Listen to a semi-unplugged set by iconic band Indus Creed on stage, with bits of conversation thrown in
The news is that Indus Creed is working on a new album. Mahesh Tinaikar, one of the band's original members, had told us as much when we spoke to him roughly three months ago. Now, Uday Benegal, the front man, confirms the same ahead of the band's gig at a SoBo venue this evening.
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But, it's still early days to get into the details. "Yes, we have been working on stuff, but then we got distracted and are now working our way back into it," he says, adding that contrary to the tentative December timeframe that Tinaikar had given us, the album will definitely not see the light of day till sometime next year.
Yet, whenever the musical offering does hit the market, it will only be the third album in 22 years that Indus Creed will have released. The reason behind the gap between Crescendo in 1995 and 2012's Evolve is that the act had disbanded for a while, since Benegal had shifted base to the US. But after he regrouped with Tinaikar and Zubin Balaporia -- adding Krishna Jhaveri and Jai Row Kavi to the line-up -- Indus Creed has taken on its role of India's rock music pioneers with renewed vigour. This second coming was timed with the indie music industry's current golden phase.
But Benegal says, "The scene has seen a dip in the last couple of years. The need of the hour is for bands to scale down their operations, because unless you make yourself economically viable for the other person [venues and promoters], a five-piece band will find itself sidelined by DJs."
That shouldn't imply, however, that the singer has any judgments to make about electronic musicians. "All forms of music have their own audiences. There is little point in considering something 'bad' or 'indifferent'," he says of the burgeoning electronic scene, adding, "In fact, if they so wish, [non-electronic] musicians can work with the change and create something more interesting, which I find a few bands doing these days."
An archive photo of Indus Creed in their earlier avatar as Rock Machine. Uday Benegal (bottom row, left), Mahesh Tinaikar (bottom row, right) and Zubin Balaporia (middle row, left) are still part of Indus Creed
Indus Creed's own performance tonight, however, will be the exact antithesis of music that constitutes "banging" beats, borrowing a word that you might find in Urban Dictionary. "It will be more of an intimate set, which is in keeping with the venue. We'll do a semi-unplugged show. There will be a few stories behind the songs, and a few stories from the road. It's going to be a conversational evening," Benegal says.
On Tonight, 8 pm
At The Quarter, Royal Opera House, Girgaum. Call 8329110638
Entry Rs 999
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