Interview: The One AM Radio

The One AM Radio is the project of Hrishikesh Hirway, a musician based in Los Angeles. With three acclaimed albums and several EPs (including a split with Ted Leo) to his credit, Hirway is sitting on the brink of a major league indie breakthrough. We bring you an interview about the band, India and indie rock.

Tell us something about yourself and The One AM Radio. How did you get into performing music and how did the project come about?
I’ve been playing music for most of my life. I started with piano lessons, then discovered the drums, and started playing in bands when I was in high school. Later on, I started playing guitar, and from drums, I started playing with drum programming. The One AM Radio was the result of combining those two.

Your family is from India and you were in Mumbai in 2005 as well. Do you find that people you perform to abroad expect an ‘Indian-ness’ from your sound?
It hasn’t come up that often, but the question usually comes from other Indian people — my parents friends, mostly. When they learn that I’m in a band, they sometimes ask if it’s some kind of Indian fusion with “Western” music. And…someone once thought I said I played “Hindi Rock” when I said indie rock.

Head downstairs for the full interview and a killer video (starring Rishi Kapoor) for ‘Good Intentions’ one of the songs set to appear on The One AM Radio’s new album.

Your music is largely self-produced, and you yourself play most of the instruments on your recordings. But you do tour with various musicians. What is their role in your songwriting? Do they have a role at all? How does the dynamic work?
Up until recently, the songwriting was always a solitary thing for me. I recently wrote a song with my friend Crystal, who now plays in the band. She wrote the words and melody and I wrote the music and arrangement. Before that, though, I’d write the songs and the parts and print out charts for my friends who were touring with me. The instrumentation would change sometimes, from record to live performance, because the live band would change from tour to tour.

What do you think has been the turning point in the The One AM Radio’s career?
I’ll let you know when I find out myself! As far as I can tell, I’m still waiting for it.

Are you working on any new projects? A new album perhaps?
I’m about 75% done with the songwriting for a new One AM Radio album, which I’m hoping will be out before the end of this year. There’s a band called Eulogies whose second album is coming out in April; I co-produced that record.

Will we be seeing you in India anytime soon?
I hope so! Especially if a scene starts to come together there, even just in Mumbai.