Peekay and Flipsyde’s Steve Knight are ‘Running’ in New Rock Song

Hyderabad rock act Peekay aka Pranati Khanna and her band turn up on “Running” with a Nineties/early 2000s rock sound, complete with rap-rock band Flipsyde’s singer-guitarist Steve Knight.

The new song – composed and produced by Jonathan Edward – comes on the back of Peekay getting selected to perform at festival conference Music Matters in Singapore in May, for which Khanna is crowdfunding so that the entire band can travel. Previously, Peekay had released the single “Horizon” and her album Starlight, marking a shift back to Khanna’s rock roots.

As for “Running,” Khanna says she came in contact with Knight following Flipsyde’s set at Orange Festival of Music in Dambuk, following a recommendation from a photographer. Knight had previously worked with Bengaluru rapper Brodha V on his song “All Divine” and was looking to collaborate with more Indian talent. “Once Steve and I got talking – it was an instant connection and writing our track was so easy. We love Alice In Chains and we wanted to write a song with a sound reminiscent of that Nineties rock sound so that’s exactly what we did,” Khanna says. Knight adds, “The recording process was slow on my end because I was traveling so much but the creative process flowed and we had a blast passing ideas back and forth.”

While an obvious reason to collaborate with Knight was Flipsyde’s global fame in the early 2000s with their album We The People, Khanna says she was also a fan of his distinct vocal texture. Knight adds his signature rasp to the song, which weaves in and out of a philosophical space in the face of restless spirits. Peekay invited Steve Knight over to perform the song at the two-day Oddball Festival in Bengaluru in February, with “Running” getting its live debut much before it was released. Knight recalls the festival as “dope.” He adds, “I loved rocking with Peekay. She was the only girl on the bill so it felt good to be a part of that girl power energy!”

The release comes after a bit of tumult in the Peekay camp – Khanna woke one day to find that Starlight had been pulled from Spotify after it was flagged for potentially earning streams from bots. It didn’t help that her previous distribution platform was malfunctioning with credit card usage. Khanna calls the time as “demotivating” but took it as a learning. She says, “Don’t trust marketing services that promise you numbers – it’s such a rookie mistake. And don’t use distribution platforms that don’t have Indian customer service.”

After reuploading the album via TuneCore, she also got a chance to apply to perform at Music Matters in Singapore, which was facilitated by TuneCore India selecting one Indian artist to join the festival-conference lineup. At Music Matters, Peekay plan to perform songs from their upcoming EP Deliverance. Khanna says, “Every song we write and set we play gets heavier so we’re enjoying that a lot.”

Knight, for his part, says he’s already keeping the momentum going in terms of collaborating with more Indian artists. “I’m writing with [Mumbai rapper] Dee MC at the moment and supposed to have a session with her in L.A. in May during her visit to America.”

Watch the video for “Running” below.