India’s most loved blues band Soulmate, released an album ‘Give Love’ during lockdown and by the sound of it, you bet it’s another chartbuster that is loved by all their fans all across the world. For guitarist – vocalist Rudy Wallang and powerhouse vocalist Tipriti Kharbangar, it was nothing really different from the usual, except of course they we didn’t play a real ‘Live’ gig to support the album release and the absence of fans around.

Verus Ferreira spoke to Rudy Wallang to know more about the new album and much more:

We did play a live stream though” says the Shillong based vocalist who along with Tipriti Kharbangar form Soulmate.

How was it releasing your fourth album online, the norm followed by every artist this year?

Nothing really different from the usual except we didn’t play a real ‘Live’ gig to support the album release. We did play a live stream though! By the way, we released the album on the 1^st of August,2020

You’ve released the album after almost six years since Ten Stories Up. Any reason for the long hiatus?

No reason as such. We’d been busy touring and playing gigs as well as writing songs in the meantime. These songs were played at the gigs and then once they were honed to what we felt sounded the best, we decided to record them J The recording/mix/master was done last November through to March/April this year.

How long did this new album take to write and are there any artists you have collaborated with?

A few of the songs were already written …Still Loving You and Love You were written around 2012/2013 and songs like Give Love, I Sing the Blues, Don’t You Miss Me Baby, Troubled Times, Soulmate Boogie, were written within the last two years. So it didn’t take long for us to come up with the list of songs for the album. Hole In Your Soul was also written in 2019. In this album, we have collaborated with 3 musicians namely, Hmingpuia who is based in Aizawl, Mizoram. He played the slide solo on Hole In Your Soul. Then we had Ron Cha, from Guwahati, who played organ and the organ solo on Do You Miss Me Baby and last but not the least Raveen Panday from Bangalore who played the Hammond organ on Troubled Times.

Why did you call the album ‘Give Love’?

Simply because this is what the world needs in these dark uncertain times. What with this Covid thing and all our infamous politicians and businessmen/women who want to control the world by trying to  impose their dirty doings on us, the people, and our Mother Earth. The world needs Love and a lot of healing.

You’ve been performing Voodoo Woman since many years now at your live concerts, a song by Koko Taylor. Can you tell us something about the song?

Yes, this is one of our mainstays at any gig.  People just love the way Tips sings the song and the way we play it. And it does resonate a lot with our female fans, in particular, as the song is about women empowerment. A lot of people presumed, earlier on, that it was a Soulmate song so, we decided to record it. We bought the mechanical license from Alligator Records and put it down.

Hole in your Soul stems from a true incident in Meghalaya. Can you tell us something about it?

The incident happened sometime in 2018. Around 15 coal miners were trapped in one of the mines when they hit the bed of a river and the waters flooded the mines trapping and killing all of them. This tragedy could have been averted had the owners of the mines taken adequate precautions. These mines are called ‘Rat Hole Mines’ and they are very dangerous because as the name suggests, these ‘rat holes’ are dug way down and people literally crawl inside, dig out coal and crawl back the way they came in dragging baskets of coal with them. The owners of these mines are rich, unscrupulous businessmen and women who only have one thing in mind. Money. With money comes power and control. And a few of these people are also involved in the politics of the state.. so you can imagine.

There’s also a song Troubled Times. Is it something you are talking about the times we are in?

Troubled times speaks about the trouble the whole world is facing because of businessmen pretending to lead governments when all they want is to amass wealth for themselves.  And, closer to home, we have religious fanatics who are in power and are trying to cause disharmony amongst us the people by pitting one against the other. This is all wrong!! We, the people have to change these things. Unfortunately, we have a lot of educated people who believe in all this. Religion is the biggest divisive force in the world!

What are the other songs lyrically speaking about, any political feelings included in it?

It was just Hole In Your Soul and Troubled Times that have a political overtone. One can only keep quiet for so long….

How different is this album from your earlier work?

Not very different I guess. We play our Blues the way we feel them and the songs speak for themselves.

Are you planning on bringing out any music videos to support the album?

Not at the moment. Our finances have been completely cut off this year though we did plan on making a video or two on a couple of songs. If there is anyone out there who would be inspired enough by our music and who would like to help us with a video, we are open to the idea

You guys started in 2003. How has the journey been for you and how do you feel about the blues scene in India?

It’s been a long but eventful journey… especially for a Blues band but it’s all been good. We have been blessed abundantly. Wehave had the fortune and honour of playing in quite a number of countries all over the world as well as sharing stages with the best in the Blues music world. Nothing can top that feeling. The Indian Blues ‘scene’ is not a ‘scene’ as yet. We have just the one main festival, The Mahindra Blues festival in Mumbai and we, here in Shillong celebrate International Blues Music Day every year for the last 7-8 years. There are not enough Blues bands doing the rounds… There are a few though they play mainly where they are based… Having said that, I am happy that there are a these other bands playing the Blues  and keeping us company. The Arinjoy Trio, Quiet Storm, Blue Temptation, Chronic Blues Circus, Rohit Lalwani, Manita Thapa, Blu, Kapil Chetri to name a few.

Does the band still move as Soulmate and the Clansmen? Are Vincent (on drums) and bassist Leon seen playing on the new album and are part of your travelling band?

Yes, we do still move as Soulmate and The Clansmen when we have to. This band is a mix of Soulmate and 4/5 Khasi Folk musicians. We play a mix of Khasi folk music tinged with the Blues and Tips sings mostly in the Khasi language.Absolutely, Leon and Vincent or The Groove Brother’s, as I call them, are a very important part of the band. They have played on this album and they also back us up when we’re on tour.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira