Project Mishram Talk New Song ‘Sera’ and the Horrors and Triumphs of Touring

At the end of their first-ever Europe tour, Bengaluru band Project Mishram’s guitarist Sumant Nemmani first describes the experience as “incredible” but also mentions how it’s a “logistical nightmare” to put together. Performing Carnatic shows, band sets and its iterations along with hosting workshops and running crowdfunding campaigns, Project Mishram took on the trek to coincide with the release of their new song “Sera.”

The airy, genre-hopping song in Kannada, English and Hindi features not just the septet’s original members, but seven featuring artists including vocalist Nandini Samanta, tabla artist Ishaan Ghosh, guitarist Bishwadeep Sikder, saxophonist Ethan Klotz, harpist Klara Poznachowska, trumpeter Dhruv Banerji and baritone saxophonist Sydney Ewing. While it flows much like the band’s previous works, it’s peppered with a few sonic detours that may keep listeners guessing. Nemmani says they never explicitly set out to include so many artists on one track, but the “ragas, moods and textures” of the composition took them to that point. Composed via Zoom with members in different countries, Nemmani calls the process “painfully organic” and time-consuming but adds that they wouldn’t have it any other way. “Apart from maybe trying to write faster and more consistently on schedule,” he adds.

For now, they put the song out just before their Europe and U.K. tour through August. Nemmani notes that they were playing in all new territories in Europe (apart from the U.K.) on these run of shows, including cities like Barcelona, Berlin and Milan. The guitarist says, “The experience of going to these places has been incredibly joyful for us as we find brand new listeners every single show, not just to the idea of Carnatic fusion, but to Carnatic or Indian classical music in itself.”

Project Mishram had been writing to venues and promoters for nearly a year, which is where Nemmani doesn’t flinch in calling the tour organizing side of things “nightmarish.” He appeals for promoters and booking agents to reach out to the band to help organize future tours, especially since they were booking a summer tour “as an apparent nobody.” To compound their troubles, their tour van’s window had a break-in and they had “horrific customs experiences” that held up their merch. Nemmani says it taught them to be “prepared for absolutely anything.”

Nevertheless, it comes with its moments of joy, like when they had a tent full of people at ArcTanGent’s Elephant at the Bar stage shouting their name at the Bristol festival for about 10 minutes after their set was done. The guitarist name-checks everyone from TesseracT to Meshuggah to The Ocean and Devin Townsend as previous ArcTanGent alum, which made it a “dream” to secure a spot at the festival. He adds, “We did not know what to expect and were raring to go. And what an experience it was. The crowd absolutely swallowed us whole in warmth and loved every bit of it. Crowds spilled over outside the allocated area and a steward told us that it was the largest crowd he had seen for that stage, having worked many years in ArcTanGent.”

With the tour ticked off their list, Project Mishram are working to release new material by the end of the year or early 2024. Nemmani adds, “As the cool kids have always said ‘Big things coming.’”

Watch the video for “Sera” below.