Ash Roy

Ash Roy started as a dancer in Calcutta — a city with three clubs in the whole of it — and became a DJ almost by accident: thrown onto the console one night when the working DJ was told to step off, he pulled a Josh Wink record and mixed it in the gap. He'd learned tabla as a child, and those hands never left. He won the Calcutta DMC regionals and lost the national final — then a stranger named Steve showed him he'd marked every cue point wrong. Dubai followed: two and a half years as a resident on Sheikh Zayed Road, opening for Boy George, Brandon Block and Paul Bleasdale, and the start of a vinyl habit that changed how he heard music.

Back in India he landed in Delhi, where there was no techno scene to join — so he helped build one. With his bandmate Ashwin he formed Jalebee Cartel, one of the first Indian electronic acts to reach European stages when almost nobody thought that was possible, and the two co-founded Soupherb Records, a label that's been releasing music for over thirteen years. Then in 2016 — a debut album out, a reputation built — he moved to Berlin, where none of it counted, and started again from scratch on an artist visa. He's one of the very few Indian artists who didn't just visit that world but moved into it, and he's spent the years since building a road back for everyone else. This is a conversation about getting good slowly, ending something to start what outlasts it, and keeping your hands on a drum through all of it.

The VIC Fix is hosted by DJ VIC — an international DJ and producer who performs at weddings, corporate events and festivals across India, staged as a signature audio-visual show.