Online interview - Memories of the first show you did…

New York City-based record label and experiential series, Indo Warehouse, has made huge waves in the last year or so.

It has a rich cultural sound drawn from the founder's South Asian heritage and each party has South Asian-inspired artefacts and textures, and is soundtracked with hypnotic, emotive, and percussive grooves.

After recently making their Amsterdam Dance Event debut, they will be bringing their captivating sound and authentic breed of South Asian-inspired house and techno to India for a 15 date tour in early 2024.

Get your limited tickets for this much anticipated party now at indo-warehouse.com and read on to find more.

introduce yourself and give us some background on Indo Warehouse for those who don’t know

We’re excited to speak with you and introduce ourselves to the Mixmag NL audience.

Indo Warehouse is a record label, collective of artists, and experiential series based in New York City. We aim to authentically integrate South Asian culture, music and sounds through the medium of dance music, currently rooted in house and techno.

In the past 18 months, we have evolved from a concept to global touring artists, having played shows across North America, London, and will debut in Amsterdam at ADE on Sunday, October 22 at Melkweg. Our record label has released over 25 original records, and we have 7 new releases slated from now until the end of the year. We’re thrilled to see the excitement of South Asian music in clubs around the world this year, and will do our part to continue this positive trend.

When did you have the idea for Indo Warehouse and what was it?

Indo Warehouse was created from a long standing observation that South Asian music has been notably absent from the parties we love to attend. From beaches in Tulum to our favourite clubs in New York, we often found ourselves dreaming of how our culture could be represented on those dance floors.

How long ‘til it got off the ground and what was the aim?

Our aim has been to represent our culture in electronic music, and we’ve been fortunate to have the support from our community very quickly. Our first party, in February of 2022, welcomed 200 people, and every party after that has at least doubled in size. By that December, our first show at Brooklyn’s famed Avant Gardner welcomed nearly 2000 people.

This year, we’ve focused on bringing our sound outside of NYC, and sold out nearly every show on an 11-city tour across North America. Our first show in London - and our first show overseas - sold out with 2000 tickets.

However, a big milestone was our most recent show at home in New York, where we sold out the Brooklyn Mirage on a beautiful Sunday in August.

While these numbers make us smile, it's the connection to our community that matters the most. We’re hearing from them that our sound is resonating deeply and that they’re proud to see our culture represented in the best clubs in the world.

How was the first party, can you remember?

The first party was enigmatic, by design. We didn’t share too much detail about the sound initially, because we wanted to build a complete experience for people from the moment they walked into the club. Everything was curated to affect the senses – from the jasmine and sandalwood incense and South-Asian inspired cocktails, to the curation of DJs… we focused on creating an experience no one had encountered before.

What have been your hardest challenges with the brand so far since your first show?

We love hard challenges, and don’t see them as a negative. For us, however, we are dealing with one area that is a result of our rapid growth.

Since we aim to create new experiences for each show, we run into production challenges because we never like to replicate ourselves. As we look to bring the more experiential side of our shows on the road, we are developing experiences that we can effectively execute in each market.

And what about the best moments? Do you have any career highlights?

Playing at the Brooklyn Mirage was an incredible experience. To have so many of our loved ones with us as we achieved one of our dreams was very meaningful.

What about genres? How would you define the music you play and how do you try and stay unique to your approach?

We believe the music that we are making is a genre in and of itself, and would categorize it as “Indo House.” To more clearly define this, Indo House is a subgenre of house music (similar to Latin House or Afro House), where music, artists, instruments, sounds, and rhythms from all over the diverse South Asian subcontinent (including countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) are authentically integrated into a style of music that is most commonly found in house music.

Based on our approach to create this authenticity, we have to ensure that we connect both the “Indo” and the “House” side of the music with deep respect.

You're about to embark on your first Indian tour, what can you tell us about that?

We're working with Sunburn for a very special tour across 10 cities! We kick off the tour in Goa at Sunburn Festival for NYE. We'll have our own stage where every Indo Warehouse artist is performing. Following that we move across India performing in Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. We're looking forward to meeting so many incredible people and showcasing all of the artists on our label.

Being from the area originally, you you feel extra pressure on this tour rather that the others?

Our emotions are more connected to excitement than pressure.

Last year we had dreamed of the opportunity to perform in India, and now it's happening, so we're beyond excited! The sounds we use are - of course - well known in India. From South Asian classical to Bollywood samples, there are established scenes. We also know the electronic scene in India is one of the best in the world. However, the way we blend the two worlds is absolutely unique. Electronic music is known for its subtleties and nuance, and I think we'll surprise people when they hear how we weave in Indian lyrics, sounds and rhythms.

Are there any locations that you're especially looking forward too?

Both of us are excited to perform in our family's hometowns which are Delhi and Mumbai. However, we've heard so many incredible stories about every city, so we're genuinely appreciative of this opportunity to connect with so many people from our Motherland.

Finally, what's next for you in Europe, do you have any other plans?

After Europe we head back to NYC for a couple of (secret) shows, followed by Art Basel in Miami, before heading off for a very special tour in the Motherland (India).