From strangers to band mates, Neon Nights has been by means of a musical journey value speaking about. Comprising Lian Khuptong on drums, Jael Syuhlo and Asherie Zonunmawi on vocals, Joshua Constantine on guitar, Daniel Hatzaw on bass, and Lian Suanlal Guite on piano, the band is about to carry out at The Piano Man, Safdarjung, New Delhi this Saturday.
They’re finest recognized for his or her full of life renditions of the largest pop hits from all over the world and that’s simply what they may showcase this weekend within the capital.
HT talked to the band about what journey to this point has been like and what they’re most enthusiastic about for the upcoming efficiency.
You describe Neon Nights as a bunch of “misfits turned music maestros”. Who’re the misfits within the band, and the way did you all find yourself making music collectively?
Actually, all of us. We come from fairly completely different musical areas. A few of us grew up on rock and retro, others are extra into pop, soul and newer music. So once we first obtained right into a room collectively, there wasn’t some grand plan to create a specific “sound”. We had been simply enjoying songs we preferred and seeing what occurred. And quite a bit occurred.
Somebody would change a groove, any individual else would throw in a concord that wasn’t there, and all of the sudden a track we’d all heard 100 instances felt new once more. We saved coming again to that. So sure, the misfit half remains to be correct. “Music maestros” might be us getting barely carried away.
You’ve mentioned you set a contemporary spin on the whole lot from present pop hits to retro classics. What makes a track value transforming for Neon Nights, and is there a track you’ve utterly remodeled?
Normally it begins with a track that every one of us genuinely need to play. That issues. If we’re bored enjoying it, the viewers goes to really feel that too. Then we ask ourselves: what can we do with this that the unique doesn’t already do?
Typically it’s a special groove. Typically we make it heavier, strip it down, change the vocal association or take a really polished pop monitor and make it sound like 5 or 6 folks really enjoying collectively in a room. We significantly take pleasure in taking newer songs and giving them an older live-band really feel. That distinction is enjoyable.
There are a pair within the September 12 set the place you’ll recognise the track nearly instantly, however what occurs after that isn’t fairly what you anticipate. We’d quite not wreck these earlier than the present.
The band launched solely in 2024. What has stunned you most about going from storage jams to acting at a venue like The Piano Man?
How shortly it stopped feeling like “only a jam”. At first, you’re fascinated about very staple items. Did everybody be taught the track? Is that transition clear? Who forgot the ending this time?
You then begin enjoying in entrance of individuals and your entire manner of wanting on the music adjustments. You discover which moments make folks sing, which songs make a room go quiet and pay attention, and which of them all of the sudden get everybody out of their seats. That half has most likely stunned us essentially the most.
Taking part in The Piano Man is particular as a result of folks there actually pay attention. You possibly can’t cover behind quantity or manufacturing. If the music works, they’ll provide you with the whole lot. If it doesn’t, you recognize fairly shortly. That’s thrilling. Additionally mildly terrifying. In a great way.
If you’re enjoying a mixture of acquainted Western hits, how do you stability giving audiences the songs they got here to listen to with placing your individual stamp on them?
We by no means need any individual to listen to their favorite track and assume, “What have these guys completed to it?” There are particular belongings you don’t mess with. A refrain that everybody needs to sing. A melody folks have recognized for years. Typically even a tiny guitar half that individuals are ready to listen to with out realising it.
We maintain these moments. Then we mess around with the whole lot surrounding them — the groove, harmonies, dynamics, solos, intros, endings and the way in which one track strikes into one other. That’s the place Neon Nights is available in.
For us, the candy spot is when somebody is aware of each phrase of the track however nonetheless hears one thing they haven’t heard earlier than.
You’re acting at The Piano Man in Delhi this weekend. What can folks anticipate from a Neon Nights gig that they won’t get from merely listening to the unique variations of those songs? Which track are you most enthusiastic about performing?
The unpredictability. You understand precisely what occurs once you press play on a recording. Reside, we don’t all the time know what’s going to occur both.
If the room begins singing, we’d go away house for them. A solo can run slightly longer. We would all of the sudden pull the whole lot down to only the vocal and one instrument, then come again in full power. Songs additionally bleed into one another in methods you received’t discover on the unique data.
And we leap round quite a bit. One minute you’re someplace within the ’80s or ’90s, a couple of minutes later you’re singing one thing that got here out rather more just lately. That’s what we love in regards to the present. It feels alive.
As for the track we’re most excited to play? Ask us once more after September 12. It’s often the one the place the group finally ends up louder than the band. But when we needed to choose one, then I might say “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac.