MUSIC
Faze Online
Falling in love with Data Romance
by Sabrina Maddeaux
Canadians Ajay Bhattacharyya and Amy Kirkpatrick are Data Romance--an emerging band making waves with their distinct electronic-pop sound. Ajay’s transfixing beats are layered with Amy’s whispery voice to create unexpected and addictive musical blends. You may know (and love!) their hauntingly cool music video "The Deep," which became a cult hit across North America.
The pair is now on the road with tour dates across the U.S and Canada. Faze sat down with the duo to discuss everything from intellectual property to stage fright!
Data Romance had a ton of great stories to share, but one of the best was how a young girl stealing their music helped to kick-start their career!
In the band’s early days, they released songs on a free download site for fans to enjoy. They were shocked when a friend informed them a girl was posting their songs on her own site… as her own! And it didn’t stop there. “She even wrote about the songs’ meanings and her reasons for writing them,” recalls Amy. “She had a whole racket,” says Ajay. “But it was a young girl, so it’s really hard to get mad at a 15-year-old. The ironic, cool part of it was she actually created a bit of a fan base.”
Ajay told Faze the whole song-stealing situation worked out in Data Romance’s favour when they posted on the girls’ site informing everyone of their true identity: “All these fans from middle America, and places we’d never had access to from Vancouver started loving us. We ended up with a whole community online.”
From there the band has continued to rise in popularity and is now on the threshold of really making it big. Amy tells Faze that they continue to have a huge online presence and enjoy talking to fans through social media: “People come up to us and say ‘Hey remember when I commented on this?’ And we do. We actually remember because we talk to all of them.”
With so much success at a young age, we asked for some of their best advice on breaking into the music industry. Ajay emphasizes the importance of being your own musician: “Don’t do it if it’s not you. It’s a cliché, but be true to yourself, and actually write from the heart.”
Meanwhile Amy talks about persistence: “Just keep playing and keep writing music. I always say play any show, no matter how small it is. If your friends have a band, open for them. If you have a guitar, write music and get it out there. At least you’ll learn something. Even if nobody hears it, you’ll learn what you like to do.”
As they play in front of larger and larger crowds, the duo claims they still don’t get stage fright. “It’s just being normal. We know the songs in our head, and if you psych yourself out, you’re gonna forget something,” says Amy.
Ajay had a slightly different approach: “I luckily have something to distract me. I have a ton of gizmos with what I do—drums, keyboard, controllers—it’s a lot of stuff to remember to turn on and set right. So honestly, I probably deal with stress by just going over checklists in my head.”
And even if they mess up, these pros know how to keep their cool. “We’re surprisingly good at screwing up and not letting anyone know that we’ve screwed up,” laughs Ajay.
We’re pretty sure Data Romance doesn’t have much to worry about anyway. The band has a new album due out next year and a seemingly bright future ahead of them. We can’t wait to hear more from this homegrown dynamic duo!
