They started off as a garage rock band in Chennai but landed their first gig within a week of forming Skrat. Ever since, the three-piece band known for its alternative rock, garage and blues-based music has played across several locations including NH7 and Campus Rock Idols in Hyderabad. The latest feather in their cap though has to be the single they’ve released along with Vishal Dadlani and Farhan Akhtar for the television premiere of the latest X-Men movie.
Called ‘Mutant Macha’,the song was recently uploaded on YouTube by Star Movies and was aired on television before the screening of X-Men: Days of Future Past . The indie band, understandably excited about this latest achievement, describes the song as Superhero-esque. T.T. Sriram, the lead vocalist, says, “Mutant Macha is a heavy rock n roll song; a collaboration between Vishal, Farhan and Skrat based on a Superhero-esque theme now released along with the X-Men franchise TV release.” He adds, “We were approached by Far Out Media, a company now also working on taking independent talent to mainstream exposure. It sounded interesting and it was something we had not done before; so we decided to give it a shot.”
Talking about the making of the song, Sriram says that it was a collaborative effort right from the start. “Right from conceptualising the track to its final form, there was a lot of creative back-and-forth among the three. It was literally Vishal, Farhan and Skrat sitting together in a studio creating the song together,” explains Sriram, adding, “It was a very different experience for us as a band. Skrat usually writes a song in the jam room and then might even play it live a few times before getting into the studio with a full song that just needs to be recorded. In this case, we walked into the recording studio with Vishal and Farhan and made the song. The experience was very informative to say the least. We learnt a lot from the incredible talents that Vishal and Farhan are. It was great to see them give us so much creative independence.”
The song, which had been in the making for a few weeks now, was recently uploaded online and clocked nearly 5,000 views within a short span of time. “We are excited as our sound is going to go to a wider audience that isn’t used to modern Indie heaviness,” says Sriram, confessing that he along with his band mates are huge X-Men fans. “We are all massive Marvel universe fans. The franchise touches the inner geek in us without fail.”
Now that the song has seen a successful release, Skrat is looking forward to going back to doing what they do best – create more music. “It has been a nice excursion of sorts with this collaboration. Now it’s back to what we think we do best, Indie song-writing and live sets with a lot of energy. More is on the agenda,” says Sriram.