Pop specialist Taz of Stereo Nation goes electro

After getting hold of the permission for the Ishley Brothers song made popular by The Beatles — Twist and Shout — for his latest
album by the same name, Taz will soon release yet another
album this year but it will be an electronica-rock one. His fresh band Chilly Town includes DJ Humza who has co-produced and co-written the tracks for their first album.

The London-based pop artist has attempted to keep it all live despite being in the electro zone. Taz says that he wants to do different kinds of music and he has never restricted himself only to pop. “I have been inspired and influences by varied kinds of music including jazz, reggae, Bollywood, Irish music and other genres. When you are influenced by such diverse music you can come up with a unique sound. Music should never have boundaries,” says Taz about his latest venture.

He confesses that he has been experimenting a lot in the recent years and the result of that has been his current album Twist and Shout where the tracks range from the 60s blues and raggae to contemporary Bollywood. Right now, he’s also kicked about the first video for this album, for the track I Love You — a bluesy romantic number. “This one goes into blues. It’s a happy romantic number. There is a lot of throwaway music happening these days. We should focus on the melodies and give people the classics. This song has that melody,” says Taz.

Taz has been busy with work in London in the last two-three years and hasn’t found time to do live performances or full-fledged pop albums in India. Though he recently sang three songs in the Gurinder Chaddha film What An Afterlife. He is excited about being back on Indian scene. “The scene here has changed drastically. Everybody has been saying that pop music is not doing well but I think it’s cyclical. There will come a time again when pop will bounce back and Bollywood will not be doing that well. Yes, things have changed a lot since the internet came in. In Europe digital music sales in UK have grown by 30 per cent and in North America by 60 per cent. Hopefully, in the coming years, that will happen in India too,” says Taz.

There is a lot more on Taz’s plate right now. While he is all set to launch Stereo Nation merchandise, he’s also getting great reactions for his Beatles remix track. “This has been one of my favourite songs since I was very young. I played around and experimenting with the song for quite some time. People told me that it was impossible to get permission to rework the track. But I tried and they were really floored by my version,” says Taz who comes back to India with a full-fledged album after a long gap.