mind-blowing level “I wanted every note and lyric to mean something,” he says “With the records I’ve made before, there’s so much emphasis on guitar: We’ll just play a badass guitar solo, and no one cares about the lyrics That’s not what I got into it for I like Quin-
cy Jones I like Stevie Wonder I like Ray Charles I like Cab Calloway’s arrangements I like bridges, prechorus-
es That’s something I never really paid attention to.”
Clark was in the room, nervous, when the tives at Warner Bros heard the album for the first time:
execu-“There was a lot of silence, a lot of gasps.” He remembers thinking, “Great.”
It’s a slow afternoon at Antone’s, the famed
Austin blues club Kingfish, a 19-year-old blues guitarist on the rise, is onstage sound-checking, but Clark is nowhere to be found
He was supposed to be here for an interview
a few minutes ago; a member of his management team
is trying to track him down He’s here, she says, parking his Cadillac out back Clark finally materializes about 30 minutes later, first chatting with his manager, and then slowly making his way over “How you feeling?” he says, before slowly moving to the front of the club and taking
a seat He keeps his sunglasses on Conversation with Clark can be unnerving; he stares at you for long periods after you ask a question, usually leaving you to keep talk-ing (But the longer he waits to answer, the more pro-found the answer usually is.) “There’s no presentation or people-pleasing with Gary,” says Weintraub “People are
so codependent, they’re like, ‘Is he mad at me?’ times I’ve thought that And a couple of days later, he’s like, ‘Hey, man, what’s going on?’”
If there’s a place where Clark is comfortable, it’s at Antone’s His dad, a car salesman, started taking him here at age 15, when Clark got onstage at a blues jam and nailed Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride and Joy.” Owner Clif-ford Antone, who had mentored Vaughan, took Clark under his wing, putting him onstage with early blues greats like Lazy Lester and Pinetop Perkins “He was a kid, and his voice was the same as his guitar,” says gui-
tarist Jimmie Vaughan “He was playing that same inner voice, which is the sign of a real artist, in my book.” Antone was sent to prison in 2000 for trafficking more than five tons of marijuana, and died a few years later When the club closed in 2014, Clark helped save it
He invested in it with a childhood friend, helping bring
it back near its original location downtown “All the portunities I’ve seen in my life are because of this place,” Clark says “To get an education, drive 15 minutes and have my mind blown? How could you not be a part of this thing? It’s everything.”
op-At the same time, Clark has a conflicted ship with the blues After signing with Warner Bros., he broke through with “Bright Lights,” a steamrolling nod
relation-to Jimmy Reed, and a series of explosive festival mances where he channeled Jimi Hendrix, B.B King and Albert King through a 21st-century lens But along the way, Clark came to feel typecast: the guy who would show up at the Grammys or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and break out blues licks “If it were up to every-body else, I would do Hendrix covers all the time,” he said in 2013 Clark even says that he’s considered touring without the instrument altogether “Prince is one of the best guitar players in the world, if not the best, but you don’t just think about Prince as a guitar player, do you?”
perfor-he says “I love being a guitar-slinger from Texas It’s a badass thing But I can also do other things.”
Clark tried to prove as much on his albums Blak and
Blu veered between hip-hop and neo-soul “[I was]
ex-pecting to hear a Texas bluesman that has been pared to both Jimi and Stevie Ray,” one blogger com-plained “What I heard was something that would not have been out of place as the opening dance number
com-to an ’80s variety show.” Sonny Boy Slim embraced the
guitar more, but the songs fell flat Clark says he
recent-ly read a piece “talking about how I didn’t live up to the hype, the expectation of being the next guitar god I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ I’m not a rock god, nor was I try-ing to be I was a guy that was making records and was excited more than six people were listening.”
As the years went by, people around Clark got ried His father, Gary Clark Sr., remembers thinking his son was distracted “He was out on the road a lot,” he says “And we’d catch him every now and then One time,
wor-he was like, ‘This is wearing me out.’ He had to learn how
to manage it.” Weintraub, who’s managed Sheryl Crow for 26 years, knows to pick his spots when giving an artist creative advice But after the commercial failure
of Sonny Boy Slim, he told Clark his window to break
through was closing “Gary is very laid-back and Texan, where he would really like to do things gradually,” Wein-traub says “I’m like, ‘You can’t do that I don’t want you
to be 39 years old and just be revered as the great guy that followed Stevie Ray Vaughan, which is pretty easy for him to do He wants to have his process, but cul-ture is moving at an unhealthily rapid pace I said, ‘I just don’t want you to make that mistake of going too slow and missing out.’”
Not too long ago, Clark was playing Austin City its’ 40th-anniversary concert when Sean McCarthy, a road manager for Jimmie Vaughan, gave him a hard
Lim-G A RY C L A R K Jr.
“If it were up
to everybody else, I’d do Hendrix covers all the time
I love being a guitar-slinger from Texas It’s badass
But I can also do other things.”