Internationally acclaimed group, Rhythm Dhol Bass popularly known as RDB, was formed by trio British Indian brothers in 2000, whose style blends western genres with traditional Punjabi beats and vocals. Ral brothers- Kuldeep (Kuly), Manjeet (Manj) and Surjeet (Surj) had started their musical journey with singing at the Gurdwara. Hailing from Punjabi Sikh family, their father had taught them to sing religious songs and play the harmonium. Apart from the brothers, Nindy Kaur who is the wife of Manj, completes the RDB team.
Playing Punjabi beats with western influence had resulted in different musical styles and genres together. Their big bollywood break was given by Akshay Kumar, after which their talent was appreciated and recognized in various platforms. They have collaborated with Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy and now T-Pain.
In 2003, they won ‘Best Club DJ Bhangra’ at the UK Asian Music Awards. The group is on the Brampton Walk of Fame. All the fame and acclaims shattered like cobwebs, when Kuly was diagnosed with brain tumour and died on 22 May 2012 in Houston, Texas. It was a major breakdown of RDB band. But the boys are trying and picking up the pieces, fighting their emotions and getting back to doing what they do best – making music. Their collaboration with T-Pain is one of their big moves to get back in the world-wide music circuit.
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Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, RDB team was more than happy to be back with their music and to have T-Pain for a major collaboration.
Excerpts:
Why did you decide to carry on with this collaboration?
We wanted to create something different than Bollywood.We would not deny the fact that may be in future this track with T-Pain could be used in a film. We are aware about Bollywood’s strong presence but at the same time independent music is growing in India. There was a time when independent music was completely demolished but now it is growing and people are going back to it. This is the key element that we decided to come up with the track.
When will you launch the single ‘Daddy da Cash’?
It will be out by end of May or start of June. It’s a summer track and it will have a worldwide release. We will be shooting our music video in Mumbai. We can do Hindi or Punjabi songs and get a rapper but what is the point of doing the same thing, so we wanted the difference and T-pain is the change in our music.
What will be theme of the video?
The theme of the music is mix. We will not deliver very hip-hop style video to the Indian audience. Director Sumit Bhardwraj is working for the video, has also collaborated with us before. His vision is to make a video that is hip-hop in the start and right in middle of the video to split it off to an Arabic-Indian feel. Then, it will feature T-pain who will feed grapes or something in those lines; that will be appealing.
How has the journey been for RDB?
It has been a rollercoaster ride. As we started off with Djing and then we went into music production; we would go to clubs and spin. After which we gradually started doing shows and concerts and then we landed in Bollywood with the help of Akshay Kumar. After that we had the good moments of doing concerts and bollywood songs. But obviously after the loss of our older Brother- Kuldeep, it was a big downfall for us. We had to take our time (a year) and not do anything and now we have realized that it is time for us to be back and say that we are still going to make music and carry on making good music and dance able music. Our brother is always there with our music.
Is this single dedicated to your brother?
Originally, the song was made by Kuly and after he passed away, we sat down in the studio and added some words and did vocals and had T-Pain. Kuly would be very proud of this. It would be like a tribute to Kuly for sure.
What will be your promotion plan for the track?
We will have a tour with T-Pain and perform the whole song. T-Pain has said that he would like to collaborate with us in future. We plan to go worldwide with the whole thing. MTV music awards India was a right platform to launch the whole track and for everyone to really capture and visualize our work. Apart from this single, we have other three releases- Nindy Kaur will be releasing a video which MTV is exclusively releasing and we have couple of tracks which will be coming out in the year.
Which music you personally enjoy?
We enjoy all kinds of music be it Bollywood or Indie music. I (Manjeet) listen to Japanese and German music as this way we can be creative. Bollywood music has its special place. For me bollywood music of 70’s and 80’s is vintage music. It’s the best music that has every come out.
Today, it has changed a lot and people now want the western tone to their music. We have grown up in western countries so we know how to make beats in western ways and that is what we deliver. We listen to all kind of music and we look forward in delivering that kind of music.
What is Indian music now according to you?
Indian music is more world music now and it is not Indian music anymore. Old school will complain about this change. We are bringing in western elements and making a wider audience of music. T-Pain is here today because he is listening to Indian music with different beats now. He is feeling that it is interesting and it is not different from earlier times. It is definitely a very good thing for India.
Are you working on any new Bollywood projects?
We have Bollywood projects which we cannot mention or we would be sued (laughs). We are working very closely with Eros, T-series and Nadiadwala productions among others. We are probably working on four or five projects now. We are also going into Punjabi movies too, as it is a big and growing industry now.
