Delhi based dynamic rock duo M.A.R.S (Men Are Rarely Sober), who released a charged debut EP in January 2019, are back with an electrifying single called ‘If I Could’. The eponymous 4 track EP, the culmination of 8 months of grueling work, featured genres ranging from hard rock, RnB to indie. The duo comprises of Abhishek Sharma on vocals and guitar, and Paras Khanna who plays the bass, guitar and has also recorded, produced and mastered it. Abhishek is a guitarist, composer and visual artist, having assistant directed for various projects in Mumbai. Paras is a producer by profession, operating out of Noida based Hourglass Studios, and has been a part of various bands over the years.
We got in touch with the duo to ask them about their music and more. Read below!
Q.1 What is the inspiration for your music?
Well talking about inspiration, we both have our own set of artists, genres and styles that inspire us but the only factor that came out to be common was rock, upon finding this out we set rock as our foundation and slowly induced each other’s unique style into it. Mostly our musical themes are heartbreaks, fantasy, love, and if we dig down a bit deep we also write about one’s own insecurities and troubles which people relate to instantly.
Q.2 You’ve released an EP and now a single. When do you plan to take your act live?
Well now that we have 5 original compositions out and two more in our bag that we are planning on releasing soon, so yeah we are looking forward to take our act live and have already started working on it.
Q.3 What is your music-making process?
Well, there is no specific rulebook to our process, it all starts with either a word, or a chord progression, or a theme or an influence, whichever pops up first that ignites the composition. Once we get a vibe and feel satisfied with our composition, we move on to creating a structure around the composition. There is no definitive timeline to create a composition, sometimes it comes out in a days time and at times it takes weeks, maybe months for us to figure out but it all comes down to the vibe. If it vibes then it’s one of a kind. Then we move on to the tracking part where we pen down all our ideas. Doesn’t matter if some of them are stupid, you never what can solve the puzzle until you try to do it. Once we are done with tracking, we move onto the mix where Paras puts his genius skill set to bring the composition to life with whatever we have with us and viola we make a song. Well if you ever hear Paras uttering the word “Swaad” means the songs perfect. So in our every composition, we look for “Swaad” before we put it out. Well, that’s how it works.
