Writer Zac O’Yeah always wanted to be a disco punk star. As a teenager in Sweden in 1980s, he played guitar in punk and neo-progressive bands. And when opportunity beckoned to be the lead vocalist of the electronic music group Twice a Man, he did not pass up. Together with Karl Gasleben and others, he cut albums and went on the Driftwood Tour in 1988.
O’Yeah’s musical association with Gasleben continues. The two, along with composer Anna Öberg, make up The Ändå pop collective, which released their new single Hey in September. It is currently third on Zero Magazine’s top 30 list on the music streaming platform Spotify. Hey, the band says, is about how “people are all doomed to die”. Its video features the band members as characters in a video game.
For O’Yeah, being part of the collective was to “live my dream”. His musical career temporarily took a backseat when at age 25, he moved to India and built a career as a writer. He has since written several books, including Mr Majestic: The Tout of Bengaluru and, more recently, Tropical Detective: A Hari Majestic Mystery.
With his writer wife Anjum Hasan, he sang on Twice a Man’s album Agricultural Beauty in 2002. The music on the album was heavily influenced by Indian classical music.
As part of The Ändå, O’Yeah has released eight synth-pop songs and five music videos, parts of which have been shot in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Kodagu. The Ändå hope to release their debut album in 2019.
