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Where Pop Is The Alternative

Where Pop Is The Alternative

By Amaan Khan

Young indie bands across the nation are experimenting with new sounds and medium to create melodies that are radically different from their musical ancestors. SoundTree caught up with three such bands from Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland, three states known for their musical heritage and affinity towards more conventional sounds. These bands are exploring newer genres, embracing peppy pop-rock, and straying marginally away from the conventionally heavier sounds of metal and hard rock of yesteryears. Frisky Pints, Afflatus, and Avancer ascertain how they are making inroads in a land strongly influenced by classic rock, metal and gospel.

Pull out a metaphorical reel of film from the last decade of music in the North East, shake off the liquid, and hold it up against red light of a darkroom (photo developing room). On observation you’ll find that the recent period has not only given rise to the confident face of pop-rock bands adhering to up-tempo tracks with racy, jaunty rhythms, but also a surviving and thriving pop-rock culture in the otherwise rock ‘n’ roll/metal-oriented North East India. The genre has never been more warmly welcomed by crowds than now, and the bands we got speaking to were ecstatic about their inflection towards alternative sounds. After all, they’re carrying the legacy of their poignant rock ‘n’ rolling heirs forward; of course with a pinch of salt and dash of lime.

In 2010, Mizoram-based band Frisky Pints began their journey, and has since performed at Ziro Festival of Music (Arunachal Pradesh), India Bike Week (Goa) apart from sharing the stage with Pakistani Sufi rock band Junoon at The Recycle Pub (Jaipur). It wasn’t easy when they started off. They’ve had to jam through the course of nights because of day jobs that paid their bills. It’s a feeling of brotherhood that has kept them together. “We’re more of a family. So we stick up for each other in good and bad times. Sometimes we’ve travelled in a 202 pickup truck and had our gears all wet. (We also) stole a tyre in some random village for our broken down car, but that’s another story.” According to them, a fading presence of metal in the North East has, in a way, left audiences with a gamut of newer genres to explore. “Well, to tell you the truth, metal was a big influence in the North East, but that was a couple of years ago, and as trends keep changing, I think these days metal is long gone, especially in our state of Mizoram.”

Indie pop rock band Frisky Pints

The Shillong-based all-women band Afflatus is steady in their tracks to circumvent conventional hard rock to make-space-for-their-pop-genre. “Metal has a huge following in Shillong, no doubt. But frankly speaking, Shillong is the home for music lovers. We have metal nights that end with trance and Beatles nights that wind up in a singsong. Shillong has music genres playing from each home at various rhythms and decibels.” There was indeed room for all, except for a jam room, which remains the band’s only grouse.

Following the footsteps of their contemporary pop-rockers, Nagaland-based alt-pop rock band Avancer, few of whom are still studying, tell us about the battle they’re facing with audiences who want metal. Keyboardist Yan Ngullie says, “In our state of Nagaland, the metal scene has declined since the past few years but if we go outside the state metal still lives on. The general audience demands metal music and there are few bands who have made it up to their mark in that particular genre. Some bands whose genre differs from metal music do face certain pressures in gathering audiences.”

Frisky Pints have seen a fair share of adulation in Mizoram, especially when they found out their song “Vain” (listen here) was covered at school functions. But when Indus Creed legend Uday Benegal mentors you on a show on national TV – MTV Never Hide Sounds, you’ve got to feel a sense of accomplishment. Uday showed his support in the video by saying, “The important thing is to express yourself, which means writing your own songs. What I love about these guys is that I really like their songs because they’re well-structured, well-crafted and each of these guys is playing a part that complements the other.”

The God-loving Afflatus have received compliments that are confusing-amusing, which more often than not leaves them with a bout of encouragement. From “Did you really compose those guitar lines yourself?” and “I couldn’t believe a girl could play the bass line like you did” to “Do you take drum lessons? Where can I sign up?” – They have heard it all.

All Avancer wants to do is swiftly cut through the metal-demanding clutter of crowds to serve up some fresh and peppy melody. An incident, Yan Ngullie recalls, presumably that helps them push forward when they’re at the end of the road. “After one of our shows, this kid comes up to us, and he’s like 7 or 8 years old and says that he loved our music so much that when he grows up he would start a tribute band in our name and that he was so inspired by our music that he would sell his PlayStation and get himself a guitar.” (Listen to their single “The Trip” here)

Avancer at Nagaland’s Jumping Bean Cafe

Globally speaking, pop-rock usually faces derision and gets typecast a commercial product. Despite a pop bent of mind, these bands are always experimenting with alterations that keep their heads above water; and bobbing at that. It’s a simple belief that Afflatus cavalierly wishes to drive home, “We would say our music is about expression of feelings. We just love our music, man, whichever way – be it pop, funk, alternative, ballads and good ol’ rock as our baseline. Our music is and has always been about expressing what we’re going through.”

While the younger generation of pop-rock bands feel their music can thrive in the current scenario, one of Shillong’s oldest underground metal bands, Adremelech, which shredded some mean riffs from 1992 to 2008, feels metal hasn’t yet lost its lustre. Eugene Arnold Jaraine of yesteryears’ Adremelech says, “The younger generations are more attracted to metal and progressive rock/metal, but there are many lovers of Blues as well, although in a minority. The dominant genre is still rock, which comprises classic, metal and progressive. Again, here (in Shillong), you will see bigger attendance at metal gigs than at any other gig for other genres.”

Fact of the matter is, despite metal’s imposing presence that clings on to the perceptive hearts of the veterans, the burgeoning presence of pop-rock has never looked more promising than now. Pop-rock has indeed found a firm foothold in the hills of the North East. However, only time will tell the future of the alternative genres. Meanwhile, the eclectic mix of genres engulfing the North East tells us how warmly the community is accepting the otherwise unpopular pop.

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