‘Space Cake Break’ is one of the newest bands to emerge on Kathmandu’s flourishing music scene with a relative bang. With no desire to be particularly commercial or to make an immense impact, these four rockers thrive in an environment where they can pacify their musical soul and produce innovative musical ideas. Members are seasoned musicians in their own right, making the ‘Space Cake Break’ collaboration something of a natural progression. Sitting down with band members, Raajib Sayami (Baking Space Cake), Jarvis Khare (11th Avenue, India/ Elysium), Kiran Shahi (currently also in Jindabaad) and Sunny Manandhar (currently also in Albatross), Verse discusses the process of releasing Space Cake Break’s first EP, their next steps and the possibility of an upcoming album
So what is the story behind ‘Space Cake Break’ ‘the name and the formation of such a unique band?
Raajib: Having taken a few years break from playing music to concentrate on riding bikes, I felt that there was an element missing from my life. I knew that it was definitely music. So, I started to rather trip in music than on bike. In order to break the bars and get out of my comfort zone of being greasy, I decided to form another band. Struck by the very fact, I called up some people who played ‘Gaurab Pandey (Keyboardist), Binay Shrestha (Drummer), Bhavin Pradhan (Guitarist) and Pooja Shrestha (Vocalist) ‘to start out what I always wanted to do. But some had to pursue their careers and some had to go. As part of the transition, Jarvis and Kiran came in. Still, we were going through a tough phase and that is when Sunny came and changed everything. We got to know the tune of the band and we then started to enjoy ourselves. I never officially asked Sunny into this band. He just played in and brought the soul.
As for the name, ‘Space Cake Break’, it was suggested by German journalist, Gadd (Ganesh). ‘Space Cake Break’ is the bake of celestial enthusiasm and material innuendos, inspired by the pop culture of sound-scapes and the theatrical decadence of a humanity driven to self-destruction.
Jarvis: ‘Space Cake Break’ is just a playful name depicting how we enjoy ourselves while playing.
Having known the tune of the band, what kind of genres do you play?
SCB: In this modern world of music, genre is a vague issue. We do not want to be a genre specific bend; we do not want to be biased in terms of genres. We play music for the love of music and we’re trying to create noise from the resources we have. We call this ‘Space Rock’.
Lyrically, what do you guys write about?
Jarvis: Well, I write about homosexuality, degradation of humanity, the hot chick who lives next door and I’m absolutely obsessed with pornography and literature. But we are ‘non-anti’ people. We are not against or for anything. We are just reflecting what we see around.
Raajib: There is no concrete label to define what I write about; I write the lyrics as they come to me. For example, ‘This box’ is a song about a guy who is trapped inside a box and how he sees his life inside it. It is reflective of every youth who is plagued by tunnel vision. ‘Do it in Mars’ is an illusion of meeting aliens; it is an escape from this world. ‘Facing west’ is a love-song based on how we are divided geographically in this world and how we perceive things in different time zones. So you see, I cannot say specifically what I write about.
For the band as a whole, are there any influences in the music you create?
SCB: Individually, each of us has his own musical afflatus. But, a band as a whole, we don’t think there are any other bands that influence our music. Rather, we are inspired by each other ‘the lives, the musical journey and especially the environment when we are playing together. That is what influences us the most.
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Let’s talk about your upcoming album. How’s the process going?
SCB: The new album is called ‘Space’ and it is basically an EP album. We’ve already done the recordings with King10 Record Labels and it will be out in November. Having been just 3 months into this band and to record 6 songs, I think is a great accomplishment. We’re even planning to record a video for the song ‘Donna’ by the end of November.
Are there any messages you are trying to send out with your songs or possibly with your new album?
Jarvis: Like I said, we are not for or against anything. With the songs and the new album, we are trying to break-up the monotony of self-imposed society and bring freshness for rock-music listeners.
With 3 months into the band, how have your gigs progressed?
Raajib: Basically, I don’t believe much in playing music for others. I play music as I smoke cigarettes or ride my motorcycle. So, it is more like my personal thing. But as a band, we have to do gigs so that people can listen to our music. If people love our music, we would love to play for them, but if not, we don’t care much about doing gigs.
However, we’ve done 3 gigs till date. Out first gig was at House of Music and had a balanced crowd ‘girls and boys chilling out to music. The videos of the songs we performed there have been uploaded on YouTube as well. Apart from that, we performed at Infoshop and Upper Crust.
Any upcoming gigs?
Raajib: Well, there are few gigs we’re planning to do. Sunny and I actually started out with a goal of playing a tribute to Incubus. But because of certain reasons, the heat just went cold. However, we are going to do it someday soon. Nevertheless, we already have 7 songs in mind. So, we are planning for 3 months of gigs and then recording another EP by the end of March.
Any message you want to send out to others?
SCB: We love everybody who loves us. We don’t give a f*@# about people who don’t give a f*@# about us.