British house music duo Dirty Vegas came down to India as delegates with the UK Trade & Investment, which was held in Mumbai to explore opportunities available to artistes and music professionals in both countries.  

The band, made up of Steve Smith and Paul Harris, played in Mumbai on 7 November at blueFROG.  In an interview with Radioandmusic.com’s Jescilia Karayamparambil, Steve Smith spoke about his future plans and upcoming tours.

Excerpts:

How did the India visit happen?

From the first time we played in India back in 2010, we could see the passion from the people of India for electronic dance music. So to come this month and explore how the interaction between the UK and Indian music scenes can be furthered through The Exchange, is something we jumped at the chance of.

After India, where will you travel to for gigs?

We play at Abu Dhabi after India in the coming weeks, and then we head into the studio to finish our fourth studio album, which we are very excited about.

Will we see Dirty Vegas travel to India again and perform often here?

We have been to India several times, but have sadly never spent as much time here as we would have liked. We have played shows in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Goa and we love coming here.

Which DJ/ musician would you like to share the stage with, if you were given an opportunity and why?

Too many, but something like working with Pharrell Williams would be amazing.

Tell us about your new album

We are working on it and it will be finished soon. We are very excited about the album and cannot wait to get out and play shows. We have been buried in the studio this year so that we can get this record exactly how we wanted. I (Steve Smith) am probably the most excited about this record. India is actually going to be one of the first places where we will be playing these tracks.

Will you be collaborating with any other artistes?

On this new record, we have collaborated with Grum. We are huge fans of Grum. It was great to work with him.

Is Dirty Vegas working on any jingles for ads or any films?

I am acting in a movie actually. Our manager lives in Los Angeles and he was playing some of my voiceover stuff to this American actor called Tom Sizemore (Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan) and he really loved my voice. And he wanted to cast a musician in this movie he was working on. I went to meet him and he gave me the script to read and we begin shooting in Detroit in February. And we get to do some exclusive music for the film as well. Dark and gritty. Tom Sizemore said he is a fan of our music, so I am going to be writing some tunes exclusively for the film.

What are the various challenges that you face today when you go to places for shows?

Jet lag! Haha, and also getting visas in time to travel.

What is the one thing that you would like to experiment with in the near future?

We are always looking for new ways to be inspired, so hoping to meet with Indian producers, musicians while we are in India would be cool.