Young Archie Assignment: An Interview
ONCE in a while a band comes along that makes you sit up and take notice. And today the Brit-Asian music scene are blessed with Young Archie Assignment – a foursome who are at the forefront of cutting edge music.
The group is made up of Young Archie – the man with an ear for the right sound, Nia & Maya – the group’s two female vocalists, and Nock – an MC who impressed so much he became part of the Assignment at a time when the group weren’t even looking for a rapper. Two boys, two girls – comparisons to Abba aside, the group’s dynamic works.
Their first single BeeSting was fabulous; their forthcoming second Kar De Munde is expected to ride high on the airwaves. In between the music-making they’ve had a stint on Radio 1 and shared a stage with Jay Sean and Raghav – not bad for group who only ventured onto the music scene a year ago.
They’re young, they’re fresh, and they’re exactly what Brit-Asian music needed right now. The brains behind the band – Young Archie – talks to DesiXpress…
Young Archie thanks for talking to us – for our readers who aren’t aware of ‘Young Archie Assignment’ tell us a bit about the group and how it came into existence.
YAA is a collective of 4 young people. I am Young Archie the producer, there are 2 female vocalists Nia & Maya, and there is our male MC, Nock.
About a year and a half ago I was working with Nia. We met through a mutual friend. I then met up with Maya, again through a mutual friend and I thought it would be good to collaborate the two. I never thought of adding an MC to the collective but I was impressed with Nock’s drive and lyrics. I thought it would be cool to add him as a part of the Assignment
The name of the group’s quite funky – how did you come up with that?
The name – Young Archie Assignment – came up through a random late night conversation with a real good friend of mine. I told my friend about my idea and we decided that it was like my little project and for obvious reasons we could not name it “project” (laughs) and so opted for Assignment!!
The make-up of the group is quite unique – 2 boys, 2 girls…you seem to have that Abba thing going on…
Abba is good yeah? (laughs).If it wasn’t for Abba we wouldn’t have had Dancing Queen or even Waterloo!!! We have got a track called Nachde Rani and Ludhiana!!! (laughs).I’m only joking by the way! The idea of 2 girls and 2 boys was not intentional – it just happened!
Tell us a bit about the other members of the group – anything they’d hate for you to share with us?
Other members of the group are Nia (Vocalist), Nock (MC) and Maya (Vocalist). What can I say about these guys? Hmmm…. If I do say anything, they will probably beat me up!
What sets you apart from other Brit-Asian groups?
The fact that we have got our own unique style and sound sets us apart from other Brit-Asian groups. We are also able to diversify our style through our ability to create different sounds and also because the girls can sing in different languages.
Tell us a bit about your latest single
Our latest single is called, “Kar De Munde” and features the vocals talents of Tanvir Gogi. It has a mix of Desi and RnB. It is an upbeat track that makes you want to just get up and start singing and dancing!
You’ve been on Radio 1, shared the same stage as Raghav and Jay Sean – are you surprised at just how quickly you’ve become such a recognised name?
Getting played on Radio1 and performing alongside Jay Sean and Raghav is just crazy. If a year ago you would have said you will be played on BBC Radio1 and be performing alongside Jay Sean & Raghav, I probably would have laughed and asked how much you had to drink!! (laughs) But seriously, we are so blessed to be mentioned on the same page as them guys. They are massive inspirations. Again we are blessed to get played on Radio1 too. Being together a year, so much has happened and we appreciate every moment of it. We just do what we do for the love of music and getting love through Myspace and Facebook is wicked!
You’ve got your debut album coming out next year – how excited are you?
We are just working towards our debut album and are excited but very apprehensive. We just want people to enjoy our music.
Will there be any interesting collaborations on the album?
Collaborations? I think it’s important that our first album is us. We don’t want our music to be heard simply because it’s got a big collaboration on it. We want our music listened to because people like it or love it! But no seriously, we don’t want to ride off other people’s success. Rather try to work and build it for ourselves. Hopefully later on we could collaborate, YAA feat Pharell Williams! (Laughs)
Finally what’s on the horizon for Young Archie Assignment?
Whatever is on the horizon, we want to just enjoy the journey towards that horizon. We don’t want any regrets and just want to have as much fun as possible. The most important thing is just to concentrate on making music that we love and see where it takes us. Like I said, wherever we go, we will be very thankful and humble.
