Rohini Kejriwal, Dec 16:
In 2005, the four members ditched the bands they were in to pursue what they call ‘junk rock’ – a blend of jazz, funk and punk. After jamming to American rap metal act ‘Rage Against The Machine’ (RATM), a common influence to all of them, they knew that they had to move from merely doing covers to writing their own songs.
“When we first wrote our own songs, we wanted to sound like RATM. Nowadays, it’s a mixture of everything. There are no particular themes in our songs. ‘Stellar’, for example, is a song I wrote for my girlfriend. The lyrics of ‘Home’ are about the belief that there is home after you die,” shares vocalist Atea.
Talking about the challenges back home in Aizwal, Atea says, “In Mizoram, rock shows don’t happen very often. You don’t have platforms or pubs to play. Whenever you want to do a gig, you have to organise it yourself. The audience for our music is there but you’ve to publicise it really well.” Joshua, who plays bass, adds, “The whole music scene is dominated by gospel. So we don’t play in North-East much but more in the mainland.”
This bleak scenario makes the struggle even harder, forcing the band members to look for financial opportunities beyond music. “I’m into event management, Atea does videography and recently started a local TV music channel and Joshua and RS (drummer) play for parties and events,” says Boom, the guitarist. However, the band recently got signed by ‘Contrabands’, a joint venture between Universal Music India, VH1 and Hard Rock CafĂ©, which translated to their debut album ‘Home’ being launched, a multi-city tour and their music video being aired on television.
“This platform is perfect for bands like us. Before this, we were in between – we were known across the country but we never made it big. This is a new beginning for us,” says Atea. Commenting on the independent music scene, he notes, “We’ve been around for a while doing our own gigs. But being an independent band never brings you anywhere. Sometimes, you play some first-class gigs and sometimes, you’ve to do some low-class stuff as well. ‘Contrabands’ gave us the chance to promote the music to the mainstream and share it with the world. I guess this is the only way to do that.”