Rock steady

Updated On: 06 September, 2009 12:16 PM IST | | Lalitha Suhasini

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

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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.

Mumbai-based rock band Para Vayu

As Kailash Kher of Kailasa puts it, "Music should be the star, not the individual." But it must irk the rest of the band at some point that Kailash hogs most of the limelight. "I think the band understands that anybody linked to Bollywood will draw attention. But they also know that it's not one individual growing here. I've had so many people come up to me and tell me how they love Kurt's drumming or Saket's percussions," says the singer, who explains how he pushed bassist Naresh and his brother Paresh Kamath on lead guitar to open up to the press. Their bond is only stronger today. Kailasa is a band that's only grown in number. What started out as a four-member band with Kailash, Naresh and Paresh Kamath and Kurt Peters on the drums, fills up the stage completely with seven members today. Kailash maintains that egos never cross the studio doors or step onto the stage.

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."