Planetary Group took some time to get to know Josh, Abhinav, Harshan and Sashank from The F16s, an indie band from Chennai, India with a warm, melodic sound.
Planetary Group: Tell us about your latest release. How did you come to create it?
Josh: We released a new record called Is It Time To Eat The Rich Yet? It was created in [the house] that we are standing on [the roof of] – we’ve moved the entire studio here. We were locked in for months – we recorded, created and wrote a five song EP, cooked, baked, and got so tired of each other… but yet here we are. Cheers.
PG: Share a bit about your musical journey, from when you first started making music until now.
Harshan: We were just a bunch of kids that loved playing music. We started off playing college competitions and that’s how it started off. We just wanted to make some money and drink some booze – I guess that’s how simple life was back then. But then, things started really working out for us and we thought to ourselves, okay, maybe this is something we can do as a career option. So we kept at it and we’re here right now, and releasing this new album, our fourth release now with the band. Life’s good.
Josh: Basically we got very carried away.
PG: Let’s talk about the music that you love. Pick one album for each category below & tell us a bit about it!
- An album you grew up listening to:
Josh: Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends.
Harshan: Best of Boney M.
Sashank: I don’t know if it’s an album, but I guess Kishore Kumar’s greatest hits.
Abhinav: Daler Mehndi’s debut album, which is called The Best of Daler Mehndi.
- An album that inspires you as an artist (I’m sure there are many, but pick one of your choosing):
Josh: The Strokes’ Angles.
Harshan: You stole my album! [There’s also] Antidotes by Foals.
Sashank: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not by Arctic Monkeys.
Abhinav: PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea.
- The album you currently have on repeat:
Abhinav & Harshan: The new Baby Keem album, The Melodic Blue.
Josh: The new Comeback Kid album.
Sashank: It’s not a new album but Set My Heart on Fire Immediately by Perfume Genius.
Abhinav: Charlie XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now, which is also a pandemic album. Pretty cool.
PG: What do you want people to take away from your music?
Abhinav: Just, uh, take it a little bit easy. You know, things are not great right now. But we’re all going to die pretty soon anyway. Right? Might as well dance a little bit, enjoy ourselves. That’s kind of what the album is about.
Josh: So morbid!
Abhinav: Hey man, what can I say? Those are the themes of the album. So listen to the album, be morbid like us and dance as the world is crumbling around you.
Josh: No don’t listen to him! Be happy, be positive, chin up and be kind and read books…
Harshan: Knowledge is power!
Josh: And apple juice is nourishment! (for context, the band sent us their interview while drinking apple juice out of champagne flutes.)
PG: What’s next up for you?
Sashank: Probably just more records, finding new ways to explore sonic boundaries together. Um, reach more people outside of our general peripheral; we’ve been getting a lot of love from around Asia and Europe for this record, and it would be nice to play for you guys one day.
Abhinav: USA hit us up! Canada hit us up! Europe hit us up!
Harshan: All continents!
