Thirteen cities in the span of three weeks – that sounds about as extensive as tours get for the most in-demand artists in the country, but this is what an up-and-coming indie band’s tour schedule looks like. Bengaluru hard rock band Switcheroo, who have been gigging for just over a year in and around South India, have set their sights on making major inroads across the country.
Earlier this month, they kicked off the Enslave by the Establishment tour – probably a tongue-in-cheek reference to how they’re defying the expected career graph of most independent bands in the country by going on a month-long tour just a year into performances, with just one studio single released. One of the things this sort of tour tells you is that Switcheroo can do a whole lot of convincing to land a network of gigs that’s taken them from Mumbai to Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi and this weekend, Shillong, Guwahati and Siliguri, followed a show in Pune on June 20th. Band manager and guitarist Subhash Rao says, “This was probably the luckiest I've got while working on a tour in terms of the time it took into getting everything into place. It took about 50 - 60 days to get all the touring schedule sorted out and having all the shows locked up. The major challenge, as always for an Indie band in the country, is the finances and logistics of making sure the band is well set throughout the entirety of the tour. Right from deciding how the day starts with what the band is eating for breakfast till the time its lights out in the night.”
All that planning before they hit the road, comes on the back of just one studio release – their single ‘King of the Castle’. There’s a sort of confidence in their own music that Switcheroo has – the charged-up mix of funk, grunge, rock and nu-metal that they’re playing to new audiences on this tour. Rao says, “Everyone across the country has been very receptive of our music and it gives us that faith that this could definitely be one of the next big things if nurtured properly.”
They’ve already knocked out half of the tour so far, and Rao says the band has had a lot of fun and learned a few lessons along the way. And of course, there are memories. “Memorable moments, for me personally at least, is the time we're spending together as a band away from the music side of it. Grabbing meals in the most unlikely of places, playing games and giving each other a good laugh during whatever time we get to relax. We get along with each other very well and I'm guessing that's where our chemistry as a band is most important,” Rao says.
One of the main things Switcheroo’s tour proves, though, is that there’s an extensive touring network across India that is up for grabs, depending on what kind of offers you get. Rao says that all it takes is a collective effort from the band and making sure all the members are on the same page at almost all times and contributing equally.
Up next, there’s plenty more on the anvil, although Rao says the band will take a break from playing shows to finish recording their upcoming debut album by the end of July. He mentions “high profile shows that are yet to be announced” but specifically tells us about possible international shows towards the end of the year that they’re currently working out the logistics for, in order to expand their reach even further. Rao adds, “All in all, lots to look forward to.”
