Tapping into an intricate fantasy world rich with astute spirituality and cleverly-constructed melodic and harmonic structures, dexterous guitarist, singer and songwriter Pheroze Karai makes intelligent music that illuminates life's mysterious complexities. Inspired by vibrant rock risk-takers such as Freddie Mercury, Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, Slash, Jeff Buckley and Prince, his intellectually-driven songs memorialize the craftsmanship behind the music that has sparked his imagination since childhood and present multi-dimensional snapshots of his cultural and creative roots.
His dedication to mastering the intricacies of the recording process has led him to fine-tune his own skills as a producer and engineer and has caught the ears of collaborators such as mix engineer Nick Cohen (Redman, Ill Nino, Brian McKnight, 40 Below Summer) and producer Clay Holley (Adele, Aloe Blacc, Blakroc). Through his meticulously-crafted albums and cathartic live performances, he freely presents highly-personal material that also genuinely resonates with a universal audience.
Born in London to Zoroastrian parents, Pheroze's musical journey began while he was splitting his childhood time between the restrictive Saudi Arabia and the colorful, sensual India. Equally-stimulated by the pervasive Bollywood culture and the Black Sabbath, Queen and Prince that was on regular rotation at his parents' house, his exposure to varied cultures allowed Pheroze to develop a worldly perspective. When he was 12-years old, a chance encounter with a friend's guitar finally gave a distinct voice to his life's passion, and, in order to raise enough money to buy his own instrument, he smuggled in Penthouse magazines ? which were illegal in Saudi Arabia ? and sold them to local teenagers. From that point on, he has been driven to build his life around the creation of music. He continues to channel the ghosts that have drifted in and out during his journey and let them speak through uniquely haunted melodies and lyrics.
Pheroze has been energetically participating in the New York City music scene since he arrived in 1997 and has written songs for, played in and released well-received albums with bands including Scar Culture (Century Media Records), Earthbound Smoke Ghost, Namanista and Soapbox Army. Often referring to himself as ?Minstrel for the Dead,? Pheroze Karai has released two solo LPs: Driftwood (2008), which was mixed by Nick Cohen and Crows into Swine (2011), co-produced and mixed by Clay Holley. Both releases demonstrate Pheroze's dexterity as a producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist playing everything but drums and incorporating Indo/Persian instruments. He is currently playing a series of shows with his recently-reinvigorated powerhouse backing band and working on his third solo release, which will be available in late 2012.
Written by Julia Rogers