He is a one-man army under the onstage alias ‘Nucleya’ and is regarded as a pioneer of the dubstep genre in India. Beginning his career in the late ’90s as a co-founder of Bandish Projekt along with friend and long-time collaborator Mayur Narvekar, Udyan Sagar which is his real name, decided to switch places with BP to ‘work with different styles of music’. Today Nucleya has dabbled in genres like Bollywood and glitch-hop and has performed at several international music festivals like Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lille 3000 and the Electron Festival in Switzerland exposing his music to a very different sort of audience.

Nucleya has taken fans on a booty shaking trip from Srinagar to Kanyakumari.

In an exclusive chat the cool and charming DJ reveals his love for the genre and also facts many know little about. Excerpts from the interview:

You started off in the 1990s with the Bandish Projekt and you are now a soloist. How has the journey been?

It’s too big a transition to sum up in a few lines. What I can tell you for sure is that it’s been a great learning experience for me, each moment taught me a lot. Each collaboration taught me a lot and who ever I am today is because of that.

Why the decision to go solo?

I wanted to explore more as a solo artists and experiment further with different music styles and sounds, going solo looked the only option to do all of it.

You have worked on many collaborations over the years. Tell us a few interesting experiences / collaborations you've had.

When I collaborated with Chinna Ponnu I was just humming her the melodies and she wrote lyrics to it which I had no idea about, but we ended up making some cool songs. (Laughs)

You've played at many international festivals (Glastonbury, Edinburgh, etc.) and have also played in India. Can you compare the two from audience, venue and music tastes?

My songs which are in Hindi or any other Indian language usually are difficult for the international audience to understand, but all my instrumental tracks work the same, as far as mainstream electronic music is considered, its consumed the same way more or less everywhere globally.

Which artists would you like to collaborate with in the future?

Anyone who has the same sensibility about music as me and is open to experiment. 

Have you done any work for Bollywood?

Many a time.

Why did you adopt the name Nucleya? What is your real name?

There is no funda behind the name Nucleya, it just occurred to me I liked it and that’s about it. My real name is Udyan Sagar.

Your music is varied and keeps evolving. What music do you plan to take on in the future?

Wish I knew, I am always trying new stuff with my music production and ideas. 

What other projects are you working on and your future plans?

I am currently working on my album to be released later this year.

Text and Photos by Verus Ferreira