Jester Recruits New Vocalist

Jester

Jester released their debut album, Myths and Fables, in April this year. One thing they didn’t want to do is rest. However, it became inevitable when their vocalist Dhruv Goel was accepted into the Berklee College of Music. So the Delhi electro rock band decided to go straight into auditions last month to find a sessions vocalist, so as not to replace Goel, but find someone who could lend his voice during Goel’s time off. Says guitarist Pranav Pahwa, “We didn’t want to go completely AWOL.”

After two rounds of auditions featuring 10 entrants over two days, Jester picked Adityan Nair, vocalist of psychedelic rock band The Urban Earlymen, to fill in for Goel. “It was the most interesting audition. When we had him (Nair) come in, he nailed the songs and there was just a nice vibe that he brought with him,” says Pahwa, who has played with Nair previously as a sessions guitarist.

What doesn’t change for Jester is Goel’s role as the songwriter for the band. Although Pahwa says there isn’t any new material being written yet, he adds that it can’t be done without Goel. Says Pahwa, “Shantanu [Sudharshan, drummer], Dhruv and I formed the band and the album is a collection of everything that everyone wrote.” The band plans to turn to Skype and the Internet to allow Goel to write new music, although the vocalist may return to India in December for a short while. “Myths and Fables was written all sitting down. We will start writing eventually, but not like before, when we called everyone to our room and figured out a song,” says Pahwa.

Until then, Jester will debut with Nair on vocals at Out of the Box café next week,  playing songs off Myths and Fables. “That’s our third gig since the album launch. We’re planning to get out of the city after that,” says Pahwa.

Jester plays at Out of the Box Café, New Delhi on July 17th, 2013. For more details, follow Jester on their Facebook page.