01x03 - Episode 3

[bunniefuu]

[slow techno music]

[Herman] AP has a certain vision
of how he sees the dancers.

The more time we have to rehearse
this performance

and go through the choreography,

the better it will be for us.

[singing "Hills"]

[Herman] We're going for more
of like a modern-day approach.

So in terms of taking a risk with this,

we do have a bit

that gets a little spicy in the set,

it's a song called "Hills."

[AP] I'm going around,
you're going doing your thing

and I'm behind you,
looking at you, looking at you...

like giving attention to the people.

And then we have our moment.

[Herman] We're trying to spice things up
for that one segment.

So that should be interesting to see

how everybody takes that one bit.

-That's it.
-Yeah. You feel good?

I feel good.

[intense music]

[AP] I didn't know the tour
was gonna be this much work.

It was hella lot of work.

People only see, like,
what happens on the front side of it.

What goes in
the back ends of it is a lot of work.

This needs to be dark
with the visualizers and light.

After he enters the stage?

No, no, no. Red. So...

[AP] And I didn't want, like,

North America to wait
any longer for the tour,

but trying to do a tour in a month,

it was a challenge.

Hey, yo, yo, yo. What the f*ck?

[Herman] If you look at big artists
that are putting together tours,

they usually have, like,
a year of preparation.

[AP] There's a lot of investment in this.

I don't want to lose money
on this tour.

[Kevin] Everything is a risk.
Every decision we make.

When the stakes are this high,
then everybody has an opinion.

[AP] A lot of people said
it was not doable.

"You're not going to
be able to pull it off."

"Window is so small that, like,
it's impossible."

[indistinct chatter]

But we've worked hard, like, you know?

[Herman] Every hour, every minute counts
as to what we're doing now.

[audience cheering]

It's one thing to do
an arena tour as it is.

It's one thing to do it
under the circumstances we were under.

[techno music playing]

Generally speaking, like, these tours
take an awfully long time to put together.

[indistinct chatter]

[Kevin] We don't have time as our friend.

We've blown up so fast,
our trajectory has gone so high,

we haven't even had time
to breathe or learn.

[Trevor] You don't usually see quick
30-to-50-to-60-day-turnarounds ever...

at this level of touring.

When we do roll-outs on tours,

we generally have a team
of, you know, 50 or 100 people

on a label with visions and creatives
and all this kind of stuff.

On this, we got a bunch of guys
who put their brain together.

[Kevin] So we had, like, what,

seven, eight people working on it?

Nine people?

[intense music]

[AP, in Punjabi] Everything is good,
we're just on our way.

The opening act?

It's "Intense."

Every city will be slightly different.

He'll be in Calgary, we'll have someone
different in Toronto.

Okay, Daddy.

Is Grandma okay?

-[kids chattering]
-[horn honks]

[AP, in Hindi]
I'm from the Gurdaspur district.

[AP, in Punjabi] Village, Mullianwal.

When the situation in Punjab was bad,

our family struggled a lot.

My grandmother raised me.

Are your feet bruised?

No, my feet are fine.

[AP] I was brought up
with a single parent.

My sister and I struggled a lot.

Because of these circumstances,
I always thought

I was a big failure.

[in English] Okay, okay, Daddy.

[AP, in Punjabi] I remember
when I came here,

I didn't have a credit card.

I had to sleep outside the hotel.

I kept my two suitcases
and slept outside.

I met a lady and she asked me,

"You don't look homeless,
why are you sleeping outside?"

So, she helped me. I got a room.

And some rest.

I got to ring back home.

[AP, in English] It was my dad
on the phone.

You still got Amrit,

while I'm talking to my dad.

He'll slap the sh*t out of AP.

He's just wishing us,
all of us, like, you know,

Gurinder, me, Shinda...
everybody, whole team.

We're blessed to be doing
what we are doing.

Not many people
are able to do arenas...

of their own,

and... I'm just excited.

[AP] Like, there's always going
to be butterflies in the stomach.

Like every show, doesn't matter,
like, it's the last show of the tour,

I always feel like that,
like, you know,

but I think it's natural.

And if you don't have it,
it's just not a good show.

You don't care about it enough, right?

So, I'm always just like... 100%.

I'll be wrong if I say I'm not nervous.

But it's a good nervous, like, you know?

[car honking and whirring]

[intense music]

[AP] The journey has been, like, crazy.

From a little garage studio to arenas.

Like, uh, it's been like
a f*cking journey, you know?

Saving money
and trying to put together sh*t,

and coming here?

Bro, I used to drive by this.

I was like
"Yo, one day we'll perform here."

And guess what? First Canadian show
is in f*cking Rogers Arena.

Let's go.

I'm more emotional than nervous.

Sorry, man. I don't cry usually.

[somber music]

[AP] Doing this independently?
That's what makes me more proud.

And being able to bring
my brothers with me, like, uh...

with me.

It's not just me, you know?

There are a lot of people on this team.

Is, uh, Shinda and... all are here?

[producer] Herman's here, so I'm assuming
Shinda and the others are here.

I can't show this face to them.

If I... If I act weak,
then everybody's f*cked.

[AP laughs]

[upbeat music playing in the background]

It's about that time, Singhy!

-You ready?
-The least nervous I've ever been.

Huh?

[in Punjabi] How's it going?

-Huh?
-[in English] I'm good.

[in English] You're good?

-[in Punjabi] How are you?
-I am fine!

Our people.

[in English] I know all about it,

-it's really good for you. Huh!
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[soothing music]

[indistinct chatter]

Holy.

Yo!

It's gonna be a lot of people. [laughs]

[indistinct chatter]

I've never been here, yo.

[AP] Just walking into the arena,
and even if it was... when it was empty,

that's when you realize, like... sh*t.

Like... it's crazy.

[Kevin] He's never been to an arena.

-Any arena!
-Yeah, none of us have.

[Gminxr] I've never been to Rogers Arena.

I've never actually
even been to an arena.

Never seen a sports event or a concert,

so, you know?

This is gonna be
a brand-new experience for me,

and I know it's gonna be the same thing
for AP and the whole g*ng.

[Kevin] The general progression
of an artist is,

start off with little clubs,

go to theaters,

go to bigger theaters,

and then maybe in year four or five
you go to arenas.

["Goat" by AP Dhillon
and Gurinder Gill plays]

Three years ago,
they were just releasing their tracks,

producing in their bedroom,

and now they're selling out arenas.

[Kevin] We confirmed our first tour,
hoping to get like 20 to 30,000 fans

and we ended up with 60,000
across all the shows.

So I think this was really
like a stamp

that kind of woke up
the whole industry to...

"Holy sh*t, who is this guy?
What is he doing?

How did he do an arena tour
his first time

when we don't even know his name?"

["Goat" by AP Dhillon
and Gurinder Gill continues]

Let's do it.

[indistinct chatter]

-Yo, this is sick!
-God!

This is fire!

Right there?

Just like right here.

This one.

Everything else is,
I think, we're good.

He pulled it off.

He actually got...

a show in Vancouver, in Rogers Arena.

Not bad, sir.

Not... not bad.

Without me, world,

you would not have this good-looking,

soft-singing AP Dhillon.

Tellin' the world
about how he feels deep inside.

-[AP] What happened?
-Um...

Yes.

The only thing with the merch
that happened today...

-Yeah.
-is the tour hoodies didn't come,

but we have
the "Brown Munde" hoodies.

They shipped all of one style
and it was supposed to be half and half.

-Why?
-[P] I don't know.

Where are they shipping it from?

Where did it come from?

-[AP] Yeah.
-It came from Toronto.

But, like, this was the place...

We've been going over it
for, like, a while, you know,

the details of the merch.

I can't do anything at this point, right?

Like, shows right now.

Either I'm going to be upsetting myself

and yelling at people, like,
there's no point.

Like, it is what it is at this point,
you know?

[Herman] Yo, Big One. Outside.

-Okay?
-Yes.

Give me two minutes.

How long do I got?

You have time, don't worry.
Don't rush my haircut.

This is not the day to f*ck sh*t up.

Okay!

Yo, Kevin, everything else is good?

Everything's perfect.

[AP] Regardless, you sell tickets or not,

to rent that place, to organize that all,

to make it happen,

we had to take the risk.

And it was a lot of work to do.

Like I realized, "Yo, it's not easy."

[indistinct chatter]

[AP] I need to figure out how long
it's going to take for the sound check.

Okay. Okay.

Shall we go check it out one time?
Let's just see what's going on.

-[AP] Owen.
-[Owen] Yeah?

-[AP] Are would still good on 3:00?
-[Owen] Yeah.

No.

Where... What's... Where are we at?

Right now, we're at 2:30.

-Yeah.
-We just got the stage in place.

-Yeah.
-Um...

We got to run it one time, bro.

We're going to run it two times.

-No, no.
-No, it's 85-minutes of music,

so we can't run it twice.

At 5:00 p.m. I have...

Well, we have to run it twice.

-Because...
-I know I wanna see it, too, but...

At 5:00 p.m. you have what?

-Meet-and-greet.
-Meet-and-greet.

6:00 p.m.

-At 6:00?
-But he's got to get ready too.

I'm going to do the soundcheck.
I got to get ready.

I cannot just walk off the stage
and just be like, "Hey."

A lot went into production,

making sure everybody else...

we hired are doing their job.

What are we thinking, like,
where are we at, like, 3:30?

Will we be ready by 3:30 or no?

-The sound check we can do.
-Okay.

Hopefully... soon.

Don't do this to me, yo.

[in Punjabi] You know
how the moon reflects on water?

[in English] That can go in... from here.

[song playing on the laptop]

-[in Punjabi] So you want it
-This is good.

dark from this point?

[in English] Like, put this night now.

[in Punjabi] If we want this,
it should have nighttime reflections.

It should be bright enough
so we can see it.

But not too bright.

[in English] Just play with those...

[Herman] So, one part of the visualizer
just throws off the crowd.

So, like, it gets too bright
in a place it should be dark.

So whatever this guy needs...
He asked me if it's possible.

The show doesn't start till f*cking,
you know, seven o'clock,

so, in my mind, "Yeah, man, it's possible.
We're gonna do it."

[indistinct chatter]

[AP] The ice underneath, right?

-[Shinda] Yeah.
-[AP] Oh.

-Yeah.
-[Shinda] Singhy, look between the gaps.

[AP] It is.

Owen!

Is this LEDs gonna go up more
or is this where it's gonna stay?

-The video wall?
-[AP] Yeah.

You want it there?

[AP] I personally think
your LED can go up a little bit.

[Owen] Yeah.

I don't think
they'll be ready by 3:30 p.m.

[AP] I have to push them, bro.

Like, I've got to run it one time,
m*therf*cker.

Yeah.

[Kevin] The clock is ticking.

And then you're always, like,
one problem away

from the whole thing falling apart.

[intense music]

[AP] Most stressful bit was, uh,

trying to put all this together.

The venue. Staff...

[AP] Pyros...

[Kevin] Security...

All the visualizers...

[AP] CO2s...

[Kevin] Catering...

[AP] Lasers...

[Herman] The choreography...

Figuring out the merch...

Hotels, cars...

Outfits, stage-managing...

[AP] Organize the "Brown Munde" track

with a bunch of group of people.

[Kevin] Ticket sales, promoter.

[AP] Like, every little thing

was just, like, stressful, man.

[indistinct chatter]

[AP] Yo, where's my laptop?

Yeah, I just need to... Oh, there he is.

Yeah.

Play that one time.

Press space on it.

[Bobby] One thing
that isn't often talked about...

Solo it.

[Bobby] ...is how all
AP Dhillon's tunes are mixed.

It's just loud.

It's just amazing.

[singing "Summer High"]

[in English] Nothing that comes out
of that camp

is mixed and mastered by
anybody else other than AP Dhillon.

[AP] I would say it's unique

because I can shape
the sound the way I want to.

[Bobby] And that's just crazy

because that never happens with artists.

It's always tech heads and nerds

who become these
amazing mixers and masters.

Apparently, AP Dhillon is that guy.

I mean, better than before.

-It sounds better.
-Yeah.

["Insane" by AP Dhillon plays]

[Bobby] When I first played
AP Dhillon on the radio,

I got quite a few texts saying,

"What is this?

And why are they singing like that?"

["Insane" by AP Dhillon continues]

[Bobby] Because with Punjabi music,

a lot of singers
learn in a very formal way.

They were literally singing
like how they talk

when they're bantering
with their friends.

["Excuses" by AP Dhillon plays]

[Nirmika] I think that
what's great about AP

is even when you do have
Western arrangements

he is still using that
beautiful, rustic language.

["Excuses" by AP Dhillon
continues playing]

He used the melody
that comes from Punjab,

and used the groove
that comes from funk.

And there you have magic.

["Fake" by AP Dhillon plays]

[Bobby] The reason AP Dhillon
and the entire operation's done so well

is they really do represent

the generation in the Punjab

who have grown up with social media,

but they were able
to also translate that

to the diaspora South Asians as well.

[all] Brown Munde!

[Bobby] Someone who has been born
in Luton or Bradford

or Vancouver or Toronto,

also people growing up

in the villages, people in India

who themselves have
never been to the main cities.

That's something you can't buy.

[AP's song playing on tractor's speakers]

Do you want them
to come on in your verse? Because...

[in Punjabi] Don't you think
it will be too much

-if it's all the way through the song?
-The whole song.

-[in English] The whole thing?
-The whole thing.

-[in Punjabi] From the start?
-From the start.

[in English] Done.

So AP wants you guys in
from, like, the starting of the song.

And when I say "go,"
you guys... you already know.

So there's, like, no g*ng signs.

[in Punjabi] There'll be elders here,
so we have to be respectful.

[in English] There's a lot of people,

there's 14,000 people
that are looking at us.

Let's be serious,
not goofy, like... no, like...

"Yo, what the f*ck are we doing here?
Yo, ha, ha, ha." You know what I mean?

There's going to be flames being thrown.

Last thing we want is, like, the beards
to come off, half of it, you know?

-Yo, play the song.
-[music starts playing]

You guys are walking in now.

Get together as close as you can.

And the song's about to drop, like,
everybody has to just start moving now.

Just start moving,
you know what I mean? There you go.

There you go. There you go.

And it has to be like this
throughout the whole thing.

Cool.

You see how you guys are together?
It looks f*cking crazy.

That's it.

So guys, it's a long song,

so prepare yourself.

[Owen] I haven't heard a thing
coming out of audio monitors yet.

I got to get sound.
I got to... I got to get this going.

I'm two hours behind.

[man 1] 6:45, now, is the meet-and-greet.

You got to push back
because of the sound check.

[AP] Okay. Okay.

[AP chuckles]

Can we punch some
production guys right now?

-[Trevor] It's rigging guys.
-[AP] Yeah.

[Kevin] I think
one run-through will be good.

Yeah. One run-through
will be amazing!

Yeah.

-At least...
-If we can get it.

[indistinct chatter]

Yeah, I got to talk to the sound guy.

[Kevin] I think AP's the type of guy
that you always want in your corner.

I don't think things get done unless
he's pushing the envelope, to be honest.

He's a real go-getter,
and that's what I like.

[AP] All the masters has different volume.

So they're not like uh...

when I was making music in the beginning,

I was making all the music
in a garage studio,

so my room was like five-by-seven.

-[man 2] Oh, okay. Yeah.
-Like, my whole career is just, like,

that big a room
on a shitty monitor, right?

I'm trying to learn mix-master.

I'm doing everything on my own, right?

-So every master level is different.
-Okay.

So that's something that you're
gonna have to... gauge it.

Yeah, I've got
dynamic compressors I can use.

[AP] Yeah. And what we love about
our music when trap is going,

crank the bass as much as we can.

The low end is just our... like...

-Yeah. All right.
-[man 2] Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay.

[Owen] He needs 15 more minutes.

[Kevin] Oh, God,
that's really pushing it, man.

What are you gonna do?

So, you gonna push back
your meet-and-greet?

Yeah.

[AP] Bro, I'm waiting, man.

Like, these guys are
f*cking super-late, bro.

I'm a little bit pissed.

I'm supposed to be
gone in rehearsal at 3:00.

They have to hold the doors now.

[techno music playing]

[man] When he announced it,
I was so happy.

I was like, "I want to see this guy live,"
and I'm going to see him live today.

[cheering]

-[man 1] We're actually from Colorado.
-[woman 1] Yeah.

-We flew three hours to come here today.
-Yeah.

[woman] We got here at 3:00,
and the doors open at 7:00.

I'm really excited to see him.
I've been waiting for months.

Where's the pyros? All set?

[Owen] It's getting there.

[Kevin] It's not just
we didn't rehearse the show,

it's like I'd never dealt
with a backstage as big as this.

And for me, it was like,

"Oh, my God,
I've got to deal with all these people

and everyone's
looking for me for answers."

And it's like,
"Who the hell am I?"

At this point, it's like,
I'm like a rookie at this.

Are we gonna be able
to start in ten minutes?

[Kevin] I just need this f*cking sound on,
I need these mics on.

[Trevor] You know what the problem is?
Because you haven't done it, right?

The rehearsal.
That's kind of like slowing it down.

[Kevin] We can't push doors at all?

[Trevor] Let me talk to them.
Even a half-hour would help.

Let me see if we can push doors to 7:30.

-[Kevin] Yeah, Please, please, please.
-[Trevor] Yeah.

[Kevin] I thought pushing doors
was like the cardinal sin, right?

I'm thinking, like,
this is the worst thing in the world.

When you're just new to it,
you just don't expect it to happen.

Being naive kinda helps you sometimes,
but sometimes it hurts you

because you just
put more pressure on yourself

than you really should.

What the f*ck is happening?
Are we good to go?

Owen, are we going to
do rehearsal today or not?

[Owen] Yeah. Yes, yes.

[music playing over speakers]

One! Two! Three! Let's go!

[song playing over speakers]

This is f*cked.

Yo!

This drop was weird.

Play it again.

It cracked.

As soon as the drop hit,
it just like...

[Shinda] Things might go wrong.
Things go south.

Those are the things you need to accept.

And as an artist,

everything is a calculated risk,

but you got to take that
to make a show happen.

[Kevin] I pushed it 30 minutes, the doors.

[AP] It might take longer.

-I just started.
-Alright.

This is more important than
meet-and-greet.

Alright.

[Kevin] Sound check,
it was just that we were delayed.

The main thing is
we had this meet-and-greet

that we scheduled for every show
which kind of

gave us a deadline of a certain time
every show we had to be done by.

[security wand beeping]

[in Punjabi] We've got an hour
of rushing around, then we can chill.

[in English] Guys, guys,
let them get ready.

[in Punjabi] Everyone out, please.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[exclaiming]

[intense music]

[fans cheering]

All right guys, we gonna have
AP with the guests,

I'll be taking the photos from here,

and you guys do whatever you want to do.

And then... yeah, ready when you are.

Gotcha. Beautiful, guys.
You're good to go.

Bro, what's up with your flash?
And like... Is everything good?

-Hi, nice meeting you.
-Nice meeting you, as well.

[man] One, two...

-[AP] Hi.
-[woman 2] Hi.

-[Kevin] It's just running mad late.
-[producer] I know, I know. I see

-Can I ask you for something?
-Yes.

-It's my little sister's birthday...
-[clamoring]

Could you please sign it?

I'm so sorry.
I know this is an inconvenience.

[Herman] Our whole schedule
has been butchered and rearranged.

I think we are the masters
of working under pressure

and doing things last minute.

[camera shutter clicking]

[upbeat music]

Whatever the f*ck happened
doesn't matter now.

We're going to do everything in our power
to put on the best show.

Come over here, broski, come here.

Check the drip.

Come on, man!
Tell me what you got on real quick!

Tell me what you got on real quick!

-How much for the vest?
-Some chains...

-How much for the vest?
-I don't even know.

How much for the shirt?

You know who's swiping cards?
Where's, uh...

Oh, it's this guy.

-My bro's dripped down more than ten Gs.
-Come on.

-Ten Gs is just from here to here. More.
-Come on, come on.

Everything's priceless.

He can be wearing a dollar shirt
and a $10,000 vest, bro,

we're still going to do this
for our people that love us.

[Kevin] We started in a f*cking basement.

Look where the f*ck we are,
look where we're going.

Let's f*cking do this.

[all] Three-two-one! Brown Munde!

Everything really starts to hit home

when you see people having fun.

[man 3] You ain't sh*t.

[all laughing]

You're just standing there and your mind
is going through memory lane.

Like, these guys were literally
in a garage when I met them.

We had no money to our names.

We had no support.

When we started making it,
people were telling us

you're a one-hit-wonder.

[fast-paced music]

And all this doubt that people put in you,
and it's just like...

I don't need to say anything,

you just see it.

They're having fun.

It's just beyond reality at this point.

[crowd chanting] AP! AP! AP! AP! AP!

[Owen] They're on in four!

My anxiety starts
before going on the stage.

Yo, let's go!

Gurinder, come!

[Gurinder] The biggest challenge, I think,

was getting ready mentally
to see so many people.

[Owen] Thirty seconds!

The crowd's packed.
We're hearing the noise.

[crowd chanting] AP! AP! AP!

Check, check, check.

[Herman] We hear that f*ck' roar.

Bro...

Oh, my f*cking God, bro.

It cannot be said how much work

leading up to the tour,

leading up to the year before,
the year before,

and everything
we've all gone through in our lives,

how much of that
all played into that one night.

[crowd chanting] AP! AP! AP! AP! AP!

[mechanized voice]
Six, five, four, three, two, one.

[beat drops]

[singing "Spaceship"]

[Gurinder] When I stepped out,
the whole stadium went so, so crazy.

Our city... And we did it!
We made it happen, somehow.

[continues singing "Spaceship"]

It felt unreal.

[audience cheering]

There, at that moment,
I just stood and took it in.

Holy f*ck! Like, you know.

[Kevin] It all worked out,

but obviously, there's so many things
that could have been improved on.

[AP] My headphones broke.

[AP singing in Punjabi]

No, no, no. Cut it, cut it.

[AP] My ukulele broke.

We thought it's going to work.
[laughs]

We'll do it without it.

[audience cheering]

[AP] I got a little mad on stage
and threw my mic stand.

There's probably more things that
AP doesn't even know that went wrong.

[Kevin] The lasers were supposed to
come a certain way.

That didn't happen.

Pyro wasn't used
as much as we wanted it to be used.

f*cking this and that.

Like, what's going on?
What's going on?

But you know what,
at the end of the day it's the first show,

it's kind of getting used to the motions.

[singing "Arrogant"]

[AP, in English]
Despite all the ups and downs,

we put on the best show possible.

[singing "Arrogant"]

[Kevin, in English] People were always
saying just start small, build up,

and whatever.

We just blew the door off the place.

[singing "Arrogant"]

[audience cheering]

[AP] Vancouver, thanks for having us,
love you all.

-[man 4] Let's go! Let's f*cking go!
-[cheering]

-[all cheering]
-[man 4] Let's go! Let's f*cking go!

All that hard work,
all those long days...

Let's f*cking go!

[Herman] Those times when
you're fighting with each other

and you're arguing
and you're frustrated

and you feel like
it's the end of the road with sh*t

and you keep going

'cause you know one day
it's gonna be that one moment

and, like, today was that moment.

[all screaming]

Whoo!

Amazing.

AP, we love you, man, we love you!

[Kevin] We keep moving this way.

Like, this is just a beginning,
not just for us, but for everybody.

-He is an up-and-coming artist.
-Yeah.

His first-ever concert at Rogers Arena,

like, this is a pretty big deal,
you know what I mean?

Sky's the limit.

Let's f*cking go!

Final numbers sold, right there.

-Fire. Fire.
-Yes.

[Kevin] I don't even care to tell
the world how many tickets we sold.

That's not our dream come true.

It's a step towards our dream.

There's no time to celebrate.

The Vancouver show's like a rocket launch,

we launched successfully,
but now we got to make it to Mars.

But Toronto's a whole different animal.

Almost 14,000 tickets sold.

We're hoping that we go into
this Toronto show with zero hiccups.

Toronto is the biggest so far.

Holy f*ck.

["Dil Nu" by AP Dhillon
and Shinda Kahlon plays]