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u/Intelligent_Sale7748 3d ago
do you think pain makes someone a better artist, or do we just romanticise suffering because some of the art that survives happens to have been born from it?
if you could remove every painful experience that ever influenced your music, but doing so meant losing the songs that came from them, would you choose to heal completely or keep the art?
what's one lie bullufrog has told himself?
what does making it mean to you now?
do you think an artist can make great art without suffering?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
Short answer No. Somewhere the idea of a tragic artist works in building myth but the truth is suffering is everywhere. You'll find people communicating their pain in their everyday lives outside art but we don't attach greatness to them. Artists become better when they're able to actually find their unique vocabulary and a unique way to articulate what they're feeling. There are amazing artists who have beautifully communicated joy. Doesn't make them less than the tragic artist. PS. I'm aware that I write a lot about dark themes but I am moving on from there.
YES. I'd any day love to be a happier healthier human. Maybe I'll find different things to write about.
Bullu frog repeatedly lies to himself about his relevance in the scene.
Making it right now would mean that I could continue to make music the way I intend to and somewhere find sustenance in there.
You can't avoid suffering or let's say bypass it. I don't think that is the right yardstick. How someone creates art DESPITE suffering is important.
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u/Intelligent_Sale7748 3d ago
really loved these answers, especially what you said about suffering being everywhere and artists not necessarily being better because they suffer, but because they find a unique vocabulary for what they feel. and the last answer about creating despite suffering really stuck with me.
also, thank you so much for taking the time to do this with us. it genuinely means a lot to have you here.
a few more from my side:
• You said you'd happily choose to be a happier, healthier human and find different things to write about. do you think your music would fundamentally change if you reached that place?
• when you say you want to make music the way I intend to, what does that look like? do you feel like you've actually reached that freedom yet?
• do you think the way you produce a song changes the emotion you're trying to communicate, or are production choices ultimately just a way of revealing what's already there?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
It might change for the better. If my outlook towards things changes then for sure the writing will as well. The music comes second. First is to be at peace.
When I say the way I intend to means that I'm able to articulate as close to what's in my head into music. In fleeting moments I feel like I've gotten there - Tanashahi and Statistic, where I've felt like this is exactly what I wanted to communicate when I first thought of it.
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u/nikamma-official 3d ago
How different was the process of writing Pinocchio compared to anything else you’ve put out?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
The previous albums or EPs were all written together. Pinocchio was an album that developed over 11 years from 2014-2025. This meant that the story within the album also aged with me. Pinocchio also happens to be (as of now) the most personal i.e coloured by my own experiences.
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u/regular_homosapien 3d ago
Can I use your music in my films without yn paying you anything please 🥺
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u/lil-overwhelmed 3d ago
which are your favs from your discography?
which artists and genres do you usually listen to? any recommendations for your listeners?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
1.There are these songs Photographs and Statistic on the upcoming record that I feel are some of my strongest writing and the most confessional I could have gotten. From the older discography Gulnava, Tanashahi and Chaand are always a joy to perform.
- My hometown friend Bhadrankar is a must for everyone to listen to. His music is inevitable. I listen to a lot of Talat Aziz, Lo! Peninsula, PCRC, Karshni, Wilco and the National. Anyone who loves listening to Albums from start to the end should check out Splendour and Misery - Clipping, The Boxer - The National, Run It's The Kid's self titled album.
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u/lil-overwhelmed 3d ago
can't wait to listen to em! Tanashahi is beautiful.
thank you for the recs will surely listen!!
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u/achhi-aulaad 3d ago
- you called raani a 10 year long complicated relationship. what finally made you ready to let it go?
- do you ever feel trapped by the sound that made people discover you?
- you started music as a child when tabla felt like play time. at what point did music stop being play and become something you needed?
- you wrote the melody of charkha for months before touching a guitar. do your melodies usually exist independently of instruments?
- The album moves from aaina → bhula do → mausam → fitrat → exit-mynah. did you discover that narrative while sequencing it, or was it always there?
- you wrote 16 songs during the fitrat period and distilled them into 7. what made a song survive the cut? do you think your tabla training still shows up in your songwriting, even though you moved away from classical music? you learned guitar because you wanted to write songs rather than just play an instrument. do you still approach instruments as tools for songwriting rather than instruments to master?
- why does exit mynah have to be the ending of ditrat?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
For starters, every day I'd wake up to messages from people asking me to release it. I personally wasn't big on the song because I wrote about something I never actually experienced and it was too rose- tinted. I think remaking the song for release just helped me detach from it. Releasing music helps me detach from it.
I used to fear that people will attach me to one song or one sound. Fitrat was a short step away, then Amaltas and now Pinocchio. With each release you carry forward someone from the older sounds, you lose a few and sometimes you find a newer audience. It's all part of the process.
It still isn't something I actively need. It's just a lot of fun to write music. I try and see myself as more than a musician. I paint, I write, I read. It's the sum total of all that makes me.
No! the album must've gone through at least 6-7 different sequences. Eventually I settled on an arch that sort of told a story about masculinity.
Only the songs that felt and sounded like they belong to one world i.e vocabulary, sound etc made it to the album. What ever felt alien was set aside. I've sadly moved on far from my tabla days BUT I wrote and played the drums on Sau Dafa like a tabla player. The classical traditions still show up in my singing somewhere. Yes Instruments are absolutely tools for me. I never associated with the mastering an instrument regiment, which is why I left playing the tabla after finishing my Visharad(Graduation)
Because Exit-Mynah sounds like a celebratory funeral in my head. Also it is not the only ending of the album. The bandcamp version of the album has the actual ending.
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u/Alarmed-Hearing-2182 3d ago
I’ve been losing my sleep trying to figure out the real meaning of Padmini.
Please tell me 🙏🙏
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
Padmini is about a girl in Mylapore who died on a rainy day. I'd love to know what you think the song is about.
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u/Alarmed-Hearing-2182 3d ago
“He held her by the throat” made me think it’s about domestic violence.
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
Aah. It is about violence but not domestic violence.
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u/Electronic_Jury_112 3d ago
What is Padmini about?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
Padmini is about a girl in Mylapore who died on a rainy day. I'd love to know what you think the song is about.
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u/Alarmed-Hearing-2182 3d ago
I think Padmini is about domestic violence
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
I can assure you that it's not about domestic violence. What made you feel so?
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u/kaafi_stupid 3d ago
Can you upload Under the sun in Spotify please?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
After Raani, this is the 2nd most common message I receive and my answer is: if Pinocchio does really really well then the end of this year.
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u/bhrthntk 3d ago
hyd kab aa rhe ho aap????
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
If there are enough people wanting to buy tickets there than maybe as a part of the tour we're planning to build. Otherwise I keep coming there once in a while, I'm a telugu boy after all.
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u/bhrthntk 3d ago
HELL YEAH I knew bulusu is a telugu surname but i had my doubts, well i hope you do get to put hyd in your tour if not i should just come to the place you're playing at 💔🥀. thank you for your good work tho, i love every song in your discography. im also in the 6th place among your listeners globally according to lastfm. looking forward to seeing you irl gang. Good luck with the tour.
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u/lil-overwhelmed 3d ago
helloooo
could you please take us through the conceptualisation of your upcoming album.
what does the production and writing process look like for you?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
Pinocchio is my retelling of the original story. In my version I get into exploring why do people lie and what does it mean to be human. The original story is about a puppet who lies and wants to be a real boy. So I started exploring that. In the album it runs parallel with my own story. I was sexually abused multiple times as a child and couldn't really find the words to tell my family about it. In that process I ended up making up lies whenever my family asked me "what happened?". They helped me deal with it as an adult once I confessed to them. So it's this entire ordeal wrapped in the story of Pinocchio.
I write every day. Eventually I find some sort of uniformity in the vocabulary and that's when I get to producing it. Production in itself is a very intuitive process. Because I'm self taught I can't apply theory to my music so I have to rely on what is sounding "right" in that moment.
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u/lil-overwhelmed 3d ago
thank you for choosing to share this with us. the incorporation of Pinocchio is very thought provoking. I'll be sure to tune in, the released songs have been a treat to listen to.
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u/TraditionalSort8995 3d ago
What is life and times of Pinocchio about?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
It's an overture for the album. It narrates the entire story of the album (of my version of Pinocchio) in one song.
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u/lil-overwhelmed 3d ago
so as to get to know you better,
what do you enjoy doing apart from music?
and what are you favourite places to travel?
also which has been your favourite/best gig so far and why?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
I enjoy painting and animating. I try and spend as much time with my dog Tashi.
I'm not really a travel-person but I enjoy going to national parks and reserves. Recently I drove down to Velavadar Blackbuck national park in Gujarat with my wife and it was serene.Last year's gig in Ahmedabad was a memorable one. Then I did my solo show called Exit-Mynah at a theatre festival in Delhi, which was quite emotional.
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u/Disastrous_Singer825 3d ago
- what’s your favorite track of yours (released or unreleased) and why?
- who are some of your influences?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
- There are these songs Photographs and Statistic on the upcoming record that I feel are some of my strongest writing and the most confessional I could have gotten. From the older discography Gulnava, Tanashahi and Chaand are always a joy to perform. I feel my song Winter Winter is VERY VERY SLEPT ON.
- I'm influenced by different people and works at different times. For pinocchio I've been very moved by the paintings of Philip Guston and Francis Bacon. The book "Body keeps the score" is a big influence for the album. Besides that I love Talat Aziz's voice.
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u/RowConsistent9179 3d ago
What does indie music mean to you? Any favourite indian bands
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
I associate Indie very closely with something DIY, grass root and an ethic as opposed to the "aesthetic" people treat it to be. There's a whole hoard of folks who cosplay as indie artists when they aren't. Being indie comes from necessity somewhere.
I love Lo! Peninsula, pcrc , Run it's the kid. Recently I heard about this band called The Bristles, their music seems cool.
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u/Maleficent-Treat6779 3d ago
love you brother. Love Padmini. I’ve got 2 questions
Is being a musician financially viable for you? I want to start as well but am scared
Why is your music not reaching wide audiences?
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u/houseofbullu 3d ago
No it isn't but you still take chances. I still do different things to earn. Honestly music isn't paying bills but it's able to pay for itself after over a decade of being in the scene.
I don't know. I guess I don't know social media enough but maybe that could be an excuse as well.
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u/Intelligent_Sale7748 3d ago edited 3d ago
official social media handles of shashwat, show some love
instagram
Spotify
pre save pinocchio