Big Scary Indian

Photo provided by, Big Scary Indian

Meet Big Scary Indian

We are nearing the Halloween season, so why not bring in something Scary? Enter Big Scary Indian a project helmed by Roshan. The project is actually a lot less horrifying and more dazzling innovative art-rock. The artist uses their background in classical guitar to add a dizzying amount of flair and texture to every track they produce. Sorry for the bait and switch but it is the season of tricks and treats. Dive into our latest interview and check out their album “Chicome Malinalli”.

“VIDEO GAMES” A fill in the blank with Big Scary Indian

I love to EDIFY video games. I can play them day and BOWSPRIT! My mom and FULCRUM are not too happy with my SKYLARKING so much time in front of the television AGITPROP. Although Dad believes that these PLUCKY games help children develop hand-DISTAL JOINT coordination and improve their learning RUBES, he also seems to think they have CREPUSCULAR side effects on one's PELVIS. Both of my THOROUGHFARES think this is due to a OSSIFIED use of violence in the majority of the YEOMEN. Finally, we all arrived at a SCRAGGY compromise: After dinner I can play 13 hours of video games, provided I help clear the MAW and wash the CAPILLARIES.

Would You Rather

have a perfect photographic memory, or be able to see up to one day into the future?

Hmmm it depends. Would a perfectly photographic memory apply to literally everything, even things I just barely glanced at? Almost like a tape of my entire life I could rewind so I could zoom in on specific parts? If I can see into the future does that mean I just have to live it out no matter what? Or can I affect it and alter it? If I can affect it, wouldn’t that change the future? Would I be able to see those alternate possible futures?

Hmmmm lots of questions, but if I can affect the future and foresee the different possibilities I’d probably go with that. If I just have to live it out no matter what I try to do to affect it, I’d go with the perfect photographic memory esp if I can enhance details of my entire life CSI level. I would just open up all of my books and all the manuals to my modular gear that I don’t understand and brainscan it.

Some questions with Big Scary Indian

Your name—when and how did you decide to land on Big Scary Indian? I feel like there is a good story behind it.

Big Scary Indian came about as an inside joke between me and an old friend. I’m half Indian & part Native American & I’m super into a certain lane of pre-Hispanic/conquest indigenous spirituality. This friend always found it intriguing or useful and he would tell his other friends that hadn’t met me yet that I was a “big scary indian man” as a kind of way to talk me up. It sounded so ridiculous & made me laugh so it stuck with me & never really left. There’s more to it, but that’s all I’ll say for now.

On your Instagram, I see a lot of showcasing of your classic guitar skills. How have you incorporated this into the Chicome Malinalli EP, which has many more elements at play along with the guitar?

As they say, in a lot of ways the classical guitar is like a mini orchestra. It’s one of the few truly polyphonic stringed instruments so it’s taught me a lot about weaving ideas into one another successfully. A bit more straightforwardly - the first song “Lizard Envy” and the third song “Classical Trash” are using a quintessential right hand finger plucking pattern that’s ubiquitous in classical guitar repertoire. I wanted to start at a more grounded place so that if anyone happens to listen to all the music I plan on making they’ll hear a steady growth in complexity throughout the years.

Where is somewhere you have always wanted to record?

This is a cliche, but in a cabin deep in the woods that I never have to leave.

There’s quite a wave of emotions in Chicome Malianlli, despite only consisting of 3 tracks. Were you aiming for the audience to feel any certain emotions when listening to this?

Hmm I don’t know if I was aiming for the audience to feel a certain way so much as I was trying to exercise some of my own feelings out. How a record is perceived & interpreted is ultimately out of the creators control. Having said that there are themes of internal struggle & self destruction kind of baked into the recordings. Ideas of change and whether trying to change for the better is even worth it. I was also watching a lot retro futuristic stuff, true crime, classic horror like poltergeist or the thing, and twin peaks at the time because I wanted the recordings to kind of marinate in a classic old school VHS vibe. That’s just what I was after. I’m not sure if any of it comes through though haha

I feel like your music has the power to feel very transportive. What drives you to make this kind of music? How do you see your music evolving in the coming years?

That’s very nice of you. Really I just want to hear different things. There’s nothing wrong at all with being influenced, I’m heavily influenced. But how many times do we need to hear the same chord progression, the same melodies, the same recycled formula? I find that a lot of the talk about there being no such thing as an “original idea” is really just an excuse to be lazy. Maybe all songs when they’re completely stripped down to their core are the same, but you can organize enough elements around that core so it accumulates into something at least partially novel. It’s probably pretentious but that’s a big thing that pushes me to make music - to see if I’m capable of just trying to get us into some new territory. The other half is just natural - I’m a public school orchestra and band teacher so if it doesn’t have sixteens to twenty parts happening all at once I get bored lol.

As far as the future of my music - I’m really trying to push myself to become a better producer, engineer, & mixer. If there is one thing that I’d like to improve immensely on coming out of Chicome Malinalli it’s my production capability as I see it as the main obstacle to making the full potential of my ideas become reality. There are lots of elements of glitch, time manipulation, tone, & chopping that I want to improve & I’m working on a record right now with the intention of doing that while improving the overall fidelity of my recordings. I'm also a very politically active person and I see it as having become inseparable from my art these days. I want to incorporate that aspect of myself into my art in a way that makes sense & without it being forced.

What are you doing to keep sane in Brooklyn during the pandemic? Has music been a good outlet?

I’ve definitely given in to the touch of madness. But music, teaching music, biking, & protesting is my norm these days.

What is the best encounter you have ever had with a fan?

Hmmm I don’t know if there’s an absolute best but one time we met a real wild spirit named Robby in Montclair, NJ just outside of The Meatlocker who taught us all about Romanian fairies. I think he called them yalele’s ??

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Black Lives Matter. Justice for Breona Taylor, Jacob Blake, Sandra Bland, Tony McDade, George Floyd, Dominique Fells, Eric Garner, the countless, the unknown, & the unfilmed. No lives matter until Black Lives Matter.