Studio 7, the music society of Mudra Institute of Communication Arts (MICA), Ahmedabad, has under its wings two bands — Headcount and Rubber. Rubber comprises Manveer Sood, (24), first-year PGDM, as lead singer, his classmate Kaushik Bhatia (22) on vocals, Abhishek (21) crafting creative communications student on guitar and singing, his classate Aakash (21), on percussion and Dharani (23), first-year PDGM, on mouth organ. Having come together at MICA last August, the band is into acoustic versions of old Bollywood songs and English hits. Determined to not go electrical (minimal use of equipments), the five churn out English and Hindi numbers “with a twist”.
“We jam all the time. We just can’t stop playing and play 15-20 songs at a stretch,” says Sood, who won Zee TV’s Sare Gama Pa challenge, when he was in his Class IX. Other than Sood, Bhatia is the only one in the gang to have had any formal training in music.
They say that adding a classical touch to Bollywood songs and English hits is their USP. They have not participated in fests except for MICA’s E Sharp, an annual music fest organised by Studio 7. “We are relatively a new band and with Abhishek and Aakash having joined us just a couple of months ago, we are biding time before we take on big contests,” reasons Dharani.
Though they haven’t released any original compositions as yet, they are working on their first single, Maine Sooraj Tham Liya, which will “see the light of the day soon.” On their inspirations, Bhatia says, “You needn’t look beyond the music here to get inspired. We stick to a medley of English and Hindi hits so that there is no language barrier.”
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com