IMR: Hi "SAFIRE"! How are the things at your end? We keep being told that "Retro-Rock" genre is dead, but "SAFIRE" with their faithful playing has kept it alive without losing any intensity. How you guys made it so easy without affecting the morale of the band?
Safire (Subhodip) :Hi Pravin. Ya! we all started out with this “Retro Rock” genre but now we aren't restricted within this genre only. All of us came from different musical influences. “Harsh” is more of old school rock, “Bijit” and “Krsna” are into “Alternative and “Progressive” rock, “Tuhin” is lot into metal and I'm more sort of a “Progressive” and “Instrumental” rock freak. So, what we did was to incorporate all these different musical influences to our own distinctive sound and that's what makes our compositions interesting.
IMR: I tried finding the information of all the members like what they do in/out the band but, could not make it up. Kindly let our readers know about it?
Safire(Subhodip) : Safire is a pretty young band. All of us are though undergraduates, but still our feet are deeply rooted into music. Every one of us are quite funny and we like to blend music and fun together which never tires us. Well lets keep the details aside coz our individual personalities are reflected quite a lot in our stage act.
IMR: Your band members seem to have diversity in their musical influences. How did you settle on "Retro-Rock" genre?
Safire (Subhodip) : As we said, initially we used to play old hard hitting covers for our own tightness which influenced us to do our own stuff and gradually made the way for our own genre. With the little bit of musical maturity we had in us, we experimented a lot and finally the “Alternative-Retro” sound came into its place. The experimentation is still full on and whatever little bit of results are there, we are happy with that.
IMR: "SAFIRE" next effort would be very noteworthy in establishing their musical direction in the following years to come. Do you agree with my statement?
Safire (Subhodip) : Partly yes. That is because, if we compare the time when we started our musical journey with today, our musical directions and abilities have established a lot with the sound of our band. In the forthcoming years we expect this for a continuation but as of now we don’t want to change our sound.
IMR: Any gig, where the crowd found you quite hard live onstage. Do you believe that fans are more accepting of bands that have an impact with their aggressive performance like those of metal bands?
Safire (Subhodip) : See, our main objective is to make the audience enjoy our shows. Yes, there are hard hitting numbers but not like that of a metal band. We feel that there should be no specific genre preferences , in fact , all forms of music should be equally appreciated be it “Metal”, “Blues” or a “Jazz” band.
IMR: What about the future for "SAFIRE"? Are you guys planning to come up with a release, if yes, what it would be like?
Safire(Subhodip) : As we are still recognized as a young band, we are now trying for the national level competitions not just to win but letting people know about us and to listen to our music. The journey has been interesting as we got through two national level competitions, “Armageddon” (Carpe Di'em) at “IIM Kolkata” and recently The “Independence Rock Competition”. Hopefully the future endeavors will be much more adventurous. And about any release, we haven’t thought about it yet but if we do its gonna be something unexpected. Bet its gonna be sold out within the first week of its release.(laughs)
IMR: Is only the riffs that are responsible for the recognition of the anthems, or there are many other backgrounds for the respectable results?
Safire (Subhodip) : Each of our works tell a different background by itself. Sometimes (maybe 5 o'clock in the morning or at midnight) someone comes up with new lyrics, riffs or ideas which generally leads to another new OC. Our songs are more of the experiences we have faced in life. Experiences, as in, the desire to break out of these selfish fights we do everyday or a failed love story or maybe when someday we were sitting inside a " Chai Ka Dukan" and seeing ourselves where we stand.
IMR: Okay, list out a handful of names of bands/albums you consider were essential for your upbringing musical influences?
Safire (Subhodip) : Its really tough to mention only a handful of names as we have been influenced by each and every artist we have heard in some way or the other. But to name a few....Pearl Jam, Metallica, AC DC, John Mayer, Joe Satriani and national wise Zero and The Supersonics.
IMR: Do you guys try to make most of the songs considering your fans, because that is what I noticed after listening to the single "I wanna fly", I found myself singing it most of the time? How much of the energy and enthusiasm can we expect in your recent upcoming compositions?
Safire (Subhodip) : Actually its the other way round. As we said all of our OC’s took birth through our own preferences and efforts and its good to know that they appeal to the crowd as much it does to us. But the few covers we do are done keeping our own style of music and very importantly the fans in mind. But ultimately we really thank our fans that they have liked us so much in whatever we do.
IMR: "SAFIRE" gig performance is always very well appreciated on every ground. What is the secret recipe for your success?
Safire (Subhodip) : Well nothing as such, we try to produce as much energy possible by our music and body language which transcends to the audience and back and forth till the enthusiasm reaches its final level.
IMR: Suppose, if you guys had a magic wand, anything you guys would have made different throughout your musical career?
Safire (Subhodip) : Ummm...then we would have got the most expensive equipments for us, and would have got a master size studio where we could jam 24*7 and even record our every jam sessions. We would also like to buy a big apartment with a swimming pool and a bar. No, seriously we would like to change the music scene in India especially in “Kolkata” where young bands and even the mainstreams sometimes do not get the right platform to showcase their music. There are hardly a few shows happening here and the numbers of bands who are actually pretty good are not being able to get into the scene. So we would like to change that, not only for us, but for the other bands as well.
IMR: I do hope that you guys continue with your musical career that you've chosen, if not higher success. Thank you very much for this interview, in return, you can have the last words.
Safire (Subhodip) : Thanks a lot IMR for supporting us and all the other Indian bands , helping them to promote their music. It was great fun interacting with IMR. See you guys in our next outstation gig and we hope to make another 100000 fans through IMR… hahaha. Just kidding. Rock on \m/
* Team IMR wishes every success in all your endeavors. Thanks for doing this interview.
Pravin Prajapati(LordMessiah)
