Fusing Naked Beats

Fusing Naked Beats released the well-received album, Digital Asia, on their own imprint last year. After receiving a lot of play in the Asian scene and beyond they are starting to take things wider. With another album in the pipeline and plans to open up their brand of banging beats and twisted electronica to a mass audience, it seems that Fusing Naked Beats will be making waves in the months to come. Yam Boy caught up with DJ Asif from Fusing Naked Beats to chat about their future world takeover plans.

Please introduce yourself to the Indian Electronica audience?

I started as a guitar player. From the age of 14 I learnt how to play and by 17 I toured with Fun-da-mental as a guitarist. I then created my own punk rock band called All You Can Eat and we had moderate success with appearances on Network East and touring around the UK. I then toured with a band called Charged around Europe, but by that time I was tired of playing/touring with other bands and had definite ideas of creating my own sound. I decided to form Fusing Naked Beats- and set up my own label ‘Just Play Records'. The idea was that MRT and I would be the core music producers but that we would also work with other musicians, songwriters and vocalists.

Tell us about Digital Asia - the album. What style were you going for?

Digital Asia is a dance album, with a dark electronica side to the production. It has a strong Break-Beat, House and Drum'n'Bass element to it. The track Digital Asia, named after the album title, was my hit single and was play-listed on Radio 1 on the Bobby Friction and Nihal show for over 4 months. It was also used for a Tiger Beer digital advert. I still think this album is going to go even further once it's discovered in other countries It has had excellent reviews in the U.K. and in Europe and has quite literally taken us to the next level.

You're big in Europe. How did you work that out?

I have many friends in high places. Ha ha. No, really it was basically touring around Europe and spreading the sound as much as i could and luckily for me everybody loved the album. I particularly remember the Sfinks festival in Belgium where i had a wicked crowd who were just going crazy to the music and Athens for the World Music Festival where we played in the centre of Athens to hundreds of people. It has been successful in Germany and Holland as well as Spain and Italy. I think it's easy to vibe to.

DJ Asif - you used to play guitar with militant punks, Charged. How did that shape your musical journey?

I was young and looking for adventure. I toured Europe with Charged and was the guitar player. It was a great learning experience, gave me some ideas of where I wanted my own music to go towards, but ultimately i wanted to be my own master and broke away to do just that! I guess the edgy, darker side of my music can be attributed to the militancy of Charged.

Charged were in NME. How did you guys cope with that level of exposure?

For me, it was great! I always used to read NME, so to be featured in it was a real coup. You just have to keep things in perspective but I always enjoyed the exposure. It's not like we were hugely famous, but just enough for you to want more! To be successful you need as many people as possible to hear your music anyway so you need maximum exposure.

Will Charged re-emerge? How has the Asian scene changed since then?

I don't think so, the scene has changed and the style of music has changed too. There is much more experimentation and your market is constantly evolving too.
What is next for Fusing Naked Beats?

At present we are working on a new album called 'Outer Perspective' which is due for release next summer and we will be promoting it around Europe and India. We are venturing into new sounds and fusing all types of instruments and cultural elements from around the world. I like Caribbean beats - Soca etc... and Japanese electronica and twisting it around to create something else entirely. I am also working on new tracks for a few labels who are interested in licensing our music. We also want to continue to work with new artists for our label.
How important is it for you to have an Asian element in your tunes?

Quite important because I always want to keep my roots in the music. I am proud to be Asian, and I think a lot more people need be open to different styles of music than the ones they get used to.

What is your producing process?

Depends on the mood I'm in. I usually start off with a beat, which I start building and then add my vocals or the other way round. It's quite unpredictable really, sometimes I work on a beat, which I can finish in a day and is perfect, and at other times I'm working on a track that takes weeks and I'm still not satisfied with.
Any plans to work with vocalists?

Definitely, I'm always looking for good vocalists and there will some surprise guest vocalists on the new album which I'm looking forward to. Outer Perspective will definitely be more vocal than my previous productions.

What are you working on at the moment?

The new album Outer Perspective and some tracks for various labels which will be licensed.

Shameless shouts and plugs.

I'd like to thank everyone who bought a copy of the album all around the world and sent me a great message of support. Fusing Naked Beats is slowly taking off and you're going to hear a lot more from us. I also want to tell people who haven't had a chance to check out the album yet, Digital Asia can be bought from my website http://www.fusingnakedbeats.co.uk! Peace and Parallel Love!