Sound scape

When you are born and brought up on a noteworthy diet of Deep Purple,Iron Butterfly,Scorpions,Queen,CCR and The Steve Miller Band,you’re bound to be musically inclined. That’s exactly what Mumbai-born musician Leon Russell got himself into – a musical career and his true calling came at the techno parties in 1998. “I started Djing at the age of 15,but the truth is that experience and practice will only get you so far and that at some stage it takes raw talent to turn the heads of the dance world,” says Leon whose passion is producing music and he holds to his credit a bunch of releases. “Being in the hardware field of computers for a long time as well as Djing helped me understanding electronic music production,” he adds. So what is it about Leon’s music that has won him the respect of the dance community? “If you really want to know,plant your feet on the dance floor,” he says. From programming to genres of House,from writing music to playing it,studying it and living it,Leon is in the soundscape.

In town for a performance at Black Magic along with DJ Knightvision,Leon moves on to percussionist Doktor Daniel. “I’ve been interested in music since the age of six and it was at eight that I took a major interest in drums,” says Daniel who too has grown up listening to all genres of music. Everyone from the likes of Michael Jackson to Limp Bizkit,to nu-metal,metalcore,funk,jazz and blues. He has played with bands like F.T.N – the band that opened for Iron Maiden on their first tour of India in 2005,Cyanide,Frequency,Tearcube and Hypnosis.

Doktor D is now experimenting with drumming skills with electronic dance music. “Manipulating and getting inside the very specifics of music to produce a mind boggling sound is fun,” says Daniel for whom music has always been an inspiration.