Artists To Watch Out For

Five bands made it to our list; more coming up in a second list later this year

By Lalitha Suhasini | News & Updates January 15, 2013

When ROLLING STONE India kicked off the series in its launch issue in 2008, we found that Delhi seemed to be the seat of new talent in the country; Kolkata witnessed a rise of The Supersonics, a band that would soon make an indelible mark on the growing alternative music scene; Bengaluru saw a rush of electronica acts; Chennai had just taken an about turn from its Eighties rock fixation to a less self conscious, more original approach from Kishore Krishna, who had just kicked off Adam & The Fish Eyed Poets and Mumbai had little to show.
In four years, both the number of bands and the size of their audiences have impressively swelled. While the country hosted more festivals in 2012 than it ever has in the past decade, we’re still a little far from not featuring the same bands on the bill at most festivals. This year, bands from Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru had strong contenders for our list, spoiling us for choice and giving us a compelling reason to run the series not once, but twice.

SPUD IN THE BOX
The Mumbai pop rockers plan to release their debut EP this month

Spud In The Box Rock band,Mumbai k.j.singh Indian Best Band Ankit Dayal Hartej Sawhney Joshua Singh Rohan Rajadhakshya Siddharth Talwar Zubin Bhathena

Spud In The Box. Photo: Hashim Badani. Art: Sahej Rahal

WHO: Within just a year of getting together in 2011, the six-member band has endeared itself to both audiences and artists such as Indus Creed’s Uday Benegal and Mahesh Tinaikar. “We were really indecisive about the band,” says Rohan Rajadhyaksha, one of the vocalists and keyboardist of Spud In The Box that was formed when its members – students of Jai Hind college – wanted to compete at Kaleidoscope, the annual fest of Mumbai’s Sophia’s College. Alongwith Rajadhyaksha, Spud In The Box includes vocalist Ankit Dayal, guitarists Hartej Sawhney and Siddharth Takwar, Vivaan Kapoor on drums and bassist Zubin Bhatena.
BIG BREAK: Soon after winning Kaleidoscope, the band was invited to perform at Live From The Console, the fortnightly series of gigs at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios. “We had just two songs, so we were really surprised that we got called for that gig,” says guitarist Sawhney. Adds Dayal, “The response for that was really good and it was the first time that we played with this six-piece line-up.”
SOUND: Buoyant pop, clean, sweet harmonies and uncomplicated lyrics get Spud In The Box going. You’ll hear Dave Matthews and John Mayer in there, but for a band that’s just been around for just a year, Spud In The Box can hold their own
ON THE CARDS: Producer KJ Singh recently stepped in to produce the band’s four-track debut EP Attention Please that is slated to be launched this month. “He asked us pertinent questions about the future of the band and where we saw ourselves 10 years down the line,” says Rajadhyaksha of Singh, who is also the proud parent of their guitarist Hartej, “That’s when we decided we should put in everything to make this work now, so that later we don’t have any regrets.”
SPIN THIS: “Lens Life,” which also on their EP, is quotation marked catchy and remarkably mature when they tell you that “Happiness, believe me, it’s just a state of mind.” The kids are definitely all right.

Spud In The Box releases their debut EP Attention Please at Blue Frog, Mumbai tonight. Entry Free

Courtesy: Rolling Stone India -http://rollingstoneindia.com/artists-to-watch-out-for/

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Attention Please!

17 August 2013, New Delhi, Shrishty Mishra

Millennium Post catches up with alternate rock band Spud in the Box who are all set to hit the Capital this weekend with their original compositions.

When we asked these alternate rock band artistes about the inception of the band, they excitedly narrated a fairy tale. And just as their story, this band believes in making original compositions and are fun and power packed as their performances. Here are excerpts from a candid conversation we had before they went on to perform at Hard Rock Cafe this weekend . Read on...

What is the story behind the inception of the band?

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (St.Xaviers college) Rohan and Ankit met in a bathroom during the college fest- Malhar. Later, Ankit asked Rohan to join the Jai Hind band that he was a part of and today we are here with a couple of line up changes here and there.

A band usually go through its set of ups and downs, how is your experience so far?

We've had our share of ups and downs, but we feel we've had it pretty good for the last 2 years. Even though we've had a recent lineup change, we feel we've recuperated fast and it has given us a whole new perspective. We're glad we can finally get back to doing what we love to do the most - playing gigs, everywhere.

Tell us about the chemistry you guys share off stage.

We started out with the band being the main connecting point between us. But over 2 years of being a band we've grown to become friends. Usually bands form due to friendship getting together to play music but we kind of did it in reverse.

Why there is no girl in the band, have you ever thought of including one?

We've had a female guest vocalist Vasuda Sharma, who is awesome and hyper-talented. But the band just fell into place so quickly that we didn't really put a lot of thought into genders and the possibility of a female member.

Tell us about your EP Attention Please?

Attention, Please! is a four track extended play (EP) that we released in January 2013, and is our first proper release. We're still pretty excited about it, it got the four songs that we were most confident about at the time. It was recorded at YRF with the Shantanu Hudliker and mixed by KJ Singh.

How has the response been?

It's been great. We did a little tour to promote the EP in January for it too. We got favorable reviews from critics from major publications. It was also great to see a lot of musicians we look up to like Bruce Lee Mani, Rahul Ram, Koco, Warren Mendonsa among others, supporting and encouraging feedback us with the piece.

What are the inspirations behind the tracks you make?

Well, it differs from track to track. But each track has its own vibe and the lyrics usually come from a personal place. We put up in a way that tracks are relate-able to our audience.

What message you want to put across to the listeners by your music?

As commonly said, audience and artistes alike, we write and produce our own composition, we're very excited about being in the indie music scene right now. It's a time of change and we're very grateful to be part of it. We make music for the listeners and as an artiste it is important to have an audience to perform to. The more connected to audience we are, the better it gets. With more and more people supporting Indian Indie by buying songs, attending gigs and festivals its at a very interesting place and will make more interesting compositions.

Tell us about winning Best rock Artist by Radio City Freedom Awards?

It was exhilarating, we are still pretty kicked by it. K.J Singh, who produced the EP won the Indian Recording Artists Association award for Best Produced Band at the Palm Expo too.

Where are your next shows, any new tracks you guys are working on?

We're working on a couple of tracks with our new drummer, Joshua Singh. Apart from this gig we're playing for The Scene gig at Arc Asia in Pune with some other well-known bands.

Courtesy: Millennium Post

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