Carving out a space | Krishna

When did you first decide to set up a band, and what were your initial ideas about how it would all sound?

We set up the band at the beginning of November in 2013. I’d been looking for a drummer to jam with and someone had suggested Liam [Formosa] to me. Shortly thereafter we met for our first rehearsal, which was actually the first time either of us had met the other, and the rest is history.

We had briefly discussed bringing in a third member if we ever needed to, but seeing as we worked really well together and how the sound was so well-rounded with our given set-up we scrapped that idea long ago. Our initial vision was for us to jam on riffs and just have a good time.

This is still very much the concept, as all of our songs are formed from various jams that we do when someone comes up with a new idea. The songs will eventually iron themselves out the more we play them.

How did you settle on your particular style? Did you opt for something so deliberately obscure from the word go?

Neither of us particularly thinks the band itself has settled into any particular style of music. We generally describe the sound as experimental, which is definitely true as we experiment with a lot of different sounds, effects and playing techniques, and neither of us is afraid to break into some new sonic boundary which we haven’t touched upon yet.

There was never really any discussion on whether our music would be obscure or not, or what style we would be playing. We’ve never sat down and said, ‘Okay, let’s make a post-metal song now’, or whatever. The music just happens to be that way. We’ve always believed in giving the music the space it needs to breathe and develop.

What were some of the most important things you’ve learnt as you went along?

We’ve been fortunate enough to play many shows with many different bands over the course of our band’s history, who we’ve learned a lot from. Like I mentioned above, we’ve definitely picked up new playing techniques, sounds and tones as we’ve continued to listen to many different types of music, which has really helped us on an individual and group level. Other than that, we’ve also learned a lot about handling the logistics of organising shows and such.

What do you make of the local music scene? What would you change about it?

The local music scene is becoming really interesting. There’s a lot of new bands and projects coming out which we’re both into, such as our friends Eyes to Argus and BILA, to name only two. There’s also been some interesting use and opening up of some great venues in more recent times, such as The Funky Monkey Club, Razzett l-Ahmar and Beachaven. As far as changing anything goes, I think both of us would really like to see venues offer bigger stages and better sound.

What’s next for you?

After our show at Rock the South on April 15, we return to the studio to finish the mixing and mastering of our debut album, which we’re doing ourselves, and we hope to release that some time later on this year.

Krishna will be performing at Rock the South, Zion Reggae Bar, Marsaskala at 21:15