Interview: The Paisley Daze - GigslutzGigslutz

With just a week to go until Ripple Red Presents… Gold, a night celebrating a year like no other at Goldsmiths, we catch up with another band on the lineup – The Paisley Daze.

Tell us a bit about The Paisley Daze – how would you introduce yourself/the music to someone who’s never heard of you before?

The Paisley Daze is two brothers who make Third Culture Funk or New Age Rock n’ Roll. Everything we make we do ourselves. From writing the music to producing the music to putting on our own shows with our collective Hong Kong Rock n’ Roll. We believe an artist does not need to be bound by genre and should be free to express their love for and make any type of music they wish.

You guys were born in North London, raised in Hong Kong, before moving back to London, and you’re of Punjabi origin. Do you feel like you have a lot of influences drawing into your music?

Definitely. Whenever we listen back to the music we make, especially with friends we are almost pretty shocked at what it sounds like. This is purely because there are a lot of vibes going on at the same time. However, this is not premeditated, our aim as musicians is to make the music we want and feel like we want to make. Therefore, we never set out to make a trap beat or a soulful serenade or a rock n’ roll tune. It’s how we feel at that given moment.

Because of that, your music transcends genre, but seems to fit everywhere. How do you let it explore everything without it getting messy?

With great difficulty. Usually whenever we make a beat on logic or bring a song into jam at the studio a lot has to be changed for the song to work or not feel too overwhelming. This is quite nice though as it allows us to have a lot to work with, which is also why we use a lot of loops.

And how is it being in a band with a sibling?

It’s pretty fucking fun, to be honest. The fact that we have pretty similar taste in music and both have a deep passion and determination to make music definitely helps and makes things run smoothly. But of course, we fight. Ask any of our friends, they’ll tell you we are most commonly the ones getting fucked off at each other, but it’s all love.

You make music ‘for people to dance to.’ Do people get involved at live shows?

Usually, it depends how young the crowd is. If you come to a Hong Kong Rock n’ Roll night, then you’ll be able to experience how lit shit gets.

And what about you? Do you guys dance too?

Of course, you can’t expect people to dance when they are watching static people play music. But we also just love to dance, especially to our own shit.

You’ve just released an EP In The Muthafuckin’ 2. What’s next for The Paisley Daze?

Right now we are working on an album with our collective Hong Kong Rock n’ Roll and when we go back to the hometown we’ll be shooting a lot of visuals for the release. And I’m sure sooner or later they’ll be another Daze project but you’ll have to wait and see…

Ripple Red Presents… Gold takes place at The Amersham Arms on 19 July.
Tickets/more info – https://www.facebook.com/events/381875702317703/