Minutes after we’ve walked into the cosy, brightly coloured Café Turtle in Khan Market, Vijay Nair joins us for what is going to be a sort of mid-day, post-lunch meal. Quite naturally, Delhi etiquette dictates that we start the conversation with a roundup of the traffic conditions we have just faced and survived. To my grumbled complaints, he adds a sunny rejoinder. “There was barely any traffic from Gurgaon today. I got here in no time!” And later, when I learn of his packed schedule, this bit of good luck seems only right.
At 30, Nair has built from scratch what is now quite commonly referred to as an empire. The CEO of music company Only Much Louder (OML), which is the name behind festivals like Bacardi NH7 Weekender and A Summer’s Day, as well as television shows like MTV Sound Trippin’ and The Dewarists , Nair now works round the clock to transform what began, surprisingly enough, as just a hobby. “I was studying commerce at Sydenham College, but what do you do with a commerce degree? We’d hardly go to class.” Surprisingly, though Nair comes from an academically inclined family of high achievers, his parents were comfortable with the idea, though not entirely sure of what he intended to do. “I told them I was taking a year’s break, but I tell everyone now that once you drop out of college you don’t go back. Once you see that real life outside teaches you so much more, a commerce degree seems unnecessary.”
For someone heading a company that’s cracked the indie music scene in India wide open, Nair began to understand and appreciate music relatively late. “It was in college that I began to hear and love the bands which are now my favourites.” Working on websites like masti.com and gigpad.com, Nair began to appreciate music. “Gigpad was one of the first social media platforms for music lovers in the country. One of the things it offered was a forum where people could have in-depth discussion on their favourite bands.” For Nair, this served as the launch pad that would later lead to his first act as a band manager for Pune-based Acquired Funk Syndrome. “They were young, I was young. I didn’t have any qualifications, but they needed someone to manage them. They had some great music.” Slowly but surely, the list of bands Nair was managing grew, and then, soon after getting together with Bobby Talwar of Zero, he started OML.
Since then, the company has only expanded, and now includes Counter Culture Records and Babblefish Productions, as well as OML Digital.
Taking a break from filling us in with the developments at OML, Nair orders a lean meal of Moroccan couscous salad and a glass of warm water to soothe an irritable throat. When I wonder if he likes his food, he is enthusiastic. “One of the reasons I love my job is that I get to travel a lot, to watch performances, etc., and I get to try new cuisines everywhere. I’ll try anything once.” In fact, the topic of food makes Nair light up in a way that even music cannot. He talks about trying exotic, strange dishes in countries like Japan and Colombia. And then, he adds that part of the reason he loves Delhi is the home cooked food he gets at his friends’ homes here. “Delhi is big on home cooked meals. And I love the street food here too.”
Of course, to get to where he is today, Nair has had to prove his mettle, identifying bands and acts that have gone on to become successes. “It’s my job to tell people when they aren’t good,” he says, adding that he doesn’t buy into the idea of degrees and qualifications to back up good work. “I have till date never looked at someone’s CV before hiring them.”
Its mark already made on the music scene in the country, OML has taken the first few steps into the business of humour, identifying and signing on new talent. “It’s an exciting time for stand-up comedy in the country, and there is more space for political and irreverent humour,” he says, before recommending a couple of Youtube videos.
Tucking into his salad, which he pronounces very good, Nair talks about the idea of indie music and the misconception most people harbour. “Independent music isn’t about living like a pauper.” Today, Nair helps the indie bands in the country avoid the big banners, and still make a living off their art. Of course, it helps that his job includes great food, new countries and plenty of live concerts!
