Even if the bass drop is one of the most anticipated moments during a high-energy electronic dance music performance, the Progressive Brothers like to have a little fun along the way.
The New Delhi duo, comprising Sunny Sharma and Karan Bhalla, have what they call the ‘Titanic Troll Mashup’, where they build up a hardcore electronic tempo only to break into Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ in the middle of their sets.
Surprise elements
Sharma says, “When we made that mashup, we never realised it will do so well in our shows. There were times when people started requesting that particular song right before our show. It’s funny to troll the crowd, but it’s done and dusted now, time to create something new.”
They found inspiration for the stunt when they were unwitting victims of a similar troll, back when they saw Deadmau5 play a ‘Jingle Bells’ version of Martin Garrix’s song ‘Animals’ at Ultra Music Festival. He recalls, “It was Savage with a capital S.”
The Progressive Brothers still have other plans in place for Chennai, where they will perform on May 18. Bhalla recalls their earlier show in the city, at Sunburn Campus in NIFT in February this year, saying, “It was incredible. We had a great time performing there and the crowd was so responsive.”
As much as they would agree that DJs are the new popstars, Sharma and Bhalla also say that they always want to deliver despite any on-ground hurdles at a performance — be it technical difficulties, or, more recently, rains.
They recount a show in New Delhi last week when rain disrupted their set just 15 minutes in, but they waited it out for a couple of hours and returned to the stage. “The crowd surprised us as they waited for the rains to stop and didn’t leave. We ended up playing for another two hours,” shares Sharma.
Putting on a show
The DJs have in their inventory not just music to spin, but also a live experience that often includes confetti cannons, CO2 jets and pyrotechnics, which are standard equipment. “We would love to add 3D visuals and live instruments in our set in coming years to take it a level above,” hopes Bhalla.
Their latest single ‘Flipside’, which released in March, is just part of their plans to scale up — featuring a pop-leaning direction that is the first taste of future material coming out through the year. Sharma says, “We have three more releases lined up after this which are pop/dance-style tracks so we are really excited about it.”
Progressive Brothers will perform at Studio, The Slate, Nungambakkam on May 18. 8105076515
