Scorching Hot: ‘Bright’ Emerges as India’s Bold and Outspoken ‘Dark Prince’ in Explosive New Single from his new album ‘SKYQUAKES’!
We did an interview with the artist over a cup of coffee about this latest release, here’s what they had to say!
Tell us about your track
Hey, thanks! I guess with the new single, ‘The Dark Prince’ from the upcoming studio album – ‘SKYQUAKES’, I’m going back to my musical roots. I want to get back to the music that set me on this journey over two decades ago. A lot of the songs on the album sound like the songs that I grew up listening to as a child. It’s like 70’s and 80’s Heavy Metal fused in with some elements of modern-day Extreme Metal with a really large wall-of-guitaresque driven soundscape. A lot of the new songs on the album don’t really hold back when it comes to the guitar. I mean, it’s what I do and what I’m best known for in the underground music world. It’s a reputation I’ve worked hard to build up over the past 15 years. The composition of the riffs and guitar solos on the song and on the album itself are meant to sound insanely upbeat with hyped rhythm and solo sections. Even the sad songs on the album have moments on them that sound pretty energetic *laughs*.
Tell us your inspiration behind this track
Endless rage?! *laughs* I’m kidding! There’s actually a pretty cool story behind the song ‘The Dark Prince’. I first worked on the rhythm section, the acoustic guitar part that you hear on the song, when I was living for about half-a-year in the North-Eastern Himalayan mountain range city of Gangtok, Sikkim way back in 2013. I was there at the time for a few months as a part of my Architectural Internship – learning to design and build with earthy materials like bamboo, stone and mud. And there was this point where I visited the Rumtek Monastery and met a few old monks over there who I think really influenced the way I tackle things in my life. I kind of trekked back to my place after the visit and when I got back to my home near the valley, I picked up my guitar, took a deep breath and strummed the chords that you hear on the song. I think when I traveled back to my city, I took the song arrangement to my band ‘Anti’ and we made the first version of the song which was titled ‘I Shall Rule Rule’, which has a traditional verse-chorus-verse-guitar solo with lyrics and me singing on it. ‘The Dark Prince’ is the original idea I had about how the song should be for ‘Bright’ in 2013.
How long did it take to record the track album EP ?
The song in itself took a few hours of studio time over here in Barcelona to track and record. I was fortunate enough to come across Carlos Maestro, who is one of Barcelona’s top music producers. I hit him up and asked if I could drop by his studio, ‘Phoenix Studios Barcelona’ to track the new album. Initially he spent some time checking out all of my older albums and he was more than happy to get started. When we got to tracking the song, we just went into it very organically. A lot of what you hear in the lead guitar part of the song is unscripted. They were melodies I came up with on-the-spot over the acoustic guitar section. I think tracking the full album ‘Skyquakes’ is a whole different story though. It’s scheduled for release around the winter of 2023 or autumn of 2024 depending on when I finish writing all of the 30 songs on the double-album! Looking at the schedule I have a feeling this is going to be an album that I’m going to record in a bunch of different places. It’s the first time I’m working on a double-album so I’m excited to see how ‘Skyquakes’ turns out!
What is the meaning behind the lyrics?
Originally, the lyrics for the song, at least for the version of the song I played for our band ‘Anti’, had lyrics that I’d penned down during my time in the mountains. The original lyrics told the story of a kid who would rise up to rule all when the world would fall into chaos. You can still find this version of the song on Anti’s YouTube or Facebook page or the first album ‘Anti-Theist’ released in 2013. For ‘Bright’ though, because the concept behind ‘Bright’ has always been music without lyrics, I’m only singing a hymn-like vocal line over ‘The Dark Prince’. So people can interpret in whatever way they perceive it. I might add in minimal lyrics to some of the other tracks depending on how they shape up musically. I’m not sure about that though, I’m still messing with the idea of 2-line vocal sections *laughs*.
What brings next after this release?
I’m not too sure. I’d like to drop a few more singles from the new studio album over the next couple of months leading up to the release of the ‘Skyquakes’. Things are a little sketchy right now with one of my contracts in music. I mean, fuck the music industry anyway. I’ve never been a fan of how things work in it. But, I guess you just take all the bad stuff that comes along with it, just like how you’d take all of the good stuff that comes along with it. Moreover, I’ve been doing this for 15 years now and I know that I always figure out how to keep moving forward. Eitherway, thank you for your time! Look forward to a lot of heavy music releasing from ‘Bright’ this year!