Ask any musician, and they’ll tell you that the birth of a band is just as momentous as a birth of a baby! So there’s every reason for us to be just as pleased to introduce Mumbai’s latest party starters…
Say hi to ONEmpire!
Team MissMalini had the delightful pleasure of a quick one-on-one with one dashing Zarir Warden – the frontman and lead vocalist of ONEmpire. Read on to know a little bit more about these fellas who’re suited, booted and fully on course to be your new favourite local hear-oes!
Team MissMalini: Hey Zarir! How’s it hanging and what was the first tune you hummed this morning?
Zarir: Hey! The first tune I hummed this morning was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
Team MM: Introduce the band. How did y’all come together and how long has “ONEmpire” been simmering in your brains?
Z: We have Garth D’Mello on keys; Gavin Cason on guitars; Atish Thomas on drums; Loy Henriques on bass and I’m on vocals! We’ve been playing together for a few years now so this isn’t really brand new to all of us. However ONEmpire is relatively new, just a couple of months old.
Team MM: We’re totally loving your name…. What’s the story behind it? {PS- Makes me think of 2 bands I follow closely – One Direction (R.I.P) and Cat Empire. Heard of em?}
Z: Hahahha … Of course, heard of both of them! But honestly the name has nothing to do with either. So when we were rebranding and revamping (The Other People), we wanted a strong name… A name that puts out a bit of a statement. We all loved the idea of having the word and number “ONE” be a part of it as it resembles unity and solidarity! And Empire is used really positively in our case. We are trying everything we can to build up our fan base, our team, our following and hopefully have people join the empire! The story behind the revamp is basically in search of something bigger, better and badder! All this time we’ve been a band playing good music and putting up a high energy performance and now we’re looking to take it to another level and make it more of an overall experience for our audience. So we’ve got a light designer on our team and a visual and graphics designer to make it more of an audio visual experience than just a music show.
Team MM: Sounds fab! Y’all are seasoned musicians and have been playing in the circuit for years now. What’s been the main driving force for y’all – playing live shows or getting in the studio to record new and original material?
Z: A bit of both actually! We are all so thankful and grateful that we do a good number of shows every year, so that, of course, plays a big part in driving us to do more! But of course, as artists we want to and need to be creative all the time so that’s where the writing part of it comes in. We are lucky enough to have someone as established, experienced and plain awesome as Loy Mendonsa (from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) mentoring us and working with us in the studio in Mumbai with our new original material. So I can say it’s definitely a good combination and it’s this balance of both that continues to drive us.
Team MM: When and where can we get to see and hear yall? Any gigs lined up?
Z: So our first gig, to launch this new project, is on Friday the 26th of May. This is happening at High Street Phoenix as part as their monthly Awestrung event! Post that we are in the process of closing a few gigs.
Click to follow ONEmpire on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get real time updates straight from the band.We can’t wait to catch the band’s debut gig on the 26th of May and we want to know if you’re going to be there too. Tell us in your comments below!