Chai On The Rocks (COTR) may not a ring a bell with rock fans in the city, but these Bangalore boys have been on the music circuit as early as 1997. The band includes Hemanth Kumar aka Bobby, Nagesha BS aka Nagesh on guitars, Rageesh on vocals, Ravi on the bass, Ranjish aka Ranj on keyboards and vocals and Rohan on bass.
“Bobby used to play with these guys in a band called Clockwork Orange. And that was way back in 1997. The the band broke up around the same time. Bobby, who is the eldest among us, then started jamming with Nagesh and Ranjish. That didn’t last long either. It was around 2006 that Chai On The Rocks kind of came together as a band, after my brother (Rageesh) and I ended up in Bangalore and were looking around for bands to jam with,” says Rohan, the drummer, who cites Neil Pert and Mike Portnoy as his biggest influences.
The band’s influences seem to include most of the classic rock and thrash bands from the 1970s up to the 1990s like Rush, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Dream Theater, Led Zepellin, Deep Purple, Steve Morse, Dio, Iron Maiden, White Snake, TOTO, Journey and many more. But what sets the band apart from the rest that plays classic rock is that they sing mostly in Hindi. “We’re all very comfortable speaking in Hindi. So when Rageesh and I write poetry, it’s usually in Hindi. Sometimes, the music comes first and we fit the poetry into it. We just want to incorporate rock music with all its distinct flavors, whether it's dark sounds or just free flowing,” explains Rohan.
COTR is currently recording for its first full-fledged album. Four songs have already been recorded, another five are yet to be done. “If everything falls into place, the album will be out in five to six months,” says Rohan.
The band pays a lot of attention to its lyrics. “At first, all our thoughts were directed inwards. Rageesh and I were both quite frustrated with our job scenes and were looking for an outlet for the angst. Hence, songs like Azaadi were born. But over the last two years, we’ve started looking at the world around us, and we see so many issues that need to be spoken about. We have this satirical song, where we mock the current systems and talk about corruption,” says Rohan, who quit his job two years ago to become a full-time musician, but had to get back work recently because the music industry isn’t very lucrative.
COTR’s live performances are usually a mix of their original compositions with crowd favourites like Azaadi, Akele and Do raha, as well as popular English covers. “Our collective fantasy is to be on stage performing to the biggest crowd possible. When you play with a full heart, and you can feel the audience responding to that, it gives you a huge kick. We don’t want to play Hindi songs just for the sake of it, we want our music and our lyrics to make a difference,” says Rohan, his voice brimming with anticipation.
You can connect with the band at: https://www.facebook.com/chaiontherocksbangalore