“Actually, Madboy is an old nickname. Since school, people have called me by variations of my name Imaad; ‘I mad’ being the most common one. That became Madboy and the name stuck. I thought it was unpretentious and I feel like it gives me liberty to do all kinds of weird stuff with my music. I can experiment, I can use a lot of samples…It doesn’t evoke any particular genre and it’s a kind of a clean slate,” says Imaad Shah, who is one half of electro-cabaret-disco-funk duo Madboy/Mink as well as solo act Madboy.
Imaad was in Bengaluru last week to perform a Madboy set at a pre-event for the Echoes of Earth festival, which is scheduled to be held on December 7 and 8.
Dressed in a black tee and jeans, the 33-year-old artiste, much like his choice of moniker is unpretentious, talking in measured tones during his chat with MetroPlus before his performance.
The music that he performs both solo and with singer and actor Saba Azad who is Mink in Madboy/Mink has influences of various genres, from the synth-heavy sounds of the 80s to funk and soul. Worldwide, synthwave is very on trend right now. But Imaad says, “I think that’s probably a bit of a coincidence. It’s not easy to conform my music to other trends. Most musicians make music from a fairly genuine and honest place. It begins with some chords, notes on a synthesiser, piano, or a guitar and then one thing leads to another… words get attached. It’s all a very abstract process in some ways.
“I grew up in the late 80s and early 90s and my elder sister used to take me out to nightclubs and discos in Bombay. I think in some way that kind of [got] stuck in my head. But I have shifted from various music styles over the years and this isn’t the only thing I am going to do. It does work well with dance music. And that music was the original dance music which was soulful and it made you want to dance as opposed to the more aggressive EDM or electronic music.”
First came Prince
As for his influences, Imaad says, “Off the top of my head, I would say Prince. He played all the instruments, and mixed all the songs on the album. It was a personal stamp on every piece of music he put out. He was a genius, of course.” He adds that he has been doing a DJ residency in Mumbai for the last month where he has been playing disco and funk from continents other than North America. So, the music is from places like Nigeria, Turkey, Brazil, and India too. “All of this is inspiration. Now we are also writing a lot more in Hindi. We are trying to make it our own, both with Madboy/Mink and my solo stuff. There is Indian disco as well, which we are trying to do a modern take on. We are also inspired by punk music. Given the times we live in and being young people, we feel it’s really important to have strong statements and punk had that. It was always anti-establishment and against authoritarianism,” he adds.
- Madboy/Mink has released three EPs till now with the first being All Ball, followed by Union Farm and Persons Elastic Superior Fantastic released in 2018 . “ We have a single and a video coming out soon. We are working on a lot of new music, some of which we will put out this year and some early next year. We will be going on a small tour as well. We are also going to play a show with this lady called Asha Puthli, who is a singer from the 70s and 80s and now she is making a comeback,” says Imaad Shah.
- As a solo artiste, he has released two EPs: Boy and Dream Delite which features ‘Wonders’ which samples James Brown’s ‘I feel good’ . “My solo stuff is more of an ongoing experimentation process. There is a bunch of music I need to complete. So, there is older material that is being finished right now and will be released soon.”
As Madboy/Mink, the duo has contributed the cabaret-infused ‘Calcutta Kiss’ to the soundtrack of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy ! and Imaad has composed the music and lyrics for ‘Bhar De Hamaara Glass’ in Karwaan with vocals by Saba.
Stating that at present, he is scoring the music for a couple of shows and films, Imaad says, “That’s something I am working towards and doing more of now: getting into the film scoring zone. I write lyrics, I do mixes… I kind of see myself as somebody who can do a lot of various things within that space. I’m working towards making my own films.”
He adds, “All my work as an actor and as a musician… The way I see it is that it will be very valuable when I get into that zone because that’s the end goal. I’m like a wannabe director basically,” he laughs.
In the blood
As an actor, the son of thespians Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, has been a part of Motley (the theatre group started by Naseer and Benjamin Gilani) productions as well as films such as the Naseer-directed Yun Hota To Kya Hota , Dil Dosti Etc., Little Zizou , and The Reluctant Fundamentalist alongside Riz Ahmed and Liev Schreiber.
Imaad says, “I have done two films this year. Posham Pa came out on Zee5 and the other is a big-budget Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Ezra alongside Emraan Hashmi. I also do theatre with Motley. So, there is a play of ours called Manto Ismat Hazir Hain . There is an eight-page monologue that I have been performing. As an actor, that’s also very fulfilling. It’s not easy but very interesting. I’m playing Manto in that and doing one of his stories.”
On whether he gets any acting advice from his famous parents, Imaad says, “When we are working on plays together, definitely. It is a collaborative actor- director working process. It is more than just advice if it is his play. He is the director. But both my parents are like my buddies, they're friends of mine. Also, we work together a fair bit. So, we have that working/ friend/ family relationship.”
As for whether he gets feedback or criticism from them, Imaad says, “I can always expect my family and close friends to be super honest. That’s the one thing I value quite a bit.”
