What started from the boys’ dormitories with the thumping of buckets and clatter of plates, spoons and glasses, went on stage to become a winning team M.A.A.R.S, a two-year old rock band from Vellore Institute of Technology. The name is an acronym of the names of its members – Maitreya Das (guitar), Akshay Behara (guitar), Alexander Mathew (drums), Rishab Narang (former lead guitarist) and Shreyan Sarkar (former lead vocalist). Siddharth Kurmaya (drums) was a big part of the band, Maitreya says.
Later came Stanley Sunny (keyboard), Abir Majumder (bass) and Abhishek Sarma (lead vocalist) who are part of the current line-up. “We got kicked out by the warden for making a lot of noise. We pleaded with him, he later gave us a room to practise for Riviera, VIT’s cultural fest,” says Maitreya, fondly called Moi.
The band believes in experimenting with styles of rock like pop rock, punk rock and acoustic rock. In 2013, they came third at Christian Medical College’s (CMC) cultural event, Pegasus, where Abhishek was declared the best vocalist. It has been raining victory for M.A.A.R.S since. They came third at Acoustyx, IIT Madras, Sarang 2014, where Abhishek was adjudged the best vocalist again; first at CMC’s winter carnival, Acousticity 2014; second at Manipal Institute of Technology’s Revels; third at Bangalore-based RV College’s 8th Mile; and first at CMC’s Pegasus 2014 with Abhishek winning the best vocalist title again.
When asked what they have in mind for the future, Moi says, “We have five original compositions. We’d like to record at least some of them. First on the list is definitely Li’l Jeremy, the crowd favourite as well as ours.”
Asked what Li’l Jeremy is about he says, “It’s about the valiant protests of an African American fighting for his rights in an American Civil War setting.” One might think it is inspired from a real story, but no. “I was bored in a Physics class and started penning down the lyrics.” His imagination took flight and this Biotechnology student was transported to a Civil War setting. After inputs from other team mates, Li’l Jeremy was complete.
Other compositions include Integrity and Silicon Noise, the latter urging music lovers to protest against electronic music. “We’re just asking people to go back to classic rock. Country folk is great too. It’s about waking up to the beauty of acoustic music.”
It’s almost the end of college and the band is most likely to wrap up, but that does not dampen their spirit of preparing for their next gig at Government Vellore Medical College. “Can’t believe we won’t play together after three-four months, but if possible we’ll try to get together and jam,” says Moi, optimistically.
Suraksha@newindianexpress.com