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Daniel Rego: Changing Seasons

“‘The decision was mutual in that the rest of the band understood the reality of the situation, and that it was in the best interest of both parties to bring aboard someone new and more suited to the part.“                                                                                     – Daniel Rego

Guitarist, session/live musician, producer, music educator. Musically, Daniel Kenneth Rego has branched out considerably in his career so far, venturing into jazz, blues, metal and Sufi music, and having taught, sessioned, produced and played live extensively. Indicus, the new outfit he has affiliated himself with, features a lot of progressive elements and the mysticism of the Sufi sound. Having just left Demonic Resurrection, internationally renowned metal band from Mumbai, the change could not be more contrasting. After five years, two albums and some brilliant shows, a guitarist’s shift from a blackened metal act to progressive Sufi music is not usually the expected recourse of action. We caught up with the versatile guitarist, who endorses PRS Guitars, to hear his take on leaving DR, his musical experiences and his future plans.

SoundTree: You recently parted ways with the Demonic Resurrection. Why did you leave? What went wrong, and was the decision mutual?

Daniel Rego: Nothing went wrong – my decision to part ways with Demonic Resurrection was based purely on the fact that I do not feel the same interest in performing and creating this kind of music any more. Any serious band needs all members at a 100 percent, in terms of being into the music, its creation, performance and aesthetic sense. At some point, I felt my personal journey as an artist had begun to steer away from the above, towards other forms of music that I wished to explore and express myself through. In such a situation, it simply makes no sense for any musician to continue playing a kind of music they do not feel that level of connection with; especially in a band that understandably requires a real commitment to the music.

SoundTree: Is there some sort of natural evolution to your musical creativity that has led you to leave after cutting 2 albums, and 5 years of intensive touring?

Daniel Rego: Yes, every musician (ideally) evolves, and my evolution as musician is what led me towards other kinds of music. I want to make it very clear though, that I do not mean this in any judgemental or elitist way – people seem to be under the impression that I now deem ‘metal’ to be some lesser form of music. What I mean is simply that I feel I have expressed my musicality sufficiently within the metal style, and I want to move on towards other musical idioms that I now find more interesting. I’ve had my fill, and now I’m onto something else.

SoundTree: Having played with an assortment of acts from DR to Nerverek, with musicians like Siddharth Basrur to Roshni Baptist, and mastering the Solar Deity EP, what has the change been like?

Daniel Rego: A lot of my involvements with other artists have been in the capacity of a session/freelance musician. I’ve been working in the session circuit for a couple of years now, and it’s exposed me to a whole range of styles that I’d never previously sunk my teeth into, and put me into many challenging situations as a musician. In hindsight, deciding to broaden my stylistic palette was one of the wisest decisions I’ve made, because it’s forced me to learn a lot, in terms of understanding the aesthetics of various genres, developing the technique and approach for different styles, and learning from these markedly different musical idioms.

I’ve been playing a lot of blues slide guitar. That’s precisely what Siddharth Basrur got in touch with me for, to play at one of his recent local gigs. I’ve also been studying classical guitar technique, but mostly in application to jazz, in my attempt to get somewhere close to the approach of jazz pianists. Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau have been great inspirations to me. Roshni Baptist is a country/pop singer-songwriter who’s working on releasing material she’s been writing over several years, and I arranged and produced one of her songs, which I will also be mixing as soon as the final tracking sessions are done. The Solar Deity EP was actually a favour to a good friend and (at the time) band mate Ashwin Shriyan at Mindmap Studios, who produced and mixed the EP. I don’t recall how it came about, but I ended up mastering that set of songs, and the band seemed to be very happy with the end result on an aesthetic and technical level (the former often being a difficult match to find), and I got to work with some great music of the sort I’m not generally assigned, on a production level. So it was a win-win situation.

SoundTree: With Indicus, how do you feel your style may change? Is there a new realm of sound that you are keen to explore, and does that mean leaving metal behind?

Daniel Rego: Indicus is a progressive Sufi/Fusion band I’ve been involved with since sometime in mid-2013, and I’ve had an amazing time working with such talented and interesting musical minds. The concept of the band is combining melodic sensibilities from a Hindustani classical background with harmony and rhythm coming from spaces like jazz, folk and rock. Lyrically, Sufi philosophy and poetry is the primary influence, and this holds a central part of the presentation of the music. A debut full-length album is coming into shape, with most of the recording process complete, and we should have some music ready to be released within a couple of months. I’m very excited about it.

As far as “leaving metal behind” goes, I merely think of it as a focusing towards other styles of music that I find more stimulating and challenging now. I still listen to metal when I am in the mood for the characteristic musical attitude and aesthetic that metal embodies, and bands like Meshuggah, Gorguts and Cynic are still some of my favourites. But in terms of creating and performing metal, I feel I’ve finished what I have to say in that realm, for the foreseeable future, at least.

SoundTree: Having taught privately for some time now, how has your experience been handling students? Is it as satisfying as playing live?

Daniel Rego: I wouldn’t compare teaching to performing live. They’re completely different departments in the sphere of music. Teaching is something I initially started as an additional stream of income, but soon grew to love as an experience. It’s great to share your knowledge with other people dedicating themselves to this art, and it’s incredibly fulfilling to know that you’ve had a part in another musician’s development. Over the years, I think I’ve found my niche as a teacher, and people who call in now seem to know exactly why they’ve chosen me specifically, and what the learning experience will be like. I’ve had many great students who have developed and progressed in ways I’m very proud of. Many of them have their own bands, and I’ll be the first person to hit ‘share’ when they finally put some music out. I know they’ll do well.

SoundTree: What are your future plans? Any interesting collaborations or a solo career planned?

Daniel Rego: Collaborations are an inevitable part of being a musician, so that’s something that will always continue, across many different musical scenarios. I’ve also been working on getting together a couple of projects that I’ve been putting off for a long time, either because I haven’t found the right musicians to play with, or for lack of confidence in actually presenting these ideas on stage and to the public.

The ‘solo project’ concept is something I’ve toyed with in the past, and I’ve performed original material as a solo artist several times, but at present, I feel I’m at a stage where any material I’ve written for that purpose inevitably gets tossed into the mental trash can a few months later, because I don’t find it good enough, in hindsight. Maybe something will pass my internal quality control someday, when I feel I’m at a more stable place musically.

Music is obviously something that will be my primary focus for the rest of my life. I’m really grateful to everyone who’s listened to and supported Demonic Resurrection and me in any way or form.

With a whopper of a final gig with Demonic Resurrection on 19 January 2014, which also announced the band’s new guitarist Nishith Hegde, Daniel has parted ways with the group. Watch out for more of his stuff with Indicus.

‘‘In general, I plan to focus on production work a lot more this year, and definitely make it something I do on a much larger scale.’’

Click here to know DR’s take on the entire episode.

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