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Kiddah Pops… Happy New Year and Happy Gurpurab, vadiayah tinoo! Ok then…

1. Give us a brief introduction to the people out there who don’t know what Tigerstyle is about?

We are a music production outfit. We predominantly make Bhangra music, although we like to dable in other genres and try new things.

We feel we bring something very different to the table than other artists do, including the authenticity and unique quality of sound, political awareness, cultural weight and imagery.

2. Where did you learn the instrumental skills that you’ve now got, such as playing tabla, dhol, dhad, tumbi etc…?

Our main training has been in Tabla, which we learned classically at a young age from our Ustad, Vijay Kangutkar, who was originally from Bombay and settled in Glasgow some years ago. From that knowledge, I picked up dholki, dhad and tumbi myself. Dhol was taught to me firstly by Jojo, who used to play for the Glasgow based Bhangra band Bombay Talkie, and then later my good friend Sukhi set up and ran the official Dhol Foundation classes for Jonny Kalsi in Glasgow, where I learnt a lot.

3. Where did the idea of calling yourself Tigerstyle come from?

I think artists go through a lot of ideas when thinking of a name. We didn’t really think about it at all. At the time we were running a local roadshow sound system under the name “Desi Bombsquad Djs”, cheesey I know! We had a few shows on local radio, including one which was a 60 min continuous Drum n Bass mix with old skool Desi tracks dropped in over the top of them beats. The show was named “Enta tha Jungle….Tigerstyle”. We had touched base with Panjabi MC about getting into production and one time we linked him and passed him a tape recording of some tracks we had worked on. On the flip side was a recording of a mix I’d done for the radio show. The label read “Tigerstyle”, so he asked “is that what u guys call urself?”. From then it jus kinda stuck with us.

I think with the traditional Sikh background we have and the views we push forth, the name jus fits. Tigerstyle is a form of Kung fu, it has a link to a martial tradition and Indian origin, and so does our Sikh background. We approach our work aggressively and work on our strategy, and we’re very conscious of what we are doing most of the time. So yeah, I think the name goes well. I think we were one of the first Bhangra acts to come out with a branding, in the form of a logo which the public could identify with. This logo has received a huge response from all over, so we most definitely feel the name and logo are an integral part of our success so far.

4. People portray you as ruffnecks “ I don’t give a f*** sort of attitude”, how did you guys establish that sort of reputation?

I think people have preconceptions. I also think we are very simple people, we don’t like complications and this is somehow seen by some people as us being difficult or us having an attitude problem. We are from a totally different area than most Bhangra crews (being from Scotland), we have a different background, we have a totally different way of life, so you must appreciate that and I feel people should not judge others, without knowing them properly.

We haven’t had the smoothest or best experience with the Bhangra industry so far. Everything we’ve built in the last 4 years after leaving Kismet Records is our own hard work and a result of our determined approach. We are very protective of that, so in someways it might seem as though we are ruffnecks, and we might come across rude. But to be honest, we have every right to protect our intellectual property and go about our business the way we see fit.

I just hope the public can look past what they read on certain forums and websites and judge us by our music and how we carry ourselves in person.

5. What do your parents think of your music career, thumbs up?

Yeah, the folks have been supportive, I wouldn’t say from day one as there have been times when they have become disillusioned, but they do support. I think every parent wants their child to do well and not get into something which is gonna waste their “make or break” years. If it wasn’t for the push from our parents we wouldn’t have even got into music at all. We wouldn’t have a record collection if it wasn’t for them and they have supported us through our time building our business to what we have today.

6. Who are your main influences in the music industry past and present?

There are so many influences. We listen to a lot of Punjabi folk music from 70s/80s. a lot of Charanjit Ahuja production, artists like Gurdas Maan, Kuldip Manak, Surinder Shinda, Chamkila, Mohd. Sadiq, Surinder Kaur and Narinder Biba etc etc.

At the same time we listen to a lot of western music, Hiphop music like Dre, Cube, Snoop, Timbaland, Missy, Neptunes, and some experimental music too like Gorillaz, The Prodigy, Leftfield, some Ninja Tunes material, and some Drum and Bass. Right now we’ve been listenin to a lot of Damian Marley. I have a bit of a Bob Marley collection and I bought Damian’s first album and this latest Jamrock album is amazing.

We’re also feeling the latest material coming out of India. Stuff like Nachhatar Gill, Amrinder Gill, Manmohan Waris, Kamal Heer, Hans Raj Hans and Debi Maksoospuri.

It’s good to see you have sealed the deal with the makers of Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360.

7. Which songs are featured on the game?

The songs from our forthcoming album featured on the game are:

“Maan doabe da” featuring vocals by an up and coming singer from Punjab called Amrik Babbal. The track is about the people from the region of Doaba, which infact is the region we originally come from. So it’s a very personal track for us.

“Akh mastani” which features Labh Janjua, and “Bol bol bol [Boliyan]” which is a traditional track sung by a female vocalist called Rimpi from Punjab.

The forthcoming album will have revised versions of these tracks. We’re working hard to make sure what we present in the album is completely fresh.

8. What can we expect from your forthcoming album?

I think the public expectations are very high to begin with. And I can’t knock that! We have a strong body of material in the form of Mixtapes, White Labels and Remixes for big name acts like Raghav, Ms Dynamite and Lisa Maffia in circulation since we left Kismet back in 2002. The amount of media support has been totally awesome. I cant and wouldn’t know where to start in thanking the likes of Adil Ray, Bobby Friction and Nihal, and Markie Mark for their continued support on the BBC. And also all the presenters of the regional stations like Club Asia, Kiss, Raaj and Sabras Radio.

Since Bhangra came into the limelight of British Urban Music back in 2003, we have been on this journey to take the next step forward. Hopefully we’re nearing that moment, or at least working towards it in some way with the support of the Bhangra buying public.

The album features a lot of creative people. We can’t thank them enough. We have managed to tie up features with the most sought after Bhangra vocalists. The likes of Kaka Bhainiwala, Labh Janjua and Lembher Hussainpuri are on the album. We have worked with our very own first signed artist under Soldier Sound Recordings, Bikram Singh, who’s own album “American Jugni” has made a mark as his chart busting debut. Also, we have worked with our good friends Asian Empire, UK Apache and Gunjan.

No doubt in the coming weeks we will be tying up some more features as the label, Nachural Records, liases with companies in different territories, completing our package. So stay tuned……….

9. What is the album going to be called?

We never name an album before its completion, it just doesn’t make sense to us. So the name will manifest once we have a finished product.

10. So is Lembher Hussanpuri on the new album?

He is!!! We have a recording from Lembher which is from when he first started gaining appeal in the UK, we just never released it. There was a small low quality clip of the track in its unfinished state which some sad b*stard recorded off a radio station when we played a small section of it in a live mix we done. But yeh, he is an amazing artist and he has so much capability, but I think he has been over exposed in the UK now by below average producers. Our track with him is something very different from what he has done with other producers and is well suited to our outlook.

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