ViceVersa: Baking Day

ViceVersa | Photo Credit: Vandhana Rajan Swamy

What do you get when you gather a bunch of stoners inside a studio? High notes. Jokes apart, Mumbai electronica group ViceVersa spells out the reason for releasing a new EP in the title: Blunt Force Aroma. ViceVersa, formed in 2011, has been steadily gaining a following for its trademark electro hip hop music and energetic performances that are guaranteed to show audiences a good time. The alchemy between Mumbai musicians Rohit ”˜P-Man’ Pereira and Sidd Coutto, and Bengaluru-based producer Manas Ullas, is the driving force behind their stage act.

ViceVersa began as a duo with Coutto first stepping in as a guest artist for their gigs. The singer became a permanent member of the group in 2013. Says Ullas, “When we started off, I had my beats and P-Man had some ideas. Now, when the three of us meet, we experiment a lot.” Eight months after Coutto joined them, ViceVersa wrapped up their new EP Blunt Force Aroma. The new release, which picks up from where their second release Subchroni­cles left off, is a comment on political conflict across the world and as Ullas puts it, advocates the belief that “smoking weed and chilling out is a better option for everyone.”

The EP will feature tracks such as “All Blunts Blazing,” which ViceVersa has been performing on stage since 2013, “Turn It Up,” “Wave” and “Faith.” Guest artists such as electro-rock band Pentagram’s frontman Vishal Dadlani, elec­tronica producer Vandana Bhalla and guitar­ist Dinkar Dwivedi from garage rock act Bone Broke will also be part of the new EP. Says Pereira, “It’s hard to make your new release sound different from your last one. The new EP is electronica with a little bit of hip hop thrown in and a healthy dose of bass. It’s about being happy and having a good time.” Heavily influ­enced by artists such as The Prodigy, Chase & Status, Reggae Rajahs and Nucleya, Blunt Force Aroma will combine dubstep, breakbeat, hip-hop and electronica. To sum up the EP in Pereira’s words, “It starts off like a slow caress and eventually sounds like sex on cocaine.”

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT VICEVERSA

• Before the band decided on ViceVersa for the band name, one of the top contenders for the name was Kreek, Kannada for “mad.”
• P-Man used to be a drum roadie for Coutto when he played for the Mumbai rock band Zero.
• One of Ullas’s most frequently used words is “Sick!” which earned him the nickname DJ Sick Ra.
• ViceVersa collaborated with Mumbai hardcore band Scribe for a track named “Sallu Sanam,” which is Manas Ullas spelt backwards.

• P-Man and Ullas met at a metal gig in 2000, when P-Man was performing as part of Mum­bai metal band Pin Drop Violence and Ullas was in the audience

 Listen to ‘Blunt Force Aroma:’