My conversation with the KulfiGirls. Their debut album ‘Divinity’ was released in February. 

Diya: Good evening Abi, Ade, Stephanie and Joan, it’s lovely to see you all. How are you all doing on this beautiful July evening?

Joan: Good. How are you? How is it on the West Coast?

Diya: It’s nice. It’s warm. It’s also very dry. Yeah. How’s Philadelphia?

Abi: It was thundering for a little bit.

Ade: Oh yeah, it was thundering. Yeah. It was so freaking hot. And then now it’s, like, back to being disgusting outside [laughs].

Joan: It’s hot and humid and, like, you can feel like when it’s about to thunderstorm, it feels like when you walk outside, you’re, like, breathing water.

Diya: You can smell it.

Joan: Yeah, it’s nasty.

Diya: Enough about the weather. So we’ll start from the beginning. I did some digging and learned that KulfiGirls was formed through your desire, Abi, to fuse traditional South Indian music elements with the rhythms and structures of Western music, and then subsequently meeting guitarist Joan, who helped initially realize that vision into something high octane and multifaceted, coupled with the addition of Ade’s skill drumming and Stephanie’s versatile instrument hopping. So while it’s evident that KulfiGirls comes from a fusion of classical complexities and heavy rock energy, can you each tell me a little bit more about your individual music backgrounds and how they inform KulfiGirls artistic philosophy to this point?

Abi: Yeah. Ok, so I have always been in some sort of–I guess from when I was really young, my grandma influenced me to, like, learn Carnatic singing. So I grew up doing Carnatic singing for a long time, and then when I was 11 or 12, I just picked up veena and I played that until college consistently. And then I stopped for college. And then I picked it up again during COVID when I was seeking for some connection, I guess.

Joan:
What’s that, 2020?

Abi: Yeah, 2020. I started playing the veena more and I forgot how much I like to play it. And then we met. Yeah.

Joan: Yeah… We’re married now. (Diya: I love that.) But at the time we were just dating and we would just, like, jam on a Saturday or a Sunday each week. As, like, kind of a date-thing. And it just kind of went from there, you know?

Abi: How long have you been playing guitar?

Joan Since I was 15, I guess I’m 30 now, so (Abi: Oh yeah, I’m close to 30.) subtraction. Yeah, I’ve been playing, like, 15 years. I have never, like, played in a band until (Abi: Oh yeah, this is my first band too.) yeah. So it’s kind of like–so I guess despite playing our respective instruments for a long time, we’re relatively new to the whole being in a band and, like, playing-live-shows-and-stuff-thing. I mean, Abi has played live shows before this as a solo artist, Abi has solo stuff, you know, that she does. But yeah.

Ade: Steph, you go.

Stephanie: Alright, so I have played music my whole life. My family was really musical and I was the type of kid I would just play any instrument that we needed. You know, if there were two guitars, I would pick up a bass or I would sit at a piano or something like that. And you know, I’ve kind of played in bands my whole life, a bunch of different bands. And from here, I had a mutual friend who had seen KulfiGirls play and was like, ”Hey, they’re looking to, like, actually form like a band.” She had seen Joan and Abi play and was like, “You would be a good fit for this band, you should reach out to them.” So I did. And initially I was going to be the piano player–

Joan: Oh yeah, Steph came over with a whole Wurlitzer. The first time. That was the first time, right? You came over?

Stephanie: Oh yeah, and we–they–had a gig in like 2 weeks and they’re like “OK, well you can join the band, but I don’t know if we’ll have a bass player yet.” And I was just, like, order of operations for a rock band. I’ll just play bass. (Diya: Nice.) And then from there again, through a mutual friend, I had sort of found out that Ade might be interested in playing in a band. And so I reached out to them to try and maybe see if they wanted to come rehearse with us. And I’ll pass it over.

Ade: Yeah, great transition.

Diya: Very organic.

Ade: Yeah, sort of the same way, like Steph said, how Steph joined is how I joined. I used to be in a band previous to this and I was in that band for about 6 years and I was already, like, checked out in the end. And yeah, I was trying to make a new band, join a new band, whatever.
And initially when I got asked, I was like, “I’m too busy” because I used to manage that band. So then I think shortly after it was like, “oh, I’m free now.” So yeah, I came in for an audition and they were really mean and made me audition with the hardest song. But yeah, it was really great. It was really nice. It’s like, you know, I did start off with, like, a post punk band. So that’s where I have a hard rock background. My initial drum instructor did metal, so like, I come from a rock background. That’s my thing. But I’ve only been playing drums–not that long–maybe about eight years? eightish years? And I learned through my first band how to play drums, how to be in a band, how to do all those things. But I’m lucky enough to actually have event planning background, to be able to be like–I came into Kulfi and I was like “Hiii! Y’all are great! But also…  Here’s some ideas.” Like, they were open enough to, like, be receptive to that. So yeah.

Joan: It’s very helpful, you know.

Abi: Yeah, I feel like I don’t–we don’t really like, tell everyone what to play. We have suggestions, but we kind of just, like, let it flow, and however it’s going, is how it’s going. And I’ll be like, “Oh, I kind of want the ending to feel a little more like this.” And I’m like–we’ll switch it up, but it’s really more of, like, I have the feeling. I never actually be like, “This is the notes. These are the beats. And this is what we want you to play.” It’s never been like that.

Diya: So it’s, like, more so improvisational, you’d say?

Abi: When we’re making–when we’re writing the music, yeah.

Joan: Yeah, it does feel that way a lot of times. And sometimes Abi will point at my fretboard, like to play “like this”–the classic Abi point. You guys know what I’m talking about. I feel like we each kind of just like do our own thing and it comes together and mixes up and something comes out at the end that is music.

Abi: Yeah, I was never really, like–I liked rock, but like, I never envisioned myself to be in that kind of scene. I feel like a lot of the rock influence is from Joan. And like, her influence is from me introducing her to, like, my childhood music. She’s taking a big interest in that. And I feel like it’s really helped meld together some of the stuff that we’ve done.

Joan:
Like South Indian…?

Abi: Yeah.

Diya: Yeah.

Abi: I’m Tamil, so, like, Kollywood. That’s my childhood. I did not know who Fergie was in elementary school. And I remember people were like, “You don’t know who Fergie is?!” I was like, “No? Absolutely not?” Yeah.

Diya: Yeah… I’m glad you brought up metal, Ade, because I did draw a parallel to Opeth which I will get to much later. But I did really enjoy the dynamic vocal melodies on this album coupled with the lush and often psychedelic sounding elements in the soundscapes such as the saxophones and keyboards, and of course the veena. The guitar riffage and bass lines are layered and anchored by the shape shifting drum rhythms in a way reminiscent of 90s and 2000s (pop) punk bands. There’s clearly melodic and compositional influence as well, taken from Carnatic music as well as jazzier elements I noticed, and there’s also a lovely amount of range and variety in this album, ’Divinity’, with slower and more melodic tracks like “Araro” and “Ugly”–both of which I enjoyed–to the more punk influenced tracks like “Bite” and “Divinity”. I think I draw a more personal comparison between some of Opeth’s older and more acoustic works as well as slower Indian folk pop music with the pacing and melodies of “Araro” and “Ugly”, and moreover, I’m always interested in knowing how the choices were made in terms of the instrumentation, melodic and rhythmic elements of the whole album. Can you all tell me about your creative process on Divinity along with its Sonic and emotional landscapes and how they show up through some of KulfiGirl’s songwriting, vocal and instrumental choices?

Abi:I really think of…I feel like, when you are queer, like, you have a little bit of stunted growth, you know? And that’s kind of like what this album is–like my coming of age, almost, musically. We started writing this–I was living in my parents basement, you know? Going from living there to being kicked out to living with Joan, and like, a lot of this music is like pent up emotions that I have felt my entire life. That’s how I feel.

Joan: Yeah, that’s like the creative inspiration, like narratively…I feel like what happened with a lot of the songs on ‘Divinity’ was like, Abi and I would jam with an acoustic guitar, and, Abi’s singing and playing the veena, and we just jam like that. Especially during COVID. Because we were all at home like, all the time. We would always have music time, like let’s sit down and play stuff and…So I feel like…I don’t know, they all eventually translated into rock tracks. You know? I feel like that’s just kind of, like, the process that comes naturally to us. Like you write a song acoustically and then…Let’s add, like, distorted guitars and bass and drums and like…So we’ll bring like an iPhone recording to band practice and be like, “Hey guys, like listen to this” and Steph and Ade are like, “Alright!” (Diya: Very Camp Rock.) And like, you know, it just evolves  from there, right?

Stephanie: I think one of my favorite things is just, like, the openness to trying new things and bringing new ideas. Like, I remember for Field of Fireflies, “FoF”, they had that song basically like fully ready to go. And, you know, I heard their recorded versions of it and I was like, “Okay, how do you feel about me playing a mandolin here? How do you feel about me adding this keyboard part? How do you feel about me, like, throwing a flute track at the end of this?” So one of the things that was really cool was…There is this openness to collaboration and new ideas and, kind of like what Abi was saying earlier, there’s not really a time when we’re reined in so much. Like there are times where we discuss what would be right for the song. But like, if one of us has an idea of how they want something to go, generally it’s heard and we’ll try it out and see how it goes. And, like, recording that album, you know…Ade and I had studio experience with other bands and stuff. But….For this band, and for Joan and Abi, it was their first time really doing it. And I was just so impressed with both of the ideas that they were bringing to the studio and also, like, the humbleness of like, “OK, well, Steph, what do you think we should do here? Ade, what do you think we should do here?” And we were able to kind of build a ship in a bottle that way by just like– “OK, well, let’s add this here. Let’s add new lead guitar lines here. Let’s throw in an acoustic guitar on this track.” You know? And it all felt very spur of the moment.

Ade: I absolutely agree. I think that’s definitely, like, a highlight for me being in this band. It’s just like–it’s so chill when it comes to making things together or just like any kind of pushback, you know? It’s realizing like, hey, no one really has an ego. Everyone’s like, “Hey, yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good perspective.” And not being facetious about it, literally just being like, “Hey, I hear where you’re coming from.” Which you don’t find in a lot of–you know, not even just band perspective collaboration, but like when you’re working in any kind of group. I’m a big, major audiophile and I’m Nigerian. So I grew up listening to like, Fela Kuti, Seun Cootie, Sade…So a lot of like, trip hop, funk…And then I lived in DC, where you have bass and drum-heavy things, like go-go music and jazz and things like that. And you know, from the time I was very little, I’ve been very like–if I like it, I’m going to go with it. So metal, punk, screamo, whatever that is experimental. I was really into electronic pop for a really long time because it was a DIY scene I came up in. But for me, when I approach drumming, it’s more of just like what feels good. I don’t care what–we’re not aiming for a genre, you know? We’re aiming for what feels good here in the space in this song. So in that second verse of “Itch”, I switched it up and I started doing some funky little swingy Caribbean beat and it goes back in a chorus, which is just like a triple floor tom, very punk-rock-like beat. But still, with everything going on, it gives it a hard backbeat. But it still goes with the flow of everything. It’s very purposeful. And I think we all think about it that way where it’s just like, “Man, this could sound really cool.” And then have fun with it, and then we go back in and tighten it up. And I think that’s just, like, the beauty of it. It’s like letting all the layers flow and do their own thing and flourish while still coming back and giving it that little tightness it needs to to really, like, sound really good and expansive like the whole album does.

Stephanie: I like how there’s like such a melt of influences too, because like Ade’s bringing a set of influences and like, you know, for me, when I was like first getting into “Itch”–that song specifically, in my mind, I was like, all right, this is Neil Young and Crazy Horse 1969. We’re playing in “Cowgirl in the Sand” here. You know? Like, that was where my mindset was with that song. So it’s like, there’s just such a different meld of attitudes going into it that it was just so unique to see how these songs kind of turned out. And I will say too, like the primary songwriting–like what Abi and Joan bring to rehearsal is always so interesting. It’s always so dynamic and like, I remember first hearing some of this and like, they’re saying this is their first band….It’s like, well, this isn’t the type of stuff that normally happens in a lot of bands. It’s more creative, it’s more interesting. Like it’s a different perspective. And that’s what that’s what really drew me to this, and that’s what really made me kind of fall in love with the two of them as songwriters especially.

Joan: Yeah, I feel pretty lucky like that we have the dynamic we have. I feel like everyone has a good ear too, you know? Like, I listen back to our tracks sometimes,maybe more than sometimes. I know it’s like, really pretentious, but like, I’ll hear something that I play on the guitar and I’ll be like, “damn–I love that part,” you know? And I’m like, “I didn’t think of that.” Like, that was Steph’s suggestion or Ade’s suggestion. Like there’s this thing in Fireflies that I do–it’s like, there’s this little chord, like, [gestures as on a fretboard]. That was like, literally a thing I accidentally played ‘cause like my fingers slipped or something and we were in the studio and Steph was like, “I really like that. Like I like that chord.” I was like, “What chord?” I listened back like, “Oh yeah, I kind of like that too.” And then it just stayed, like I play it all the time live now too. But that’s ’cause we have band members with good ears, you know? Like someone heard that and was like, “Oh, that sounds sick. You should do that again.” Like, having someone next to you to say that is really useful, really valuable. I feel like we all do that for each other.

Diya: Like a positive feedback loop.

Joan: Yeah, yeah. It kind of makes it evolve organically like what can you say?

Diya: I love that.

Abi: We’re also not afraid to say when things don’t sound great either.

Stephanie: Especially you. Yeah.

Joan: I feel like Abi and I like to cosplay as like, frenemies sometimes, like when we’re playing music, it’s kind of like…It’s funny, like Abi will play something or I’ll play something, and the other one will be like, “I don’t like that.” You know, it’s like a joke, but also like there’s some kind of truth underneath it. And so I feel like sarcasm is the vehicle for us criticizing each other. I don’t know, is that healthy?

Abi: It’s funny.

Joan: It is funny.

Diya: Journalist, not therapist! But yeah, upon initially listening to ‘Divinity’, one band’s sound that kind of comes to mind is Team Dresch, while another parallel might be something a little bit closer to the Cardigans or maybe Paramore. I also mentioned the other personal parallels I drew while listening to specific tracks earlier, but upon catching some of the lyrics, there’s definitely a lot of very culturally relevant themes that I caught onto and more personally recognized, especially as a South Indian alternative artist myself. There are Tamil phrases as well as overarching themes of artistic suppression and familial or cultural honor in the face of self-expression and imposed expectations. This type of expression and pushback is really great to see in the sphere of genres like punk, psychedelic and rock, and the concept itself of reframing the veena, an instrument often associated with traditional decorum-conscious classical South Indian music, into the context of distorted riffage, playful rhythms, and exploring personal identity and artistic pushback is in itself an expansive reclamation. Moreover, I’d like to know what were some of the main inspirations for ‘Divinity’. And this could be other music, media, literature, film, spiritual occurrences, religious epiphanies, artistic manifestos, delicious desserts, et cetera.

Joan: Heh, delicious. I feel like–okay–I love this prog band, Coheed And Cambria. I definitely like, draw a lot of inspiration from that when I’m writing my parts. And like Pink Floyd, I love Pink Floyd. I love Animals, that album in particular, gosh, there’s probably a whole lot–you know, sometimes like, I’ll write a part and then I’ll feel like I stole it from somewhere and I have to check. Like I’ll be like, “Oh my God, did I steal that?” I’ll check, and it’s like, no, I didn’t steal it. But like, it’s obviously inspired. You know, I don’t even know where you draw that line anyways, but yeah.

Abi: Mitski, obviously, a brahmin from my childhood… One thing I’ve always been insistent on is that the veena itself doesn’t get too doctored in, like, the sound that it’s making. Like, I don’t want it to sound different than how it does. (Joan: Like distorted.) I want it to sound natural, like reverb? Cool, you know? But nothing else on it. I don’t like that. I like to hear, like, the familiar tunes. And yeah, it is, I think, a little controversial because, you know, you really only hear the veena in, like, religious or more classical songs. Like, it is in some pop songs, but in a different setting for sure. Bringing it to rock music has always been very exciting to me. It makes me happy to share this art that I’ve always been doing that has transformed into self-expression. I’m not going to say that I hated learning, playing veena, but it was something that I was like, “Oh, I would like to do it.” And then it turned into something that I hated doing just because, as a kid, you don’t like being told to do anything. And I was constantly told to do this. And every single week I would go and they’d be like, “Why aren’t you practicing? Why aren’t you practicing? Why aren’t you practicing?” And I’d be like, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” And it’s, you know, something that caused me a lot of anguish as a kid. Now it’s like my weapon, you know? It’s on my terms.

Stephanie: Earlier, Abi, you said that queer people can sometimes be like a little stunted too. I kind of, I kind of see that a little differently. Like you say, this is    like a coming of age. I think. I think there’s a lot of queerness in this record. And I think in some ways, when you’re queer in society, you have to do a level of introspection that maybe a lot of straight people don’t have to do just with, like, your own identity and how you, you know, make it through the world. Like you just have to do a little bit more thinking about it sometimes if you’re trans or if you’re queer. And I see a lot of that in this record. There’s a lot more introspection. There’s a lot more emotional honesty that goes into a lot of these songs, especially a lot of the lyrics. So yeah, I think having an attitude of like, open queerness in a time where that is maybe increasingly nerve-wracking with how society’s headed. And in some kind of way, I think that gives a little extra feeling to the music we play, the making of this album. And like, our show was, you know–that kind of hangs over us. And it’s something that I think can help drive us a little too.

Joan: [to Abi] What do you think about that?

Abi: Yeah, I still don’t tell my parents about the music that I make because I know it’ll start a fight, you know? Like they haven’t listened to a single thing, but my cousins have somehow. My aunt listens to it, but it’s like, they don’t really listen to the lyrics though. So they’re just listening to the melody and they haven’t found “Bite” because I feel like I would not hear the end of it. It hasn’t been shared to them. When that happens, I think all hell…[laughs]

Ade: Just the impact of this album…It’s just like, who cares? Right? I remember when we played with Larlene–and like, I know it was before that–some of the folks, I remember one of them was outside, literally crying. That was like, early on. Just being like, “This is real rock’n’roll? Jesus, I haven’t heard anything that sounded like this in so long. This is so amazing.” This was way before even the music video came out or anything. So like, just knowing the impact. That wasn’t the only person who said that to me. That wasn’t the only person I know who’s cried over just coming to a show and watching people get moved in that way. People are hearing the lyrics. So I think after a certain point…I also come from a similar background where my parents are like “No.” But like you are already making such an impact in so many musicians’ lives. I mean, think about that. Like you’re a musician, this band now. Especially you–Abi and Joan–being so young, you’re already, like, a musician’s favorite musician. That’s where you are now as musicians and being so young. And I think y’all should be super, super, super super proud of that because you know me, I got in this band and I was just like talking to everybody, being like big sis over here, but like doing it for a reason. I don’t step out for anybody unless I believe in you and I believe in the project. So it’s like really watching the way people connect with it. There’s a reason why people are connecting. I think, you know, at some point we have to stop letting the expectations of people who brought us into this world control our trajectory, where we are naturally going and where people are naturally pulling us into, to shine the brightest that you can be. So it does suck. But at the same time, you are, whether or not you want to…We talk about being queer like, you know, I just want to be. But just by existing and doing what you’re doing, you’re creating a path for other people to follow. So I really want you all to always remember that.

Joan: Thank you. Yeah.

Ade: I was the last one to join this band, so most of these songs were already done for the most part. I think my biggest influences were probably on “Bite” and “Divinity”, but like, I was just like, “I’m here, can I do this? Can I do this?” And y’all were so chill about everything. And so for me it was really getting to know the flow, getting to know how everything is. And it really is like I think it’s so important like just being community minded and just supportive, especially right now. Even beyond that, I think a lot of people don’t really grasp onto what being in a community means and really supporting people, you know. So for me, my brain goes “ding”, like these people are so talented. I would talk to Steph, just texting because I’m just like [impressed gesture]. And that led to Meg, who’s been one of our biggest champions in Philly, [and I] talking to John, like, “XPN? XPN? XPN?” And then look at what happened, you know? People see it, people move. And if you’re able to support the people you care about, why not always shout it from the rooftops? Why not always bring it up in every interview? So like, I don’t think it’s a weird thing. I think you made something beautiful and you want to listen to it and keep finding little things that could inspire you to make something new. Like y’all are doing a damn thing. So of course we’re going to praise you all the time.

Joan: Yeah, the Philly community is really supportive. And like, inspiring too. There’s a lot of really good music that comes out of the city, I feel like.

Diya: Yeah!  Alright. Next question. I’m also interested in the album artwork for Divinity. It’s very vibrant and memorable and I see it was created by the artist Kushiania. I appreciate the tongue in cheek nod to mythology with the multiple arms as well as the severed head and weapon. I’d love to know the story behind the art and why it was chosen to represent divinity.

Abi: So [I’ve] actually had the art since like 2021. I reached out to Kush because I just thought her style was breathtaking. I really liked all the colors, and I was like, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I wanted something that represented a little bit of Lakshmi because Lakshmi plays veena and I wanted to feel like you’re taking something there by making it completely different. So that was what it was, like every single hand is like holding something different. And like–I’m not going to say the girl is me, but she’s brown–and the head is like her “previous self” is what we were going for. She’s moved on. The sword is like…I don’t know, I was angry. It’s anger.

Joan:
If you zoom in really close. It’s like a KulfiGirls sticker on–

Abi:
There’s a KulfiGirls sticker on the veena. I think I just wanted something that looked like that. Like I’ve always loved the style, like Indian style things and the Lotus flower and the colors. I’ve always been a very colorful hyper fem type of person, so it made sense. Had it since 2021 until what, 2025?

Joan: Yeah.

Abi: So when we finally [dropped] it–four years. I knew what I wanted.

Stephanie: Yeah, it was funny. That was one of the first things when we started talking about maybe an album in progress and like, early days of the band. One of the first things was, “I have the art.” And I remember getting to take a peek at this art. It was always a very big deal. Like we have this art and we need to make something worthy of it.

Abi: Yeah. The album wasn’t even recorded when we had this art, you know? It was already envisioned before we even got there. I feel like we had maybe like 3 songs when I got the artwork.

Joan: Yeah, it makes the artwork–for me anyways–have so much more weight because I just remember being like not even a quarter way finished with the album and looking at the artwork and being like, “Damn, this is going to be so sick.” Keep going to, like, three years later–we did it, you know? And then whenever I see the artwork, it flashes me back to all the work that went into [the album] because we saw the artwork early on.

Diya: I’m also interested in the music video for “Bite”. It features a playful take on a crime scene as well as bloody drums, and then the haunted bharatanatyam choreography scene, which was wonderful to watch. There’s definitely that reinforcement of the overall incorporation of classical art forms and South Indian culture into punk sensibilities. Can you tell me a little more about the choice to include these visuals in your music video and how they function in tandem with the album’s themes?

Abi: I love Chandramukhi. That movie scared the absolute crap out of me as a kid. But there was always something about, like–oh my god, what’s her name…I think her name’s Jyotika, maybe it’s not–the actress who plays Chandra, like she plays the person who gets possessed by Chandramukhi. Like, she looks insane. She looks crazy. I was like, that’s what I want. I want to look insane. I want to look crazy. I want to look threatening. (Joan: The eyeliner…) Well, the heavy eyeliner has always been like a part of bharatanatyam. I used to learn bharatanatyam when I was younger. I’m not a great dancer. I hired Tina to choreograph it for me and she came up with really good….I really love it.

Joan: You know, it’s a dance studio in Philly, Yeah.

Abi: Yeah. What is it called? Deen, Philly Deen. She’s part of the Philly Deen. Like, it’s not like a studio–it’s like a group. And they do a lot of cool dance sessions for people who are Indian in Philly. And she choreographed that for me. But I’ve always wanted to have something that seemed like it was in a different alternative universe. That’s like what we were going for. Like it’s in this universe. And then in the middle of the song, it’s going to move to this crazy universe where it’s the dance scene. It’s just like you’re in a dream, you know, that’s what we wanted it to be. I really don’t know, like, I feel like we have multiple ideas for “Bite”. But like, we fought, we tried to pick something that would be easy to film in the end. And then a lot of things went wrong the first time we tried to film it. We tried to film with someone. And then they were like, “I can’t do this, I’m too busy, but reach out to Carmen and Ryan.” And Carmen’s the videographer and Ryan was our director and they’re phenomenal. They worked with what we had. And like, they kind of filled in gaps, you know, where we were missing things. And the whole bloody drum set scene wasn’t an original part of any of what we were supposed to do. We bought these drum sets thinking that we were going to be playing them outside in the rain just in case. It was like 30 bucks. And then it didn’t rain and we didn’t do this outside scene. So we’re like, what do we do with this drum set? Yeah. We had a bunch of fake blood. We’re like, OK, Joan destroys the drum set and we just pour like fake blood all over it. It was like a last minute thing.

Joan: It’s like, you know, the trope of like [destroying] the guitar…

Diya: Yes!

Joan: What a stupid rock thing. Like, what if it was a drum set? Yeah, I got splinters from that.

Abi: I’m so sorry, you didn’t tell me that.

Joan: And like, because I was hitting it with like a hammer, I guess for that shot, right? And a piece of metal would, like, you know, bend in a weird way and hit you…(Diya: Yeowch…) That was hazardous for sure.

Diya: Art is sacrifice.

Joan: No one got hurt…

Stephanie: We had a whole, like, extra day planned for that, I believe. And my child had been born, like, a couple of weeks before we were supposed to film that. And I was like, I can only give you two days. Like I can show up for two days. So what I remember, is we had this outdoor sequence planned. We had like this plan of digging like a grave in this field and none of that happened because I was just like–I can’t. I can’t. I’m not sleeping. I’m barely functioning. You have me for two days and I can’t come back and do this So again, one of those things where it’s like that was sort of the idea that they had with like the limitations we were in at the time. And the filming of that was very fun. I got to take a break from a newborn baby, around-the-clock caring, you know? And go out and be in this video. So that was fun. I think I learned a lot about Joan’s talent for physical comedy in the filming of that.

Abi: Some of the scenes that we came up with on the fly was my favorite, which was like Joan, running after the car.

Diya: I was gonna say–like the flailing run. That was funny.

Joan: I’m like, so not like…You know…I just don’t do, like, goofy, stuff like that, I guess?

Abi: That’s not true.

Stephanie: You do goofy stuff.

Joan: It’s definitely from growing up with brothers, like little brothers. Especially my brother Jared. I’ll give him a shoutout here. Like to make him laugh–it was always like… You do some crazy thing, you know?

Abi: That makes sense, yes.

Joan: It’s just ingrained. It came out during filming, Yeah. Ryan Zimmerman, our director, and Carmen Chan. Carmen Chan, our videographer. They were really good. They make great stuff.

Abi: And Shana was our producer.

Joan: Yeah, Shana was our producer.

Diya: Let’s talk gear. What would you say is the most essential piece of gear to the particular sound of ‘Divinity’?

Abi: The veena.

Stephanie: Yeah, yeah. That veena is everything. Every single show we play, every recording, the first thing I can say is “Turn up the veena. I need more veena. We need to turn it up.” When it kicks in in some of those songs, for those melodic kind of solo parts, that’s when the songs kind of are at their height. That’s when the audience is the most into it at our shows generally. It’s just such a unique feature for this band. And I think the answer to every song, every single thing–like what’s the most important is the veena.

Joan: That’s your lead instrument, you know.

Abi: It kills me to say, but I always think the veena overshadows my vocals. Yeah, my veena teacher was like, “You know, one day, if you like, learn to sing and play veena, you would go really far.” And I was like, “I can go far just by singing.” Ego. I feel like playing veena puts me in a different mind space than singing does. Like there’s things I can do, like emotions I can convey through veena that is different than vocals. It’s easier because I don’t have to think…“What does my face look like when I’m doing this? What are my hands doing? Am I engaging enough?” I am engaging enough when I’m playing veena because everything is moving. Like I can’t do anything else other than play the veena. So I have to be focused.

Joan:
What is your veena and where did you get it?

Abi: Oh my god, at Musee Music. I went to India over the summer to visit my family, but I was like, “I should get a backup veena just in case.” And this place that I went to forced me to film a little video saying “I got my veena at blah, blah, blah.” And like, made me play. And they did, like, those dramatic cuts in between what I was saying. It was like, “My name’s Abi Natesh. [Whoosh!] I have a veena at Musee Musicals!” It’s an electric. There’s only one of it. It’s an electric veena, Radel makes it. It’s annoying. It is sensitive, I would say, sometimes. Like if I move it in a weird position, it’s finicky. It’s always scary.

Stephanie: It drops as we’re playing shows, like we’ve had to work around the veena and faulty electronics.

Abi: Yeah, and then I got it fixed and I have a new one now, so hopefully…(Stephanie: It’s been a lot–) I feel like every time there’s, like, something that pops or whatever and then the veena is like not as loud as it should be.

Stephanie: It’s worth it. It’s the eternal struggle that makes the success all the more worthwhile.

Joan: Was the veena on the record your childhood veena? Like how long did you have that?

Abi: Oh my gosh, no. That veena I got from my childhood best friend’s parents because they got her veena and it was so much nicer than my veena, and I was jealous. But she never really played it. Like she would take lessons with me, but she never really played it. And then I waited long enough and they were selling it because they had to move. And I was like, “Yes, I will take that. Thank you.” And it’s a gorgeous, like, carved veena, like the acoustic one that’s on the album. And it’s the one I play for WXPN as well.

Diya: Wow, yeah. So another gear question. The last question–if you were stranded on a desert island and could each only take three pieces of gear with you, what would they be? And why?

Abi: I feel like Steph has to answer this question. Because when you said gear originally, I thought like ”I’m out open” because Steph is the gear oriented person.

Stephanie: I mean, I’m always the one pushing everybody to up our game and get more organized, get better gear. You know, like when I joined this band, Joan was playing an Epiphone and I’m like, let’s get a real [Gibson].

Diya: Yeah.

Stephanie: You know, I worked in a music store for a lot of years and…it’s maybe like a little bit sketchy, but a lot of people would come in to sell their old instruments, and over the years, I would just–any kind of spare money I had, someone would come in with an old instrument like the bass that I play most of the time. It’s, like, this old 1973 Guild bass. And somebody just brought that in. Some kind of old guy bought it decades ago and brought it into the music store to sell. And I was just like, “Oh, it’s so old. We can’t take it at the store. But give me two seconds and let me meet you in the parking lot. And you know, I can give you [an amount of money] for it.” I don’t know.

Diya: [Laughs] That’s crazy…

Stephanie: I just kind of built up this like, gear collection and then, you know, also inheriting stuff. My dad’s an old hippie who played in a ton of bands in his life, so when he would get a new guitar or something, or, when I would go to end of the recording studio or something, I would be like, “Hey, let me take this, let me borrow this, let me have this.” So I have a bunch of really awesome, kind of older vintage instruments. And if I had to pick what I’m bringing with me…Like if I’m on my own, you know, it’s got to be my acoustic guitar, which is actually not my dad’s. It’s my mom’s guitar that I kind of just took from her when I moved out of her house. And it’s like, you know, a bit of a cloud hanging over things. I was just like, I’m taking this old guitar and it’s like this old 1969 Guild acoustic guitar. I love my super heavy Wurlitzer 201A electric piano, like the kind of classic studio electric piano of the 70s. That’s another piece of gear I would have. And then probably my mandolin. It’s so fun, It’s so light. I have a really limited edition–like one of those Fender electric-acoustic mandolins that they only put out in the early 2000s and it’s long discontinued. I have one of those that I also got in my sketchy music store working days. Yeah, but those are my pieces.

Joan: What about you, Ade?

Ade: I don’t play. I’m the only one in this band that’s like, what else? God, what would I bring? I’d probably bring my snare, I’d bring a little loop machine because that’s actually the new next thing I’m actually trying to get into. It’s like little loop pads that I have on my drum kit and I really like them. And then…Aw man, what would be the third thing? The third thing would honestly probably be a little, like, cowbell.

Joan: Yeahhh.

Stephanie: Love me some cowbell. No cymbals.

Abi: No cymbals.

Ade: Don’t need a cymbal!

Abi: Too much work.

Ade: Yeah, just keep it simple. Snare, looper. Looper will have all the little ding-dong things anyway.

Diya: Just pitch it up, pretend it’s a cymbal.

Ade: Exactly! So like, super doomy. It’s fine. It’ll be great.

Joan: This is an easy one for me. It’s my Fender Twin Reverb–it’s like a 1969 like remodel, you know, like it’s like a new model, but it’s that version of it. The tube amp, not the modeler. And my pedalboard and my Stratocaster guitar. That’s it.

Abi: Not the violin? Not the piano?

Joan: The guitar needs those three components, you know, like I need those three…

Abi: You could just drop them if you got an acoustic.

Stephanie: True, you still have my acoustic.

Diya: I was gonna say, you could borrow Stephanie’s acoustic.

Joan: This acoustic that Steph lent us…

Abi: You’re universe-jumping. We’re not all stranded on the same island.

Joan: Okay…

Stephanie: Wait, we’re not? That’s tough–

Diya: I didn’t say that!

Joan: Wait, hold on…

Abi: I don’t really have gear other than the veena, honestly.

Joan: Abi has a pedalboard too?

Abi: Yeah, I have reverb, and then every now and then they’re like, “Why do you have that much reverb on?” I was like, “I don’t know.” Sometimes I hit it and I don’t pay attention. I never touch any of the pedals on my pedalboard. I’ll be honest, I’m a bad musician.

Joan: Yeah, Abi’s acoustic veena has a magnetic pickup. What is it called, a Tulsi pickup? Yeah. It’s like what everyone uses. We had to learn this.

Abi: I had to get my aunt. She called me at three in the morning and she was just like, “Hey, I’m at the music store. Is this what you want?” And I was like, “Yes, there’s only one of these things. You didn’t need to call me, but I appreciate it.”

Diya: Next time I should probably specify whether you’re all on the same island or not. ’Cause whenever I interview bands with that question, they’re like, “Yeah! I know we could all do it together! I’ll bring this, I’ll bring this.” And I’m like…bold of you to assume that you’re gonna be together. That’s on me though, I didn’t specify. It’s really nice to just, like, learn more about KulfiGirls and also to just see more Indian-inspired punk and alternative music. Yeah. This has been really great. Thank you all.

Abi: Yeah. Thank you for having us.

Joan: Yeah. Thank you.