What started out as a stubbornness to use the word ‘Anomaly’ by city-based artist/event management company OAF’s founder Siddharth Nair has now been backed up by a rare lineup of bands, that take the stage on October 25 at Fandom, Gilly’s Redefined in Koramangala.
Anomaly brings together two New Delhi bands — Zenguin, with their exceptionally mind-bending progressive/electronic rock sound, and instrumental post-rock act Ioish — along with the emotive prog power of Ernakulam-based artiste Nikhil J Menon. Nair, who has put the show together, says he was interested in seeing bands like Zenguin live so that he can sign them on to Oaf records. “Zenguin took about eight minutes to reply with their personal details for me to book their flight and even within that time, the prices went up. It’s pretty crazy to bring two outstation bands,” Nair says with a laugh. Zenguin, who released their latest EP Kensho in August, are looking forward to their debut show in the city, hoping to find new fans. Guitarist Saksham Gupta says, “Bengaluru has always been one of the main cities for independent and experimental music in the country,” adding, “We also love to jam and improvise during our set.”
Ioish, the New Delhi trio who are about to release their new EP Reconstructing Dreams on October 31, were in talks with Zenguin for a joint tour when the offer to play in Bengaluru came along.
Guitarist Vaibhav Bhutani says, “Saksham told me to get in touch with Siddharth from OAF Records. I would like to think he was super stoked to have us on board, because we got a confirmation mail for the gig right away.” Ioish are back in the city for the first time since 2016. While bassist Abhinav Chaudhary is away studying in the U.K., they have got Danik Ghosh filling in. Bhutani adds, “We’ll be playing a few songs off our new EP, we won’t play the whole EP in its entirety of course, because we have planned that for the album launch and I need everyone to have something to look forward to.”
Rounding off the night is Nikhil J Menon and his band, comprising guitarist Ajay George Joseph, bassist Arun Kailasan and drummer Nekheeb Sha. The band plan to stick to a tempered set of slow, fast and heavy tunes. Menon says, “The music genres are going to range from ambient rock, slow rock/blues, rock ballads, progressive rock/metal and alternative.”
Although he’s not changing around too much from his previous shows, he says the current material has undergone transformations. “Over the last few months everyone has really put in their contributions and the songs have evolved quite a bit,” Menon says.
OAF Records presents Anomaly takes place at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Koramangala. Entry is ₹300, with additional cover charge of ₹200. Buy tickets on townscript.com
