Live music – once restricted to only college festivals and private functions – has now become part of Delhi’s culture, thus, creating platforms for the independent bands. Online video-sharing platforms have also widened their reach.
“A lot has changed over the year,” says 26-year-old Niladri Chakravarty, vocalist of The Limited Experience and Niladri Chakravarty Duo. He says now a whole lot of opportunities are available.
“A lot of avenues have opened up – from live gigs at clubs to corporate gigs and so much more. The only challenge is expanding this market to keep up the growing number of bands.”
For all bands, networking plays a quintessential role in scoring gigs. “With hundreds of venues doing gig nights, it’s important to network and build a reputation for yourself using every social media platform available – be it Instagram, Facebook or sound cloud.
Above all, you have to stay disciplined no matter how erratic your schedule is or whatever you are doing as a musician. You have to look at every single day as a new song,” advises Chakravarty, a school teacher by day and musician at night.
Sumit Pratihast, 28, vocalist of Desi Roots agrees with Chakravarty. “Like any other market, you need to create a brand and goodwill for yourself by being consistent in delivering good performances. Improving yourself and your skills on the way becomes an obvious need. The competition is healthy, and with an increase in the number of platforms, there is enough space for all kinds of bands to coexist and make a name for themselves. It is important to focus on your work and what you want to make,” says Pratihast.
He adds that college or public competitions play a significant role in getting your band noticed. Getting a change to perform at events out of town is an added bonus.
Dry spells are a part and parcel of a band or a musician’s career. Instead of losing hope, the determined ones use the time to regroup and fine tune their skills. “The bands efforts during the dry spells should be channelised into creating new stuff and jamming more since during busy days, you hardly get the time to go and hit the studio,” shares Pratihast.
Arpan Guhathakurta, 36, Yaari Road, describes a musician’s life as an exciting roller coaster ride, alternating between dry spells and hectic seasons. “We are blessed to be working with friends and like-minded musicians. There are busy show seasons and quieter times when we create, practice and teach. Life is always exciting when there are challenges,” notes Guhathakurta.
Ultimately audience is king, and their tastes plays a crucial role in deciding which band moves forward. “People in Delhi prefer Bollywood tracks,” says Trivesh Sharma, the guitarist and backing vocalist of Before Christ, a five-piece Heavy/Thrash metal band.
“They enjoy songs to which they can dance to as compared to metal music. This, obviously, is a huge boulder in our way of getting shows. Only a handful of people listen to metal. They support each other, but stomachs cannot be filled with mere support.
Any musician who does not play commercial Bollywood music has to rely on a job to make ends meet. It’s just the mere passion of playing metal, which is why people do it. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not ranting, just giving you a reality check about the metal scene in Delhi.”
Organisations like Unbolly inc, however, are making efforts to improve the scene by organising meta gigs every week.
B:ENT’s venture Get BENT, hosts an artiste line-up of local bands across genres and languages to provide an eclectic music experience under one project.
Despite the challenges that non-mainstream music bands in India face, the binding thread is their passion to create and spread good music. And it’s this artistic spirit that tides them during a rough, dry spell.