The New Normal S01E04: ft. Raman Negi

18 May The New Normal S01E04: ft. Raman Negi

“It took us about a 100 shows to get to the performance capability we wanted to achieve which not just included us, but also an extensive crew that toured with us everywhere. Imagine, only now did we feel that we were in sync with everything our team was trying to put forward – we knew when the lights would dim, where am I supposed to be on the stage, what visual story is being projected on the screen (which was only designed and made after a billion re-edits), when am I to improvise and when, all I am supposed to do is wait for a cue….only now we were ready, and then, COVID19 took over” says Raman.

This week, instead of me sending out questions, I chose to get on a call with a dear friend – Raman Negi, who fronts India’s one of the most celebrated indie bands – The Local Train. Their concerts are not the usual  club gigs where you hear the bartender attempting to win the mixologist of the year by being louder than the drums – The Local Train concerts are huge! Averaging at least 2000 people in close proximity, singing word to word with the band. How cool is it to be touring with a choir that changes every gig, every day!!

A conversation that marked about 82 minutes on my recorder, this was a heartfelt, long due chat we had been planning for a while and the thoughts and things it uncovered was way beyond any of our previous interactions. Here is an excerpt :

Anhad : Somebody who tours more than three quarters of the year, how has the situation been for you all in the band?

Raman : “Well, I’ll be honest – I was not that aware of the gravity of the situation during the early days, or for that matter even the band. We were in midst of our usual flow of getting to one city from another and just going about how we usually would with concerts and travelling. It was only during Holi when we had taken a few days off  when suddenly, in a span of a mere 48-72 hours all our shows for the next two months started to get postponed. Our management agency got some early cancellations for other acts but we were quite optimistic as most of the conversations were about postponement of the concert dates. However, the very next day those postponed shows were all cancelled and we felt a bit lost at that point. We could literally see the situation getting worse as we were constantly hopping airports where we noticed people wearing masks and being extremely cautious which is not a common sight during our usual travels. A sense of paranoia was lingering through the airport walls and that left us with an eerie feeling.

Anhad : What were some initial feelings and thoughts among the band with these cancellations? How were you dealing with it mentally?

Raman : In the simplest of words – we were quite upset. Our biggest philosophy has been to be as planned as possible and for us, each show is a step to get closer to our much bigger goal. We were really looking forward to these concerts since they were some of the last public shows we were going to be doing before entering the studio to record our next album. For us, to be able to record and produce music of the highest quality is one of the top most priorities and to not being able to really fullfill that at the moment has been a fair bit devastating. Not only the album, we were amidst shooting a lot of live videos from our concerts which were supposed to be a part of building some strong video content and music videos. We had seen our our previous album grow with us during the last one and a half year of touring with it, our engagement with our fan base grew with it and our overall sense of putting a show together had finally reached a level we were extremely proud of. This unwanted hindrance really took all of it away in a blink of an eye.

Anhad : What was The Local Train planning before COVID19 officially joined every concerts line up and ended up becoming the only headliner and audience member at the venue?

Raman : Hahahaha! That is an interesting way to put it! For us, as I mentioned, we were going to do some final performances before our studio “lockdown” (pun-intended). Apart from that, we were also working on multiple music videos to support our live shows and content for the web world. After playing in almost every city of the country – from club shows to open air concerts, we were striving towards creating a much bigger and holistic experience for our fans. From a well-rehearsed and choreographed lighting sequence to perfectly timed visuals on the back screen – we had fully prepared each and every  aspect involved in making of a successful concert. We recorded live versions of our songs, sent them to the video directors and editors to conceptualize the footage taken from our concerts and existing music videos to build custom visuals for our shows. The audience might not be able to see us on stage but the point was for the massive screen behind us to be doing the talking at that moment. Planning these things involved a lot of money and seeing a lack of opportunity to earn back is a very harsh reality to be living in.

Anhad : Have you been finding yourself productive these days or are you struggling like many others?

Raman : Ah man, I don’t even know how to really describe the kind of feelings that have been taking over me. Productivity seems a bit distant at the moment…mainly I’m just confused, uninspired and all that is happening right outside the doors of our comfortable homes is just very upsetting. Even if I want to indulge in some sort of musical space, the “zone” seems quite uninviting. I am constantly questioning “what am I looking forward to?” and then it is a spiral of demotivation that twists its way through. Song writing has always been such an intimate process for the band and the fact that we’re not even able to meet our drummer is highly frustrating

Anhad: Talking about a musical and performance headspace, have brands / organisations been reaching out to you for online performances in the name of ‘lighten up the mood of their followers”

Raman : For sure, we have been getting numerous emails, messages and tweets. But for us, the bigger dilemma is that we ourselves are not feeling so inspired at the moment, so doing something on a live streaming platform to positively reinforce an emotion that I’m not quite feeling myself seems quite contradictory. Moreover, it is nowhere close to the live music performance financial metrics; the web world at the moment is provides for only a small percentage of what our capability is. Currently it all feels like a complete 360 turn to how things were – from growing and prospering to a standstill with no clear vision. I do not see any TLT concerts happening for the next 15 months.

Anhad : We cannot deny that the financial impact of this entire pandemic has hit a point where recovery is going to be a whole new plan moving forward…how has some of these harsh realities hit you?

Raman : Financial hits have been extremely hard. The investment we were going to make in the recording and production of our next album is now being used for our survival. There is always some return for an investment – specially a well-planned one, but in case of survival it is all about getting by with basic functionalities. Although, we do get decent royalties from our online streams, they are still not sufficient enough to even cover my rent. Matching our previous level of financial standpoint will be a major struggle even if the shows get back on (highly unlikely though). It almost feels like an entire year has been taken away from us and that feeling just doesn’t go hand in hand with our philosophy and the plans we were setting. Apart from the financial aspects, there is a lot more that goes on and contributes to being an artist. I spent the whole of last year attending quite a many concerts of other bands / artists, meeting people who inspired me and build experiences that were recouping my inner desire to write more and more music. The thoughts I was carrying with myself while on the road with my band, those quiet moments while leaning my head on the car window gazing over the highways, things I was learning being in situations I did not quite know how to navigate through during tours – all of these experiences were contributing and prepping me for the next steps in life. Not just me, the entire band was on an exponential trajectory of learning and growth.

It is almost berserk to even imagine the qunatum of revenue that was involved and lost with these cancellations. “After the rollout of event cancellations following the virus outbreak, 63.1% of the live event companies in India have reported upto 1 crore rupees of revenue loss, which has rippled across the board to impact businesses of all sizes in varying ways”  Wildcity – Moving Forward: India’s Live Music Through The COVID-19 Pandemic

Anhad : How has it been moving forward with these unsettling feelings?

Raman : Some days have been extremely hard and some days have been quite easy. I’ve been pushing myself to learn a new skill almost every day and even though it has been quite uninspiring, I am still trying my best. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is how it is going to be for some months moving forward. So I am thinking of this time as if I am back in college and just take life as comes. I do sometimes close my eyes and think about how I want to sing my absolute lungs out for a massive crowd just like we were planning to, but then I snap back to the current situation and it makes me stop, rethink and sigh in the moment. I’m trying to be sane about it and hoping for some new things to come forward. Don’t quite know what our next step will be but hoping it’s something fresh.

Anhad : I totally feel you! Even from my conversations with some of the other artists I’ve been speaking with  during this time – all of us have had such a similar pendulum of emotions. What according to you is going to be the new normal?

Raman : I think the new normal will be a very confused normal – with certain sense of fear constantly hovering over like bees. We have been losing a lot of time and even if a vaccine is invented, by the time it reaches different parts of the world – it is going to be another few months or maybe another year to get things up and running. Personally, I am still trying to figure what is going to be the normal for us – I don’t quite know yet.

All I know is that we all can use this time to our advantage to practice our skill in whatever little capacity our headspace allows us to. Making music without the pressure of getting it ready for another concert is actually quite a nice feeling. I’m hoping with time I’m able to get back to it with full force and really make some quality art.

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As an artist myself, it felt rather fitting for me to actually speak to another musician and know how they’ve been feeling, dealing and navigating through. With these constant back and forth conversations with booking agents, venue owners and curators, an artist’s take on these times was quite pertinent. The way an artist values their art and plans are impeccable – with unknown, unsettling and harsh realities that have come in play with this entire pandemic – everyone, more than anything, just feels extremely lost.

Here’s an interesting conversation I stumbled upon featuring Mali (Mumbai based artist) and Eric Rae (Nashville based artist) on BBC – sharing how the impact of the pandemic has been on their work and what they think the future of music will be

If you’d like to continue the dialogue with Raman, you can find him on Instagram – (@Negiraman). The new normal might be a confused one with bees of fear buzzing everywhere but hopefully, it will serve one and all well!

Stay safe, stay tuned!

Anhad Khanna