MUMBAI: The sounds and tunes of Indian films have caught the attention of Canadian electro music duo Zeds Dead, who look forward to giving a Bollywood twist to their electronic dance music (EDM). The duo says “we would not rule it out” as they are always on a lookout for new inspirations.
The duo — Dylan Mamid (DC) and Zach Rapp-Rovan (Hooks) – have been producing music together since 2004, and they did stumble upon “some old Indian film music” in the past only to be mesmerised by its “different style of singing”.
“We have sampled a few things from Indian movie soundtracks before and some Indian records. I can’t remember the name of the artist we used to sample but it was old stuff. It is a very cool and different style of singing and we are always looking for new stuff to inspire us,” Rovan told IANS on the sidelines of Vh1 Supersonic 2015 Goa.
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Adding to Rovan’s statement on Indian music, an excited Mamid said: “I would not rule out a Bollywood EDM track by us.”
Mamid also shared that he has a brief knowledge about Indian music.
“We have heard it in bits and pieces over the years, but I don’t know any specific songs or genres,” he added.
In fact, Zeds Dead’s history is rooted in cinema. Their name is a reference to a scene from the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film ‘Pulp Fiction’.
The Toronto-based duo took their eclectic mix of bass music, dubstep, drumstep, drum and bass, electro house and deep house to India for the first time for the first day of four-day Vh1 Supersonic 2015 on Sunday.
Along with flipping different music chapters on the Candolim beach with occasional usage of expletives like “f*****g” and “m****rf*****g”, the duo laid the musical pitch for the fest.
Though their tryst with Indian culture is short, the duo is enamoured by the country’s culture and flavours.
Mamid also confessed that he “always wanted to come to India”.
“It (Indian trip) is amazing. I always wanted to come to India. Unfortunately this trip is so short for us… but whatever I have seen so far I can say that it is a beautiful place. I want to come back,” he added.
He shared that he loves Indian food like chicken masala and butter chicken.
“I love Indian food. I know all the basic stuff like chicken masala, butter chicken and aaloo gobhi. I eat all that stuff back home. I don’t know what region of India they are from but they are very good,” Mamid said while Rovan proclaimed, “Naan is the best bread in the world”.
Zeds Dead came out with their first album ‘Rudeboy’ in 2010, and the last one by the duo was in 2014 with the name ‘Somewhere Else’.
Their music transcends to different genres with ease and Rovan points out that the reason is “music is ever evolving” in nature.
“Music was evolving when we made Zeds Dead and it has continued to evolve since then. I don’t feel like we have never been steady in one place,” he said.
Mamid also supported his view point, adding that in the present era, “music boundaries have broadened.”
“It is ever expanding. We are getting more genres, different kind of music, more style. Music is like a sponge, a thing which inspires us from popular culture like video games or movies, which one takes, spins it around and puts it out again.”
