Trickbaby are a band with their own unique original sound that fuses various styles of music. Their originality has led to them falling somewhere between the desi and mainstream markets in the UK...but now they've conquered India…so should we really get it? We at desitunes4u definitely think so! Irfan and Richard caught up with Steve and Saira recently at MTV's studios in Camden, London to get the full low-down!

The comments of each of them have been colour co-ordinated to help you distinguish who is saying what. The following key can be used as a guide to help you with this as well.

Richard: Ok, for those people out there who aren't really familiar with who Trickbaby are, can you give us a brief intro?

Saira: My name is Saira Hussain, I am the singer of the band I have been with Trickbaby since its inception and am probably half responsible for its conception. I sing, give orders, pass comments and generally be quite…

Steve: Bossy?

Saira: (Laughter) Don't put words in my mouth…cynical, destructive but part of that process contributes to the band.

Steve: She writes some of the songs that she sings as well (Laughter).

Saira: Other than that (she adopts a freshy accent) 'I make TV and radio' and that's my background really, I've always been involved in music in some shape or form.

Steve: And the rest of the band?

Saira: We also have on board Jeevan Rihal, she became part of the Trickbaby family or unit, as I had a friend who kept on going on about her niece who was ever so beautiful, ever so talented and ever so musical and she played harmonium in the Gurdwara. I was getting weekly reports on her progress and there was a time when she came of age and I was allowed to pounce on her so we turned up to the Gurdwara one day and emotionally kidnapped her. Ever since then she has been part of our crew. We've seen her blossom.

Steve: Next up is our awesome tabla and dholak player, Baby Gangsta as he likes being called now, real name Vikaash Sankadecha. His Dad used to be in Alaap as a tabla player so he has a bit of pedigree. Saira: We thought we'd take the young, angry rebellion that translates into some rather hardcore drumming. Steve: He's an amazing player and a great guy to have around. Saira: Sometimes he's a nightmare but he's so talented it's forgivable.

Vikaash live in India

Steve: If he were here in this interview he wouldn't speak. When we were in India the TV networks insisted on doing interviews with all of us and we warned them he wouldn't speak, but when they spoke to him they said "what's your name?" he said "Vik" and that was it, he just stared them out for the rest of the interview.

Saira: So by day three we sent him off to the bazaar and just did the interviews without him. He likes playing his drums and isn't really into the rest of it. But he's very much part of the writing process.

Steve: We also have a relatively new drummer called Em, who is another phenomenal player who has played with Shakira and Prodigy amongst others. He's half Turkish and definitely got the spirit. We stumbled on him for the Indian tour and he's joined us now. He's excellent in the studio as a producer and is an absolute amazing dude. When we were out in India he ate Brazil nuts for the whole time because he was so scared to eat the food out there.

Richard: So when did Trickbaby start? And can you tell us about your career to date?

Steve: We started off with just the two of us in 1996, then signed to BMG in 97 and had 4 years of hell as we couldn't do anything so we disappeared in that time and detached ourselves from society. Contractually we couldn't release anything until they… well basically the A&R people changed during the two years in which we were making our album. We were initially signed to a major label off the back of one track but we were signed for a big five-album deal. We got an advance so we spent time refining our music and getting the band together and doing that stuff. But when we delivered the album the A&R people had changed. They liked the album but wanted to do all these cheesy Euro mixes and wanted Saira to do some Indian dancing with not many clothes on and be all Euro and cheesy.

Trickbaby

Saira: I don't like doing Indian dancing and I like wearing clothes. Steve: So we had two words to say: 'fu**' and 'off.' It then took two years to get out of the contract and that's why there's that gap in our lives. Then when that was over we put the album out ourselves. Saira: We bit on them too early and they bit on us too early. But hindsight is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Steve: We're not bitter.

Richard: Who are your inspirations musically?

Steve: How long have we got? As a group what makes us who we are is just a complete mish-mash of styles and genres.

There then proceeds a long conversation about a variety of artists and styles including:

Punk, Acoustic rock, Bhangra, Hip-hop, R&B, Folk Singer songwriters, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Paul Simon, Blondie, Bob Marley, Qawalli and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Saira: I like good story merchants.

Irfan: It's pretty difficult to define the sound of Trickbaby, how would you describe it?

Saira: I think the confusion and the chaos of the music that motivates us makes our sound indefinable. It's not set in concrete generic category so it's not possible to put us in one.

Steve: We don't try to be anyone.

Irfan: Some people say you're a bit of guitars and a bit of underground. How does that make you feel?

Saira: But that's because they get that reaction when they see a brown / white combo innit. As soon someone sees that they say "ooh, it's a little bit of east and a little bit of west" without actually paying attention or even listening to our stuff. If you listen you'll hear the reggae and the hip-hop and the quite solidly classical string and flute parts, but its an easy glossy tag to say "it's a little bit of Bolly with a little bit of west chucked in."

Steve: There are a few bands like us, Sonik Gurus, Swami, ADF who couldn't be anything apart from British really. Saira: We're born of a mindset, a politics and a culture and it isn't some kind of fat, white, cigar smoking record executive who has come over and said "you're-a gonna sound-a like a chicken tikka masala (laughter)." We haven't been given the video, the record sleeve or anything before the music has been written. Its not manufactured.

Trickbaby performing at UK AMA's

Irfan: Your music is sample free, right?

Steve: It's not; on our album there are four samples. If a sample is good then we'll use it, but samples are expensive as we found out.

Saira: Its not great business or creative practise but inside the Asian scene in particular there has been constant plundering and 're-inventing' but I think the great thing about music is being maverick and being original. We could keep plundering into the past and into Bollywood classics, which can be great, but I think we have to prove we have prowess and talent to create music which is totally our own. We aspire to be the classics of 20 years in the future where people can say they had their first snog or fell in love to.

Richard: It has been said by some 'desi-fied' fans, that your music is not really Asian. What would you say to those critics?

Saira: We are as Asian as we are and it's as Asian as it is, there are moments when it sounds very Asian and there are moments when it doesn't. Who cares? We don't make it to sound Asian or non-Asian, we just make it. Why should it be judged on its brownness or its whiteness? We're not bhangra, but we're not sorry. Maybe bhangra was the easiest way to pull Asian sounds into the mainstream market and help people understand that it came from the fields at the harvest and this is why they do the dance like this and why it has the energy and the 'chak de phatey' but the conception of bhangra was an easy thing to digest. I understand the concepts of bhangra but I ain't from the fields and I ain't ploughin nuffin. We come from a different direction. We're a Turkish boy, a Yorkshire git…we're a bit of everything.

Irfan: From a marketing perspective, who would you say is your target audience?

Raghav with Trickbaby at the MTV Style Awards in India

Saira: People who get it. I don't care if it's the people who listen to the Raghav and Jay Sean. Steve: We make music and worry about it afterwards. It would be wrong to make it for 'that target audience' in the way the R n B acts do. Richard: Tell us some more about the India tour! Saira: It was quite incredible really, we thought when we went to India they would go "ay?!." I was quite apprehensive

and it was the biggest eye-opener and kick in the balls I could have had. Actually, they are perhaps more creatively receptive than people here in some ways. They are hungry and just want it.

Steve: We played in one place where everyone was just dancing and there were arms in the air and turbans bouncing up and down and there was a bunch of women from Birmingham going "when can we see you in England??" they thought we were from India and we were like "nah, we're from London."

Saira: So it was a great reaction because we thought people weren't going to get it. But we should've gone years ago and maybe even started there and brought it here. And that's the way it has worked in our favour, because some people said, "Trickbaby, we shouldn't get it" then we blow up India and they're like "India get it, may be so should we." India wouldn't take it as a boxed up and packaged curry from the supermarket, they appreciate the chaos of the culture mix and can appreciate how the England comes out in it.

Richard: We understand that Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn recognised you when you were out in India, how did that make you feel that a megastar like her knew who you were? Saira: It was funny because I just wanted to ask her if she was going out with Imran Khan and what not. I only got to find out that she was checking out locations for a film she's going to shoot in India with Michael Douglas. Its not the real world really, she'd seen us on TV, but she said she was a fan and had bought our album.

Saira with Goldie Hawn

Steve: We had Ewan McGregor at one of our gigs as well. He danced.

Irfan: How does it feel to be appreciated half way around the globe?

Saira: Reassuring and nice because it means we can go back there again. We've concentrated a lot of our energy in the last year to set up the opportunity to make it happen out there. We proof-read the idea of doing it out there and it makes it more fun and is more inspirational to do it out there.

Steve: It's becoming a British disease.

Irfan: People like [while looking in the direction of Richard and Steve]…(he struggles to find his words).

Richard: Goray [Laughter]?

Steve: Go on, you can say it, people like us…. [Irfan now realises he is outnumbered].

Saira: In fact, you know what, our biggest critics are sometimes our own people.

Richard: What was the funniest thing that happened while you were out there?

Steve: We drove past this guy who was wearing a huge white turban, with a white beard and robes and he was on one of those long rickshaws with a flat bed on it, not for passengers. They were lowering this big white thing on it and they put one too many on and it flipped up with this Sardar about thirty feet in the air with his beard resting in his lap in the cycle position. Just to drive past it made us cry.

Trickbaby posing in Jaipur, India

Saira: The funniest thing for me was when we were in Jaipur and we were at this mausoleum looking at the tombs and being touristy when suddenly this guy runs over and goes "aahhh!! You're from TV!!!" and he sends someone off to get a camera and in the meantime he takes a piss in the corner on a marble shrine and when the guy comes with the camera Steve eggs him on saying "put your arm round her, put your arm round her" and we've just watched him take a piss. It was vile, but so funny.

Richard: Are there any plans to launch the Trickbaby sound in North America?

Steve: Yes. We have agreed a deal but we've not quite signed it as the lawyers are ironing the finer points. Better not talk too much about that, but you'll be the first to know when its signed and sealed.

Irfan: Lets switch things to the Asian scene in general now. Personally, I think that there is a lack of mutual respect between artists, would you agree and what are your thoughts?

Saira: If there were then I would say: guilty. If there is then its because we've not been given the chance or platform to stand on a stage and unite and integrate and generally get to know each other. Apart from when I do a Network East production, or a gig at Cargo or something like that out on the circuit we don't have a union. We need an emotional union. There is some big stuff that needs to be done in order to improve and manage our business. Our day-to-day overheads and things like that need to be addressed or we're never going to be able to make it in the mainstream. We wont be able to compete on a commercial platform unless we get our shit together big time.

Richard: Which artists do you rate in the desi industry?

Steve: Check the Asian Beat Bazaar album. Everything on there we chose because we like it. I think a lot of people are doing a lot of interesting things. I tend to like individual tracks. I really like DesiRock but I'm not mad on the whole album. It's a horrible thing to say because I really like Swami and I can't wait to hear more stuff from them. I'm currently listening to Sonik Gurus/ADF/Sukshinder Shinda.

Saira: Because so many albums have only a couple of good tracks it shows that they are more anxious to put it out and not refine their sound. It's getting your business together to make the best product rather than just wack it out there.

Steve: I think the difference between the mainstream and the Asian industry is that an Asian record company will give an artist some money and say go out and make an album, whereas the major labels will be involved in the making of the product. They will find the right producers and engineers for the artist and I don't think any Asian artist has been A&R-ed in that way yet because the Asian industry doesn't know how to.

Saira: The Neptunes can put five beats together and it sounds immaculate because first they've got the talent, secondly because they've got the quality recording and engineering equipment.

Steve: I don't think it's necessarily a lack of money but more a lack of commitment and teamwork. The Asian labels in Britain do it how they do it because they're not used to spending large amounts of money on artists but have had satisfactory rewards from what they have put in. Now the stage has changed and they should be looking for rewards that are much higher, which means they need to up the ante.

Saira: It also needs a great nurturing environment where a label will pay to have a full orchestra brought in if the artist feels it is necessary.

Steve: The only Asian artist in Britain I think who has had that is Nitin Sawhney. His label had the money and faith in him early on and it shows in his music.

Irfan: It seems that the Asian industry is saturated with every Tom, Dick and Harbinder wanting a slice of the cake. Firstly, do you agree with my statement and secondly what are your views on those artists who put their albums out just for five minutes of fame rather than the love of the game?

Steve: Artists who do that presumably still have a love of music so it's not all bad. It's the love of being a celebrity where it can fall down, especially where it supersedes the music but it's ok if the overall product is good.

Saira: The good will swim and the shit will sink, so it's all right because it makes the good stuff shine brighter. I'm not here to educate you, I'm here to provide an entertainment service and you listen to what you want, I can't educate you on what's good and what's not. Some people like listening to tat so someone has to release tat for the people who want tat really innit.

Richard: You were responsible for the Asian Beat Bazaar album, which is fast becoming a trend with an artist or DJ's putting out a compilation album, like Panjabi Hit Squad, Bobby & Nihal etc, what was the thinking behind yours? Saira: To get it out first! Steve: I've done compilations before so it was just another opportunity. We were approached to do it so it wasn't us trying to do what they do. We had EMI/Virgin behind us. We tried to make 40 tracks but Beyonce pulled out at the last minute and that's why its 39…which says something about Beyonce. She's

Asian Beat Bazaar

happy to have an Asian remix but is not happy to put it on an Asian album.

Irfan: Who was responsible for picking the tracks?

Steve: I asked everyone in the band to put together their top forty tracks and we just ploughed through the CD collection. We wanted it to be the best of British as a rule, which we stuck to in the main. The band in this case also included our DJ/Dhol-playing friend Parm Panesar.

Irfan: There was that guy from Singapore on there wasn't there?

Steve: r-H…. he's a fan of ours. The story is quite cool, we were on MTV Select in Singapore and he e-mailed in saying he was a producer and asked for help. So he couriered one song at a time over a period of ten weeks which must've cost him a fortune but I said to him "stop sending me individual songs and finish your album", which he did and it turned out to be a great selection of mainly instrumentals. The track we put on was one I really liked so I hope it's given him a well-deserved opportunity and basically a foot on the ladder.

Saira: I think he's either half Asian or totally Asian but living in Singapore and his music stinks of his Asian ness but it has that oriental feel to it. In that way he's similar to us in that he has a cultural heritage and a different cultural environment and his music is a great mix of the two.

Irfan: If there were anything you could change in the entire industry what would it be?

Steve: Free downloading. It's stealing and it's making the production of music very difficult. Because the bigger labels now don't make as much money as they used to and it's driving many types of music underground. Like Saira said about nurturing artists, that can't happen if a label simply can't afford to put someone into a nice studio. If the record companies had got together at the start and got on top of downloading then it wouldn't have the aura now that it's a way of getting free music. They blew it ten years ago when it started.

Saira: Some artists are more affected by downloading than others, like the ones who have a strong identity through their artwork and visual aspect will not have suffered as much as a bedroom producer who makes great music and not much more.

Trickbaby - Hanging Around

Richard: I hear that you are all set to re-release your original album (click here to view review) but this time with some bonus tracks, can you tell us more about that? Steve: We released it ourselves about a year and a half ago, but since everything happened out in Asia, with new artwork, new tracks and mixes etc the dilemma was either to put the new tracks on our next UK album, which would be out of sync with the rest of the world, or to re-release. Richard: Saira mentioned hindsight earlier; you've now got a chance to have a second go at the promotional work and that sort of thing, so what's going to be different. Steve: We'll be much more available and talk to people in the media. We're quite

sensitive to criticism and we sometimes hide away from it but since we went to India we now know we have to attack it. We now don't doubt ourselves even if others do. We now have some great backing from people like Bobby & Nihal and Adil Ray, which now makes UK success very achievable whereas it wasn't before. The bottom line is last time we weren't quite ready.

Irfan: So what are the new songs?

Steve: 'December Blues', which was a song, we had knocking around so we put it on Asian Beat Bazaar so it didn't die a death, but the response was great so we re-mixed it for this release. Also new is a song called 'Because You Know', which went down really well live in India, and we've remixed 'Hanging Around' the title track.

Richard: What about the people who have the old album and want the new songs?

Steve: If enough people want us to we'll put the new songs out on an EP, because I would hate to feel like we're ripping them off if we made them buy the full album again ...so email us and let us know.

Irfan: Any live dates planned?

Steve: We're about to start looking for gigs so watch this space.

Irfan: Any final words for our readers?

Steve: Just keep reading the website, it's a wicked website. It's great for us to be on there. That sounds really sick doesn't it?

Saira: May the force be with you, peace up over and out, I need the toilet!!

That concludes the interview, a big thanks to Saira and Steve of Trickbaby for taking some time out to chat to us. Hanging Around (click here to view album review) is out on the 18th of April in your usual mainstream outlets. Be sure to check out the official Trickbaby website at www.trickbabymusic.co.uk for all the latest on them.