When Siddharth Khosla was young, he was well known in his family’s circles as a budding talent with a beautiful voice and equally beautiful soul to match. Having learned Indian classical singing from a young age, he often regaled the small Bergen County, New Jersey Indian community with religious devotional songs and Hindi pop tunes. But that part of him was kept strictly at home until a breakthrough performance in high school when he performed a bhajan (Hindu devotional song) in simple Indian garb with a harmonium on the floor of the high school auditorium that he had shared his gift with a larger non-Indian audience. He won over the 400+ audience with his smooth and dulcet voice even though not a one in the audience could tell you what the lyrics meant.

Today, better known as Sid, Khosla is the singer/songwriter frontman for indie sensation Goldspot. In their cover story on Goldspot, the Sunday Times called them “[o]ne of the best bands to come out of America in years.”  Named after the carbonated orange drink Sid drank on his visits to India, Goldspot has been in effect since 1999. Critics and rock musicians have heaped praise on Goldspot in the U.S., UK and India.

Goldspot’s hit single “Rewind”

The vocal range and depth that Siddharth had developed from a young age along with the love for music his parents nurtured in him served him well as he began blending the two traditions he knew and loved: Indian and Western. As a child, Khosla grew up listening to old Bollywood greats: Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, and anything composed by legendary Indian composer of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, SD Burman. “They all have inspired me ever since I could sing my first note,” Khosla recalls.  Later in middle school and high school, friends introduced him to the Beatles and there began another musical love affair for Khosla.

So beloved is Kishore Kumar that in 2003 India released a postal stamp to honor his memory

Sid is very clear, however, that though his early Indian influences were strong and instrumental, his music is not fusion or “world music” by any stretch. It is pure rock. songs. There are no sitars or  tabla. Instead, you can hear the Bollywood influence in the instrumentation of the interludes in some of the tracks such as “Rewind.”

“Our sound not a blend or fusion, but more like if Kishore Kumar himself had an indie rock band in the U.S….and was playing today, this is what it would sound like.”

With an eclectic blend of rock, a hip a whimsical soulfulness, with a slice of Bollywood mood, Goldspot hits a nice balance between fresh and comfortable.

The band's name is inspired from a popular Indian orange soda. Gold Spot was the first orange soda introduced in India. In 1993, upon Coca Cola's re-entry into the Indian market, they bought out and replaced Gold Spot with Fanta. Though Gold Spot can now only be found in remote villages where Coke's tentacles have not penetrated, Indians still have fond childhood memories of the tasty fizzy drink.

Sid is the child of Indian immigrants who came to the US in 1976. His father, Dinesh Khosla, is professor of law at CUNY Law School. His mother, Savita, is a doctor. Part of the wave of  highly educated Indians that came to the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s when the U.S. was inviting professionals from other countries in droves, Dinesh and Savita made a home for Sid in Northern Jersey.

Sid started Goldspot in 1999 in LA with high school chum and now brother-in-law, Sanjay Sethi, who left the band a year later. Sid continued on and collected other bandmates with similar sensibilities. In 2005, Goldspot independently released their debut album, “Tally of the Yes Men.” Though popular among initial hardcore fans, Goldspot’s LA fan base grew considerably after LA DJ Nic Harcourt played their single “Rewind” regularly on his KCRW show and then proceeded to play all the songs on the album.

DJ Nic Harcourt - "Tastemaker"

Until 2008, Harcourt, known as an international “tastemaker,” was KCRW’s music director  He was responsible for the discovery of other sensations such as Norah Jones, Coldplay and Dido. Described by music journalist Mark Weingarten as “the most influential DJ in America,” Harcourt’s enthusiastic support of Goldspot helped the band get the kind of toehold exposure which can otherwise take years or can never happen at all.  The band quickly turned the tenuous toehold to a full two foot standing through magnetic live performances and winsome personalities.

The exposure led to attention from labels big and small. “After Nic got behind the record, a bunch of major labels were taking us out for lunches and dinners,” Sid recalls.  But having a non white / non black front person for any endeavor in America is never easy- there is always the concern about perception, likability, marketability in a way that has little to do with the music. “So many major labels loved the record and the show but didn’t want to market an Indian front man,” says Sid.  He remembers the president of one label saying quite frankly that though they loved their music, style, and shows, they were apprehensive about taking on a band with a brown frontman.

It may have been just as well not to sign with labels that put marketing ahead of talent. Goldspot eventually signed with the indie label Union Records. Later, the UK division of Mercury Records bought out Goldspot’s contract.  “It was the opposite situation in the UK. Mercury actually saw my ethnicity as making us more marketable.” says Khosla.

When they signed with Mercury UK in 2007, Khosla made a deal to get  financial support including for some higher budget features to re-release their debut album.

And Mercury UK put their money where their mouth was - for the re-release of Goldspot’s “Tally of the Yes Men,” Mercury UK sent Sid and producer Jeff Peters to Chennai to work with the orchestra of Bollywood musical heavyweight A.R. Rahman.

“When we first did the album, I had visions of sweeping orchestral sections, but we didn’t have the budget for it,” remembers Khosla. “We got by with xylophones and other things like that, which of course have their own charm.”

The collaboration of the two with Srinivas Murthy, orchestral director of Rahman’s AM Studio in Chennai, was the breath of life that was needed for the second incarnation of “Tally of the Yes Men.” The three redid the arrangements for “Friday,” “Rewind,” and the “The Guard” to get an old Hindi, “filmy,” orchestral sound.

The title for their first album “Tally of the Yes Men” came from a time in Sid’s life when making it in the music business meant having an unrelated day job. In a gut wrenchingly boring meeting, Sid began keeping count of the number of times a particular colleague replied “yes” to his manager. In a span of a couple of hours, the word was uttered by this man some 55-60 times- and thus, “Tally of the Yes Men” was conceptualized.

Their debut album has had a good spate of exposure. Their first music video, “Time Bomb,” first landed on MTV Desi’s Top 10, and later the song was featured on the popular teen drama The O.C. Goldspot’s “Rewind” was well received with a feature on the Emmy nominated CBS hit comedy, “How I Met Your Mother.” Its video played on VH1 for weeks in 2007. Goldspot’s “Tally” made it to #10 in the alternative charts.

Goldspot Hit “Friday”

In the UK, the single “Friday” was BBC Radio 2’s record of the week and made it to #22 in the UK.  The video for “Friday” was in regular rotation on MTV, VH1, “The Hits”, “The Box”, Q, and Sky television networks. It was listed as the #4 album of 2007 in the Sunday Times “Top Albums of 2007.”

The Hindi version of “Friday” doesn’t lose anything in translation and reached #4 in the BBC Asian Network charts. As evidence of the broad appeal of their music, Sid sings their hit “Friday” in Hindi for an audience of birds.

Their sophomore album, “And The Elephant is Dancing,” is produced by Beach Boys engineer Jeff Peters and Khosla as well. Peters and Khosla have been making music together for the past seven years and have a strong relationship of trust.  IndieLondon hails the new album, “a winning mix of psychedelia-laced Beatles, West Coast coolness and Bollywood touches.” It is available for fans on iTunes and at their shows, available digitally for purchase online worldwide.

This second album finds Sid older and wiser. Though released only a couple of years after the first album, the time in between was one of rebirth and reevaluation of his core through a difficult time in Khosla’s personal life.

This new album shows the band decidedly walking away from the punk influence apparent in their first album. “And The Elephant is Dancing” has a more early 60’s Beach Boys and Beatles sound seated on a skein of old Indian film vibe.

Sid says, “earlier, I didn’t have the guts to make this kind of record,” but having had personal upheaval while simultaneously going through a crash course in the record business through their first album experience, Khosla could now shed the shackles of writing specifically for the pop charts. “This album is completely from the heart.”

TONIGHT - November 22, 2009

Goldspot’s debut performance in Washington DC tonight featured guest appearance by Dave Sharma, better known to his fans in NY night clubs as “Sharmaji” - percussionist and DJ extraordinaire.  After a mind numbing stint in New York City government, Dave went for broke to pursue his passion for music.  Dave was a lead percussionist in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Bombay Dreams,” on Broadway and regularly lights up the stage in NY with his funky brand of dhol, tabla, and whatever else he can get his hands on to make a groovy beat. He’s recorded with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Dayne and performed with Cheap Trick, among others.

Sharmaji’s main passion these days is Sub Swara,which he describes as a “mix of intense dance music, mostly dubstep and midtempo glitch, with live tabla and electronic percussion.”

With fiery red hair, one would never guess there was any desi in Sharmaji, but sure enough, the son of an Indian immigrant from Punjab and a lovely woman of Scottish and German descent, he does his dual heritage proud. Bhangra beats from the villages of Punjab are infused with a hip rock sensibility.

His father, Sansar Sharma, is a professor of Neuroopthamology at New York Medical Center. His mom, Janet Sharma, is the Executive Director of the Volunteer Center of Bergen County. Both parents share a love for the Beatles. Like Sid, Sharmaji’s parents’ love of  Hindi music was an early influence. “I was fascinated by the old Mukesh tunes my dad would play and how much he adores the lyrics,” Dave recalls. On the other end of the cultural spectrum, Dave is influenced by the rhythms and beats of reggae as well as punk rock ska band Fishbone.

Sid and Dave recently reconnected after Goldspot’s last drummer, Ramy Antoun, moved on. Back in high school, “Sharmaji,” Sid, and former Goldspot member, Sanjay Sethi, were in a band named the “The Hip Hop Hindus and the Jumping Jew.” (The Jew of their group, another David—David Roth- DID jump as part of his style at the time, though friends could never pinpoint why).

Sharmaji played all the percussion instruments in their DC show, except xylophone which was taken care of by Jake Owen. Jake also plays guitar and keyboards and pitches in on vocals as does the rest of the band. James Gabbie was on guitar and Paul Jenkins on bass.

Goldspot plays Black Cat, DC (11/22/09)

They played from their new album as well as classics from their first album such as “Rewind” and “Friday.” The riveted crowd clearly did not want to let the band leave, but were comforted by the mention that DC would be on their tour list in the future. A group of five young female fans had driven 7 hours to see them perform. A clear indication that they need to return to DC.

Who: GOLDSPOT & THE BLACK FORTYS

Where: Black Cat, near U St Metro, 1811 14th St NW, Washington DC, (202) 667-4490- 18 to enter, 21 to drink, Handicap accessible.
When: 9pm
How Much: $10

Goldspot shared the stage with The Black Fortys, an indie rock band heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and poet T.S. Eliot.

Shivali welcomes your posts, comments, questions, and requests for topics to be covered. She may be reached at shivalishah@thefastertimes.com

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