Q&A with Iritis

Why did you all get started in music? How long have you all been performing?

We all took different roads but to varying degrees we each value making music as a form of escape and as a creative outlet. Arranging a song is a great exercise in compromise and when everything clicks, performing is an absolute blast. When we’re playing, we really have to be in the moment, we’re not thinking about deadlines at work or chores at home. If we can take our listeners along away from the daily minutiae even for an instant, that’s not bad. Our common overarching goal is to create music that is rich and eclectic while being lyrically engaging and thought provoking.

Most of us have been performing individually since college or even before, as in the case of Nita who has been singing in front of her family since she was 4 years old. François and Bruce have been jamming together as far back as 2002 and we’ve been under the banner of IRITIS for a couple years now. But it wasn’t until Nita joined us early last year and Rahul this past summer that everything really fell into place.

Iritis definitely has a global flavor and the sounds come through in your music… how does that translate into your self-proclaimed genre of “Eastern Psychedelic Rock?”

Our individual tastes encompass pretty much the entire spectrum of music genres. And all of us put together have ties back to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. François comes from a 70’s rock background and his writing reflects his darker psychedelic rock tendencies. Nita brings in her radio-friendly pop stylings and coffee-house folk songwriting. Rahul’s guitar work is reminiscent of his death metal, progressive rock and indo-fusion tastes. On a few songs, Bruce plays a North African darbuka he picked up after growing up in Morocco.

So most of our compositions are psychedelic rock similar to music of the 60’s and 70’s, but performed by musicians with eastern tastes and varied backgrounds in music.

So what’s up with the “eye” in your logo?

In many cultures of the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia and Latin America, the evil eye is the bad luck which results from others coveting your belongings. Some believe it is better to rid oneself of these assets that to face this curse, which is sometimes considered the source of all evil. Frequently the depiction of an eye is used as a talisman to ward off evil. Also the third eye is representative of the eye of consciousness.

What are your future plans, short-term and long-term?

Short-term, we’d like to gain more experience on stage and as a band. We’d like to continue to become stronger performers. In the long-term, we’d like to play at bigger venues, get some great recordings down, work with top-notch producers and go on tour. We all have day jobs, but music is our first love.

What do you draw on for inspiration when writing songs – is it more of a methodic, planned out process or something much more random and instantaneous?

Some songs write themselves in minutes, others slowly take shape over time. But any song written by formula would need amazing musicians to pull it off, because then you would be relying on the virtuosity of the performers instead of the creativity of the writer. Our songwriting has come in spurts and some of our best songs have come from dark places of distress, whether these were our personal experiences or perceptions. When other forms of expression fail, writing is cathartic. What has worked well for us is a collaborative approach. For instance François would come in with the structure of a song, Nita would add lyrics and the whole band would contribute to the arrangement.

What are you planning on doing while the inauguration is going on?

Most of our lyrics address themes from a wider philosophical perspective beyond politics. Having said that, our drummer is hosting an all-day TV watching party with Obamargaritas galore and our guitar player joked about sending a bouquet of flowers to Sean Hannity.