In Conversation With Takar Nabam

If you've been following the New Delhi music circuit or the Indian music scene in general, you must have heard of Takar Nabam. A beast of guitar player who went from playing Pantera to Charlie Parker over the last few years. Fun fact : There was once a time when Takar and I used to jam to Cacophony ( you guitar players should know ) and dreamed of forming an act just like that.

I asked him about his upcoming release 'This Home. That Home' and how his approach to promoting his music and recording an album.

Read the interview below.

 Let's dive right into it, you have a new album coming out ' This Home, That Home' Tell us about the meaning behind the name and the general tone of the album? 

Like everyone else, I have had my quarter life crisis, my own relationship and career issues. I have had times when nothing was going right. These strong emotions can be felt in my songs. I have met someone very special now who has been a strong supporting pillar, an inspiration, a cushion I could count on when I fall. The album closes with "Receding" which concludes this chapter, this phase. I feel I've overcome some of my doubts and I'm hopeful that together we will reverse the mighty tide ahead of us.

This entire album was recorded with Ritwik De at Ghar Ka Studios in New Delhi but you previously recorded with Anindo Bose from Plug N Play. Were there any particular/specific reasons why you chose to work with a different engineer and studio? 

Since you worked with other musicians on this album, were they given specific instructions on what and how to play or did you allow them to add their own individual character to the music? 

Your first album 'Same Sky' was released a few years ago (year?), can you tell me how you approached promoting that album? 

What were some of the challenges you faced as an independent artist in terms of promo and marketing?

Firstly, the lack of a solid financial backing. In order to get my music to the masses, I had to boost my posts on social media, all expenses were borne by me. Secondly, I'm not a marketing expert so I had to research quite a bit about releasing music and the promotion part of it, wish I could devote that time on practicing! But, doing this helped me learn quite a bit about music business, which is also very important.

How have you approached the marketing and promo for your upcoming album? Is this another DIY effort or do you have plans to release it through an indie label? 

What I've learnt from my previous release is that one shouldn't build up the release too much just on social media but, also play shows and get people to hear the music before putting it out. Keeping this approach in mind, I did a 4 cities tour in North East India, last December, with my trio comprising Steve on bass, Aveleon on drums. We played really good shows and we got a pretty good response and they are looking forward to the release. I'm glad this happened!

Recording an album can be a very expensive project to undertake. What are some of the things you do ensure you don't run over budget? 

Specifically, in the Delhi music circuit, what do you think are some of the challenges that artists face when they're starting out? 

Do you have any gigs lined up? 

As of now, I'll be playing with my trio at The Bar Cat on the 16th February. Expecting 19th or 20th in Itanagar, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. We're also working on getting dates for the tour, which will be later in March.

Alright! One sentence to promote your album - GO! 

 Rock, soul, pop, electronic....a bit of all here and there, you're in for a treat!

Check out the first single 'Receding' here:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnSlFG4JVIw[/embedyt]

Takar Nabam plans to release his new album ' This Home. That Home' in early March.

You can also find him on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/takarnabammusic/