If you thought that the Indian corporate community was only about suits, ties and really boring guys, you’ve clearly not being paying attention. In this exclusive feature The Big M brings to you bands, musicians and music communities that represent a vibrant sub culture prevailing in the country’s work force. Aalok Padhye finds out.

So you’ve all heard the story. Most bands you’ve heard of have the same one. A bunch of guys that met in college and had the same tastes in music decided to form a band. Most of these bands are quite regular in the college rock show and pub scenes. They perform in competitions and sometimes even release their own music.

But have you ever wondered what happens to a musician after the college years. There is a large community that exists beyond college life that is quite lively, formed by bands, musicians and music lovers who are part of India’s workforce and corporate setup, a sub-culture within a sub-culture.  This month The Big M pays tribute to these musicians and communities, who juggle work, family and music to follow their passion. These musicians featured here, form only a small chunk of the countless bands, musicians and music lovers that exist in India’s corporate scene.

Hour Glass

A great example is pune based band Hourglass. Alternative band Hourglass was formed at a small event at the Infosys amphitheatre in Pune, where five talented musicians decided to jam together for the first time. From those humble beginnings, and many lineup changes later, Hourglass (now a combined Infosys and KPIT band) has a whole bunch of gigs under their belt, including participating in the 2009 Channel [V] Launchpad competition and regular gigs in the Pune pub and college circuit. “We’re all working professionals spending most of our day time in front of the geeky computer screens staring at the Hourglass icon that appears whenever Windows is trying to figure out what we’ve asked it to do. Music is something that all of us enjoy whole-heartedly and while work occupies most of our time, we make sure that whenever we are free we get together and jam it out” says Amit Khadikar, the Hourglass guitarist.

Talking about balancing, The Second Shift are a bunch of working guys balancing out corporate life (2 bankers and 2 HR guys, 1 consultant, 1 voice over artist in the band!) with this second shift of playing music together.  Sandeep Mittal, a consultant and the band’s guitarist says, “We’re a band that loves songs that tell a story. That’s pretty much the way we write our songs too – we write stories that are set to music. Stories about control and its loss, about grown up love, about arch villains stuck in madhouses and even stories about the search for stories”. The band, formed in 2009, has already recorded a 10 song demo CD, is a regular featurre at Mumbai pubs like Not Just Jazz by the Bay and Hard Rock Café.

Insane

INSANE, a blues rock / funk jam band from Bangalore is a regular feature in the local pub circuit, including gigs at Kyra, Opus and Purple Haze. The band, a combination of IT professionals and engineering college students, recently had one of their tracks “Second Chance” picked up to be the background track for one of the videos at the MAAC 24FPS Animation Awards 2009 and is also going to be part of the Rise Up compilation CD (Quickstar Productions).  Says guitarist Chetan Banandur, “Two of the band members, Anand Kumar and I are IT professionals working our asses off to pay the bills and financially aid the band.”

Rio

RIO, a Hindi Hard Rock band from Mumbai formed by songwriters Vishal Rajan and Vinay Lobo, is all set to release their debut album, titled “Raaste”. Vishal and Vinay love to expliot their professional experience and apply it to the band. “At least Vinay and I are hard core sales and marketing professionals and we use every bit of our experience in all possible ways” says Vishal. Adds Vinay, “The experience enables us to actually balance the commercial aspect with the fun aspect of making music and having a day job also helps us invest in premium equipment for the band.”

Secondary Skills is a band from Accenture Mumbai, which has predominantly played shows at the work place. “Our band is made of people who met each other at work and so we’ve been playing pretty much at office gigs. Some have been at external venues and some in the office cafeteria. But each one has been awesome” explains bass player Rishabh Natarajan.

So how do these bands manage to make time for music, rehearsals, and shows?

“We don’t get too much time – once a week at best, sometimes once in a fortnight. The balance comes from having a practical approach to the thing I guess – work and family come first, music is a passion that we’re happy doing whenever we can” says Sandeep. “We individually spend minimum 3 hours everyday to work out our parts and jam on the weekend with the whole band” explains Garth Dmello from RIO. Anand Kumar from INSANE has a different point of view. “We jam for a day or two before gigs; we’re essentially a jam band so most of the improv stuff is done on stage.”

Second Shift

Facebook, Reverbnation and other online social media sites are the basic ways in which these bands promote themselves, though some of them have come up with quite unique ways to gear people up for a gig. Explains Rishabh, “Sometimes before office gigs, we do what we call road shows. We go from project to project, with just a couple of guitars and an amp and give the crowd a taste of what to expect. This is a really lovely way to connect with the people and get them to see first hand who’s playing and that we are really one of them. Apart from this, we also send out a series of mailers to the employees announcing upcoming gigs.”

A big problem for these bands is that a lot of the members are forced to leave the band, either because they are sent to work at another location, or because they quit the company itself. “The biggest challenge to deal with movements or changes is to maintain the same musical direction, mainly in terms of the sound and style and also to have the same level of enthusiasm going” explains Amit. “But we are dealing with this challenge as a group and not worrying about things that are not necessarily in our control.” “Members coming and going is very routine for corporate bands. It’s part and parcel. I can tell you that for almost every show we’ve had a different drummer, and drummers are the hardest to get hold of” says Rishabh.

Others have been luckier. Vishal Rajan explains: “Fortunately for RIO, The question of leaving does not arise we’ve been at it for some time and it’s our common goal and it’s our 1st priorty in our lives other than work /home etc.” “All members operate out of Mumbai and we don’t travel to other states. If a member is late or not able to make it, we still make it a point to jam, while the member covers up during the next stint” adds Vinay.

When asked about how supportive their respective organisations were towards their musical ambitions, we received mixed responses. “Which IT organisation wud pay their employee to play for a band?” asks Chetan. “But my colleagues turn up for our shows in support and I love them for that.” Vinay Lobo tries to put light to the situation, “Post recession organizations are really not that geared towards employee engagement and this aspect has taken a back seat, so bands, music, anything creative is seen on an ‘only if required’ basis.”

Infy Rockers

But others have had really positive experiences with their workplace. “There is a lot of support from the organization towards our pursuits in music. It provides us a platform to showcase our talents at the various events that keep happening in the office campus.  Also, there is a lot of encouragement from our colleagues as well for our music and many of them have taken a liking to it as well” says Amit. Adds Rishabh, “As I’d mentioned, we’ve only really played in office gigs, and all have been spectacular. One memorable gig happened a few months back. It was an external venue and the company had pulled out all the stops. The sound was amazing, the lighting and cameras were fabulous and they had this huge LED screen above the stage which really was like a crown on top of the whole thing. I’m sure my band mates would agree with in saying that that was the best experience we’ve had so far.”

Sandeep says the band tries hard to not be classified under the ‘corporate’ banner. “Most of us are pretty senior in the organizations we work in, and we don’t compromise on work either. So the question of organization support doesn’t really come up! We try very hard to not let the ‘organization’ or ‘corporate’ aspect to the band take over. We are not about our successful escape from the rat race. That’s a terrible way to be defined! We are about escapism, however, go figure.”

Rock bands aren’t the only music that’s coming out of the Indian corporate enviroment. There are numerous music clubs, forums and communities that exist all over the country, in several organisations and for all forms of music. One of the best example of these is Infosys based ‘Infy_Rockers’. Infy Rockers is an internal distribution mailing list in Infosys, formed by Dinesh Sukhija in 2003, when he decided that he needed a forum to discuss and listen to rock and metal music with fellow connoisseurs at the workplace.

Says Dinesh, “The hardest thing to find in Infosys was a fellow-rocker who would appreciate rock and metal music. We are always a minority. I tried to form a band in 2003 in Pune, but could never continue since I wasn’t that good and we couldn’t find good replacements either. We were always looking for likeminded folks who could come together, form a band and play music despite all the project pressures and lack of funds from HR. Then I thought of creating a distribution list and I added some 3-4 of us at that time.”

Infy Rockers

What started off as just a small list for his friends, now boasts over 400 members in its ranks. “I added my fellow cubicle mate and rocker as the very first member. I had no idea how popular IR would eventually become.”

Infy Rockers, or IR as it is affectionately known, is one of the most active clubs within Infosys, with an average of over 50 posts every day, with topics ranging from discussing favorite bands, reviewing latest albums and reccomending new music. And it’s the wide range of people that are a part of the community that is its greatest strength. “Infy_rockers is full of gems who have been there, done that in music. It will help you get answers on music based software, tuning issues of instruments, sound and instrument setup, etc. Highly technical talk!” says Dinesh.  “Infy_Rockers to me is like “School of Rock” – where you learn about rock music” says Balaji Diwakar, a member and regular poster from Trivandrum.

So what does the future hold for these corporate bands and communities?

“As such we are being pragmatic about our approach and given the time we are able to devote for music, we are keen on making a few more originals which we are working on and having them recorded, in essence to bring out and further promote the “Hourglass” sound” says Amit. “Personally, I’m moving out to further my career in music by pursuing a degree in sound engineering from abroad” says Rishabh.  Chetan Banandur wants to take up music as a career. “We brothers have plans of branding INSANE’s name in other fields too like promotional services for bands, events managing, music school and recording studio (rather say our dream) in the future.”

“I want to keep writing songs and getting them out there. And slowly the band has started functioning as a song-creating unit, which is the way it should be. So next steps for us will be to get into a studio and do a proper recording, and then do a second album and then yet another.I can see us doing 5 albums, easy” says Sandeep Mittal. Vinay Lobo lays it down in a nutshell, “Our plans are very simple, we hope to do what we love – Music, and while we’re at it, just make  enough money to take care of bare necessities like a private jet, few luxury cars, a mansion in the French Riviera, etc.” Well we wish them all the luck!

Aalok Padhye

Article by Aalok Padhye

Aalok Padhye is a part of the Mumbai jam band ‘Something Relevant’.

In 2010  he quit a successful career at Infosys India to pursue his passion – Music.

Something Relevant Logo

Something Relevant
City in a Situation
Feels Good to be Live

Also Check Out:
www.somethingrelevant.org
www.facebook.com/somethingrelevant

Directed & Edited by: Payal Kapadia & Naina Panemanglor Shot by Vikas Munipalle
Graphics by Nikhil More

Cast in order of appearance
Cyrus Dhabhar – Car thief & Gangster
Rupa Basu – Photo girl
Taiyzun Shahpurwala – Photo guy
Naren Chandavarkar – Thug 1
Goldwin Fonseca – Thug 2 (manager)
Nosh Jehangir – Band Master
National Hindu Band (as themselves)
Band members as themselves

Something Relevant's first album "Feels Good To Be Live" has been released.

Their first album ‘Feels good to be live’ has been released. In the run up to their upcoming tour around India, we reminisce about how ‘Something Relevant’ (STR) got together, their journey, the effort that went into putting out the album and the future..

Lets us rewind back to Rang Bhavan, Independence rock. Winds of change were blowing upon the Indian rock scene in form of ‘Zero’, currently one of the best Indian bands who were on stage doing an ‘all original’ set getting booed by the crowd that wanted them to play covers. Not all of the crowd was in protest though, we know for sure that two guys from within the crowd actually liked it – Aazin (Vocals, STR) and Tanmay (Guitars, STR). “Aazin and I were in the crowd, we really thought it was good and they sounded much better than those bands doing Metallica covers, why on earth were people throwing bottles at them?!” asks Tanmay, expressing surprise and laughing at how far things have come since then. This incident infact was one of the many moments that helped in shaping up Something Relevant, but it may perhaps have been the most important considering that it triggered a certain philosophy – Original music was the way to go!

The performer was always there in the gene. As kids, Tanmay and band percussionist Aalok, who are cousins, used to organize family shows by combining on the Guitar and Tabla. “We used to do random shit! It was terrible and we even forced our family members to pay 20 bucks and watch our show!” These shows also had a stall and balcony system apparently. “A talk show, the Jay Leno kind was one of the many ideas, err but that’s another story altogether!” exclaims Aalok. The guys knew each other for a long time. All of them were College mates at St.Xaviers and were inclined towards music. It had to happen. “Individually we were not great musicians or anything, only Luis (Piano, STR) and Ryan (Saxophones, STR) are actually properly trained in music. The rest of us just wanted to play music!” says Tanmay.

Original music was the ultimate objective but they had to start off somewhere, so they did start covering bands like The Beatles, Dave Matthews Band, Grateful Dead, Phish, etc. “We used to play bands which people could enjoy more, it was all very chilled out and more on the softer side” says Aalok while also pointing out that the band was never afraid to try out different things. “We sucked then but our friends and others who got to know about us still wanted to see us perform because we were different!” declares Tanmay indicating as to how even the covers made them stand apart in a crowd that comprised of various bands playing Floyd, AC DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden et al.

In 2006, Something Relevant performed for the first time ever at an auditorium. The venue was the 765 seater Y.B.Chavan auditorium situated in Mumbai. In order to make it a success, the members had to do what they call ‘Political campaigning’ but boy did they pull it off or what!  “We ourselves organized it with this company called ‘Grateful life’, it was a self promoted show and we managed to sell out tickets in 4 days, all by word of mouth!” says Aalok. The response spurred them on to take up a bigger challenge in 2007. In a similarly organized show, but at a much larger auditorium, this time the 1300 seater Ravindra Natya Mandir, the band climbed another step. “We did it again! The tickets got sold out in 4 to 5 days this time too, and the best part was there were a lot more unknown faces in the crowd. That’s probably when we knew we were going somewhere with all of this and for the first time, we played our original songs.”

Something Relevant Logo

Naturally, the liberal minded approach also transmitted into their original compositions. Practicing and being part of the band had helped them all progress individually as musicians. Intended or not we don’t know, but it is difficult to categorize their songs under one genre. Their songs are an amalgamation of Blues, Swing, Jazz, Rock and everything in between. On stage – the confidence, energy, showmanship and telepathic communication amongst the members led to extended jam sessions more often than not and voila! India’s first ‘Jam band’ had arrived.

STR now wanted their music to be heard and the performances to be witnessed. The new sound, their unpredictability and onstage theatrics were well liked by many. For more than a year and a half the band became a constant in the live scene of Mumbai by performing at night clubs and pubs. They also performed for social causes like the revival of The Bandstand culture in Mumbai. “We did a lot of free shows then, if there was an opportunity to play we’d go out there and perform” says Tanmay. The band apart from the set seven members was always open to guest musicians performing on stage with them. “A Hindustani singer, two Keyboard players, a Tabla player, a Conga player, Trombones and also, we’ve played with a bagpipe player!” says Tanmay. Despite the impressive repertoire, they still wish to play with a trumpet player. So what’s the smallest stage they have played on then? “Aaah, that was at Jazz ( Not just jazz by the bay, Mumbai). We had 13 people on stage! Considering it’s a small stage there, we were severely restricted. Not an advisable thing to do at all!”

Year 2009 started on a positive note for Something Relevant. They were invited by the ICCR ( Indian council for cultural relations) to play at the Java Jazz festival held in Indonesia. This was another one of those major turning points for the band, so much so that they almost seem to look at themselves as ‘pre and post Java Jazz’. “It made us realize that music could never be geographically segregated, it was never going to be good or bad just for India or as per Indian standards. The internet age means there’s a world stage for everything now. So it is either good or bad” says Tanmay. The response to their music abroad surprised them, but it was pleasant alright. “It was really good! It proved that language was not a barrier when it came to music; it also gave us a lot of confidence and self belief. The best part about it was that nobody asked for an ‘Indian Element’ in the band. The music mattered the most and that made us happy” says Aalok stressing on the fundamental difference in approach and support towards upcoming bands. “Youngsters there are given a lot of encouragement, music education is provided in schools. There were five main amphitheaters and about fifteen to twenty stages reserved only for young bands coming out of Indonesia. We saw this all girl band doing Police covers where a 14 year old girl was playing double bass and singing like Sting!” The experience helped them gain a better perspective about their own music, six years since its formation and Something Relevant was ready (or so they thought!) for what was going to be their toughest challenge yet. The album.

Feels Good To Be Live

Feels Good to be Live. That’s the name of Something Relevant’s first album since the band formation in 2003 and that is exactly what they portrayed at the album launch at Not just Jazz by the Bay, Churchgate on 19^th December 2009.

The suave and swanky restobar was swarming with dedicated fans of the Mumbai based jam band. There was no place to move around and everywhere you could hear the fans singing along their popular numbers like Horn Ok please, Harry Mole and others. Midway into their performance Stuart decided to very informally launch the album by inviting Imran Khan of Jaane tu…fame and the multi grand slam winner Leander Paes on stage to do the honors. After the crowd had cheered in the album (for the fans had waited a long time for this) they got back to their performance like nothing much really transpired just two minutes back on the stage. This nonchalance is what seems to have become their trademark style.

They performed most of the songs on the album and also a few new innovations. One particular song that stood out was the one on Mosquitoes sung by Stuart while Armeet was supporting him by beat boxing.

The album was available at the venue for sale and is also available in various stores all across India. It is now also available on Amazon. They even had various band merchandise available at the venue which will also be available during their subsequent shows. Don’t wait anymore and get yourself a copy because if the launch event is anything to go by, then you surely do not want to miss this album.

Something Relevant - The Band

Aazin – Studied film making in Whistling Woods International Film institute for a couple of years. Interested in and working as a director/cinematographer.

Stuart – Marketing and Artist Manager at the Blue Frog. Graduate from St. Xaviers College Mumbai.

Tanmay – Studied BSC Maths from St. Xaviers College Mumbai and then Sound Engineering from SAE.

Ryan – Graduate from St. Xaviers College Mumbai. Worked at Total Sports Asia and Left Field International.

Luis – Information Technology Engineer. Also a qualified piano teacher from Trinity College of Music.

Jehangir Jehangir – Graduate from St. Xaviers College Mumbai. Teaches Speech and Drama.

Aalok – Computer Engineer. Working as a Software Engineer at Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Article by Vignesh Iyer and Nikunj Bhaiya