Some artists are legendary for their diva demands. Monochromatic bowls of M&Ms, ranging pizza at 70 miles, an assistant that walks backwards in front of you so you don’t trip. Two more to lower you onto furniture. After headlining a frigid Jasper in January in a tin can, Sanjay Seran and the rest of Delhi 2 Dublin are just looking forward to a venue with walls, which the Stand Easy is prepared to deliver when the Vancouverites arrive Oct. 25. Sanjay told Craig Gilbert all about it.
Fitzhugh: You headlined the 2016 Jasper Folk Music Festival, but more recently were here for Jasper in January. How was that?
Sanjay Seran: It was crazy. That was one of the weirdest shows ever, but people partied. It was so cold. We were on this stage not meant for bands, it was for trade shows or something. It was super slippery and super dangerous but we had heaters inside and it turned out to be a rad show.
Fitz: Where are you at with the music?
Sanjay: We just finished an album; we just put out the first single, Home. The next single is coming in January and the album will come after that. We’re pretty stoked. It’s interesting to do a release with a big machine behind us. It’s a lot different than anything we’ve done in the past. Definitely interesting times.
We wrote a full-on pop album. The messaging is similar to a lot of stuff we’ve been about in the past, the essence of the band. We’re talking a bit more about how we feel and think and what’s going on. I wouldn’t call it political, but there’s a message of unity, uprising and coming together, in a positive way. A message of love in really weird times. We tour in the States a lot and feel a lot of what goes on there, and it’s trickling into everyday life everywhere. We’re the right people to point that out and start rising again. We’re all human beings. What the fuck is going on out there?
Fitz: Who is going to be at the show?
Sanjay: There are four of us that tour. Me, T (Tarun Nayar) and Ravi Binning, and Serena Eades, who is a touring musician who has been with us for more than four years now.
Fitz: You must be pretty locked in now after four years.
Sanjay: There’s chemistry. We know almost everything about each other. They’re comfortable people to be on stage with. That’s important, especially when you present new stuff: you’re vulnerable. The band feels there’s more of a difference (in the music now) than there really is, because the vibe is the same. It’s D2D’s vibe. But the songs and presentation are a little different to the audience. So it’s like a safe nest on stage to have them there.
Fitz: How about writing?
Sanjay: The writers in band are myself and Turin. Our new album was produced by Gavin Brown (The Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Metric, Billy Talent). His engineer David did some co-producing. We have a good relationship but it took time, too. We wrote some songs, but when went back to Vancouver and listened to them again, they were the most garbagey songs ever.
You’re trying to do your own thing. And you have this hit making machine trying to direct you and you have to decide to take it or not.
So we went back and it started to work out. We were working with some other top liners and Gavin was going to do a couple of songs. But it was going so well, we were like, this guy has to do the whole album. We had a few talks with management so we had an idea of what we want to do in the studio, then we wrote My People, which will be the third single.
It was like a night of pick-up. When you first start playing, your lungs burn. But then you get a sweat on and can play for hours and you’re good. So we had cold muscles at first.
And I was wrong. Gavin is a genius and there’s a reason he’s a hit-making machine.
It’s a small band. We worked through all the bullshit and we really have a family vibe now. There’s no real ego. After being around for this long and still being together, you really have to drop that ego. I think we both realize we’re not strong songwriters. I’m pretty good at coming up with good little hooks. He’s a producer. And we get together with someone else to bring it all together.
We decided we wanted to change things up and take this as far as we can and make it as big as we can, or we were going to call it a day. We have seven messaging songs, and two fun party tracks, which works out really well. We were all on same page to do what we need to do to take it to the next level and I really think we did.
Fitz: Are you looking forward to getting back to Jasper?
Sanjay: Definitely, man. Just having walls is going to be amazing. The show is indoors and if the vibe is the same as the outside show was, it’s going to be a good party. We have a solid following there. And we’re performing new material. Our first single, Home, is out now. We’ll have four of the tracks from the album, five maybe, when we play Jasper.
