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July marked the release of 'Tally of the Yes Men', Goldspot’s debut album. Reminiscent of The Killers, The Cure and Travis, the album is full of indie beats, acoustic melodies and thoughtful lyrics. However, unlike other bands of the moment, Goldspot have strong Indian influences – directly inspired by the band’s charismatic front man, Siddhartha Khosla’s, religious upbringing. This summer they became the first US band to simultaneously realise a single - their debut ‘Friday’ - in both English and Hindi. Goldspot create a wonderful clash of cultures, combining western acoustics with orchestral strings and Indian undertones; Sid sums it up as “Cultural influenced Bollywood pop.”
Speaking to Gigwise on a typically rainy summer afternoon, Sid Khosla is instantly charming: “The best thing about being famous? Getting to meet lovely people like you! No, wait, that sounds so egotistical. Getting to dance about on stage like a complete idiot.” However, it’s not in that false, desperate to impress kind of way. Brought up to be well mannered and fair-minded, he rates honesty and morality highly: “I love honest music. The whole album is a very honest representation of who we are.”
For Sid, the standout moment on the their accomplished debut is easily ‘Rewind’ – a track that’s instilled with this honesty: “For me, it is the most honest song. It was a really defining moment. It feels so natural when I sing it, and it is an honest reflection of what we were feeling at the time.” And with lyrics such as, “You’re the only star, in the film I’ve never made/ would you rewind it all the time”, you don’t doubt him.
Sid grew up out with his country’s western musical tradition, and barely listened to such music until he was at college: “I grew up to listen to whatever my parents listened to – Indian singers from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. I listened to Bollywood music and I sang in Hindu.” He was, for much of his upbringing, unaware of western entertainment, and this has affected his take on music: “If you listen to that throughout your upbringing, and sing it, it will change how you see music. Indian music is very different in its arrangement and structure, so we definitely incorporate that into our songs. A lot of people may not hear the Indian influences. It is subtle in it, but it is definitely there.”
Aside from his Indian roots, his own musical tastes include The Shins and Arcade Fire. His sincerity and compassion stretches to political issues as well; when asked about the last time he cried, he replies, “The last significant time that I cried was when George Bush beat Al Gore in the election. George Bush needs to be…I don’t want to say it. When Al Gore was cheated out of the election, it was the saddest thing.”
However, it’s not all peace, love and morality. Charming and engaging as ever in his chat, Khosla continues that his first time in Britain, seven years ago, was a blur of hedonism and frustrated song writing. When he permanently moved from L.A to London to forge a career in music, it was a decision to which his parents were initially horrified: “I moved to London to go to college and start a band. To be honest, I don’t remember much. I worked and partied, and wasn’t very successful. This time round things have been a lot more…fruitful.”
Fruitful is one word to describe it, having successfully completed a UK tour and performing on the opening night of the Queen’s Head Stage at Glastonbury, where they had to overcome power failure: “On the second last song, the power generator blew. I thought, screw this, and jumped offstage into the crowd. I just said ‘shut the fuck up!’, and sang with the power unplugged. Everybody began to sing along, and it was so organic. There was an ovation, and it was hands down, just the coolest experience. The greatest, coolest, musical experience of our lives.” It takes a certain amount of charisma, ability and confidence to silence a crowd of such size and excitement, and Goldspot’s Glastonbury stint has been critically noted as one of the best new band performances of 2007.
During his time in Goldspot, Sid admits to picking up a few obsessive fans: “Oh, there’s a bunch on Myspace. One U.S guy, he dresses up like me for every show. Which isn’t really that hard, because when we were starting out, I didn’t really have any money, and I’d literally wear the same thing to every show.” Sid is modest and humorous, and laughs that, “I hope the album sells at least ten copies.” He was completely star struck when he met Bjork – “I went up to her, shook her hand and told her that I loved her music, I thought she was beautiful, and asked if I could give her my album. She started singing to me, I got the chills. It was the coolest experience.”
For Sid, a lot of things seem to be the ‘greatest, coolest experience’ and such flattery and enthusiasm could come across as phoney. However, Sid’s sincerity prevents this; he is upbeat, cultured, truthful and lovely, and you can’t help but warm to him - a bit like Goldspot’s music really.
