Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to zip on while they listen to your new music?
The song has a cheeky retro feel to it – so in tribute to Muriel’s Wedding (one of my favourite retro movies) – I’d have to say the Orgasm Cocktail. Muriel is drinking one when her nasty friends kick her out of the group. One of them says “Wait – let her finish her orgasm.” Iconic.
Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
The new song has just been released. It’s called Up And Coming and is a tribute to the eighties. It’s very much a homage to Giorgio Moroder, Wham, Bananarama, early Kylie Minogue and Dead OR Alive. It’s a Hi – NRG Italo Disco inspired song that will take you back to the blue light disco in 1987. Grab that orgasm cocktail and pash & dash someone when listening to this song. An album is in the works. No touring at the moment but that would be super cool in the future. I’ve just released an accompanying music video to the song. It’s a psychedelic 3D animated music video that takes its viewers on quite a groovy journey (see how I’m using a lot of retro words like groovy and pash & dash). The music video is like a Bollywood disco on acid. Good clean fun. And the finalé has a little Flashdance tribute in its imagery. I feel we need more Flashdance tributes in our world.
We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true? (For example Dinos living inside Earth or E.T. living in a home in California)
They keep finding supposed Mermaid remains. I wish that conspiracy was true. I’d love to prove to the many racist Disney fans out there that Ariel really was black.
What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
Cut off shorts.
Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?
Up And Coming is a song for frustrated ambitious people. It’s about striving for something greater than yourself and celebrating that journey rather than being overwhelmed by it. I’m a Capricorn – we’re meant to be old wise goats, slowly climbing the hill. I’m usually pretty good at keeping those hooves moving andante at a walking pace – but sometimes as Kate Bush puts it – running up that hill can be desirable.
I wrote Up And Coming in a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood with my band member Justin Gagnon. I was particularly frustrated with my career at the time. I’d gone from being this Bollywood villain on screen in Mumbai to chanting sanskrit whilst doing bhakti yoga run by white people in Los Angeles. Through Bollywood I was cast opposite Wesley Snipes in an action film and moved to LA. The day I arrived Wesley Snipes was arrested and put behind bars. The film was canceled. My manager at the time told me that he needed me to be fit and muscular so I worked super hard to get ‘Hollywood’ ready. At the time however, the brown guys on TV were comical sidekicks, geeks or nerdy types. I was then told that I needed to put on weight and be the ‘fat Indian guy.’ It did my head in. Fortunately, music saved me during this time. I wrote quite a few songs about that difficult time and Up And Coming was one of them. I was feeling quite overwhelmed by the mountain I had to climb and the song was a reminder to celebrate the journey rather than worry about it. My hope is that a lot of people will identify with it.
When I was back in Sydney my music partner mixed a version of the song which had a heavy rock/funk sound to it. I wasn’t happy with the heavy rock sound as it didn’t reflect my personality. I found the melody to be very catchy so I thought I’d approach a pop/dance producer to re-jig the song. I found a producer in Greece called Sakgra and he created a version that is very eighties – very Italo Disco/Giorgio Moroder. I love it.
Beside music, do you have any special talents?
I’m actor, playwright, and screenwriter also!
Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?!
I’m not afraid of including a sax solo in my work. There’s no sax on the Up And Coming song but track 2 of the single is a seventies remix which has the sax heavily featured. It’s a remix by Bass Traps.
Most of my lyrics and writing in general have cross cultural and intra-cultural references. I have a penchant (pretentiously pronounced pónchént) for the metaphysical.
I find it hard to stick to just one form of art. I believe it all comes from the same source and I find it rewarding to dabble. Why do just one thing in life when you can do many things!? Why tell stories in just one way when there are so many mediums.
I still like to write things down by putting pen to paper when channelling ideas and making notes. Of course, I use a laptop but there’s nothing quite like getting up in the middle of the night and writing down your thoughts, ideas, and dreams – being a scribe to your unconscious mind. I keep an old school diary as well to write my appointments down.
I still get very nervous before I perform live. I wish I had some sort of ritual to calm me down, but I don’t. There’s a wonderful song called Lily from Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes album about Kate calling her psychic/spiritual advisor to help her get on stage. Lily advises that Kate should surround herself with imaginary fire and picture four angels surrounding her. I had a gig for Sydney World Pride recently and got pretty damn nervous. I wasn’t surrounded by angels, but I was surrounded by drag queens – that calmed me down for sure. Actually – drag queens are angels. Perhaps I should write a song about being surrounded by drag queens.
How did you learn to sing/ to write/ to play??
My grandma taught me to play the piano at a young age and I would sing along. I was in children’s choirs at school but at the age of nine joined a professional boy’s choir called The Young Sydney Singers. There we learnt the most incredible repertoire from Latin hymns to pop songs. I was always writing stories as a child but as a teenager at my performing Arts high school I started accompanying myself on the piano and writing my own songs. Then I went to acting school for a few years but got back into music when I got out by joining a funk band. I fronted the funk band for 4 years and wrote quite a few of the songs that ended up on our set list.
A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
What is one thing you dislike about the music industry?
AUTO TUNE! I don’t like that voices are made to sound perfect. I love hearing the imperfections in someone’s voice. Taking it all out makes everyone sound the same. I think you can really get to know someone by listening to the timbre of their voice. It’s a pity that pop music has almost eradicated the beautiful sound of the natural voice.
Your Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nicholasbrowntown