His Vish, total music command

All of 18, young Bengalurean Vishal CV was destined to be the blue-eyed boy of the city’s independent music scene. While his love for music runs deep, being spotted at a singing showcase at Los Angeles last year is what set things rolling — leading the fledgling musician to record an EP with Grammy winning producers and song-writers Mack Mckinney, Manny Mijares, Jell Timmons and Eddie Serrano. The US-bred but city-based vocalist, songwriter cum guitarist, who  released his debut single So Typical — which has rung in over a quarter million views on YouTube, is hopeful about making a mark for himself in the International independent music scene. In a candid chat, he tells us more just as he preps to put out an interesting Sandalwood album by this year end...

“I often feel  there hasn’t been much innovation in Kannada music. Maybe the directors are scared to experiment, since they are unsure how the audience will react. The music will be a fusion of various genres, Western and Indian. Influences include Raghu Dixit. There is no specific age group target for the music but I’m planning to liven up the tracks a wee bit,” he shares, speaking about his upcoming album which is slated to hit the floor sometime in December.

Speaking about how spending his growing up years in the west had a massive influence over his musical inclinations, Vishals says, “I spent most of my childhood in the US. So I think getting influenced by Western music was inevitable. I wouldn’t say I used to take music seriously back then but I always used to enjoy listening to catchy music and used to sing along. My mom is also a trained classical singer. She always used to listen to and sing classic Kannada and Hindi hits, which is how I got familiar with Indian music even though I lived in the US,” shares Vishal, who’s also made music for the Sandalwood industry, and performed with artistes like Sonu Nigam, Armaan Malik, Vijay Prakash. While he is mostly identified as a  pop and acoustic musician, a little bit of mix and mash is what Vishal looks forward to. “The songs I have recently recorded are a mix of various genres of music since I am still experimenting on what would work. One of the songs is focused on teenagers but I think the rest have no age bar! However I feel people aged 15-25 are going to enjoy my music the most.”

Quite like most aspiring musicians, Vishal too hopes for a change in the way gigs function in the city. “I think its really hard for independent musicians today due to lack of opportunities to perform live unless you are famous or have someone who can give you a push. A lot of places expect you to perform for free which really hurts because we musicians spend a lot of time practicing. I’d like to see more independent musicians with real talent play live shows and get the credit they deserve,” The first year commerce student loves how his passion seeps into his free time too. “I play cricket, hang out with my friends and also am a sports columnist. Else, I am always working on new music!”

A full-time musician, who’s currently pursuing his bachelors from St. Josephs College of Commerce, Bengaluru has a handful to look forward to — Release of So Typical in an upcoming compilation of Universal Music records, recording for the final two songs of the EP, release of the next song of the EP, release of the next music video and a Kannada album. “I hope to be an international touring and recording artist someday. I also love composing music so I like helping upcoming artists reach their level of satisfaction too. If any young  artist wants to grow in the field, I would love to help them or collaborate.”