Near Death Experience (NDX) take you on a grooving rock’n’soul adventure with their latest single ‘Underground’ to an uber cool place where ‘the beats get hot when the sun goes down’. At the same time, the band have conjured up a whole new music genre: subterranean swing! Right from the off, an irresistible bass line – that only Amar ‘The Groovemeister’ Grover could have written – lays down the groove and you know you’re in for a great time. By the time Ian ‘Lightning’ Whiteling’s swinging acoustic guitar riff, backed by drummer Isidro ‘Isi’ Tomas Roldan’s driving beat, explodes into life, it’s clear you’re on the ride of your life, and there’s no looking back.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
What first got you into music?
For me (Ian ‘Lightning’ Whiteling – singer and acoustic guitar) and Bill ‘The Professor’ Marten (lead and rhythm guitar), I’d say it was all about creativity. From as long as I can remember, I always wanted to write songs, whereas Bill is all about creating new and exciting guitar sounds and styles, as well as building soundscapes through sound engineering and production. Both our drummer Alan ‘The Milkman’ Perkins and bass player Amar ‘The Groovemeister’ Grover I reckon were both driven to play by a sheer love of music, particularly of the 60s and 70s. Together we have the perfect band chemistry for writing, recording and performing.
Are there any musicians who inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?
For me, it’s Jim Morrison due to his incredible voice and original and inspire songwriting. For The Prof it’s Bowie, “because he always followed his musical instinct wherever it took him and was talented enough to make it work.” The Milkman loves Mick Fleetwood because “he always played what perfectly fit the song, without being showy for the sale of it”. The Groovemeister, meanwhile, is inspired by George Harrison because of how “he emerged from the debris of The Beatles with a great solo album that silenced any doubters and engaged with Indian music and musicians”.
Your latest track is 'Underground'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
I wrote ‘Underground’ on acoustic guitar a few years back. It’s about the coolest, grooviest bar or venue, that’s inspiring, fun and exciting, but at the same time you feel completely safe and at home there. I didn’t know whether it would work with the band, and was just playing through the chords on acoustic guitar while the guys were setting up for a rehearsal. The Prof said he liked it and asked what song it was. When I told him it was one of mine, he got everyone jamming along to it. The Groovemeister almost instantly came up the incredible bass line that underpins the whole song and The Prof started laying down these 50s/60s rock’n’roll licks. For the recording, we felt the song would work well with horns, so The Prof wrote the horn arrangement and we got a friend of a friend, Chris Goodchild, to play them. He did a fantastic job! It’s now got a wonderful funky Latin-infused psychedelic feel.
Which skills have you gained that help you perform effectively as a musician?
Well, I learned acoustic guitar at school, then took classical guitar lessons for a few years as a teenager. I’ve also always had a strong sense of rhythm. All of which has made my acoustic guitar playing very rhythmical and kind of Spanish sounding.
I was in a choir at school, and when my voice broke it was a lot deeper and more powerful, but I’m completely untrained, and just sang properly from my stomach – rather than my chest – quite naturally.
Above all, I’ve always wanted to write songs, so consider myself more of a songwriter than a singer or musician.
What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
The whole band love the music of the 60s and 70s, from psychedelic rock to funk to soul. So everything from The Doors, The Beatles, Love, The Rolling Stones, T-Rex, David Bowie and Roxy Music to James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and Dusty Springfield.
Describe your creative process when you write new music.
I like to use as many different ways as possible to write songs, which avoids writers block. A lot of songs develop during rehearsals by jamming through ideas members of the band might have. The Prof and I will then develop them further individually or together.
Sometimes I write complete songs on acoustic guitar and share them with the band. Other times I play back beats and sing over them to create the melody first and build a song around that by myself, with The Prof or with the whole band. This helps keep everything fresh.
What is the biggest decision you’ve had to make?
In terms of music, it was whether or not to join this crazy covers band after years of saying I’d never play other people’s songs. That crazy covers band turned out to be The Prof, The Milkman and The Groovmeister who I quickly discovered loved my songs and were more creative that I could ever have hoped for. As you can imagine, the cover versions were dropped pretty damn quickly!
What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?
It’s two things. First the creativity – I’m a creative junky! Second, it’s performance. I love fronting a band and giving it everything for an audience. The better the songs, the more enjoyment the audience gets and I love the feeling of people going mad for songs that I’ve helped to create.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
It's given bands more control, and artists can get their music heard more easily than ever before. However, the ubiquity of music online means that it’s harder and harder to make money from your actual songs, and more about performance. Is that how it should be? I’ll let you think about that…
What are your plans for the future?
Writing and performing as much as we can, to hone both our sound, songwriting and stage craft. The immediate future will see us launch a summer single, followed by the release our second album in the autumn. So busy and exciting times ahead!