Every band has a signature sound. But when it comes to Pineapple Express, there’s more than just music to this chugging fruit train. The band, that serves a combination of progressive music with Indian fusion, tops the sonic cocktail with a visual sensorial experience that gives the right kick to the already high-octane performance.
Brewing a concoction of Indian classical music with progressive rock, djent, synth, and signature song writing, Pineapple Express offers a heady mix of music memories for Bengaluru this weekend.
With a line-up that fills the stage, the band comprises vocalists Karthik C Rao, Jimmy F John and frontman Yogeendra Hariprasad aka Yogi who also doubles up on keys and production, guitarists Bhargav Sarma and Ritwik Bhattacharya, drummer Gopi Shravan, flautist Arjun MPN and violinist Shravan Sridhar. Completing the team are sound engineer Abhinav Joshi and lighting engineer Hrishii Ravi.
Proudly proclaiming their backgrounds, Yogi says: “We have members from Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Chennai while the other half are from Bengaluru. That only makes our performance here in hometown Bengaluru all the more special for us.”
So what can people expect at their show? Pat comes the reply: “A whole new set of songs from our debut EP Uplift which gets released next week. However, we are selling a limited number of physical copies in this gig. We will play almost all our original compositions in the two-hour set along with a few crowd favourites,” says Yogi.
Of course, there’s more than just music happening, he continues. “Our live sets are a sensory experience for the audience. By the end of the show, the crowd will realise they have never seen anything like us before and that makes it a unique experience for them.” He adds: “We don’t know if we will have a projection system at Fandom, but usually we have visuals running in-sync behind us as we play our songs. So it makes for as much a treat visually as it does aurally.”
Commenting on Uplift , Yogi says the EP is the culmination of many years of songwriting. “The songs have evolved since I wrote them about two years back. In fact, they’ve come a long way in terms of how complete they sound. It’s a musical journey and no two songs sound similar. We don’t classify ourselves under any one genre. We explore quite a bit and try to incorporate new sounds that float into each new song.”
At the end of the day, though, Yogi affirms that it is Indian music that keeps the band’s music going. “I’ve grown up in a family that played Indian classical music since my mother is a veena player. Anything musical I’ve done always involved Indian classical in it in some form or the other. In Pineapple Express, I’ve seen it take the forefront in almost all the compositions.”
A project that started under a different banner years ago, Yogi traces Pineapple Express’ origin story. “This band was not supposed to happen. The present guitarist convinced me not to let the music die. I had to put together a completely new bunch of guys which is what Pineapple Express is today. That, for all practical reasons, is how we started.” The name too has no ambiguous interpretations, he points out. “This is exactly how it happened. My former bandmates were waiting for me at my place. They said this project is going to be called Pineapple Express because our music is trippy. I agreed, and that’s literally it. Somethings just happen and the name stuck.”
October 2016, is the time zone in which he places this part of the band’s history. “That’s where this line-up started. It was initially a three-piece project with me, guitarist Bhargav and drummer Gopi. From there, we’ve become an eight-member act in a span of three years along with a light engineer. With the entry of each member, the sound quality, the live act and energy has all undergone a monumental change. While we’ve reinforced the Indian elements, the energy level has gone up!”
What went into putting the band’s music together? Yogi takes us down memory lane. “The first ever Western music I heard was Dream Theatre. So my first exposure to English music was as progressive as Dream Theatre. That changed the way I looked at music. Progressive bands and electronic artistes followed; and it all affected the way I make music. In fact, I don’t really think there is anything like bad music. We just need to see how it all fits together.”
Yogi likes to place the band in a space that is in between commercial and artistic. “For example, we play a lot of college shows. Our setlists also include our own interpretation of Bollywood songs. That gets the crowd hooked and preps them to receive our originals. So we strive to strike the balance between catering to the audience and making them like our music.”
In the foreseeable future, Yogi says he hopes they play as many shows as possible across the country. “Beyond that, we hope we become as successful as our idols and go international,” he sums up.
Give this live phenomenon a listen at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Koramangala, on March 17, 9 pm onwards with special guest post-hardcore /math rock band Haiku-Like Imagination. Call 25537755.
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