A day with Mihir Phukan, a leading guitarist from the North East!

(Interviewed by: Nilotpal Kalita on behalf of D.Mus.(DigiMusic))

(Photoshoot by: Sumit Baruah on behalf of D.Mus.(DigiMusic))

An awesome shredder, a down to earth man, Mihir Phukan is one of those guitarist who can freak you out with his skills even while trying the guitars and amps. Check this video out if you don't believe me! He nailed technical difficulties in it! His career started out as the lead guitarist of Eclipse, one of the pioneers of Assam's rock scenerio. He got the best guitarist awards continuously for 5 consecutive years before he left Eclipse in 2007.

Mihir Phukan covering Crossroad: Click here
Eclipse performing Dio Cover 'Don't Talk To Strangers' in Rock o Phoenix 2007: Click here

Also nicknamed 'The Neoclassical King' or 'The Buckethead of Assam', Mihir Phukan always wanted to have a solo career just like his idol- YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN. 

Here's our interview with Mihir Phukan: 

1. Hi! Good Afternoon, So how have you been?

         Life till now is very much interesting with lots of ups & downs, but yes enjoying every li'l bit of it gaining knowledge from life too

2. For Newbies tell us about your experience with ECLIPSE. Do you think it is the reason behind your success?

         My experience with ECLIPSE was a memorable one. Yes we are among the earlier bands who started the rock scene in Assam along with EUPHONIC TRANZE when there was only   a few listeners of rock exists in Assam. During ECLIPSE days we have performed in lots of concerts and competitions length and breathe within North East. And the positive part about the band was we have remained one of the best band undisputed for consecutive 5 years and never lost any competitions except one or two and yes I was awarded BEST GUITARIST for consecutive 5 years since 2003 till 2007 before I left. So yes partly you can say that it has brought success to each and every member of the band for their hard work and love for their music. But yes I believe that apart from band contribution one must also have to be good enough in his particular field of instrument to compete with rest of the bands and produce good music.

3. And what equipments you are using presently? Do you think good equipments matters a lot or good skills??

        Currently I am using myself designed guitar which I have made by collaboration with a private guitar co. which I am endorsing called EDGE. And yes alongwith that I also use my FENDER sometimes onsatge. About my pedalboard I am using LINE 6 HD 500 which has pretty much satisfied my need in my style of playing.

       And yes to your second half of the question I believe that you really need both I.e, a good equipment as well as good skills. I have seen many musicians who got very high end equipments but are very much noob with it and at the same time their are many good musicians who couldn't come up inspite of having good skills for lack of good euipments. And I was among those unfortunates for quite a long time [laugh]. So I strongly believe that we really need good things to make ourselves better.

               "  IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT WE PLAY, BUT WHAT WE PLAY WITH "

4. Did you had any professional training in guitars? Had Guitars always been your first choice?

          No, I didn’t take any professional training in guitars. But yes learning new things myself has always been my favorite thing to do. And about my choice of instruments I always liked the sound of a PIANO & VIOLIN. I always loved classical pieces of BACH, MOZART, and BEETHOVEN etc since my early days. But still I never thought I would have formed any band. Thanks to my childhood friends who came to me one day and said lets form a band and told me to pick up the guitar, I guess that was moment I choose the best for myself. So yes guitar was not my first choice then but now I can’t live without it. Anyways I am planning to learn PIANO in my near future. [laugh]

5. Any other instrument you love to play?

         As I have mentioned yes I love to play PIANO though I am not that expert but yes I sometimes likes to explore it with my li'l knowledge that I have.

6. When you decided to took music as a profession? Tell us about the obstacles you faced.

         I still haven't decided to take music as my profession but yes by looking at the response of my fans and friends the chances are more for me to take it as profession. But yes taking music seriously was never been easy for me and may be for others too. Their are still people in large numbers who has li'l knowledge of ROCK music but bollywood. I have faced many problems earlier which was hampering my studies but luckily I managed myself to get into ENGINEERING and that made things a bit easier for me and hopefully I will complete it by next year.

7. What is the most memorable performance till date??

       I always dreamt of being a SOLO GUITARIST and I always wished to perform infront of my loved ones and my FANS who always kept their LOVE & SUPPORT with me all the time. And finally my dream came true this year at FIREBALL CONCERT. I never had such feeling ever. Everything happened according to my wish. The crowd got crazy and seeing my loved ones happy wow really there are things which money can’t buy. That's true :)

8 Tell us about your hobbies and passion (besides music)?

      Since my early days I really loved reading story books specially Horror and yes FAIRY TALES, watching cartoons which I dont do nowadays and I really love Sketching making portraits of famous personalities and spending time with my family and loved ones. Atlast I would love to add that I am a really bad video game freak .. You may find yourself getting challenged by me in my next game. BE PREPARED [laugh]

9. GUWAHATI as well as the whole North East has produced lots of musicians and bands. How does it feel to be a part of this whole music troops and getting tagged as one of the well known guitarist of the region??

      Obviously its feels really great to count myself amongst the great musicians hailing from North East. But to be frank I was never desperate getting famous but yes I always tried to do something to bring good name for my family. But thanks a lot to my LORD I have managed to achieve it to some extent. But still I believe I got a lot to do and so my journey of music will be continued until and unless I had enough of myself [LAUGH]

10. Which artist/ band has really inspired or influenced you?

      As I have mentioned earlier I always loved classical music and the sound of PIANO & VIOLIN has always fascinated me. But I never knew I could play those stuffs in guitar untill I was introduced to the legendary YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN. The way he plays his guitar has really inspired me & since then I got into speed playing and got into his genre called "NEO-CLASSICAL" and today I have become one of the fastest guitarist of ASSAM. Apart from him I would like to mention three other influential & legendary masters JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI & Paul GILBERT who have really influenced in my playing skills and composing my music.

11. Any GIG's to look forward to?

       Of course the best is yet to come. Hope you will keep your patience till then. [laugh]

12. Tell us about your present projects you're working on.

       I was not supposed to reveal but as you have asked so I would like to tell you a bit that I have recently got engaged with three projects from which two of them will be under my own tag and the other one is with collaboration with my friend. Something new is coming on your way FOLKS so keep your eyes and ears wide open. [laugh].

13. Your future plans?

      It will depend on my current projects. Hope people will accept my music and keep their support always on me as they always did.

14. Comment on the present rock scenario of Assam.

                Well to say about the current rock scene it’s amazing to see so many young musicians coming up with their own music. I hope people will accept good music more and more in future and I really appreciate the organizers and sponsors of the concerts for helping the upcoming musicians to showcase their talents and conducting concerts frequently. Hope things will get much better in future

15. How things have changed from the time you started as ECLIPSE to now?

                The time when we started ECLIPSE we didn’t have much facilities, concerts, support etc. like the bands of today. Things were tough that time even in learning music too. But yes as I have mentioned earlier in my above comments, things have changed drastically for good. Hope to see lots of amazing musicians from this region in future

16. Bands of Assam to watch out, according to you.

                Haven't seen much rock concerts in Guwahati so not much familiar with the names, but I guess there are many talented bands to watch out. It’s really amazing to see so many bands with various genres and expertised in their own respective fields. I would like to wish good luck to every musician for their musical journey.

17.  Thank you for your time. We wish you the very best for your journey ahead. Any piece of advice for our readers?

      Thanks a lot to you too for honoring me by publishing it on your blog and I hope your organization will really go far and make it big in years to come. Atlast but not the least I would like to tell all the readers that keep supporting music and musicians so that we can entertain you and improved ourselves too. And for my fellow musicians keep practicing and work hard.         

            " REMEMBER THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS"