Crispian's shaking all over again

Mills wrote and recorded the new album in two months

Three years after rock band Kula Shaker split, lead singer Crispian Mills is back with a new band, The Jeevas - which has the same psychedelic mysticism, but a new passion.

BBC News Online asked him about the demise of his old band, how he formed The Jeevas - and how he kept his indestructible life force.

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What have you been doing for the last three years?

Kula Shaker split at the end of '99, and in that time I tried lots of different ideas, lots of recordings and even tried to put together a band - but nothing was right. Nothing could go the distance. The chemistry that made Kula Shaker a great live band was what I was missing and I was lucky to find it again with these guys.

Crispian has joined bassist Dan McKinna (left) and drummer Andy Nixon (right)

Who have you found the chemistry with this time, and how did you find them?

I met Andy Nixon, the drummer, with a view to doing some recordings, and he introduced me to Dan McKinna, the bass player. They had worked together in a band called Straw. After about three minutes of playing with them, the whole room was smiling. It was obvious that I was going to scrap two-and-a-half years of work to do this, and it was absolutely self-evident that it was worth it. I think we wrote and recorded an album in two months, which was like the speed of light. So it's really good fun.

Do you have any regrets from the Kula Shaker days?

I don't have regrets, no. You go through life and it has its challenges, and they're there to teach you. So you can't regret meeting situations and people that challenge you to get a life and move on and learn.

I don't just blame everyone else - that's the weak man's path

Crispian Mills

Do you feel that the media unfairly treated you when it ended?

Yeah, it gets a bit personal. On one hand, life's unfair and on the other hand it's the same for everybody and everything happens for a reason. I've got responsibility for what happens to me. That's the weak man's path. I'm pretty philosophical about all that stuff.

Are you still in touch with the guys from Kula Shaker?

Yep. I haven't spoken to Jay for a long time. I've seen Alonza and Paul recently, but I haven't been working with them.

How do The Jeevas differ from Kula Shaker?

The Indian thing that I did in the past, and the psychedelic thing that I love - it's still there

Crispian Mills

It's similar and it's very different. It's both. The thing that I enjoyed about it [The Jeevas] was what made me play music in the first place, which was spontaneity and real energy. That's what the whole band is based on and why we were able to record and write it all so quickly.

What does the name refer to?

It's an old Sanskrit word meaning 'indestructible life force'. If rock and roll doesn't have an indestructible life force, then what's it worth? I don't think I even explained it to them [the band]. I just went 'what do you think of this?' and they went 'yeah, fine, whatever, let's get on with it'.

What are you hoping to achieve with this band?

I'm aiming to be happy playing music, to let everybody who might be interested hear the album, to play some gigs and get the ball rolling. Having spent two-and-a-half years wading through a swamp, it's great to be getting into a slow jog and getting on with it. I just want to start making music again and it feels really good.