Genre is often a trap that restricts the work of many bands. However city-based band Treo has managed to find so much to experiment within the melodic space. Melody is their forte and they admit they’ve discovered this only over time. The five member group, including the composer/guitarist Darshan Sirigiri, vocalists Ernest Abraham (a HR professional), Emrald Abraham (an engineering student) besides the lyricists Ajay Akhnoor and Krishna Rayaprollu (employee in Facebook). Darshan is the seniormost and plays mentor to the rest.
Treo has two dedicated lyricists, a rarity. “Krishna and I were colleagues in the past and I knew he had this amazing poetic sense,” Ernest breaks the ice. Ajay’s story is a little different. “Like every engineering kid who wants to make a short film of his own, this one was with Darshan bhayya , my cousin. I wrote a song and even sang it and bhayya was clear he didn’t want me to sing ever again (laughs). That’s when we unearthed Ernest, and the inception of Treo happened. Things got moving,” he says . They started with the Hindi track ‘ Tum Ho ’ that remains a hot-favourite among their followers.
Success came to their doorstep quite soon. Within four months, they’d received four national award nominations, signed contracts with Artistaloud, MTV, Qyuki (a platform for independent musicians co-owned by Shekhar Kapoor and A R Rahman) and were named the number one among many music platforms. “It’s been four years and we’re still rated number two there. We’ve pretty much sustained where we’d come from,” Ernest can’t hide his satisfaction.
Have top-notch contracts brought in any change in the way they make music? “More than taking the contract for granted, we were eager to reach out to more people, prove ourselves with quality. So, the question of us getting overwhelmed by fame didn’t arise.”
As you track their journey, you see they work mainly on Hindi tracks. Also, that they’ve consciously improvised on the visual quality of the tracks over the years. “If we start looking at ‘ Woh Lamha ’ now, the quality seems amateurish. Our music grew with time but we’d worked with quality production houses like Red Bug Films, those who thrive for young music talent and ensured great results,” explains Ernest. Ajay adds that different collaborations for their videos brought in variety but they knew when to take the giant leap.
Amongst all their numbers that revolve around love, loss and relationships, a chirpy track, ‘ Kya Hua ’ was where the fun element reigned. “We’d always wanted to come out of our comfort zone and it was the child in Darshan that made this happen,” Ajay adds.
Ernest remembers that the video was the first time he’d ever danced; for that video, they’d teamed with Meghraj Ravindra, the man who helped them reach out to MTV. “Without that we’d have been just another independent band that merely existed.” While their latest track is ‘ Aariraro ’, they’re ideating a fusion number next.
They do have some common interests — they all bond over food and they all value each other’s time perfectly. A couple of them work in Bangalore, one is in Maharashtra and another two are in Hyderabad, so it feels like a mini-reunion whenever they get to meet. Ideas come impromptu to them, in the bathroom, the time they dress up and many more places. “We mail our ideas to each other and make time for this instead of a movie or chilling elsewhere. What’s better than doing something you really love?” reasons Ernest.
Are they ready to give up their corporate careers and work solely on music? “That’s a possibility we don’t rule out,” Krishna concludes.
Music they made: Tum Ho, Kya Hua, Woh Lamha, Hum Toh, Laut Aa, Aarariraro
Claim to fame : 5 year contract with MTV
Movie opportunity : Telisi Teliyaka
Favourite Indian band : Indian Ocean
