INDIAN ROCK BANDS

Rock music is not something that is limited only to the west. In India also, there are a number of rock bands that have attained heights of popularity amongst the masses. Many of these rock bands have received international recognition, apart from entering into the mainstream Indian music. Indian rock basically comprises of the elements of both Indian music and mainstream rock It is a genre of popular music in India that incorporates elements of Indian music and mainstream rock and is often topically India-centric. While India is known for its northern and southern classical music, the Indian rock scene has produced numerous bands and artists.

Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody, accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, Millerton, and synthesizers. Other instruments sometimes utilized in rock include saxophone, harmonica, violin, flute, banjo, melodic, and timpani. Also, less common stringed instruments such as mandolin and sitar are used. Rock music usually has a strong back beat, and often revolves around the guitar, either solid electric, hollow electric, or acoustic. Rock music has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll and rockabilly, which evolved from blues, country music and other influences. A group of musicians specializing in rock music is called a rock band or a rock group. Many rock groups consist of a guitarist, vocalist, bass guitarist, and drummer, forming a quartet. Today, the term "rock music" is used to refer to a wide range of musical forms, including anything from soft pop to heavy metal. It has essentially become a default term for any style of music that does not automatically fit into another category, such as R&B, country, or classical. The form has changed significantly since the days of Elvis Presley, but the term "rock music" can still refer to his songs as easily as they can refer to more recent bands like Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Many cities and regions have produced collections of bands large enough to be classified as a scene within Indian rock. One of the most notable rock music scenes in the Indian subcontinent, Kolkata delivers a varied range folk-, metal-, and jazz-oriented music. The scene culture is known to have a significant impact on the youth all over West Bengal , who have been known for their revolutionary thinking and rebellious and questioning attitude dating back to the Bengal Renaissance. Bands like Casing’s Division, Mantra, Grungy Morphine’s, Pralaya and Reincarnation have shown their talent and zest for music by winning numerous beat contests including IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kharagpur fests. Darjeeling has been a hub of western music and culture, mostly credited to British colonization and western influences.

SOME OF THE ROCK BANDS FROM SOUTH INDIA

AURKO BAND

AURKO is a Bangalore-based Indian ‘mellow-rock’ band with a dash of Indian folk. It was formed amid many criticisms for being a band to enter an already crowded music industry. The band is known for its non-stop live concerts. Aurko, the band represents the true spirit of India.Its music is steeped in Indian melody; the orchestration is earthy yet has a rock-ish feel in it. The band members include Supratik, Souvik, Saumya, Jeet, Yathi, Dev and Rritu.  Six of the seven members are from various parts of the country - Bangalore, Mangalore, Kasargod , Kanpur , Hyderabad , Vijay Wada, Gauhati and Arunachal. And that has influenced Aurko's first Bengali album ‘Ashchhe Bochhor Abar Habe’. The band is six-year old with around 200 live concerts. And, from being totally alien, Aurko has become a force to reckon with in the Indian music live circuit. It launched its debut music album Nadiyaa in April 2006, with two back-to-back music videos – ‘Nadiyaa’ and ‘Poochhe ye dil se’. Its “success mantra’’ has always been very simple - to leave the audience breathless after each of its live concerts. Aurko respects Music in all its forms but is distinctly Desi at heart deriving inspiration from the great Indian composers whose music continues to rule the hearts of millions. The band strongly believes that music has no boundaries. This belief has now become a reality with audiences across geographies and demographics, being swept away by its selections in each of its live concerts! Aurko now moves to a greater audience through this maiden album - 8 Original compositions - colored in its own smiles, tears, memories, and losses; Aurko’s journey has just begun - the journey to traverse the length and breadth of the country along with the six strings of the guitar, the journey through the arteries of every Indian heart gliding on the keys of the synthesizer, the journey through the hazardous trek of today’s cut throat world, with pulsating rhythm and a song on its lips.

Mass funeral

RISING ROCKERS Meet ATMAHATYA, a bi-lingual death metal band in the city making serious noise.

Who: One look at these guys and you’d know their metal markings — crosses and skulls worn as lockets and tees endorse bands like Children of Bodom and Cradle of Filth. Next comes the music: the tiny Jadavpur practice pad pretty much holds a blast fest every time Tanmoy (from Rabindra Bharati University) lashes out on the drums, joined by guitarist Neel Roy (graduate from Maharaja Manindra Chandra College), bassist Deep Banerjee (B.Com final-year student of St Xavier’s College) and growling vocalist Debashish Pradhan (B.Tech passout from ICFAI Institute of Technology, Hyderabad).

This is no-holds-barred death metal, and the guys behind it are called Atmahatya. It’s a sound that will surely upset parents. But it’s exactly this dedication to the dark music that has won the quartet quite a fan following, helping them cruise past competition at the Uneesh KuriYouth Fest, the JU engineering Sanskriti and the Heritage College Fest in 2007. The band was also second runners-up in the zonal finals of Campus Rock Idols in January 2007.

Why: The enduring appeal of darkness. Atmahatya makes music about the world that can be recognised as the one we live in, with all its injustice and repression. Their music is a form of protest, personal and social.

How: The seeds of Atmahatya were sown when Debashis took to music to escape “difficult situations’” and met Deep, who shared a similar musical taste. They were soon joined by Neel. Eager drummer Tanmoy was brought in through through another drummer friend and in December 2006, Atmahatya was formed. Preaching “music for music’s sake”, the band decided on the provocative name Atmahatya — the “killing of the normal soul”.

Style: Atmahatya is a a bi-lingual death metal band singing all originals, replete with metal riffs and full-throated growls. The inspiration list reads Iron Maiden, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy and Pantera. Curiously enough, the foursome’s songs are primarily about the Indian freedom movement; like Last Hours of Khudiram, which deals with the feelings behind a sacrifice for society. The band demands a change in the social scenario. While songs like Mass Funeral talk about death to recreate society, current themes find a voice in the band’s Bengali songs like Rakta dhuli about Nandigram. Narak screams out the need for individual enlightenment by breaking free.

Next: Musically, the band has come a long way since its debut performance in 2006. As runners-up, Atmahatya was rewarded a compilation album contract with Escape Velocity at the Kalyani Black Label War of The Rockstars 2007, which is scheduled to release next year. Atmahatya also plans to head for the Hornbill National Rock Competition in Shillong and the Dubai Rock Fest.

WHITENOIZ

WhitenoiZ is a rap-metal band from Bangalore, formed in November 2004. They have emerged as one of the leading metal bands from India. Moncy and Sam decided to answer the call to be Extreme and roped in Godson and Samuel and that was the beginning of WhitenoiZ. They made their debut at a church camp in >Bangalore. With an ever stable lineup, Whitenoiz is now set to rip their way into the international metal scene and with the hope of putting Indian metal on the map. They are famous for their live performances in India. The powerful line-up of Sam "Throat" John on vocals drivin' crowds into a frenzy with impromptu in-your-face rap, the thundering pounding on the skins by Sam Alexander and the catchy bass-lines of Godson Gigin combined with Moncy Abrahams powerful riffs and searing guitar to create an entity that rocked the masses at Strawberry Fields, NLS where they came to be known as an aggressive rap-core /White metal band.

VINAPRA

Vinapra, a rock band from Bangalore, takes prides to be the only rock band from the south of India to write songs in the national language, Hindi. They started their band in 1998; they faced difficulty to get people who could play Hindi rock music. It took nearly three years to get their first lineup ready, which however did not last for long. But, after a lot of testing times they made an identity for their band. Vinapra is an acronym of the first lineup of the band. Somehow, the name never changed and people liked it because it is different. It is a rock band and they sing mostly in Hindi. No illusion or pretense there, they believe in what they do and continue to seek - ever open and experimenting. They also believe that they are in it for the long run - no star airs and rock star attitude on their t-shirt sleeves. Vinapra has their first album (also called Vinapra) out this year after 7 years as a band. The album hit the stands last month on the Crescendo label. It is a slick artistry of soft rock guitars and the wailing violins and strong vocals. The album ‘Vinapra’ includes the song Dhartiwhich was part of Asha Wali Dhoop, the tsunami relief album that featured varied artists - the likes of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ali Azmat (Junoon) Ustad Sultan Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, and Taufiq Qureshi.

The members of the band Vinapra are Vivian (guitars), Natraj (vocals), Prasad (drums), and Pradeep (bass guitar) complete Vinapra. Hailing from Bangalore, the band prides itself on being the only rock band from the south of India to write songs in Hindi. Even though all the members hold regular jobs, and they play a few days each week, it is not extra work but an activity that energies them and drives them to dream on.

Vinapra have recently been featured on a music compilation, titled ‘Asha Wali Dhoop’. The compilation is in aid of the tsunami that hit the south of Asia late last year and features some of the biggest names in Indian music.

SOME OF THE BANDS FROM ‘GODS OWN CONTRY’- KERALA

MOTHER JANE

Mother Jane, the Kochi-based rock band, which started in 1996.

The band includes Suraj (Vocalist), Baiju (lead guitarist), John (Drummer), Clyde (Bass Guitarist) and Deepu (Rhythm Guitarist). The only Indian rock band to have their music played in American, Japanese and Mexican radio stations and has a cult following all around >India. The band was put together on 16th March 1996 by John who was a very famous figure in >Kochi’s music scene. To start with, the group had Laji George as the vocalist who continued to be with mother Jane till year 2000. Mithun was the lead guitarist who continued till year 2000. Guitarist Rex worked with the band till 2002.Suraj Mani, who is a mechanical engineer by profession, joined Mother Jane in the year 2000. Till date mother Jane has come up two original compilations, first edition being ‘insane biography’ which was released in 2001-2002. The song mind street was popular with the rock lovers in the country as well as radio listeners’ world wide. The album was noted for extremely high quality lyrics and wild performances in stage by the band. ‘Insane biography’ is awarded as the best Indian rock album in the year 2002-2003. DNA network rates mother Jane as one of the top 3 live acts in India. The band will be bringing out their new album titled  “Maktub”.

They have been playing songs from the album in the concerts. A unique Mother Jane sound is shaping up and has attracted a cult following amongst the thinking rockers. The songs from the latest recordings got the boys laurels with Baiju winning the award for the guitarist of the year 2007 at the JD Tennessee Annual Rock awards and Suraj being nominated for the vocalist of the year. What most bands from the so-called rock hubs of India could not achieve in years in the Indian rock circuit was achieved by Mother Jane - a band hailing from the remotest islands of South India. Its musical style flows with the melody of rural India, seethes with the raw aggression of rock and is inlaid with insightful lyrics of exquisite insight. The band is going to re-record a track from “insane biography” along with ‘Maktub’ as a special tribute to its fans.

THE BAND AVIAL

The band ‘Avial’ from South India but its members are professional musicians who have played in various bands in India and have done tours around the world independently. They came together to create music which does justice to the word Mallu Rock! While it’s true that the lyrics of many songs featured in the band’s debut album 'AVIAL' reflects on a deep sense of eternal timeless awareness, there is a good chance that the global listener relates to the album simply because its musically sound. With elements of Indie rock and folk, embedded in each of the eight songs featured in the first album, Avial has managed to mix to perfection and share with its listeners an altogether unique sound, what the band members’ calls "alternative Malayali rock".  

The members of the band Avial are Anandraj Benjamin Paul, a vocalist from Thrissur who has also worked as an English teacher and has many stage shows in India and abroad to his credit. Interestingly, he sings jingles to unwind. Tony John (Vocal, Turntables and Synth) first became known with a hard rock band called ‘Kariszma’. Tony has also been a vocalist and percussionist for the Daksha Seth Dance Company. Rex Vijayan (guitar and synthesizer) is a >Cochin- based guitarist who learnt to play at a very young age and began his musical career by mastering cover versions. Rex is also actively involved with the Daksha Dance Company and still performs for them at various shows in India and abroad. Rex was recently sought out by Gibson Guitar USA for an exclusive deal to play their guitars. Mithun Puthanveetil (drums) always hears a distant beat. Versatile on the tabla and a wide range of percussion, Mithun dabbled with pop music before finding his true calling in funk and rock. Until recently he played drums for a heavy metal band called Rage. Naresh Kamath (bass guitar) is the only one based in Mumbai, as the bass guitarist of Bombay Black, which opened for aero smith at >Los Angeles in 2001. The first stage show of the band will be held at Delhi when Avial performs for the East Wind Rock Fest on February.

EVERGREEN BAND

Evergreen, the Kochi based band, has survived for eight long years. Its music can be loosely classified as slightly progressive, mildly heavy, and for the most part, melodic hard rock. Its roots lie in their individually varied tastes in music. The band Evergreen is thrilled. Forming a rock band itself can be extremely traumatic. The easier way is to leech into a band that has already established itself and remain hangers-on. The structural and ideological strains endemic to rock bands sometimes become flashpoints for clash and separation.

They are now on the threshold of a giant leap, which should see them among the headliner bands of the country. The band includes Arun M.S. – Bass, Sunil Silvester – Guitar, Suraj Pallan – Drums, Jagan George – Vocals, Aju Thomas- Keyboards. The members of the band Evergreen, all with a similar passion for music and a quest to follow their dreams met during different evolving stages of the band. Evergreens first album “Between and Beyond” is a product of their unique intuitive style of songwriting. “Between and Beyond” speak about the multi-universes, physical and meta-physical, things we see and yearn to see, and about the many lives and personalities inherent in us all, and about how our lives are connected in our choices and experiences resulting from them. Evergreen grew from a commercial or corporate circuit to the rockers they are today. The band gives special attention in selecting their equipment, emphasizing on creating a sound of their own. Their national experience won them many accolades, making them a formidable opponent in any nation-wide competition and an elemental sounding band waiting to unleash. The band ‘Evergreen’ was fast becoming a rage outside Kerala.