Recently, DJ Dev caught up with Josh, hailing from Montreal, Canada. The duo have been a major success in recent times with some massive collabos. However, they are still relatively unknown in the UK, I guess that's about to change!
DJ Dev: Hi guys, now for some reason in the UK, you guys are still relatively unknown. So if you could just tell us a little about yourselves. Who are Josh? What does each member do? How long you have been together? How did you get together? Where did you get the name Josh?
Josh: Wasup to all the UK readers out there. JOSH has been around for over 7 years now. It's made of both of us, Rup and Q (yup, the letter Q). We started mostly as a cover band here in Montreal Canada and slowly made the move to composing our original tracks. We actually got tired of the whole dj and covers scene and wanted to write about things that were close to our hearts. We've known each other for about 7 years as well - we coincidentally met on a school bus back in the Uni days and have been tight ever since.
DJ Dev: Your debut album "Main Hoon Tanha" was a big hit in India. It was released under the Tips Music label. Was there ever a release in the UK?
Josh: Ya, It was actually a big hit in Europe - but just not much in the Punjab Bhangra scene. It was playing on BBC radio on the high rotation during its first few months. The album actually sold quite a lot of records in the UK. In fact, we have a HUGE chunk of fan mail that comes from London. TIPS released the album and had distribution for the world market. Now, our 2nd album "Kabhi" has some hardcore original Punjabi songs and features Sukbhir and Apache Indian.
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DJ Dev: How would you describe your second album? What kind of audience would you say you were aiming towards?
Josh: Our second album "KABHI" is currently on the MTV International charts at #3, so we're really excited about that. The song is being played on high rotation on most of the channels and we've gotten excellent response from all over the globe. In terms of audience - not a certain type of people in particular. I mean, on this record, we have a few Hindi tracks, we have some Punjabi numbers, we have sung in English, and in Urdu - so it literally goes out to quite a few different types of music lovers. |
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DJ Dev: You were recently described as an Asian boy band on the international news channel CNN. Would you say that's a fair way to describe yourselves?
Josh: I don't know about "recently"!!! That was a good 4 years ago mate haha. You see it's all about perspective. The definition of a boy band may differ from person to person. If its nothing but a band with boys in it, then hell ya, we're a boy band! Haha...but if a "boy band" means we're a group thats been created out of demand, and has our lyrics written for us, and music composed for us, then, no, thats NOT what we are. We're basically two guys that like to write, compose and sing man - call us what you want, its all good!
DJ Dev: Who would you say your musical influences are?
Josh: Weird as it sounds man, both our influences are quite different. I was heavily influenced by the Gurdwaras. I started off doing lots of Kirtan (still do actually) and playing tabla at the Gurdwara. I was blessed with the opportunity to do that. I also really love Qawaals, and I'm not at all shy to admit that I LOVE top 40 pop music! Q on the other hand started off much more with alternative music - religiously listening to Pearl Jam and GnR - then he started being influenced a lot by the more progressive UK underground scene like Talvin and Nitin - we both also are major hip hop junkies.
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DJ Dev: Now, towards the end of last year, you had the opportunity to do a remix of Nelly Furtado's Powerless track. How did this come about?
Josh: The Nelly remix was quite an awesome experience. Incidentally, that track has been picked up by Canadian and American mainstream hip hop radio stations and is playing a LOT out here these days. All this was just a huge surprise to us. We simply wanted to work with her cause we dig her guts and style, and all this came out of it, couldn't ask for more! We approached her management with some cool ideas and after some serious persistence, they gave us a shot - we gave it all we had.
DJ Dev: It was the first time I, and probably many other UK based listeners, got the chance to listen to your music. What kind of feedback did you get from the remix?
Josh: The feedback from all over the world has been phenomenal. The biggest thing that people keep saying |
| is that they loved how we literally re-produced the track by adding our own vocals and melodies. Fans find it fresh and different. The truth is, we are not remixers by nature - we redid her song totally from the bottom up and gave it the JOSH touch. We get tonnes of e-mail about the track on a daily basis. The support is VERY much appreciated. |
DJ Dev: Do you see this as a big break? Are there any other ventures into the mainstream?
Josh: We've already completed another track with a band based in France. There are two other compositions in work with two mainstream artists right now, but unfortunately, we can't spill the beans just yet!!! Quite a few other artists have approached us after this song, so ya can look at it as a break.
DJ Dev: You have just released your second album. Can we expect the same kind of vibe as you debut album?
Josh: It's been released on UNIVERSAL MUSIC internationally. The record is hot - as i said, we got songs with Apache and Sukbhir on it - some hardcore Punjabi songs as well as our first English song, which is being picked up by a blockbuster American movie. For more info, check out www.planetjosh.com
DJ Dev: As you've said there's collabos with Sukbhir and Apache. Any other artists featuring on it that we should know about?
Josh: Ya, DJ Jiten of Canada has done a really cool remix on one of our bhangra tracks - check it out.
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DJ Dev: I understand you were pressurised into becoming a pure bhangra band when you first started. Why did you resist this? Do you think this could change in the future?
Josh: Becoming what people want us to be is not our idea of being musicians. The fact that we speak Punjabi doesn't necessarily mean we HAVE to sing it. I am Punjabi, and LOVE Bhangra to the bones, but I also have other passions, I also sing in other languages like French, English, Hindi, Urdu. Q on the other hand speaks Urdu fluently and loves to also sing in it. So we compromise and just make music that sounds cool to |
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us. At the end of it all, true music sees no colour, no religion, no language, no caste - so what's the difference! We're just going to be doing what comes to our hearts, like it or not. |
DJ Dev: You've performed in many venues. What would you say is the most memorable moment when performing?
Josh: I'd have to say our recent trip to Bombay was insane. We had an amazing time out there and the crowds were extremely receptive.
DJ Dev: Has anything embarrassing or awkward ever happened?
Josh: All the time man! As a very popular proverb reads, Pobody's Nerfect! Hahaha. Accidents and mistakes happen all the time on stage, but it's all about how you deal with it. You can't expect to be flawless - expect the mistakes and deal with em as they come - thats how we look at it.
DJ Dev: Any final words for the Desitunes4u readers?
Josh: Desitunes4u.com ROCKS!
We wanna thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read a little bit about us - hopefully you'll like the tracks on the new record Kabhi - please give us your feedback at www.planetjosh.com - we look forward to hearing from you all - cheers and much love,
JOSH - Rup & Q
That concludes the interview, firstly a big thanks to Josh for taking some time out to do the interview. Their new album, Kabhi, is out now international so make sure you check that out. Plus, make sure you check out their site and if you want to contact them yourself then you can e-mail them at info@planetjosh.com now!
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