At Artistry's local music exhibition Bring Back the Vibe on Nov 8, you'll see the work of a very interesting man. Young Indian expat Krish Raghav may seem like a straight-laced professional. But he’s actually extremely cool. He reads and writes Mandarin, has a dizzying knowledge of music and—wait for it—is a committed comic book artist by night. We love his book The Last Grand Fallible Plan, about Singapore's 1960s rock n' roll heyday. And when we met up with him, we found out that he’s just done a second one about Moscow. Here we ask him about his double life and how he has time for it all.

Tell us about your day job.

I'm a researcher at a think-tank, where I write reports and manage research grants. I wear formal shirts and try to keep a serious face.  My job is rather lumpy, which means it careens crazily from periods of tight, tense deadlines to days where there's little to do. A lot of comic book plotting gets done on those days. 

Why did you do a comic book about Singapore’s old music scene?

It's part of a larger interest in pan-Asian independent music. We've got this incredible continent of bands and singers and artists, from discos in Karachi to live-houses in Tokyo, overcoming extraordinary odds to make music that's exciting and relevant and contemporary. And yet we know next to nothing about a lot of these scenes. There's also a sense of amnesia, where we tend to forget that our independent music history goes back generations. I want to record, and research, and draw these stories. 

What are you working on right now?

I just wrapped up a 30-page Moscow travelogue called Face Control and I'm working on two projects: a 15-page comic on the Chennai Classical Music Season in India, which is one of the world's largest music festivals, and the next issue of my Singapore music project, focusing on the 1970s. 

Who is your comic book writing inspiration and why?

For voice and style, Alison Bechdel, writer of Fun Home and Are You My Mother? She's extraordinary, and a lot of my early work was pretty much a shameless copy of hers. I almost got a panel from Fun Home (a book I keep coming back to) tattooed on my arm. For process, Brandon Graham, of King City fame. Every single page he does has so much energy, and there's such a dense level of throwaway detail within every frame. "What else would Brandon Graham put in this?" is a question I ask every time I'm stuck on a frame. 

You also do an autobiographical strip about life in Singapore. What sorts of Singaporean moments that make it into your strips?

Most of the stories come from my past misadventures with online dating, and from drunk conversations in my favorite bars. I go on long, aimless walks sometimes, and I've almost always come across people or situations that would make it into a comic. I like drawing moments of modern awkwardness, like liking someone in person but hating the way they text, or having someone enigmatic walk up to you, and all they want to know is the Wifi password. 

We hear you’re fluent in Mandarin. How’d that happen?

“Fluent” would be pushing it. I can read and write Mandarin pretty well, but my spoken Chinese is rubbish. I spent a year studying and working in Beijing—it's one of my favorite cities—and I made a determined effort to get fluent, just so I could sing along to my favorite Chinese indie bands. This means I can say things like 'My love for you is eternal", but I can't read a menu or ask for directions. 

How do you find the time to work on your comics?

By some quirk of genetics, I'm a high-functioning insomniac, which means four hours of sleep and a cup of black coffee is all I need. My life's philosophy is "Do everything, all of the time," so a day spent vegging out makes me restless and irritable. Making comics is a lonely art, where you're crouched over your work-desk for hours with no distractions or interruptions. My social life is important to me, so I make lots of schedules and try and pencil in enough time for comic projects and friends and gigs by local bands.   

Check out Bring Back the Vibe, a restropective on Singapore's recent musical history, which will feature Krish's work. For more information, click here.