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 What is koko all about? Who is Koko?

I started playing when I was in school . I used to play the Guitar . I took the guitar from my cousin. In 1977 , my cousin used to play the guitar and I was always interested in music. We had a harmonium at home and so an inclination towards music was there. My mother used to sing and everyone in my family were interested in music. Music has been in my family but there were no 'Sangeet Vishahrats' as such in our family. It was a part of my liking and I started learning the guitar , I am a self-taught man.
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 The music has been learnt by you or you had some training?
I took some tips from good guitarists , also went to classes. I used to play in school get-togethers and Ganpati. Then in 1985 there was a music competition at Nehru Memorial and Shital Kulkarni saw me there. In 1986, I joined TUNGSTEN , then TALLFATHINS and then in a band called GOOD QUESTION where I played the rhythm Guitar.
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 The kind of music you play is..I mean the genre of Koko's music?
It was all like 'Funk-Rock' Music.
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 You took some tips from the guitarists and did some classes too . Whom did you learn from?
My first real teacher was Arun Pathak. When I was in class 7th or 8th , I wanted to play songs and so he taught me how to play and then also with my own efforts I learnt. I was also in my school band in Bishop's school. Someone suggested to go to Sudheer Gaikwad and then Sudheer sent me to Arun Pathak.I did a stint with Vinay and it was all the Hindi stuff, the 'aaja aaja' stuff but that didn't interest me and I wanted to play Billy Jean and stuff at that time.
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 The gear that you used at the time you started..

At that time I had a real electric , it was in 9th or 10th standard. I had a Chinese Maison amplifier and Surendra lent me a Roland Cube. That time I played more of Acoustic. I made Arun Pathak setup songs for me , which I wanted to play because at that time I could not set the songs so. Shital Kulkarni gave me the real input. I played for 4 years with him. He used to have a great discipline in the band. Discipline as playing in the band and playing in time. I was with him from 1986-1990.
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 • Practise plays a very important role in music.  
We used to practice daily for 2 hours and it was very disciplined. Then I learned to play on the click, to play on the Metronome.
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 • Koko into AGNI , how did that happen?
The AGNI boys and we all were in one group so I used to hangout with them a lot. We had jam sessions with the AGNI boys.
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 • Any albums recorded with TALLFATHINS?
With TALLFATHINS, we recorded an album. I was on the Rhythm Guitar and sometimes I did vocals and lead and Shital was the main lead so it was like a 'Twin Lead' ,we used to have songs from DEF LEPPARD, HYSTERIA, I did some solos, we actually had a DEEP PURPLE NIGHT where we had about 30 songs of DEEP PURPLE. Then we had our vocalist Abhijit Kanitkar and Ravi Vedant at the drums. We won the MOOD INDIGO in 1990. And Agni was also there and they saw me playing and since I used to hangout with the AGNI band people, one day they called me to play with AGNI as a rhythm Guitarist. That time Agni was a general band and for 4 months I played with both the bands . I was not able to manage with both bands , it was difficult so I wanted to breakout on my own. As in TALLFATHINS, because Shital was there so I didn't find myself growing, he was always a better guitar player than me so I jumped over to AGNI. AGNI gave me the exposure I needed. We had our first show at Nagpur , I replaced Vasant. I felt that somehow I was more comfortable with AGNI as I had an important role to play there. Now I am a lead Guitarist , its good to be a lead Guitarist.
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 • From TALLFATHINS to AGNI , being in both these bands, was there any difference in the music , any change in both bands' music?
There was a big change. The kind of music with AGNI was a very current one and in-sync with the time.With AGNI we used to rehearse a lot. With Russ, the band became very much disciplined and I brought in the band some discipline which I learnt from Shital and Russ used to work out and check every part and every instruments. The tightness was not there. Now every band is tight. I had a very good understanding with Russ.
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 At that time, was there any change in Koko's gear?
I had the Ibanez. I bought it for Rs.32000 in 1991.A BE5 Processor, it was an Analog Processor it had 5 units in 1. Russ helped me financially in buying them. I saw an advertisement about the guitar, wanted to buy it then Russ lent me the money and I went to Malad and bought it. Then, I heard that Roy Venkatraman was selling his processor so went and bought it. I also had to sell my bike. Now I have a LesPaul.
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 With AGNI, you had a concept of originals.
A friend Vandar came from the U.S. gave the band the vision of originals, he was in the U.S. so had seen all the big bands so he gave an idea of originals. The exposure was there, he pushed us to record a demo and record a deal in 1991. We did some songs with Virgo Music.
 

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 Your songs have an Indian touch to it.

I had never done instructional videos like Vinny more, Joe Satriani. I always wanted to develop my own style and I was very fascinated with the Indian sound. With our album ' Wind Dance With Fire ', it was the time when I wanted to do the 'Indian Thing'. Rather than learning the licks, I decided to move on a different path. As being at that age, I used the guitar to make more of compositions and as a way of executing my ideas. We used to practice everyday.
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 Was it that when you composed something you recorded it in a recorder or a dictaphone or something like that?
No. I used to set the compositions on my own and used to memorize it and then practiced it. Now my focus is on increasing my vocabulary and using it in my work.
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 There was a very sad incident that happened to AGNI, what was that incident?
It was 15th May,1995 when Juggie and Mandy died in an accident and I realized it later that it was exactly after 12 years that AGNI album was released, it was on the same date i.e. 15th May,2007. That day we all were to go out and I got a call from my home that my uncle had come for just one day and wanted me to come home because uncle was here just for one day so though I didn't like going home, I went home. Then Juggie, Mandy and another friend Pravin they went in the car and Juggie was driving. Juggie fell asleep on the wheel and the accident happened. I didn't have any idea of that accident till morning when I got a call and when I went my friend was crying outside and they told that Juggie and Mandy have expired and I didn't know how to react. That was a big shock.
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 Was there any gap after that incident?
There was a gap of about 6-8 months. We didn't do practice because we didn't feel like doing any practice. I was very depressed and got Hypertension and High Blood Pressure. Now its all in control due to medicines. That time I was not able to sleep at night and I had to go to a doctor because I couldn't sleep at night. Juggie was the hero of the band, the star of the band.
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 Then how did you start off again after the gap?

After about 6-8 months gap, the music companies and the music labels approached us and told that we should regroup our band ,at that time AGNI was a popular band. Then we decided to form the band again and so Bell became the bassist. Juggie always wanted to make 'Mrityunjaya' so we thought of doing 'Mrityunjaya'. Then again our tours started in 1997. Bharat took off to abroad for a month and kept postponing his return so we kept refusing shows because of him and he was off for nearly an year and we thought that he will not come back now and started looking out for a vocalist and met Suraj but at that time he was doing some hindi album of his so we met Uday Iyer and we got together. We recorded ' Mrityunjaya' in 2001, released it in the end of 2001. Then as everyone was wanting to settle down ,family, career pressure and so it was that the band had lived its shelf-life.Then in 1997-'98, I started an event company and there was a shift of focus.

Agni was going on till 2001. The general enthusiasm levels when you are of 23 years gets less when you are in the 30's. Then, careers became a priority for all the band members. Then, the band faded away, it did not break off but it faded away slowly.In the meantime, I was doing events and also started a partnership firm with Perry Mathews.Then things took a different turn .I started playing with a band called 'SHANKARA' as they wanted me to play with them. I have always been slightly ambitious. There was a certain level at which I wanted to play and I didn't want to play at nightclubs and pubs. They played more of instrumental but I wanted to do more of songs and vocals .I asked Abhijit to join and made a demo and we got positive responses from music labels but they had many conditions and all so we finalized it with Sony Bmg.
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 Did you record the album in Pune?

We recorded the album in Pune. We had Sandeep Chowta as our producer for the songs 'Saadho re' and 'Kabeera'. He helped us in the recording because the sound of an album is needed to be polished and this was what Sandeep Chowta did, he polished the sound.Sony asked us to tone down our guitars and Drums because the sounds of the band are higher than the album sound. The need to be polished is that nowadays the songs are heard on mobile phones also so the song must be attractive and it should grab the attention of the listeners in the first 20 bars .Today people have 30 GB of songs so your song has to grab attention in the first 20 bars.The album song is of 4-5 minutes and the stage song is of 8 minutes , so polishing is needed.
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 Do you think the taste of the people is changing? Now there is no melody in the songs ?
I would think music is slowly losing its genre. Bollywood is the most popular. You go to any club and a kailash kher number is hit and the crowd starts dancing. All places there are only bollywood numbers.
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 Are they serious nowadays to create music ?
Music is a creative process , it is a continuous process. There is no real formula to create a popular song. The musicians always want to perform.
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 Why is it so ?
Virtuosity of your playing should be used to a certain degree. Putting a mainstream song , the song is the king .Today everything is sort of borrowing from each other and a new genre of music is evolving. I want my music to be popular. If you go to a nightclub, 70 percent of the music is bollywood , not trance. I feel a pride in listening and playing my own music.
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 What do you think about these new music directors are coming up ?
They are doing a great job. They are fantastic.
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 How was working with Sony like ?
I am doing a film of Prakash Jha called 'Dil, Dosti , etc.' which is releasing on 16th september. Few more films are coming up. But my focus is for the band. Touring is going to start now. September we are in Bangalore , on this 16th we're going to Delhi. We have 2 animation movies coming up one is for Blackbox company and the other is by a foreign movie animator Eric Novac. I have a 1 day shoot in Bombay and 1 song for MTV which will be the title track for 'MTV Roadies 5'. I am going to Bombay this week for an image makeover.

- Mr. Randhir Dange & Satyavrat Jadeja