Pune musician Manu Vijayan is a one-man army!

Twentyoneyearold engineering student and musician Manu Vijayan is part of his band called My Side of the Story But the real surprise is that he is the bands sole member The Pune musician talks about releasing his debut album Dawn on February 20 bringing together alternative rock and elements of rock metal and hard rock in the album through its six songs dealing with themes such as unrequited love and energetic hope through his music and lyricsExcerpts from an interviewQ Tell us a bit about your childhood and earliest musical influencesA I had a brief introduction to singing in school but never took it to a serious level In Class 9 I started listening to metal and the band Children Of Bodom blew my mind Their lead guitarist Alexi Laiho has been the greatest driving force in my life and inspired me to keep practicing and become a good guitar player One artiste who inspired me to take my solo project ahead was John Mayer My elder sister who is a singer herself introduced me to his musicManu VijayanQ Tell us a bit about your band My Side of the Story also described as a one man bandA I always wanted a musical project where I could let my emotions out Not just lyrically but sonically as well After being a part of metal bands such as Epsilon and Amongst Denied in 2014 I decided to embark on a solo one man journeyQ While performing you have tracks prerecorded except of the vocals and the guitar which you perform live How do you go about preparing for your songsA If its a cover song I make sure I memorise the song thoroughly I listen to it many times a day I notice the changes the original artiste makes during live performances Then I form my version of the song in my head I first create the drum track and play the bass over it along with the guitar parts I leave out the guitar sections that Id like to play when I am performing live If its an original I first compose it Then I create the song as a whole and remove the parts I would like to play while performing live In the end I create these backing tracks and play alongside on the stageCover of the albumQ Tell us a bit about your debut album DawnA The entire process took around seven months during which I composed recorded and released each song as a separate single Finally in February I remastered them put them in one set and released it as an album I wrote the lyrics of all the songs I had some help on the lyrics of the song After The Solstice from Akshit Vijay a friend of mineQ The songs of Dawn are centred around the theme of lovehellipA Yes It also carries a theme of energetic hope That is the very reason I have included two of the most famous patriotic tunes of our nation a rock rendition of Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana Its not just about love mdash its about going through tough periods in your life and dealing with them in a positive manner The final song of the album has been named Dawn for this very reason Its a new beginning of opportunities It gives hopeQ What are your future projectsA I will be releasing more singles And maybe after some time I might take a slight turn towards metal or comedy I released a track called Exam Song to which the audience reacted quite positively So it will depend on what seems right at that time