Rhythm of Love: In conversation with Tune Up Channel

Eastern Mirror: Could you please introduce ‘Tune Up Channel’ and the role each of you take on? And mention the best moment as a band?

Tune Up Channel: The band was formed in 2015 which is a Pop-Funk rock band based in Mokokchung, Nagaland.

The band members are:

Vocalist- Sunep A Jamir

Guitarist- Temjen Lemtur

Bassist- Meren Longchar

Keyboardist- Ayu Mongro

Drummer- Tia Jamir.

Some of the accolades we have achieved are Nagaland Best Band at Hornbill international rock contest 2015, winner of Youth Fest Clash of Bands 2016, Headlining band at the Sonabyss North-East Institute of Science & Technology 2016, Featured band at Orange Festival, Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh 2016, won best original song at NSACS ‘Life Now beat contest 2017, Headlining band at the 8th Northeast Annual Day, Delhi 2018 and 2nd runner’s up at 2nd Northeast multimedia campaign, Manipur 2020. Every moment we spend performing is a special moment for us and it’s quite difficult to pick one.

Eastern Mirror: How did you come up with the name ‘Tune Up Channel’?

Basically it was some fiddling around with words then Tune Up Channel came about and it made so much sense for us as we all wanted to improve on what we do and step up a notch higher every time. Thus, tune up channel is all about tuning up a notch higher in all we do as musicians to bring out the best possible music in us.

Eastern Mirror: Who is the lyricist in the band or does every one contribute?

We’ve always left the freedom of writing lyrics to our vocalist as he’s the one singing it and it has to come from the heart.

Eastern Mirror: How do you describe your music?

The music we do is an expression of what we are. Every song expresses something meaningful to us. The interpretation from the listener’s side can be different but that’s the beauty of music. Everyone can relate to a song in different ways.

Eastern Mirror: Your latest song titled “Beautiful Scars” was released last year, what’s the meaning behind the song and how has the response been by the people so far?

The central message of the song is that our past scars don’t define or ruin us instead it’s like a different shade of a colour that will paint our life more beautifully and the response has been really great and we hope to make more similar songs.

Eastern Mirror: How long does it take to get a song ready and what are the main issues you guys face as a band?

To complete a song it can easily stretch from a couple of days to weeks as we all want it to sound the best and that takes time and some of the issues we often face is in finalising the song as it’s really important that listeners receive the song well.

Eastern Mirror: What is your favourite part about your work and who is the leader of the band?

The best part about it is we love what we do and music is like therapy for all the people and we love to be the therapist in that regard and regarding the band involvement it has always been a group effort and we have always kept it that way.

Eastern Mirror: Which music genre and artiste is the band influenced by?

Music genre has never been a barrier for our influence; we are open to most of it. The list of Bands that influenced us is pretty long but one or two bands such as Paramore, The midnight, the 1975, and Switchfoot have been quite influential.

Eastern Mirror: Just curious to know what is the reason behind lead vocalist of the band going solo when Tune Up Channel as a band were doing great as well.

Vocalist going solo is just his side project and the band has given full support and it’s the songs he always had in his mind and those songs he wanted to express solo.

Eastern Mirror: Any issues the band is facing especially with the pandemic?

Tune up channel as a band is 100% intact and there are no issues at all. The pandemic has hit all musicians hard as we all know and we’re taking time to come out if it but we’re all good and also have started performing on different sets.

Eastern Mirror: How would you describe the music that you typically create?

There’s no proper quote to describe the music we create. It’s just what we feel at the moment that we’re making the song and usually it’s an expression of our experiences from different situations of life.

Eastern Mirror: How have technology and social media impacted the music business?

Technology and social media have made a major impact on music scene for the past few years especially after the pandemic, social media has been the platform for majority of musicians and it has made it possible to reach out to more people around the world. As such our song “beautiful scars” is one example of technology and platform that social media provided for us since we made that during the pandemic and we mostly had to rely on technology to work from home and make it known to the people through social media.

Eastern Mirror: What’s your take on Nagaland’s music scenario currently as compared to earlier years?

In simple words, it’s a long way up but looking back we’ve come so far and we’re positive that it’s only going to get better.

Eastern Mirror: If you could change anything about the music industry in Nagaland, what would it be? And any project in the pipeline?

We feel, supporting each other more and being unbiased are things that’ll take music to another level in Nagaland and definitely a lot coming up very soon!