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Indian indie may not be a genre with which you are best acquainted, but tonight’s exclusive will change all of that

London based songwriter Redd Alluri is an artist caught between two cultures. Growing up in India and completing his studies in Europe, he’s been influenced by both eastern and western sensibilities and has used this as the inspiration behind the Inidian-indie of Man Of Truth.

Alluri makes this clear in his description of Man Of Truth, explaining: “This is a love song, sung by a guy suffering from a split personality from two perspectives.. I had written this song after I had been back home in Hyderabad after having circumnavigated the world over a year. This song gave me closure over my travels and felt I was finally back home.”

Alluri is inspired by The Smiths and Nick Cave among others. We also think that he has a strong alt-rock vibe and that fans of Live, Everclear and Candlebox will find much to enjoy Man Of Truth. Don’t just our word for it, though, listen for yourself…

 

Read the original here.

Our final TunA this week is some Indian Indie (that’s the first time you’ve ever typed that – Ed) from Hyderabad raised and London based Redd Alluri.

The track is taken from the album Man of Truth, but we’re not sure of a release date for it.
Read the original here.

Hyderabad-born, London-based art-rocker Alluri released debut album Man Of Truth last year, and has just unveiled new single “Texture Composure’ (Laughter & Joy)”. With the promise of more to follow, we got some quick-fire questions in to find out more in his first interview.

This is my first interview.

2016 – what is your goal?
To keep my sanity.

Did you make any new year’s resolutions?
No. There is nothing new about a new year.

What was the biggest lesson you learnt in 2015?
To have more fun and relax on a daily basis.

What was the musical highlight of 2015?
Played my first gig in London.

Who are you excited to hear from in 2016?
Last Shadow Puppets.

Tell us about the record you have just released…
They are the best songs I have written so far. Give the album a listen and turn the volume up real loud!

If you had to pick three artists to be filed next to, who would they be and why?
Lou Reed, Morrissey, Nick Cave – from a similar lyrical pantheon.

What inspired the record?
My obsession with song writing which seemed to have deserted me after making the record.

If the record were an animal, what animal would it be?
Cheetah.

Define your sound in five words…
RnR from an Indian perspective or RnR with Indian family values.

If you could jam with one artist alive or dead, who would it be?
Lou Reed.

If you could have written one song by another artist, what would it be?
“Passenger” by Iggy Pop.

Someone is making a film of your life, who will play you?
An elephant.

Lastly, tell us one thing you have never revealed in an interview…
This is my first interview.

For all the latest about Alluri, check allurimusic.com.

 

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Hyderabad born, London based musical experimenter Alluri has delivered one of this year’s most intriguing debut singles, Texture Composure. Already finding support from Q and NME, his upcoming debut album is an eclectic, insightful collection that will win your heart. We caught up with him to find out what song always makes him…

Smile
Dear Yoko – John Lennon

Contemplate
Tatters – Lou Reed

Cry
Darker With The Day – Nick Cave

Laugh
Lightning Strikes – Klaus Nomi
&. Queen is Dead by The Smiths

Want to work out
Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Reminisce
Göttingen – Barbara

Relax
Ananda Shankar – Missing You

Feel Determined
Hey Hey My My – Neil Young

Dance
Transmission – Joy Division

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Alluri has had something of interesting journey. The Hyperabad born and raised songsmith relocated to the UK for his degree, before completing a Masters in Finland and heading out on the road of self discovery in the aftermath of his studies. Inspired by the humour of Ricky Gervais and the music of The Smiths, he penned his debut album, which is headed up by the twisting turns of lead single Texture Composure. To understand the musical mind a little more, we took him on a trip down memory lane.

 

What song reminds you most of your childhood?

Jealous Guy by John Lennon

Which song inspired you to become a musician/singer?

Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple made me wanna play the guitar.

Knocking on Heavens Door – Guns N’ Roses version made me want to sing

Which song do you wish you had written?

Passenger by Iggy Pop

Which artist/band has been the most inspirational to you?

Lou Reed

Which song/album currently dominates your attention?

Ananda Shankar – I Remember

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

Alex Turner or Thom Yorke to be the Producer of my next album.

 

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Eerie, haunting and catchy are some of the words that can describe our first premiere of the week. VENTS is pleased to team up with Alluri for the release of his new single “Texture Composure (Laughter and Joy)”.

Indian Indie may not be a genre that currently dominates your listening experience, but Hyderabad raised, London based Redd Alluri is about to change all that with his debut release Man of Truth. A diarist to his core, Alluri’s songs wrote themselves during a six month travel break between completing his Masters in Finland and returning home to India. Contemplating a return to the setting that shaped him, travelling allowed him to assess how he had changed, provoking the realisation that in London he had been something of an outsider in cultural terms, while simultaneously feeling fully at home in aspects of British life.

‘English has overtaken my life in every way’, explains Redd. Now based full-time in London and focussed on his music career, he admits that as a child he would have never foreseen this path. Having been introduced to classical music by his father at a young age, he studied piano and violin for a brief period, but did feel a connection with either instrument. Surrounded by Tollywood, a Telugu take on Bollywood, he found enjoyment in the form, but was not musically motivated by it. Shortly afterwards he experimented with MTV, but he found he couldn’t connect with Savage Garden or the Backstreet Boys.
Then his cousin returned from university armed with a supply of music he had never encountered. Suddenly he found a connection that he hadn’t anticipated. Introduced by his cousin to the world of Guns ‘n Roses and Pink Floyd, which led to him asking his father for a guitar. Captivated by his the instrument, he spent the next decade immersing himself in learning three new songs a week. Rather than finding music on radio or television, he scoured the web one artist at a time and soon fell in love with The Smiths, Joy Division, David Bowie and Lou Reed.

Upon relocation to Staffordshire to study his Bachelors, his natural gravitation towards British indie was heightened with the discovery of Radiohead. But it was finding Ricky Gervais’ show on XFm that prompted him to really explore the genre at greater depth. Although at the time he simply sang covers of his favourite songs, it was when looking at the lyrics of the songs more closely while in Finland that he realised he too could write songs. Although poetic in from, the lyrics related to everyday life.

His own experiences had remoulded his mindset and he found himself torn between his upbringing and his European experiences. A Brit by immersion but an Indian by tradition, he realised on his travels that he had spent much of his time in the UK looking in from the outside and never fully understanding his experiences.

While the collection of songs that form Man of Truth are personal in nature, they also relate his cultural findings. Though title track explores how he has experienced relationships, the initial stage of compromise and the closing moments of explosive fall-out through a need to simply be himself, it simultaneously explains the cultural difference between relationships in the UK and in India. While he was brought up to understand a relationship was for life and compromise was the name of the game, he learnt in the UK that identity and individuality are equally essential. Striking a balance between the two is a struggle.

I See People may appear to have been written about India, but is in fact an observation of London life at night. Business of Love, which has a Bowie feel, returns to the personal, exploring the romanticised notion of love that is depicted in films. A cynical deconstruction of that picture perfect vision, Redd attempts to understand his feelings in the aftermath of a break-up. Who Are We? sees The Smiths and Pink Floyd coming to the fore on the release’s most existential song. Posing questions that can’t be answered, it is clear Redd is not simply trying to understand his own world, but the bigger picture in general.

Although sonically inspired by Britain, the writing and recording of Man of Truth reiterated to Redd something he had always known. While he may feel at home in Britain, he has been conditioned in a culture that is always going to be an overriding force in his identity. Man Of Truth may have been born from a cultural clash, but Redd finds the harmony in the divide.

 

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