It was their musical sensibilities—and how in sync it remains—that nudged city-based artists Abhishek Nair aka 3BHK (24), Sammad Grover (23), and Jatin Tambe aka Quest (23) from Mumbai to collaborate on a series of projects since 2019. “We kept talking about making music together but we felt we first needed to meet and be in the same space to create something,” shares Grover.
However, the pandemic had different plans for the trio who launched their musical collective Gair Kanooni in 2020. Their fourth member Tarun Kukreja (23) joined them early this year. After their first EP released in October, 2020, the group now looks forward to another album that is slated to release next month. In this interview, Grover talks about the process of working on their album Gadbad, what inspires them, and more. Excerpts…
1. How did the name ‘Gair Kanooni’ come about?
When we were thinking of names, I suggested something like ‘Horn Ok Please’, which I am now glad that we did not end up using. During the lockdown, 3BHK was watching many Hindi movies. He had a list of the films he wanted to watch and one of them was Gair Kanooni (1989). That seemed like a pretty good name, and we stuck to it.
2. Tell us about the process of working on the album Gadbad.
Adil [producer] sent us the beats in December last year. We were performing for a show and around the same time, we [Grover, Tambe, and Nair] recorded a few songs for the album. For this [title] track, we had, however, just recorded the first verse. Tarun is a friend. He and I also had a few demos, and it clicked so he joined us. We were in Canada then and that is where he and I shot the video—we got a wedding photographer to do that.
3. Where do you draw inspiration from for your tracks?
I have been listening to so many 2004-05 tracks… the Pharelll Williams, Justin Timberlake era. I realised for the first time that we keep looking back to the 80s and the 90s for inspiration because it is supposed to be the golden era of music. But, there is so much music that came out when we were growing up. I started rediscovering the music from the early 2000s and I wanted to make something like that. I wanted to create something that I used to listen to when I was a kid, and mix it with what we are doing now.
4. How is Gadbad different from Aaj Raat ki Peshkash, your first album?
It is completely different in terms of the sound. Aaj Raat ki Peshkash is very raw because we were just creating things in our bedrooms, sending it [the songs] across through WhatsApp. Gadbad is much more cohesive in terms of the themes being built out throughout the album. We have released what we are good at doing together.
