Popular Danish/Indian music band Bombay Rockers are performing today in the capital at the F Bar and Lounge, Ashok Hotel. We chat up with band members Navtej Singh Rehal a.k.a. Naf and his Scandinavian bandmate and producer Thomas Sardorf, who are excited to perform peppy bhangra and RnB tracks from their latest album Rock and Dhol.
Thomas, who has visited Delhi many times before, feels that this city has so much to offer. He quips, “What’s not to love about Delhi. It’s a great city. Something is always happening here. There are great restaurants and the night life rocks. We always get a lot of love when we come to Delhi. It’s definitely our favourite city. Maybe we should change our name to ‘Delhi Rockers’.”
Naf too agrees with him and adds, “Yeah, the Delhi crowd always has very high energy. My family is based in Delhi so whenever I come to India, Delhi is my hometown. Although the traffic on the roads here can be really bad at times.”
The band was formed in 2003 and their first track Ari Ari was a smash hit. The collaboration of two musicians from culturally diverse backgrounds and maintaining the vibe has been an eventful journey so far. Thomas reveals the secret of their harmony and says, “Normally I come up with a track, maybe lay down a verse or a hook line. Naf and I then sit together and try out different ideas. It’s like a puzzle that we slowly put together piece-by-piece. We’re very conscious about the English and Punjabi lyrics. I produce the tracks and make sure to mix different genres so it doesn’t sound stereotypical. When our formula is mixing Indian and English lyrics, we have to ensure the music always has a surprise element.”
Talking about their latest project, Thomas says, “Let’s dance is the first video/single from our new album Rock and Dhol. We took our time as we wanted to get it just right and to switch up our sound again. The album has a peppy tempo and a lot of electronic elements have been used.”
The duo hint at taking up a Bollywood project in future, as Naf says, “The next step for us would naturally be to do music for a Bollywood film. Our music is very different, so it has to be the right movie for our music to fit in.”