Interviews

In Conversation with Distortion of Mischief

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With an unwavering devotion to Old School Rock n Roll music and measureless energy which they offset at the stage with the purpose of making each and every person in the crowd jump out of their seats and rock with them, Delhi-based band Distortion of Mischief (DOM) proudly calls itself as ‘People’s Band’. Comprising of 5 members; Ashutosh as vocalist, Minaam as Lead Guitarist, Ishaan as Rhythm Guitarist, Guru on drums and Mahesh as Bassist, this band is a bunch of jumpy, high spirited and mischievous members which they all vow to be deeply embed in their personalities.

Here DU Beat gets in conversation with the band members and let’s see what they’ve got to say!

Q: When was your band formed? What is the genre of the music that you people usually play?
A: Distortion of Mischief was formed about 7 months ago in October 2013 after the breakdown of a previous band.
We’re into Rock n Roll and Classic Rock music.

Q: Where all has DOM performed till now? What response do you usually get from people after your performances?
A: In the past 7 months we’ve played in about 17 places out of which 15 were college fests and Battles. Public response, well we can say they love us, at least our compositions, from the way they react when we’re off stage, congratulating and praising our most popular composition ‘Bombshell’.

Q: Which famous musician/artist/band does Distortion of Mischief usually take inspiration from?

A: We’re all hardcore ACDC fans. And owe them big time for what we are today. Every time we walk onstage to perform even one cover of them (which people say we do quite well), the crowd goes wild no matter where we are.

Q: How often and long do you people rehearse? What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc?
A: More than rehearsal, it’s the bonding we have between us, we do practice, but more than that hang around a lot which kind of helps us understand each other better, in turn helping us perform better. And when we’re practicing; we do more of new tunes that pops up every now and then when we jam together.

Q: What major awards, achievements has DOM bagged till now?
A: Every prize we get is important in its own way…Okay that is a very old one to quote here!
But honestly it’s the crowd cheering for us that counts more than the prize. But if you insist (which you will), our first victory at Fortune Institute of International Business was the most important and memorable one.
And after that over a period of 7 months and in 15 competitions we’ve won around 11 of them.

Q: How do you see your rock band for English music fitting the culture of Indian music? What is the scope of rock music in our country?
A: We’ve never felt that English was never supported in India, it always has been and we’ve been able to make many people like Distortion of Mischief and Rock n Roll too.

Q: Do you people write your own songs? What are the songs generally about? (Any specific themes)
A: Yup, we write our own songs, we’ve got around 6-7 compositions in our list. The topics of our songs are mainly mischief, fun and well girls to be very honest.

Q: How do you justify the name of your band with the music that you play?
A: Distortion of Mischief is mainly all about fun and mischief. Being a band that plays Rock N Roll, we add fun and mischief to our music and performance, on stage and off stage too.

Q: Since everyone is a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
A: It’s more about the music that you guys play. Stick to the genre that you’re playing and don’t think whether this genre is supported or not. If you like it, play it. Oh yeah… and don’t do drugs (laughs).

Q: Tell us one thing which you feel that sets you apart from various upcoming bands in the country.
A: We call ourselves the “People’s Band”, we’re more fun and crazy when it comes to performing. Plus we’ve got this mission to resurrect Classic Rock in this age of music, so that’s how we think we’re different.

One can find more about their upcoming gigs and music on their Facebook page.

A final year B. Com Hons. student at Delhi College of Arts & Commerce. When asked to describe myself, I simply wonder what static thing to tell about me because I believe life is always a perpetual self exploring journey. I take as gospel the fact that books are written to be treasured, movies and tv series to be revered and entertain and music to be cherished for a blissful course to take delights in our lives. One can contact me at [email protected] or tweet @simply_arushi

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