Rock band Attva believes in instant music. The band, consisting of four people formed about a year ago. Alvin Presley is from Tamil Nadu, while Baidurjya Banerjee and Rudra Roy both from West Bengal and Shourish Biswas is from Delhi.
The four of them met during an Auditions at Chennai’s SRM University while pursuing their graduation at the same and ended up bonding over their shared love for post-progressive rock though their playlist is expansive, including alternative, psychedelic and ambient rock. There’s a reason the band keeps it’s genre this fluid: the music they play, they say, is determined by the audience.
“We work mostly on Progressive rock, where we add elements of ambient music,” says Alvin Presley, “The reason for the choice is that you barely have two or three bands in Chennai on this genre,” he says.
“Attva was chosen as band name after we had a patent right issue with a Mumbai-based band on the name ‘Sparsh’. Attva is not emerged out of a set meaning but a compilation of musical syllables,” says Alvin Presley, the band’s lead vocalist. He adds that the band has been performing existing songs, while simultaneously working on creating their own music.
“We produce our own compositions,” says Alvin, describing how they weave them into each performance. “We do prepare our set prior to performance, but we also compose and replicate existing songs minutes before or while we play,” says Baidurjya Banerjee, lead guitarist. Like any other young band, they have plenty of challenges.
“First it was of the progressive genre. Niche audiences who understood it were able to engage, but the larger audiences couldn’t,” says Alvin, adding. “That is when we started to add other elements to make it more effective and engaging.”
However, they never stop being delighted by fans, no matter how few. Alvin says that connecting to even one person among the many watching is gratifying.
It’s about building an unexpected relationship, but also opening a door to more opportunities to perform. The band has composed twelve original songs so far, and are planning to release an elongated playlist (EP) in December.
Meanwhile, they’re busy performing in the malls. They recently played to an appreciative audience at Express Avenue. You can catch their next performance at Phoenix Market City, Velachery on November 5, 2017 at 6 pm.
