There are those of us who love to dance away to a DJ set and there are those of us who will groove to a live band. That is where Bombay Bassment steps in and puts the two together. A special weekend showcase by the Mumbai-based reggae and urban music outfit at blueFROG promises to be the best of both worlds with the trio’s high-energy performance.
Formed in 2010 as a four-piece act, the line-up today consists of Bobkat (Robert Omulo) as MC, Ruell (Ruell Barretto) on bass and MajorC (Chandrashekhar Kunder) on samples and percussion. Bombay Bassment will be performing in Bengaluru on the last leg of their five-city tour to promote their latest EP OK, Dance .
Enthusiastic as ever, frontman Bobkat aka Robert says it is a long time coming to Bengaluru. “We haven’t played here for a while. Bengaluru happens to be one of the stops where there is a good appreciation of indie music so it is always exciting to perform in this musical city.”
With two albums under its belt, the latest five-track offering is everything the band stands for, meandering from reggae and hip-hop to Afro-beats and street style. “As the name suggests, we want to make people dance,” explains Bob. “Right now, going by the vibe that we have in this album, we want people to just feel good and dance away. We’ve done a social-conscious song here and there. But, this time, we just want to have fun and get people to have fun with us.”
Commenting on their USP, Bob says it is a total live experience. “Our music is simple. We are not looking for musical geniuses to come and figure out our chord work. It is simple music that anyone can relate to. Age is no bar when it comes to understanding our music. The cool thing is we’d like to see some grey-haired people on the floor as well as the youngest kids they will allow inside clubs as our audience. The lyrics are not random. Obviously they have a story to tell. But face it, when you are out there listening to a performance, you are not going to be clued in to the lyrics as much as to the music. The lyrics are for later. It’s for streaming online or to be downloaded. We try to go for the best of both worlds.”
How different is Ok, Dance from their previous albums? Bob points out that this EP is midway between both of them. “In the first eponymous album, we were trying to be as acoustic as possible. The second album, with Randolph Correia aka FUNC, was absolutely electronic. With this album, we strike a balance. It is between a live and electronic soundscape. We have learnt that people want a different experience from listening to a CD in a live show.”
Happy in the space they are in right now, Bob adds that they still have a lot of work to do. “The scene, however, has come a long way. Bands would earlier look forward to playing in colleges. If you get to play anywhere else, it is only as a cover band. Now we’ve taken a step forward enabling bands to perform their own music. We still have a challenge in terms of venues. There are not too many places to play in. We are, however, working to get there.”
What’s in store for Bombay Bassment in the future? Bob replies: “Listening to our music, you will know the sky’s the limit for us. We didn’t even know we’ll get this far though. Coming together initially, we just wanted to survive as a band. We’ve been able to do more than that. We’ve toured the length and breadth of this country, done international gigs and are already working on new material.”
Catch Bombay Bassment live at blueFROG, Church Street, on June 24 from 9 pm onwards. Call 69999549
