Saturday, July 19, 2014

Long way from home!





We are proud to present our 3rd studio album - "Long way from home" to all of you. There are few things which are definitely very special about this album:

1. This is the first Dark Project album that has been conceptualized inside a Jam room keeping in mind the Live performance of the band. We played all the instruments and we can play it as is Live.

2. In this era of loudness - this record doesn't try to pierce your ear drums. We acknowledge the loudness war by staying away from it.

3. This album has taken the longest to record even after having the whole band in the same city. It took us over 3 years to make this record.

4. We had a demo recording of the album followed by a re-recording of each instrument during the final album cut. The album is a few MBs but the recording material has been well over a TB.

5. All the songs of the album are constructed to be connected. Each song ends as a prelude to the next one. So if you play the song on a modern CD player, it would appear as one single connected train of emotions besides the fact that it has meta tags on each of the tracks to identify itself on these players.

Above all, this is the simplest Dark Project album till date from progressions to it's lyrical content. We valued each song on it's merit and enjoyed every bit of it while recording it.

We have the entire album on free streaming on our website but when you know that we have spent so much behind it, we just expect you to buy it as well. We would like to thank each and everyone of you for supporting us till this far. We all are nomads in some form - "Long way from home"!


Monday, December 9, 2013

How did we make Duality?



Now that Duality is just about a couple of weeks away from it's release, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you the details on how we went about making what you will see.

Rollback to early 2012, Ugyal came up with a riff that sounded very different from what we had composed before. It was 'upbeat' and a bit like Paramore. I personally felt that it was going to be 'the song' of our new album. We got everybody to work into that riff and eventually constructed a full blown song that is called "Duality" now.

We wanted to make a video out of this song but we didn't know how. Let's face it, we don't make much money off our music, hence affording a expensive video was totally out of the question. I saw many of the Indian band videos and approached folks one after the other. There was one point of time, when we had closed in on making the video through someone from Bengal but that would have needed all of us to be in Silliguri. Given such circumstances, we had very little to play with. No cash, no logistics and a need for a music video.

Sauvik has been our real inspiration behind doing things DIY. He gave me this confidence that we 'can' actually make a music video all on our own, all that we would need for it is a good camera and a good script. I kick Sauvik's butt very often for taking things upon himself to do everything but then that was the only way we could go forward. Sagarneel da, my college senior was pursuing his side project with the 'Photographians' and were doing a good job with wedding photography. Wait a min, did I just say - I would like to talk to him about the video? As contrasting as it may sound but I was very very impressed with his portraits. He has a thinking behind his photographs and what really shows off his art is a passion to learn and a dedicated soul working hours to make it perfect. So without further thinking, I just gave him a call and pitched in the idea of making a music video. He was excited too but he gave me a task to come up with a script. I went back to the band and we did a whole lot of brainstorming. Anirban Ghoshal aka 'kake' came into the party as well. Then the whole of DP and Sagar da would sit for hours and hours discussing about how we can construct a music video. When I thought through those discussions, I learnt that each one of us have a way of looking at films. It was actually about controlling the chaos in each one of us and transform it into a form of art. We started watching a lot of music videos and let's be honest, feasible music videos that could be worked out without much investment and lesser experiments. Ideas got formulated in a piece of paper and we would just go back n forth over it. At Dark Project, we may not produce the 'most path breaking' idea of them all but we constantly try to do something different from what has been done before and we wanted to do the same with the video.

Finally, end of 2012, early 2013 - we had a workable script. We distinctly divided the script into two parts - one for the storyline and one for the band shoots. Sauvik was very particular about getting thoughts to paper and would ask us to visualize them. So we would sit down at his place for hours over weekends, drawing pictures on camera angles and what not. We were quite a bit ambitious to begin with, but realized slowly about the feasibility aspects to do a video with just a DSLR. We studied lenses with Sagar da, went through DSLR video tutorials and learned the art of shooting a video. Next task was to finalize the locations. To be fair with the band, I think we are very orthodox in some of the stuffs we do - so everything had to be planned well. We went around Bangalore to hunt for locations and found out quite a few interesting places.

The first day of shoot was in Sarjapur with Partha from Photographians coming in and helping us with the shoot. Not only did he give us his camera - a Nikon D700 but he is a guy who inspired us to do well in front of the camera and off it as well. I remember him really liking our stuff and asking us do something about the marketing aspect of the band. We had a day long shoot in a field and unfortunately even though the shots came out well, we discarded almost everything from that day. I remember getting Biriyani from the distant shops to the farm land to Korak, Ugyal and Sauvik who had no other shelter other than the one offered under a tree. I love these guys for one other reason, they are very modest and they can survive in any form of life. By the end of the day, we were thirsty, tired and totally tanned. We had to return the drum kits to Korak's friend in IISc that night itself. So I had to drive about 40 KMs across the city for that with Ugyal. It was tough doing that, when you imagine us starting the day at around 6 am in the morning.

After that day, we felt that we could do a better job out of it, you know plan things better. However, no effort goes for a loss. It taught us tremendous lessons on 'what not to do' while making a music video. So we decided to move back to the storyline and focus on it for the time being. While I start speaking about this section, I realize that the post has really become long - but I guess even if it doesn't find a single reader - it's worth a testimony. I would call us 'lucky' to have found Priyanka aka Pella who was studying in NIFT, Bangalore. She was generous enough to help us with styling the band.  She transformed the band, to be honest with you - we are really ugly looking men. All said and done, we still needed the protagonist of the video - a 'lady' and we reached out to people who could help us with that. With people not being sure of what it means to feature in a music video, we were very short on options. Pella helped us here as well by getting Sakshi who was her classmate at NIFT.  Sakshi not only suited the video, but she was someone whom you could call a team player. When I look back to those times, I sense this humanitarian touch to everything we did. Partha, Sagar da, Pella, Sakshi, Kake - these are the people who made us feel really special for the music we make. It wasn't our project, it was their project as well. We were an open forum and we took an opinion from each and everyone. It was like a bucket full of ideas forming a beautiful collage. A sketch, that most of us visualized in our heads but were not really sure of how to execute.

We ran through our novice ways of doing the shoots with Sagar da taking the lead. We had to still shoot the band shots (coz we had decided to scrap the earlier ones). We decided to do it in IISc Bangalore's music room. We got Korak's help here to get the permissions et all from the concerned bodies and off we go for another day of hard work behind and in front of the camera. I think the most pious thing I have done in my life so far is playing music and be in a band. By now I know that it caters to each one of our lives and is supposed to be a way to share our emotions. After seeing us play, we got invited for free food at a wedding near by at Gymkhana (Free food and Dark Project - go a long way).

We got neatly done, and then came the HUGE task of editing the video. I would make several trips to Sauvik's place over the weekends to sit with him to edit the video along with Sagar da. Sauvik is a genius, rather he is like this AI box which can learn algos and new stuff just like it's all about math. He took up the editing with brilliance and we were done with the edits in a months' time. But it had to take another couple of months for us to go through the CBFC submissions and process needed for it. Let's face it, I was responsible for delaying the whole aspect of getting it out coz of my imbalance at work and the need for us to be show ready at the same time.

We took almost a year to make this video. It's going to come out on youtube for starters in the next 2 weeks. All the superlatives that I have used in this post are with respect to my views and thoughts on what we have achieved. I know we have not made the best video in this world or even the best video that we can make now from all the learning but if I look back to the same time last year and think about this video that we have today - I wouldn't think twice to conclude that it would be just a dream.

Kudos to the following people for making this happen:

Sagarneel Biswas - The man behind the Camera, Photographians.
Anirban Ghoshal - The never say die - manager of Dark Project
Priyanka Ella Lorena Lama - The stylist and the little dynamite.
Shakshi Kandya - The protagonist.
Partha Sarathi Bera - One other half of Photographians in Bangalore

and

My bothers in this battle: Sauvik, Korak and Ugyal!

Here's to the two weeks, hope you would like it.

Cheers,
DJ

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Dark Project presents Long Way From Home


2 album with over 20 compositions, yet it didn't satsify me on a personal ground on what i was set to achieve with Dark Project. We were sparse entities living in our own little worlds, in the creeks of places like the hostel rooms or the rented apartments. It had to take a mammouth effort to put the pieces back in place to start making music just the way you hear it on the record. Everybody's sacrifice to come to the city of Bangalore has been a tale i have held close to my heart. When individuals have families, career aspirations and most importantly a necessity to find one's own survival - music in India takes a back seat.

The good news is that i am not with such individuals who play music for instant fame. I am not with a set of individuals who value gimmicks more than art. I am with individuals who win everything they put a step on. 2 years of playing music in Bangalore, together as a band and a will to write an album that would replicate the exact sound of madness that we held inside. Hence came a decision to put the ink to paper and write a record that would correct all the things we missed out in the past and express our feelings as individuals much on a personal level.

Long Way From Home is not Dark Project's 3rd album, i always regard it as the first and an onset of a journey that forgets about how much we had to fight to put the bricks together but rather sketches a painting of our souls while we try to connect to our admirers in a fresh n new way. The album has  taken almost a year to compose and record. Precisely with 8 tracks - each bleeding into the other, is composed, mixed, played, written, produced by Dark Project.

The songs deal with a variety of subjects including faith, love, bravery, sacrifice and what not. I have heard it on repeat as we went on to achieve near perfection with our limited boundaries. We didn't want this to become just another record but something we have put our best in. Duality is the first single off the album and will be released as a video in the month of September, followed by the album launch and possibly gigs to promote it.

Not everything is in one's hand, rather i think there's nothing in our hands than to just give it the best shot we could. After putting the unmixed record on play - i can rest assure tell the world that i am really proud of what we have made. Sauvik, Ugyal, Korak and last but not the least Daryl have done a tremendous job with the album and only makes me want to write music for another 100 years, if mortality permits me that rule.

Sweat, anger, effort and a never say die attitude is what brings this album together in one piece. I guess i would want to dedicate this album to my mom and to each of our families who have been enormous in supporting us through our lives. There cannot be a 'Dark Project' lighting it up without them!!

DJ

We meet ourselves,

We meet ourselves into someone we don't know.
We try to chase, we try to chase that someone we don't know.
Will you cry for someone to write the story of your own?
Will you jump, will you break to reach where you belong?

~Salvation!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Dark Project presents - Long way from home



Long way from home is the 3rd single from our next album. The song was conceived in the year 2009 when the band had come down to Bangalore to play at Opus. This is Korak's first song composition for Dark Project that was equally complimented by Ugyal and Sauvik on the guitar. It was only last year that the vocals were written for this track with the intent of dedicating it to a soldiers life. It's hard to capture a life in just 8 lines of lyrics and 3:50 minutes of playtime, but we have tried, only to hope that you would like it and possibly we would reach the ears of those whom we really intended this for! The track was released on our Facebook Fan Page on 17th December.

To stream: Reverbnation Link



Thursday, November 15, 2012

Dark Project Live at Hard Rock Cafe, Hyderabad


We return to Hard Rock Cafe, Hyderabad for the 2nd time this year. This time we will have more of Dark Project's material. We will debut two of our much liked singles - Duality and Salvation on the 22nd of November. Do drop over with you friends and have a good time with us!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Dark Project Live at the Inorbit Mall, Bangalore - 27th October.





Catch us Live at the InOrbit Mall, Whitefield, Bangalore on the 27th of October between 7-8:30 PM. Bring you family, friends - shop, hop and headbang! Duality Premiers on Stage!