Zapdos is the unconventionally awesome electronica act of Maulik Shah and Joy Gohil.
The electronica duo of Maulik Shah and Joy Gohil, hailing from Mumbai, grew up with varied musical influences and it was only a matter of time before these two aligned their forces to create their unique electronica presentation, Zapdos. The interesting story behind the coining of their moniker is one we adore as Joy explains the inspiration for Zapdos, “Funny story, the original name was going to be ‘Zapdos & the Sion-test’, after which maturity slapped us in the face and we stuck to Zapdos. I’m a huge pokemon fan, but it kinda give us a vibe at the time of what the music sounded like while producing, just sounded electric and it worked without second guessing. ‘Zapdos’ also means ’thunder’ in Japanese so fuck yeah!”
Credits: facebook.com/zapdoslive
“When the name was coined, we didn’t know this would actually become a thing and 5-6 months later we in fact, played our first gig together as Maulik ft. Joy. The day after that gig when we sat down to review, it felt like we wanted to go on and do more of this. Zapdos was thus, born”, explains Maulik.
Credits: facebook.com/zapdoslive
The duo has been making ripples in the local music scene, quickly rising as one of the unconventional acts on the block. Their USP lies in the overlaying fusion of live instrumental music with electronically synthesized progressions. They best describe their music as a journey of experimenting with sounds and producing fresh music every time.
“Not all the music produce is valuable accomplishments, some are a lesson learned. It’s kinda hard to pin-point our exact sound at this stage because our approach to song writing is different slightly. About playing music to a newer audience I’d say personally we always have a different vibe with each gig we’ve played. We rarely repeat our sets and its always fresh so to be honest we don’t know what its going to sound like when we’re playing it, we just hope its embraced well enough.”, Joy gives us an insight into the duo’s outlook towards creating new music.
Credits: facebook.com/zapdoslive
“We haven’t yet found any one particular artist that we identify ourselves with but we have a whole bunch of influences and so far what we’ve done is just borrow a little bit from everything. So I’d really urge the audience to come for one of our shows and see what’s up 😉 ”, Maulik explains.
While Joy’s journey towards music developed from a childhood of musical nurturing, Maulik’s journey spins a different tale. “Well, music as a ‘profession’ is never really an option, is it? It’s always a ‘hobby’ (in our country) so I think most people choose this path via different mediums – mine was… IT engineering!”
“I’ve been playing live since the longest I can remember. My first major gig was in 2000-2001(around) when I played a Navratri gig with a 30 piece orchestra on stage to a crowd of 5000 heavy. Had a band in high school, played guitars, did a lot of gigs. I’ve been playing the piano since age 6 so music was quite literally the first language I picked up in a broader sense. The journey’s just been all over, with a butt load of people I’ve worked with playing different styles of music.”, Joy shares his influences and path that led him to a career in performing and producing music.
Credits: Summer House Cafe
While the duo hustle in the space of producing electronica music, they take their inspirations from a varied array of artists, across genres, such as Iron Maiden, Porcupine Tree, Tool, Opeth, Bonobo, Roosevelt, Foals, Rüfüs, James Blake, Sigur Ros, Tycho, Kollektiv Turmstrasse, Kaytranada, Superpoze, Sampha, Ólafur Arnalds and many more! The duo strive to produce music that they can define as happy, groovy and melodic and do not restrict themselves to any specific genre.
The duo has been doing the rounds locally, performing at pubs and clubs in Mumbai. A moment they look back to as the most special of all was being the opening act for Ame at Kitty Su. Their most recent gig was performing at “A Day of SLick!” festival.
Maulik claims to have taken the entire plunge and pursuing music full-time, while Joy keeps himself occupied with his family business, personal projects and also incorporating his musical journey into his life. Maulik shares his advice to budding musicians, “My advice to others would be to take things as slow as possible and stop looking at what others are doing, that shit is depressing. #believe”
Credits: facebook.com/zapdoslive
The duo are an energetic combination with their creativity. Quoting a favourite, Maulik says, “You can’t find the truth, so just pick the lie you like the best.” And on an ending note in the words of Joy, the duo welcomes you to the movement of their music – “Welcome to the fuckin’ resistance y’all!“
Follow them on Facebook here.