Rock steady

Last week, Brit superstar band Oasis came apart, with the Gallagher brothers indulging in bitter mudslinging post the split. Indian rock bands tell us how they've stuck it out

Last week, Brit superstar band Oasis came apart, with the Gallagher brothers indulging in bitter mudslinging post the split. Indian rock bands tell us how they've stuck it out

It is a tenuous road to rock stardom. Barely do bands manage to get their act off the ground with little or no support before it's time for a line-up change. Creative differences, fragile egos and volatile tempers may make great reality show content, but only mean death for any collective. Indian Ocean, one of the most respected and well-established bands in the country, has had musicians flitting in and out of the band but the core has remained strong. Ashim Chakravarti, who plays the tabla and also does vocals in the band, has always maintained that one of the most important reasons why the band has lasted it out for 18 years is the fact that no one member calls the shots there is no leader.

The bigger the band, the tougher it is to keep it together. Lead guitarist Abhishek Mathur of five-year-old eclectic fusion rock band Advaita from Delhi, which has all of eight members agrees. "We started the band when some of us were still in college. We've had members with volatile personalities during the early years a bassist and a drummer who we mutually agreed should leave the band," says Abhishek. One was lured by a more lucrative mainstream musical career, the other frustrated by money issues and how much the band should charge for a gig. "Today, I think the lack of money has only brought us closer together," jokes Abhishek, "But our focus is on what Advaita is and we know each others' personalities well enough to work towards our goalu00a0 not stagnate and tour around the country as much as possible."

Vayu split to form Para Vayu and Zedde founded by ex Vayu vocalist 2Blue

Kochi-based folk rock band Avial that sings in Malayalam had its lead singer Anandraj Benjamin Paul leave the band and migrate to America just before their album launch. Band member and turntablist Tony John stepped into his shoes and made the launch at the Bandra amphitheatre a terrific one for all who attended, hitting some off keys to put together what he calls an "okay" performance. A year after, Tony doesn't sound too bitter about the split as he drawls lazily over the phone. "We've moved on. It was a loss. Rex (Vijayan on guitar) and I did all the production. We'd done it to fit his voice. It was bad timing when he left but we couldn't throw away the effort that we'd put in," he recalls. But the loss also drew the band closer as they worked harder to get their act on the road.

Former Vayu vocalist Tirthankar Poddar aka 2Blue and guitarist Ravi Iyer decided to call it quits last year after several rounds of squabbling and mud-slinging on Orkut, post the messy divide. 2Blue states he was forced to leave the band because he felt the band had been compromising on the venues they played at because of the money. Ravi says, "Some musicians can't take to success and sometimes it's lack of experience that makes band members dictate terms. Our music started getting clichu00e9d and stereotyped in that kind of environment."

The two reconciled and got back only to release their album Wings of a Dream this year, but don't show signs of getting back together anytime soon. "There came a point when you couldn't put us both in a room together," recalls 2Blue. 2Blue set up Zedde last year and Ravi rechristened Vayu as Para Vayu.

Delhi-based fusion rock band Advaita

Every band invariably has and perhaps needs one member to be the rock. Pentagram's drummer Shiraz and Indigo Children's bassist Nikhil Rufus Raj fit this description to the T, says Only Much Louder (OML) label manager Neysa Mendes. She likens being in a band to being in a relationship. Most band members have been friends too long to allow egos to get in the way, she says. OML manages some of the most prolific bands in the country including Pentagram, Shaa'ir+Func, Pin Drop Violence from Mumbai and Delhi-based Them Clones.

Neysa has been on the road with most of them and says of Pentagram, "While Vishal (Dadlani, lead vocalist) and Randolph (lead guitarist) are both quite vocal, Papal (bassist) is the most peaceful of the lot. Everybody in Penta has different personalities, but if there's a sticky spot Shiraz (drums) is the one who is most likely to get the band out of it. He's the one with the head firmly on his shoulders." Delhi-based Indigo Children, also signed on by OML, might be the new kids on the block but know exactly what they want. Neysa describes them as headstrong. "But you can bank on Nikhil to think straight when the band hits a sticky spot," she says.

Most bands also find side projects to be a huge rush. Most of Advaita plays with Delhi's Sajid Akbar and The Lost Boys and most of Kailasa also exist as intelligent dance music outfit Hypnotribe. "We wanted to do something less mainstream and Hypnotribe was our outlet," says bassist Naresh. For a relatively young band, Advaita seems to have it all worked out. As long as the goals remain the same and music remains the focus, staying and playing together is a song.

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