IT was in December 2021 when bassist Sidharth Gupta and drummer Rishabh Singh came up with the idea of forming a band. In no time, vocalist and lyricist Arpan Kumar and guitarist Amartya Ghosh joined the duo. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this quartet named Green Park met at a crossroads to take the road not taken. Almost a year later—in December last year to be precise—the city-based indie boy band released their debut EP titled All My Pictures Have Grown Smiles. We met Green Park in their studio space—a Hauz Khas apartment packed with artefacts that make up their soul—to know about their music, inspiration, EP, and more. Edited excerpts from an interview…
Give us an insight into the idea behind the EP name All My Pictures Have Grown Smiles, which is also part of the lyrics of your song Melodrama.
Arpan: My thoughts have been very different now since the past year. I went through a breakup, which was quite painful. To come to terms with it, I had to find love for my former partner, and instead of dealing with it with hate or anger, the only way forward was to be understanding, empathising, and just being okay with being by myself and not chasing relationships. Ultimately, the title of the album comes from the song Melodrama, which, in hindsight, seemed very dramatic in my response to my ex when we broke up. It is more of an understanding. Since then, we have reconnected, spoken, and are friends now. That is what I mean by ‘all my pictures have grown smiles’. For a long time, those three or four years were tainted by unhappiness and anger. My life was clouded with what had happened and I was desperate to rewrite the narrative in my head. It is like reconnecting with the past and making it feel great again. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met these guys… the band might’ve not existed.
Extensive instrumental sections are prominent throughout this album. Was this intentional?
Amartya: One of the reasons why I love playing with these guys and what we enjoy about our music is that there are literally never bad ideas in this space. And if we want to do something, we just go ahead and do it. There’s no thought about what the song is, what it should be like, and whom it would cater to. We are making it for ourselves. If we want that extensive instrumental section, then there will
be an extended instrumental section.
Arpan: I’ve always loved instrumental music. I am already a huge fan of orchestration and I thought ‘Why can’t we do that?’.
Is there something specific that you want to deliver to the audience through your music?
Rishabh: I think as makers of this art form, we do it for different reasons. I do it for my sanity and to share my experience.
Arpan: I think sharing is the best part. It is incredible that this exists. The purpose for me, as a songwriter, is to emotionally release whatever thoughts I am having. If there’s something plaguing me, then a song just solves that. It is like a physical manifestation of my thoughts. It helps make it [his thoughts] more real when other people play with me and listen to my music. The thing that’s bothering me seems more legitimised. I have never really thought about the audience.
Rishabh: I feel like an audience is a perk.
When can we expect more of Green Park and what’s in the pipeline?
Together: Very soon.
Sidharth: We are working on a music video for All My Pictures Have Grown Smiles and are excited since it is completely different from the EP. It’s going to be out in a month or two.
‘All My Pictures Have Grown Smiles’ by Green Park is streaming on leading platforms
QUICK FOUR
If you had a chance to share the stage with The Beatles, which song would you perform: Taxman (1966).
An artist you’d like to collaborate with: Antônio Carlos Jobim (on piano)
A song that describes your journey as a band: Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party by Courtney Barnett
What do you do when you are not composing/performing?
Rishabh: Gardening;
Arpan: Playing cricket or reading books;
Amartya: Spending time
with my cats