Rockscape, the progressive experimental rock band, has its roots in VIT Vellore’s Music Club. Shivansh and Kushagra, on bass guitar and rhythm guitar respectively, were its founders. The line-up is rounded out with Akaash, lead guitarist, Tushar, vocalist, and Yashas on drums.
To them, Rockscape represents an escape from reality, through the medium of rock. And it seemed befitting, since each member is partial to a specific sub-genre. “Shivansh and I saw a random post with cityscapes and landscapes. I thought about how we have so many different genres to work on, as reflected by our tastes, and considered naming the band ‘Rockscape’ — a band focusing primarily on rock and experimenting on its fringes,” explains Kushagra.
Varied influences
Rockscape counts bands across the rock spectrum such as Breaking Benjamin, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Metallica, Alter Bridge, Dream Theater and Pink Floyd — among its influences. Despite — or perhaps because of — their different styles, these students have come together to produce three originals — Alive , Between God and Everything Else, and Running Away. About their creative process, Akaash says, “Mostly, I come up with something for the music. Then, we all decide the feel of it and the direction in which we want the song to progress.” Tushar adds, “I write the lyrics based on what the instrumentalists come up with, so that I don’t limit their thoughts. Our songs have a lot of meaning behind them. I ensure that our lyrics stand out.”
While the students’ initial struggle was juggling academic and band responsibilities, their current struggle is their race against time. Kushagra says, “We are almost out of time. Shivansh and I are graduating this year. We want to give more time to the band but that might not happen. We still have plans to reunite whenever we can though.”
Shivansh reminisces, “We were performing in a pro show at VIT Chennai’s cultural fest Vibrance. We were supposed to play one song before the professional bands, because of the time limit. I was given a sign that our time is over, but I signalled the rest that we had time and could play one more song. We got into major trouble after our performance, but it was fun!”
Yashas recounts another event where they were competing in the morning, but they had lost to another band. In the evening, they were scheduled to open for professional artistes such as Farhan Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan. But they decided that the band they had lost to earlier, should replace them in the evening because the latter deserved it more. Yashas enthuses, “This was our biggest win, despite losing the competition. We don’t play to win. We play for our own satisfaction.”
You can catch up with Rockscape on Facebook: http://bit.ly/rockscape or YouTube: http://bit.ly/rockscapechannel .
