By Keith Walsh
Dr. Nishant Joshi first made news in the UK in 2020 when he and his wife Dr. Meenal Viz challenged working conditions for his fellow physicians on the front lines of the COVID-19 epidemic, leading to top-down change by the NHS (National Health Service). Now this medical doctor/musical artist is using his songwriting and performance skills to bring social change with his three piece band, Kill, The Icon!
Kill, The Icon! just released their debut EP Your Anger Is Rational, a sizzling four-track set (six on Bandcamp.com) featuring Joshi’s biting lyrics, and musical performances on bass and vocals, along with Ian Flynn on synths, and Florin Constantin Pascu on drums. It was a privilege to dialogue with Dr. Joshi and quiz him on his experiences and message. (My review of the album is at punkrockbeat.com)
Popular Culture Beat: Your passion to combat injustice, what was the initial spark? Is your passion more informed by growing up a person of color, or from your formal education and having studied human nature, history, sociology?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Everyone goes on a journey of realization. Mine was realizing that my own formal education taught me plenty of useless facts, and not much about a framework to think critically about the world around us. A standard education teaches us how to think superficially, and I’ve found that only through a combination of challenging life experiences – self-inflicted and otherwise – was I able to start evolving my critical thinking.
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Growing up in England, I was always aware of my race, but it seemed rather tangential. I didn’t feel like i was being actively discriminated against – I thought it was just the natural order that white kids would get to be the sports captains and prefects. Class seemed to be more of an issue to me – I came from a very working-class background, and so a lack of wealth and privilege was always apparent in terms of the car we had and cramped house we lived in.
The aspect of social justice only became crystallized in my mind when I started working as a doctor. I feel that doctors often get a bad rap in popular culture, but the reality is that having thousands upon thousands of conversations with people in need, often in desperate situations, will sharpen up your life skills pretty quickly. If you choose to engage on a deep and rational level, you will connect in a way that other professions rarely witness. Over a period of time, if you translate these high-quality interactions, you ascend to another plane of empathy – one where it’s a reflex to help others, and doesn’t entail a burden.
Popular Culture Beat: Racism never went away, but it’s there in more subtle forms. How can artists in all fields (music of course) use technology instead of letting technology be used to disseminate hate?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: The impact of soft power is often massively overlooked and underplayed, despite it playing a key role in how society functions. So musicians play a huge role in trying to build cultural value through their own art. The trick is to keep one step of the tech being used by the hate preachers.
Popular Culture Beat: In line with the above question, what limits to freedom of expression should societies consider now that it’s easier than ever to disseminate messages of hate?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: OK you’re looking to get me into trouble here haha. This is a potentially career-ending question to answer. The sort of question that if I were to answer truthfully, and honestly, with live examples, I’d be putting my livelihood on the line. So for a diplomatic answer that will win the popular vote, I’d probably say the limits to free speech should probably end with newspaper opinion columnists like Allison Pearson. There is no value in anything that Allison Pearson says, and it’s mostly hateful. I’d place a hard limit on her ability to write columns. She’d make a story about a kitten rescue into one about migrants living in Blackpool hotels.
“We need open conversations about the scourge of racism and how it manifests. “
Dr. Nishant Joshi, of Kill, The Icon!
Popular Culture Beat: Who plays on the album, you’re the bassist right? Drums are amazing. Synth, bass, and guitar? Very tight band.
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Thanks! Soooooo, a common misconception! We don’t have an electric guitar. One of my formative moments in music was listening to Death From Above 1979 on record, then learning about them and realizing that they were only a drummer and bassist. They sounded like they were a four-piece! We’ve got myself (Nishant) on bass guitar, Ian Flynn on synth, and Florin Constantin Pascu on drums. He’s a maniac on drums and I hope we’ll be able to add a second drummer to the line-up at some point.
Popular Culture Beat: I heard you got up on stage with Iggy Pop? I hear him, particularly on your song “All The Ugly Things.” Who are some other favorites of punk and even pop?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Yup, Iggy Pop is a blast. You’re right, actually – I do drawl a bit like him on ‘All The Ugly Things.’ It’s actually a cover of a Bambara song, who are an amazing band out of America. I followed them around on tour last year – truly sensational. Jello Biafra from Dead Kennedys is a favourite of mine. Same goes for The Fall’s Mark E. Smith. From the bass side I always love Jesse Keeler from Death From Above 1979 – his energy is what a bassist needs to aspire to.
Popular Culture Beat: Your authenticity comes through. How will you maintain authenticity as an artist as your brand becomes more well known?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Authenticity is the perception. Purpose is the reality. So long as we do justice to our purpose, that’s all that matters.
Popular Culture Beat: Are you a practicing physician or are you more focused on the music?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: I’m a full-time doctor by day, and a full-time musician by night. I’m also a doctor by night, sometimes. It’s a 24/7 life that I’ve chosen. I have no respite. Being a doctor is so emotionally demanding and physically draining that it does sometimes subtract from my ability to sit down with a guitar to write. But that’s life. Ultimately I feel richer for having these two fulfilling careers – not financially, obviously I’m way poorer for having ever stepped on stage!
Popular Culture Beat: You address the nature/nurture question. Of course nurture seems to be the most causative. over nature in instilling hatred for others. Yet the issue is complex. What can you say about the primal fear of the “other” and the selfish gene, kin selection, etc?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins when I was thinking about med school, and the question always fascinated me. I don’t think there’s an answer, but personally I’m guided by studies into identical twins. Broadly speaking, we know that a twin raised by a nun in Australia is going to turn out totally different to a twin raised by Donald Trump in Florida. I’m also guided by my experiences as a doctor and a father – I see the impact of parenting on children. Humans are very easy to influence.
Popular Culture Beat: Given this complex nature, what can be done to address systemic racism, in addition to creating protest songs? What can the average non artist do to effect positive change?
Dr. Nishant Joshi: Systemic racism is a cultural phenomenon, so I feel very strongly that it needs to be attacked through a cultural route. We need open conversations about the scourge of racism and how it manifests. We need fewer events that fan the flames of culture wars – TV and radio debates in particular! If you’re not a PoC artist and you want to effect change, the best two things that you can do: 1. Listen. 2. Pass the mic, and aim to amplify the voice of the marginalized.
Kill, The Icon! dot com
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Kill, The Icon! On Bandcamp
finis
A sensation of articulation.