When talking to members of Chromatic , one of SRM University’s bands,one thing that comes across strongly is their passion for what they do. To them, this isn’t just a hobby, it’s what they want out of life. They struggle to reconcile their love of music with societal pressures to study engineering. Then, they channel the frustrations of that struggle into their music.
Self-taught musicians Rishabh, Rudra and Debjeet have known each other from their school days in Kolkata at DPS, Ruby Park. When they were chosen to be in SRM’s highly-selective music club in their first year, it just seemed natural to form their own band. “Jamming together for the last three-and-a-half years is what made us who we are today,” says Debjeet, guitarist.
One thing that didn’t come so naturally, was their band name, but they figured it out eventually. Rishabh, bassist and lyricist, explains, “Chromatic is a musical term. It’s about consecutive notes being played. We play the chromatic scale a lot.” Rudra, drummer, adds on, “An octave has seven notes, chromatic scale has seven plus five. It sounds strange, the chromatic scale itself. Making it sound musical is the challenge.” Debjeet plays a small sample of the chromatic scale, and the conversation moves to their genre — progressive rock.
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Their influences are many, but one that they say deserves a special mention, is the band Dream Theater. “Each album of DT’s is like a story. I like to mention stuff that’s going on around the world in my lyrics, so DT’s presentation of their music inspires me,” says Rishabh.
In a case of art imitating life, he wrote their first original composition, Revolt, taking a cue from their personal issues. “It is about problems we, as students, face. We’re being taught stuff that we probably won’t use in our professional lives; being forced into the rat race when we want to pursue our passion.”
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Though progressive rock is their forte, they are capable of mixing things up a little — or a lot. Rishabh explains, “If the gig calls for covers, we play covers. But at competitions, we usually play our own songs.” They can play anything “ranging from heavy metal to Vande Mataram ,” says Debjeet. That last one was for an Independence Day show at Express Avenue, Chennai, where they were the featured band. They have represented SRM at various cultural festivals.
An event at NIFT, however, is what they consider to be their biggest win. Not only did they win first place, they were invited to jam onstage with the judge. “NIFT gave us the confidence we needed. It was our first big win; the judge loved our original compositions and encouraged us to continue making such music,” says Rudra
Chromaticis now recording its first EP with new lead singer Shourish. Stay tuned to their Facebook page http://bit.ly/chromaticband for updates. You can also check out some of their music on YouTube http://bit.ly/chromaticyoutube.
Of the constant push and pull of traditional career path vs. passion, Rudra says, “Music as a career is a struggle, but some succeed. We aren’t going to quit; we will struggle for that success. Living with your passion is the best life one can have.”