Stephen Devassy started dabbling in music when he was only about 10 years old. He quickly became attached to his pianos and keyboards, but played intermittently back then. He took music seriously when he turned 17 and got accepted into the prestigious Trinity College of Music in London, where he pursued music full time.
At Trinity, he unleashed the musical beast inside him and quickly rose to become one of the best keyboardist amongst his peers. Since embarking on his musical career, Stephen has performed with many notable names in the Indian music industry, like Hariharan, the Colonial Cousins, AR Rahman, the Late Mandolin U Srinivas, Karaikudi Mani, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Louis Banks, and many more.
Lucky for us, this popular and most sought-after keyboardist will be making his way to Kuala Lumpur on the 9th of June – along with his Solid band – to perform at Mojo Concert Series’ Triple Treat: Battle of the Bands.
In a recent interview with Varnam, Stephen confessed that he and his band are stoked to perform in Malaysia for the first time ever.
“I’ve never performed in Malaysia. This will be my first concert, even though I’ve been to Malaysia before for holidays. We are really, really excited!” Stephen said in the interview.
“We’re bringing about 4 to 5 songs for you to jive to. Some are a little complex, and there are a few melodious numbers and a couple of aggressive songs. You don’t want to miss this, I guarantee it’s going to be 100% fun!”
“I’m bringing my Solid band with me; and they are literally SOLID. It’s a very strong band with very strong musicians – and we perform everything from A to Z. It’s going to be so much fun and the audience are going to love it,”
According to Stephen, he and The Solid band and have been together for a whopping 11 years, performed in over 30 countries and played at 1500 concerts together. Apart from that, Stephen also added that he is excited to be sharing the stage with his very close friend, Naresh Iyer.
“Naresh and I are very close friends, we’ve been performing for about 8 to 9 years and shared at least 100 stages together. I love Agam too. I love that they are a band of a different genre – mixed with carnatic. I love that, I love carnatic music, and they are going to open the stage on Saturday and that’s great!”
When asked about his upcoming projects, Stephen said that he has actually signed with a Hollywood movie, but unfortunately he can’t divulge any details yet.
“I tell you what – what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna ask them (the producers) for permission, and then I might reveal the name of the movie for the first time – in Malaysia – at the Triple Treat concert!” Stephen said.
Before we let Stephen go, we also managed to ask him how does he chill and unwind after a long day at work.
“Oh, you know what, I’m the kind of person who can watch the same movie over and over again. I’ve seen the same movies like 15 times. My favourite movies are Gladiator and Blood Diamond,”
“I also love taking long drives and making pit stops at small tea shops. Just something very calming about that.”
“I also love food, and that’s one of the reasons why I can’t wait to go to Malaysia. I had so much fun trying out all the street food the last time, including Thai and Chinese food. I might come one day earlier just to eat and get a foot massage!”
Triple Treat: Battle of the Bands is brought to you by Mojo Projects. The concert is happening on the 9th of June, starting 6pm at Hotel Istana in KL.
Get your tickets now at Airasia RedTix.
