Arpan Karki: What’s up guys, we’re NepCali. I’m Arpan Cali (AP) from Long Beach, CA made in Nepal and I’m a vocalist from NepCali.

Scott Collins: Hey, what’s up? I’m Scott. I play drums for NepCali.

Sunny Shrestha: Hey, it’s Sunny Shrestha, I play guitar for NepCali. I’m 31 years old and I’m from Nepal.

Josh Buckley: And I’m Josh Buckley. Play for NepCali bass guitar and here we are.

Samuel Chacko: How does each of your childhoods impact the music that you create now? And I guess you being into the music scene. This is a question for everybody.

Arpan Karki: For me, I mean like. I grew up listening to Nepalese music. Most like, you know, I was never into like Western music that much when I was like growing up because we didn’t have access to the like wide range of music selections.

But like slowly I started getting into like a classic rock and like grunge music. And that’s kind of the inspiration I got it from, the music I was like making.

So the music we make right now, like in the teamwork, pretty much my job is like whatever I have learned and whatever I have experience with, the kind of genre I am in, I try to bring that in, in the music and it’s like somehow it works.

Josh Buckley: Yeah. I mean me, like, I grew up with guitar lessons and like learning like Neil Young and like Bruce Springsteen

Arpan Karki: Bruce Springsteen

Josh Buckley: which is great, but like, it’s not anything what we play at all.

Arpan Karki: Yeah.

Josh Buckley: You know, but. And my mom grew up like listening to like ABBA, so that’s what I grew up listening to.

But other than that, I mean, I kind of just like started listening to like heavier rock and stuff like that and just learned my guitar through like, I don’t know, maybe 19 through like 25 or whatever.

And then I kind of just formed my plan because of like newer music like that or older music, you know, but like newer genres.

Samuel Chacko: What about everyone else?

Scott Collins: I grew up listening to the radio and my parents had like a large CD collection of the 70s music. I was kind of started listening. My dad was like in the garage one day fixing a stereo and I was like 8 years old.

I came downstairs while I was fixing it and he was like, hey, grab a CD out of my CD collection. So I grabbed 2 CD’s.

One was a Primus CD and then the other one was Joe Walsh.

Josh Buckley: Your dad, Primus?

Arpan Karki: Wow, your dad knows.

Scott Collins: What a great influence to start with.

Sunny Shrestha: Well, I grew up listening to Iron Maiden. Yeah, like General Bottom

Arpan Karki: That’s the heavy metal guy right here, man. The heaviest metal.

I was never into metal since I was a kid like I was. I started like classic rock.

It was not my choice of music. And look where we are now [Laughs]

Samuel Chacko: So for the other members, other than Arpan, what drew you into the band? I guess what are some of the chemistry that you have now?

Arpan Karki: I would say, how did we meet?

Samuel Chacko: Yeah, how did you meet, exactly.

Arpan Karki: Yeah, we meet is like Sunny, like I said to your other questions, like how we started the garage, starting playing.

So, Sunny was the person who came for the first time, I never knew this guy, so we just made him through the third person.

So he came, me and Sushant Amatya [who’s a co-owner with Arpan] used to jam on the garage. He was like a garage like really congested place where only three people can see.

And there’s a dog already used to come in and sit right next to us. His name was Adam. Rest in peace. Like, you know, he was a German Shepard, I really love that dog.

So it was our homie right there, right? And so Sunny came in. This guy’s [Sunny] like with this guitar with his like processor and everything, like just all flashy and I was like okay, cool.

Josh Buckley: I haven’t even heard this.

Arpan Karki: Ok, so he started like, plugging in. And this guy started playing guitar and like Sushant and me were just looking at each other because he’s just like shreding.

And he played like some beautiful tunes and we’re like we love it. But Sonny never came back after that.

I don’t know what happened at first. Like me and Sushant, I thought he thought like we were probably not serious. Like, we’re just a bunch of dudes getting drunk, like all because we were older than him, like.

So I was like 30 years old at the time and Sushant was like almost 35 and he was like, he barely came to the United States, so he had responsibility.

So he never hit us back until two years, finally, because he saw us keep grinding, keep hustling, keep booking shows doing it. and he was like. He saw our band and was like, ‘You got sound terrible, probably a guitarist can help you guys out a little bit.’ [Laughing]

So he came to our rescue. That’s how it came in. He hit me up on Facebook.

He was like, you guys still playing, I wanna come and jam up and came to the studio and this dude right here [pointing at Scott].

I fired my bases and a drummer a week before the show […]

We have a lot of disagreements and like something happened, we were in the car together and I just snapped and I fired them, but I didn’t have anybody to replace it, right?

And we were working with this guy called “Emo,” like who pretty much gets credited to him,

Paul and Scott were, “Emo’s” help.

So we were like, we need a drummer. We recording with him and he was like, I know this guy got Scott, so you’re probably going to help you out so.

We got him in the text message. Scott, like me and “Emo,” and we texted each other. I’m like, oh bro what’s up? Are you going to come down to the studio?”

So when I first heard his name is Scott Collins, the way he answered the text, I thought he was an old dude.

Like he was like fucking 45-50 years old dude, like don’t have any job. Like fucking. He just plays drums for a fucking hobby.

And like I was saying like, you know, let’s do it and he walks into the studio. Fucking young kid. I still have his picture on that fucking day.

Like buzz like fucking here. Like some not buzz like your story here. A young kid like comes in walks the door and he fucking comes in.

We did “American Greed” the first song, and he fucking nails it. Like, you know, he comes in because he was prepared, like everything he fucking learned.

And two shows, he did it with us and after the third show, he felt something he’s going to tell you right now.

But like, he was like, I’m going to be in the band. And him [Scott] came in, like almost. We’ve been together like almost more than a year now already.

Josh Buckley: I think so, right? Yeah.

Arpan Karki: Yeah. So like, we saw him live on one of the shows and Scott was like, fucking I love this bass at the time and Scott was more like he was like, we should talk to him, you know.

Scott Collins: We played a backyard show and this guy had a band called “Gag Tusk.”

Josh Buckley: Shout out!

Scott Collins: And he came up to him and he was like, dude, I love your band.

Arpan Karki: He talked really high about us, right? And like […]

Scott Collins: We came out to one of his shows because we lost our bass player. At the time, because he, uh, yeah.

Samuel Chacko: Disagreement. That’s fine. Yeah.

Scott Collins: So we go over to one of his shows and we catch him playing. This is at the Mint in LA, right?

Everyone: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Collins: And then we walked up to you and you’re like, dude, I checked your guy’s album out on YouTube. It was fucking great.

And we were like, oh shit, okay so he likes the band and he checked out her music and we didn’t talk at all. We just came out to your show.

Scott and Arpan: Yeah. We were like, hey dude, you texted him later

Scott Collins: We’re looking for a bass player. So, we asked you to jam and he came in and it’s going to fit ever since.

Arpan Karki: Well, that’s how I made all these guys. But now they’re gonna answer you how they got drawn in the band.

Samuel Chacko: Yeah, how how did you guys get drawn in the band?

Josh Buckley: I saw them and they were like, not even getting the best band that I’ve ever seen, like, play with us, you know what I mean?

Like, and we played with like like a lot of bands like probably like 100, you know what I mean?

And they were the greatest. And then fucking Scott texted me, freaking Scott, texted me and he was like, do you want to like audition?

I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah, dude.

Arpan Karki: So, we’re working on an EP and we needed like a really nice. I’m like, who knows how to play base? Like for us, like all the bases we have in the past, we need a whole episode for on the base episode.

Scott Collins: We can do a giant story on base players.

Arpan Karki: But for him, like we loved his work and he loved the energy he brings into the studio and like, of course, he’s late most of the time you have and he has issues.

Josh Buckley: You don’t need to bring that up [as everyone laughs]

Arpan Karki: But, I love this guy because he brings like something on the table like and that’s what I appreciate about the band. Everybody brings something to the table.

And so like before besides before that we didn’t have a base to bring something but he was in.

Scott?

Scott Collins: Yeah, so originally was really trying to get into music when I was starting and playing in bands. I had a band before this…

Samuel Chacko: And this was high school [or] college?

Scott Collins: I was 22-23at the time.

There was a band that started with a guy named Jason Ledesma and we started this band called “Stereo Dove” played with them for a while.

We have an album out called “Body Electric.” You can check it out on all the streaming platforms Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pornhub, I’m kidding. It’s not on there.

Arpan Karki: Maybe videos we’ll find out.

Scott Collins: But, I eventually got kicked out of that because nobody could get along and then I was trying to figure out what to do.

And then I met up with the guy named “Emo” who got me connected with AP here and he got Paul connected with us and he owned this radio podcast station that “Stereo Dove” played on.

And when I was kicked out, I was like, what are we going to do to find the band? So, I’m like scrolling through Instagram on my phone and I saw he had his own band called Aladdin that was playing at a show nearby.

So, I went out to there and I caught up with him and then he got me caught up with these guys.

And let’s see, when I first met you, we had a show like a week after.

Arpan and Scott: Yeah, yeah. You called me. It was in Santa Ana. It was Malone. Yeah, it was Malone.

And the second was in Silverlake Lounge, that’s where that after that, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s where after that you just like, you just call us.

Scott Collins: I was looking for several groups and I was playing with different guys and then one day I was just like, I need to call these guys up and let them know, like, I want to be a member of your band.

I don’t want to just play drums with you.

Samuel Chacko: Okay, I want to get your [talking about Sunny] context of it. So, we heard Arpan talk about you joining it, but like what drew you into the band?

Sunny Shrestha: After two years, we 2014 or 15?

Arpan Karki: 15′, no, no, we made 2014. Yeah.

Sunny Shrestha: And then after I came back after two years. Do you know why? Because these motherfuckers were playing shows like every all the venues in Long Beach and I was in the work every time and I see the video, man, these guys are playing.

So I think they are serious and that’s how I came into the band.

Samuel Chacko: So you, you saw like after you played with him once and you looked like on social media, you saw…

Sunny and Arpan: I saw more serious than you saw more because I already know they are the musician.

Arpan Karki: Yeah, I didn’t want to waste his time. Like. Yeah, same time.

Samuel Chacko: Do you have any PG-13 sort of stories, funny stories with the group, I guess.

Arpan Karki: Oh, PG-13 [Group laughs]

Josh Buckley: My mouth is shut

Scott Collins: No, I can’t think of any PG-13 stories

Arpan Karki: Ohh though we talk about the Oklahoma, Kansas City thing. That’s PG-13.

Scott Collins: Oh, yeah we can make it PG-13.

Arpan Karki: Okay this is the story, we have a lot of stories, but it’s not for kids, appropriate for kids.

Scott Collins: You can’t say it on camera [laughs]

Arpan Karki: It has to be mature and adult content only.

So, but this, we have one story. We are on our tour from here to Texas. It was like a month tour and we were driving through Colorado to Oklahoma. So it was like a huge drive.

We have to go to Kansas and Kansas is really strict about like weed and like marijuana and everything.

So we picked up some from Colorado and we’re like, “okay, let’s smoke all of this right here before we get into the road.”

Josh Buckley: Someone did, it wasn’t us [Chuckles]

Arpan Karki: Yeah. So we were like, okay that’s fine. So we smoked most of them and stashed a little bit of them because we got to smoke some.

So we stash them in the fucking car on the van on the back of the van. Like, because there was like all equipment. So we just stashed them somewhere like, okay, fuck it there. If they want to find us, like, fucking good luck.

Josh Collins: Also to mention our base player at the time…

Arpan Karki: Yeah and my bass player, he was Mexican and he didn’t have a paper at the time, right. I’m not going to say his name, but we’re scared the whole time because we’re going to Arizona, it’s a red state pretty much.

And we really like kind of like scared and he was scared the most and he was sitting on the front seat.

I was driving and we drive going through this Kansas like 30 minutes before we leave the Oklahoma border, we get pulled over.

I was driving, the speed limit was 45 hours, driving on 50 and I was scared because like fucking I haven’t got a ticket in seven years.

And I was like, I was like, I was like the fucking dude was right there, the bases. We didn’t have a paper. He was right next to me. We had a fucking weed in the van and the Kansas states if you get arrested for the Marijuana, it’s a $5000 fine, $10,000 fine, and at least five years of prison, right.

Samuel Chacko: Oh!

Arpan Karki: So, the guy pulled us over and the guy walks out. It was a fucking acting like a Hispanic dude, right?

He comes into my window and before I hand him the driving license he was like, “oh the reason I pulled you guys over was like because you’re the tail lights on the trailer are out.”

And I was like okay, but I gave him my ID without even asking because I was like scared. He looked at my ID and everything and asked, ‘so where you are guys going?’

He started asking questions, right? And I was like, we told him like every fucking thing.

We’re a band, this and that. We’re traveling and I don’t know if you started like looking at us on the fucking Instagram he saw it was like okay, you’re in a band.

And he was like, okay, fix the lights and we’ll sit here with you guys before you guys leave, right?

Like, I’m not going to let you guys, like drive like this, so we try to fix it. He did not ask for anybody’s ID, he was really nice, thank God. And there was another fucking white dude.

Like, I think if he would have busted us before him, then we have big trouble. But he came in later, right?

Josh Buckley: He should’ve arrested you degenerates. [laughs[

Arpan Karki: Yeah, no shit. Yeah, but he came in and after that everything happened. We talked to him and he was really nice.

And like, he was like, you know what? You guys can put the emergency light on and you can keep driving because you cannot fix that tail light right?

And but he was like, but before you guys go in, can I take a picture with you guys?

So he was like and everybody all these guys is like in the car like pretty much like fucking on the back seat, like kind of like sleeping. And I woke everybody up.

And I was like come on guys, like he wants to take a picture.

So, we took a picture and after we take a picture, he was like, do you guys want to do anything? Special like, you know we would hope you guys out?

So I was like, hell, let’s get arrested. Let’s pretend to get arrested.

And he was like who’s gonna get handcuffed? And Scott was like, me of course.

So he went in like right away and we made this like small like a video kind of a real.

We getting arrested in Kansas and we were like everybody’s leaning towards the wall and like we’re getting arrested. The cops are putting handcuffs on him and everybody’s the thing on that.

And we posted that thing on Tik Tok, it went viral and we went to sleep because we were driving and we went to sleep the next day.

And everybody’s phone was blowing off from their parents because they went to jail because it was just like, you know, we made that story, but that was one of the PG-13 stories, you know, without a weed, I guess.

Samuel Chacko: Alright, so this is the last question. It’s been a long interview. Thanks again for the NepCali for doing all this. Really appreciate it.

NepCali: We appreciate it.

Samuel Chacko: Is there anything else you’d like to share? Anything about the band? Anything personally?

Scott Collins: Check out our YouTube or Instagram or Spotify or only fans.

Arpan Karki: We got a website. We got a website coming soon. NepCalimusic.com. we already got the domain so like I’m gonna go pick up RV, the website is gonna be in the process too, but besides that, we’re going to have everything on the website.

But for right now, you guys can just Google us, google.com, [N-E-P-C-A-L-I] please go follow us on Instagram, we got a lot of reels over there, a lot of things coming out.

And Facebook, we got all the social media, and I think that’s the only way, you guys can know about it.

Josh Buckley: And TikTok

Arpan Karki: TikTok too.

Samuel Chacko: Alright, this is Samuel Chako from Talon Marks.

NepCali: Thanks Sam, we appreciate it, man.

Arpan Karki: NepCali man, thank you!

Samuel Chacko: Follow them on all their social medias, all that sort of stuff.

Thanks again for taking the time to do all this. Really appreciate it. We all appreciate it.

Josh Buckley: Thank you.

Samuel Chacko: Peace! You have a good one!