BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Aditya Ashok a.k.a. OX7GEN speaks off his upcoming EP, including vocals for t he first time and a drummer’s perspective off the dance music scene
Born out of the desire to have a full band interpret the liquid funk/ drum and bass music, Aditya Ashok put together OX7GEN Live this year. Aditya is a drummer perhaps best known for his association with arguably one of India’s favourite bands Shaa’ir + Func. He has also collaborated with another emerging Mumbai based band The Colour Compound. In the past two years, he has also turned into a drum and bass producer under the moniker OX7GEN, making him a name to reckon with in the scene.
For OX7GEN Live, Aditya has teamed up with Bradley Tellis ( of The Colour Compound) on guitar and samplers, Rohan Rajadhakshya ( of Spud In The Box) on keys, Suraj Manik ( of the now defunct Rosemary) on bass guitar and Donn Bhat on guitar, while he takes over the drums and synths. The band will also feature guest vocalists including Siddharth Basrur, Saba Azad, Rachel Varghese and Rohan Mazumdar.
Talking about the band, he says, “Being a drummer first and foremost, it was only a matter of time before I left the decks, sat behind a drum kit and got some of the city’s best musicians to reinterpret my music. I’ve always been fascinated with recreating dance music with instruments that are not conventional to electronic music. I haven’t really seen bands do something like this, and I think it’s a great aesthetic to add to a live dance music performance. All of this will be complemented by a synchronised lighting and visual rig of course.”
Latest from the 25- year- old musician is the LP Dimensions releasing on October 30, which will be followed by a multi- city tour by the band, with stops in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru, among others, beginning on October 30. Dimensions is a five- track EP with a liquid funk/ drum and bass sound interlacing interesting groove ideas, with harmony and melody being top priority as always. It is also Aditya’s first work where he will be using vocals. “I think vocals will add a lot of depth to the music and it is also the only human element in the electronic music, so, I think that makes it much more organic,” he says, adding a note on his creative process, “I always like my bass lines to complement the melodies in my tracks.”
Aditya has been a self- taught musician — a fact which he believes comes with certain plusses as well as minuses. “I often think that had I got a formal training in music, I could have learnt things much faster and perhaps even better. But on the flipside, I’ve seen that often formal training bounds one to certain restrictions. So my approach to music is much slower and much of my learning happens from the mistakes I make on the go,”
wraps up Aditya.
My approach to music is way slower and much of my learning happens from the mistakes I make on the go. Often I believe formal training bounds one to certain limits.