MUMBAI: Indie electro rock outfit The F16’s from Chennai won the first edition of Road To Converse Rubber Tracks, which gave them an opportunity to travel to New York to record two tracks. The band recorded ‘Blackboard’ and ‘Jacuzzi’ with producer Aaron Bastinelli at the community-based, free state-of-the-art recording studio. There, the Indian band also had the chance to play their very first NYC gig, meet and interact with The Strokes vocalist Julian Casablancas and catch other bands live. They released the two tracks on 27 November, and have released a video documenting their experience in New York City.
Vocalist of the group Joshua (Josh) Fernandez said, “We have recorded a ten minute EP since we had three days to record two songs, and we tried to make the best out of it. We also played a small post-Halloween party gig there and the entire experience was great. We were working with professionals, and we took two of our most intricately musical songs to be recorded there.”
The band has not been staying still for quite a while now, performing a series of gigs since they came back from New York. Their most recent performance was at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Pune, after they played at Kolkata and Bangalore editions of the festival, and also at the New Wave Music Festival in Goa. The band will start recording a debut album in January next year and they assure that it will be very different in terms of musicality, theme and the entire vibe.
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Josh explained, “‘Kaleidoscope’ was like an EP with only six tracks. It was a push for getting our inspirations and tributes out there. Now, after a year, I think we have found our footing and sound. I have a feeling it is going to be very different and we have taken a deeper plunge into something weird. We have tapped into a little bit of the darker side and our music is more mature and less oriented towards other artistes out there.”
“We have tried to find our own space and, kind of, made a cocoon around our band. We want to see what will happen and make music that is completely unique to us,” he added.
He revealed that they already have a bunch of tracks written and ready to be recorded, and that 2015 will definitely see their album release. The band will be playing in Chennai on 28 November, followed by a gig at The Windsong Festival in Hyderabad and the Delhi edition of the NH7 Weekender.
