ENGLISH DJENTLEMEN'S QUARTERS

Skyharbor EDQ Exclusive

Ok so for those of you who have not yet heard of Skyharbor I seriously recommend that you check them out. They have an incredible album out called "Blinding white Noise - Illusion & Chaos" available through Basick Records.

Celestial

Take a listen to rest of the album here...

http://music.basickrecords.com/album/blinding-white-noise-illusion-chaos

You can buy their Music and Merch via the Basick Records Online Store...

http://store.basickrecords.com/artist/skyharbor

Skyharbor interview

Keshav: So you used to be called Hydrodjent, is this still a side project you are working on? Or are you now focusing on Skyharbor and using the songs from hydrodjent in this project instead?

That was just a joke name back in the day when there wasn’t such a hue and cry over the word djent. I changed the name to Skyharbor because I felt it suited the music much more and we were starting to get a fair bit of attention and I didn’t want to give the impression that we’re a comedy band or something.

Dan: How did you become involved in Skyharbor?

I remember hearing a Hydrodjent demo on myspace a couple of years ago now. One song in particular called ‘Order 66’ really caught my ear. I messaged Keshav asking if he’d like to collaborate and the rest is history.

Keshav: How long have you guys been together as a band and how long have you been writing your material for the new album “Blinding White Noise”?

As a band, about a year now. I’ve been writing and recording since 2007-08 though, and it just so happened that a lot of the ideas I’d put down over the years got fleshed out into songs that I decided to put on this album.

Dan: You are mentioned as the “guest” vocalist on the album, does this mean that Skyharbor is not a permanent thing for you?

As much as I would love to be a permanent part of Skyharbor I am unfortunately working towards other priorities at the minute. We have a great friendship but who knows what the future holds, we may work together again someday.

Dan: I’ve heard rumours from different people that you are now involved with a pop/rock band where as others have told me you are in an electronic band? Could you tell us more about your other projects that you have become a part of since your departure with Tesseract?

It’s not a secret that I am a busy man. I’ve always been eager to collaborate with different bands / artists with a view to improving my voice, which is what led me to guest on Blinding White Noise. I have two more releases in the near future with ’Absent Hearts’ http://www.facebook.com/weareabsentheartsand ‘Haji’s Kitchen’ http://www.facebook.com/HajisKitchenand aim to release my first solo EP for White Moth Black Butterfly http://www.facebook.com/WhiteMothBlackButterfly. My involvement with these projects existed whilst I was a part of TesseracT, however my future is uncertain. Any developments or news on what I’m up to can be found here http://www.facebook.com/danieltompkinsvocalist

Keshav: How does it feel to be signed to the likes of a Label Basick Records?

Very humbling, very inspiring and very very exciting! About a year or two ago I was like, “man if we could get on a label like Basick someday that would just be the greatest thing ever…ah screw it, it’s just wishful thinking”…and today we’re signed to Basick and part of a family of some of the most important bands in modern progressive music. It’s a crazy feeling!

Keshav: You are from India, is there much of a Prog/Tech/Djent following over there?

Very much so! The local scenes in Mumbai and the north-east parts of India in particular, are really into this new wave of prog and tech metal, and it’s really cool to see people appreciate music like this, and expand their musical vocabularies beyond Metallica.

Anup: I see you are also in Intervals? How does life work for you being in so many projects?

Its hectic but really fun at the same time. Its nice because it keeps me very busy and constantly playing, but as of lately, it has started to get difficult juggling three different schedules (Loomis, Skyharbor, and Intervals). But I feel that all of the people I am working with communicate really well. And good communication does help to keep track of things!!!

Keshav: Have you got any plans to tour outside of your home country in the near future?

I would absolutely love for us to tour abroad! It is really just a matter of us getting an offer that is worthwhile and doesn’t result in us being completely broke. I am so eager to get this stuff to the live stage, hopefully we will tour sooner or later!

Keshav: Any big shows that you have coming up you would like to mention?

Yes! We are supporting the mighty Lamb of God on the 26^thof May in Bangalore – and what’s more, we were hand-picked specially by Chris Adler for this gig. It’s such an incredible honor and I know we’re going to put on the best show of our lives yet!

Anup: Ive heard you’ve been touring with Jeff Loomis, what an honour, how did you get involved in that and is that a permanent thing?

I was actually contacted by Century Media! They came across my Youtube channel and asked if I would make a few audition videos for Jeff. And I just couldn't pass that offer up, so I went for it! My position does seem to have some longevity. I will be touring with Jeff later this year, as well as playing a few festivals with him!

Everyone: How do you guys go about writing a song and then building it into the final product?

So far the writing process has been almost always initiated by myself. I start off with an idea for a riff or a bass line or even a drum groove or synth pattern, and just mess around with it and build stuff around it. It’s like playing with lego, you start off with something small and then keep adding to it bit by bit, and then you take a step back and you’re like, wow this has shaped up into something really cool!

I then present the songs to the rest of the guys and they do their thang!

Everyone: What Equipment do you guys use to perform/record? Give us a quick tour!

I have one guitar – an Ibanez SZ 2020 with Bare Knuckle pickups. I record guitars through an Axe FX Ultra, into a Focusrite Saffire interface into Cubase/Pro Tools in my macbook pro machine. It’s pretty much the same setup live, except the Saffire is being used to control our patch changes and backing tracks and stuff instead of recording.

Everyone: What can we expect from Skyharbor over the next few years? Are you guys got plans work on another release?

I’m planning to take a month off soon to just write as much new material as possible. It’s been a while since BWN was finished and we haven’t really gotten much new material down. I’m aiming to have at least an EP’s worth of material written by the end of this year, and hopefully an album’s worth by next year. And hopefully we will get some good opportunities to play this stuff live!

http://www.facebook.com/Skyharbor7

Skyharbor Featured as our band of the month in May 2012 and released this Exclusive Playthrough of "Maeva" through our youtube channel...