EXCISE DEPT: 'IT WAS IMPORTANT TO CREATE STRONG, BOLD CONTRASTS'

From An Armory Of Instruments To Personal Stories Told With An Uncharacteristic Straightforwardness, The Delhi/Goa Band Are Taking Over The World With Their Latest Full-Length

- Anurag Tagat

If Excise Dept's single "Billo" from 2023 was a breakout release of sorts, Sab Kuch Mil Gaya Mujhe Vol 1 - the trio's debut album - is a swift left turn into becoming a boundary-pushing act in India.

At the center of the 10-track album is chaos, absurdity, experimentation and more. There's a message too, if you expected that sort of thing from an album - it's on the notion of identity. Multidisciplinary artists Karanjit Singh, Rounak Maiti and Siddhant Vetekar along with the trio's artist, manager and creative producer Andrew Sabu - have created one of the wildest collections of songs with Sab Kuch Mil Gaya Mujhe Vol 1. In Punjabi, Hindi and Bengali lyrics and a mostly unplaceable sense for genre blends (mostly hip-hop, as Excise Dept will admit), the album was released on Aug. 15, with shows in Mumbai and New Delhi that lived up to the act's hyper performances which may have taken place in mainstay venues but broke away from the idea of just getting up on a stage and performing.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, the trio speak about the making and launch of Sab Kuch Mil Gaya Mujhe and more. Excerpts:

Rolling Stone India: What was the launch show in Mumbai like for the album? It felt like some kind of breakthrough and level up for Excise Dept.

Siddhant Vetekar: The launch show was incredibly fun, super high energy and pretty much exactly how an artist would want their album launch to go. Couldn't be more grateful for our communities in Bombay and Delhi for showing up with so much love and selling out both venues. Especially as a group that's remained largely indoors, building our work for the last four years, it feels fulfilling and an indication that we're (hopefully) on the right path. Also felt very rewarding to platform such talented supporting artists in each city.