Interview with Sarad Shrestha from Tumbleweed

Sarad Shrestha a well renowned name in the Nepalese Music industry (Mainstream/Underground). Following his passion he has been active in the music industry for a way long time. We had a short talk with him regarding his this epic long 24 years journey as a Guitarist as well as about his recent band Tumbleweed.  To know much about Sarad you can click on the marked name to follow his official page as well as his band page.
Here is the digital link of the album Do buy and support the local acts.
http://tumbleweedinc.bandcamp.com/album/parichaya

Greetings dai how are doing these days?

Yeah, kinda hectic. Busy on our album launch stuff

It sure is tell us about the progress. I saw in your social media page that the master copy is ready. How excited are you about the release?

Well, yeah kinda. Satish Sthapit, the sound engineer for all our stuffs made it possible. The outcome sounds cool. He believed in us, and we believed in him. At the same time, some kind of fear inside though. i don't know how people are going to take it, but we are happy on what we did. Hope the teamwork of us would make some colors though for sure

For sure Satish dai is one of the most talented producer in Nepal and we have seen his magic in the previous albums that he produced. Along with that his sound arranging abilities in major gigs of Nepal have shown what really he is capable of. I am pretty sure Parichaya will be a killer one.

Yup, on topping with that, he knows what he's doing. Really aware of every kind of sound you make. These kind of persons re needed in the scene for sure.

For sure, as we can see that there are limited numbers of trained sound engineers in Nepal so it’s a crucial time that more trained producers come on the scene which ultimately upgrades the quality of the album.

Yes indeed and they should have a heart in it. A great helping hand.

Dai you have been active in the Nepalese Underground as well as the mainstream scene for almost 24 years and you have seen a way lot of changes in this industry can you share your experience between this time frame?

Well definitely changed a lot. Passion of a few people turned to industry itself.. At present lots of media houses everywhere. The technology made it so easy and upgrading like hell each day. It’s not that time when u had to wait for a songbook imported from Thailand or UK to just learn lyrics and chords. YouTube Google ruled everywhere as we can see lots of good musicians everywhere with great theoretically acquaintances. Despite of these.. Well bad things that, musicians are being treated as some cheap whores sometimes these days. Haha yes indeed there was a time, when the distributor does pay for your album, manage everything for the good band/any artists in the mainstream stuff.. But its gone now haha mainstream totally sucks. Now the cheap PR with a help of some bloody paper gas makes the game in this so called mainstream stuff for sure. Look at the national television, the music videos. All those, there would be some popular vjs. Vj ley ni majaaly afnai program ma afai model bhako geet ta kati kati bajaucha haha. Funny though ll those flashy videos, this is the mainstream stuff. Well anyway bands stuff were never too that easy for the television stuff from earlier as well, but these days, its worst. But who cares though it’s a online world though. Which we feel good , whatever u make, u can give to the public from your own room and all by yourself. We hardly watch music videos on TV screens for sure. Everything here online However regarding underground, well it’s growing bigger for sure. I remember those ktm rocks days, earlier than those, the rare people who were really dedicated for the local scene stuff. But yeah its growing bigger though. But i don't understand people having fuckin' nuisance attitude towards genre stuff and all. Music is music after all. No need to discriminate/criticize whatever. However, posers are there. Who think the world is too small, jhyau lagdo ni cha. Organizers take the bands so easily saying just as the underground bands. Concept is getting really worst but happy, people are aware of music these days, it’s growing as well, that's a good thing though.

True words dai we are aware of what’s happening in the mainstream scene as well. There was a time when there was a healthy mainstream scene here in Nepal but seeing and talking with related people its all a mess. So dai coming to your journey. If i am not wrong your journey started in the early 1990's and many of us may not know you were involved in bands like Black wizard, Sound mill before you joined axe. Tell us dai about Black wizard and as well as sound mill..

Yah.. Right after completing school, black wizard was my first band i should with my own hometown boys. All influenced by 70s acts, we used to do covers like CCR, Santana, Deep Purple, Steppen Wolf.etc. Stuffs. Then i joined Sound Mill, the most happening cover band at that time, i joined as a bassist, later turned to guitars. nazareth, uriah heep, pinkflyod and all. We used to do those, our Roshan lama dai was on the vox, who has really inspiring vocals. Dhruba, later joined Nepathya, on drums, and really talented guitarist Binod Dai. The band was really tight, that time there were no such any Nepalese scene for sure. Very limited bands were there like Dead Soul, Criss Cross, Vampire (Satish), Maneater and Soundmill. These were the most happening bands at the time. Then comes the scene of nepali songs original ones like influence, blind faith, crossroads (imandai/binayak dai) they were cool. Later i joined the axe band and i never forget the band like Paduwas (asish sinha dai)

From 1995 until 2009 i.e for 14 years you were involved with The Axe band and were the the part of there 5 album how was this 14 years long journey?

Yeah it was good. We worked our ass off that time for those albums for sure since our vocalist shiva does have such a typical pure Nepali tongue, i couldn't synchronize other kinds of tunes, so tried out some funk , and it really worked. People loved us. I remember one gig, we were invited in one concert in Dolakha, where all the acts were folk song, dohoris, and the same people sang most of all our songs that time. It was awesome.

The Axe is one of the most successful band in the Nepalese mainstream scene and did some massive tours in and out of Nepal and all of a sudden in 2009 end we heard your departure to Hongkong. A few months later got a message from a friend that you started Kathmandu Mayhem and Intellectual morons during your 2 years stay in Hongkong and even today when i did a research found out you were involved in 2 more bands Quasar and Red Shift, even found out that Hongkong Nepalese Rock Forum which was established on your participation during your stay. Dai tell us about it our viewers would love to know about it.

Yeah i left for hongkong may b' round 2009 i guess. There the music scene was not that good for sure when i went there. The busy people hardly could manage the time for music for those Nepalese people out there i just found sanjiv gurung through website hkunderground, he was doing his band quasar, I supported him for some time. Then after I met Dhanesh (maneater, ktm) and lost boys from dead soul, Hem, Bishal, and Min Gurung , Rosan Thapa who used to have bands here in Nepal before. I formed a cover band Kathmandu Mayhem with Dhanesh. The hk bars were all dominated mostly by philippinos musicians out there. Kathmandu Mayhem was the only nepali band, and yeah it was good times bar hopping 'round there playing. then i met joul the French friend and involved with his band Dr. Eggs. We toured Taiwan, Macau. The band was interesting with ska punk flavor, loops , energetic on stage, fun for sure. With the bassist friend Ben, we formed another one Redshit, an acoustic project by which we performed 'round small bars 'round islands of  Hongkong. I was always fond of beastie boys stuff, rap metal stuffs and luckily Dipen gurung bhai who has really a great rap flow, i met him, and we formed intellectual morons together. We were invited to university concerts, hard rock cafe and all. It was fun. When i was there, i saw lots of young Nepalese guys who really play good , has passion of music. But due to workload, hectic time schedule, they were limited on their own. Hk busy life sucks indeed. So i formed one forum, Hongkong Nepalese Rock Forum for the sake of making some performing platforms for all of us. Then at 2010, i organized one show, Rock till you drop' as well, which went really good. Lots of philippino bands, british, chinese and all really supported us for this. Min Gurung, of Extrement Entertainment is really doing good at present times at HK scene which annually organizes the event Alive series although HK scene is really limited in comparison with our Nepal. It sucks sometimes for sure haha.

Coming back to axe dai if i am not wrong then you won the best lead guitarist and even the Shikhar Music all Nepal band competition back in the early 2000?

Yeh i did. haha. It was Shikhar beat contest which was held in tundikhel. That concert i could never forget lots of people, really big crowd till now i have seen that time.

Coming to Tumbleweed how did the journey began.

Well after coming back to Nepal, i found Suwas, and Prashant at silence entertainment and Gautam came over. We started to jamming over later Gautam left, and we found robin on the drums. From there, we are here. The journey is wonderful despite of all those obstacles, unwanted problems and all. The main thing is the chemistry between 4 of us, really clicked, and we are here with our debut album Parichaya,

Parichaya Tumbleweeds debut album tell us about the album.

Well its an album of our two years teamwork and hardwork being together and all. The album, PARICHAYA, is Tumbleweed Inc.’s first studio work after their 2 years of togetherness, passion, hard work and dedication towards making something which they love to do. This was made possible with all the support from Satish Sthapit, the sound engineer and Bishal Manandhar, the band manager. The album all done by the band itself, and recorded at Studio Underground, Bhote Bahal, Kathmandu The album consists of 15 tracks

1. Intro

2. Face Apart

3. Social Parasite

4. Massive attack

5. Vicious animal

6. Supremacy

7. Vision

8. President

9. Funk that shit

10. Badlido samaj

11. Usko Katha

12. Kathmandu

13. Parichaya

14. Local thito

15. Geda

The album, PARICHAYA, is all about the voice of every individual, the changes of nepali society, the imbalanced political system, the perception of a minor, the hope, the belief for betterment, the songs about regression, suppression. An ode of an outlaw, the belief on self. Parichaya, depicts a minor’s survival for the sake of his/her own identification. The album cover depiction: We all are minor, the little ones. Ants. The symbol of oneness, the dedication, the loyalty, the self-sacrifice, hardwork, team work, patience. Despite their tiny size these little spirits are immensely strong, great strength of will and accomplishment can come even in the smallest of packages

So when we post this interview Parichaya shall be launched best wishes for the launch dai.

Thank u bhai

Moving on dai Parichayas artwork shows an ant, does it have some meaning or story behind it?

We all are minor, the little ones. The Ants, the symbol of oneness, the dedication, the loyalty, the self-sacrifice, hardwork, team work, patience. Despite their tiny size these little spirits are immensely strong, great strength of will and accomplishment can come even in the smallest of packages. So here we are. After our 2 years of working hard on this, our debut album 'Parichaya' would be out soon.

Hardwork does pay for sure. Tumbleweed what does it mean. Dai tell us how did the name came?

After we started jamming, we were looking for name for this. So i thought about tumbleweed. It’s a plant which is easily found around desert. A diaspore which detaches away from the stem after it gets mature and tumbles away in the wind dispersing spores as they go. That's tumbleweed.

It’s your release after 6 long years i am quite sure the album shall be a success.

Haha thanks bhai.

Dai we are almost at the end now i have few more questions in my pocket. Dai any message to the young bands esp to guitarist?

Well, tei ho as usual, practice hard. Identify on which kind of tunes you are best. The most important, whether you are enjoying your own tunes and yeah, regarding guitar, don't just play as its some cheap trend, treat it as your intimate one, a friend indeed and yup, say no to drugs.. The chemicals believe in yourself.

Message for the fans.

Well, finally im back after 6 years with my own project tumbleweed inc with my boys, and studio album Parichaya. Hope you like it or else, do send us yourur feedbacks/comments/criticisms/ or whatever u feel towards my band and the music. You have supported me since the past and looking forward to see you thru my entire musical journey. Thank you all for all those immense support to me. Thank you.

We hope they will. Dai this is a questions which i usually ask bands beyond Kathmandu, Pokhara and Hetauda. We see that the bands both rock and metal usually focus in these 3 cities and many bands beyond these cities says that they are not given proper exposure and are deprived from opportunities as seniors bands usually don’t tour to other cities beyond these cities. Do you accept that the scene here in Nepal has become much centralized?

Well i should say, its not. Well as for my exprience, with my band before, i had performed such places like Pashupatinagar, Illam, Urlabari, Jhapa, Mahendranagar, Nijgarh, Birgunj, Dang, Baglung, Palpa and all. Its not any artist/band wants, only the city side. it all depends on the event organizer as well. Yea i have seen, these days, those places are not that event-go-go for the artists/bands, may be due to poor event management, as well as poor sponsorship. However, on the other hand, the media is also responsible for this i guess. All the the big name events, national level events are building some monopoly structure since they always take the same old names and travel to various parts of Nepal. The same shits every time. It might be the artist/bands' strong PR stuffs. Well even the new promising, the real deserved bands/artists don’t' get in their list. This way, the places like those never get to see us perform in front of them. But somehow, the local event people especially youngsters are doing these things on their own, which is obviously good.

We can even see that the bands are not given equal opportunities and chances back their. Coming towards the end dai. A space for you to ask us if we had forgotten to ask you . Space all yours..

Well tei ho yar. Local scene bhanya cha, underground rey, ke rey mainstream rey it all sucks. Though sabai ko khutta tanne, aru ko herera ris garne prabidi band haru ko, it sucks  bekar ko attitude afu prati yo generation ko bands ko that fuckin' sucks a big time.Scene bhandai ma je payo tei bhairahcha for sure. Some are pretty good, some are just there to make a presence for their own. Passion is lacking for sure tei ho. Since every one of us are nepali artists/musicians all should be united to chase away these fakism, jun tv ma dekha parne katiko bekar ko music related stuff haru sab hataunu parcha. They are sending wrong msgs to those people outside the valleys. united bhayera gayo bhane, nepal musicians would be playing all around the world. tei ho ramro lai ramrai bhannu, naramro lai naramro. Respect the music, that's all.

Thank you dai for your precious time.

Thank you bhai