MUMBAI: Multi-talented Mihir Joshi started his journey as a radio jockey in FM Rainbow for five years and then joined Radio One. He said, “I was probably the only RJ who was interviewing and playing Indian bands almost 12-13 years ago. I used to take interviews of Indian English bands that nobody used to interview.”
The MJ and RJ turned singer Mihir found the musicians to form his own band while interviewing. While he was still with the radio he was simultaneously performing with the band. He worked with radio for good eight years and interacted with 300 artistes which included the international artistes who travelled to India. “I used to do all sort of shows for radio like every Sunday I hosted a show One Mumbai One Music where I used to interview artistes from independent musicians to Bollywood musicians,” said Mihir.
He took this to a greater platform YouTube as he left radio. His MJShow has been on YouTube for a little over four years now and has over 12 million views. Season 3 of the same is available on Joshi’s Facebook page. “While I was doing it all one thing that mattered to me was music. I recorded my first debut album with Ashish Manchanda called Mumbai Blues about four years ago which was launched by Ehsaan and Loy at Harman Live Arena at Palm Expo in 2014. The album won GIMA Award for the best rock album. It was coincident that Ehsaan gave me that award and also gifted me his signature series Fender guitar. As a musician for me it was the coolest moment.”
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The year 2017 has been great for the singer. He is currently looking forward to creating more new music and excited to see his MJ show grows in strength. Already he is doing one video a week and he is the official host of WWE for the last three years.
His band ‘Blue And Rock And Roll’ made its debut album. The band has phenomenal musicians who are playing with top-level Bollywood musicians. “We have Sanjeev Aguiar on guitar, Virendra Kaith on drums, Ruell Barretto on bass and Vedant Joshi on keys. Sanjeev is kind of a person who gets my vibe. Every time we meet we end up making something.”
The band has not done a gig for a long time due to unpaid gigs in the city. “Things have to change. I haven’t played a gig in Mumbai for the last seven months because I refused to play without being paid. It is unfair to the artiste and to the musicians who are performing with the artiste. They spend hours of their time and experience to create a piece that will entertain the audience. If the venue wants the artiste to perform they have to pay the artiste for what he is doing. As the artiste grows in stature and seniority venues cannot expect the artist to perform at the same rate. It’s exactly like a corporate structure.”
He further added, “If people want the artiste to get better and want their own Justin Bieber and Rihanna they should start paying that kind of money. When Bieber came to India people were ready to pay huge money and attend the concert. The same people have a problem paying Rs.500 cover charge. Why do people expect art and entertainment to be free? One cannot just say if I’ll promote the venue and you let me in for the gig. Promotion should be mandatory for the people. It is a responsibility one should do as a part of the venue service.”
