Indus Creed, formerly Rock Machine, was probably the first band to put Indian rock on the global map with concerts in the USSR and even Peter Gabriel's WOMAD fest (UK). To add to their credit are the hundreds of gigs in India and U.A.E., two albums, seven chart topping videos on MTV and the Best Asian MTV Award. They broke up in 1999, and regrouped in October 2010. Their story is perhaps a great encouragement to every Indian rocker.
How did you start with the band?
I joined ‘Rock Machine' in Dec 1983 and the same line-up pretty much stuck together till 1992. We did so much together; concerts and international tours. Great times! The new name came up as we wanted something not so ‘college bandish' and most of us did not like the name anyways; - so, ‘Indus Creed'.
What were the other famous bands at the time?
Bands like ‘Millenium' from Bangalore, ‘Rich Hammer' from Ahmedabad, and of course ‘13 AD' from Cochin stuck out longer than most. I guess all the bands went through their different phases and the members split w their own ways.
‘Pretty Child' won the Best Asian MTV Video award. Tell us about that.
Well, the song actually went unnoticed in our second album, ‘The Second Coming' (1990). Mahesh came up with this great guitar pattern and the lyrics and the melody followed. You can say it is about a street-child inspired by the issue of Bombay slums at the time, but then it can be about innocence in general. Depends how the listener perceives it. Mark Meneses added that tabla part, which initially we thought was a pseudo Indian thing to do. Mark explained that if he had put in a conga or something we would have easily agreed, so why not look at the tabla as just another percussion instrument and not a forced Indian Carnatic thingy? He was dead right!
The video was done in 1992 by a couple of friends, and we had done lots of videos aired on MTV by then . But for ‘Pretty Child', MTV called back immediately; ! I remember it was a person called Jody Hardy and she said that they were going to put it on the fast track and had it on national rotation in five days. It won the best video for MTV Asia, which means we were up against Malaysia and other Asian bands. It was a viewer's choice and I guess every Indian was proud to vote for this! It made us all so pleasantly surprised! Guitar player, Jayesh Gandhi and I picked up the award in Los Angeles. Yes, it was big time.
Why did the band breakup and why did you leave for the US?
After a point of time, I was getting culturally stifled in India. And the rock scene was getting really out of hand. The rest of the guys were already settling down in Mumbai with families and individual things, but I just needed to jump out! Jayesh Gandhi felt the same so we both left for New York. We still remained great friends with the rest of the band, and before our various schedules started to clash, we figured this was the best thing to do.Jayesh and I had ‘Alms for Shanti' which was a Indo-rock/funk band that had a Japanese bassist, a tabla player from Pune whom we'd never met before, an American drummer and others. We did lots of gigs, the festivals, concerts and all that.
What brought you back?
Movies actually! I'm kind of a movie nut so to say and I was exposed to so much international cinema when I was in New York. Most independent cinema is non-English and I wanted to get into making good feature films. The best place to be in for that was Mumbai, so I moved back! It's just that the movie industry is not exactly in the pink of health and movie making has a lot more cogs in the wheel – it's a larger process. It will take longer but I have couple of scripts ready and that will happen eventually. Meanwhile, Mahesh Tiniaker and I had this acoustic band setup called ‘Whirling Kalapas' and we were gigging regularly. Zubin would join us here and there and, as expected, conversations went into “Why not?!” We asked the other guys, most of them had their own thing going, but they agreed for us to go ahead and use the name and said, “Just don't screw it up!” So from the original six members, three remain and Indus Creed is now a five piece band with Jai Row Kavi (drums) and Rushad Mistry (bass).
It's just awesome to be with such phenomenal musicians and to play again!
How has the response been?
Well, it's been a mix of saying hello to the old fans and also connecting with the newer audiences. The responses have been really great and gigs like IIT-Mumbai and the Indiafest, Goa, have been really good.
What are plans ahead?
We already have about six new originals that we use now and some sketches of more songs. We intend to hit the studio in May 2011 and possibly bring out something by July. So there is a new album, more gigs and to have as much fun doing it.
Since you've dived back into the scene, does that mean your faith in the rock scene has improved?
Oh, the rock scene is a lot more fertile than what it was before! For one, no band has to fight to play originals anymore?! That itself is the biggest victory, and I think most bands are expected to play originals too which is a great thing. And I've come across some really great bands like a metal act called ‘Scribe', blues band ‘Soulmate', ‘Barefaced Liar' and ‘Avial' is a brand new sound! Sad their original vocalist had to leave, but it's great because it's creative, enjoyable and so I don't necessarily have to understand the words.
What does Indian rock need most now?
Something like the Indian I-tunes where non-Bollywood music can get promoted. There needs to be an overall platform sort of thing where bands can coalesce and eventually sell their music. There are some sites like NH7 , but there needs to be more so that bands can sell and publicize their music through TV and Radio.
Lastly, what's your expectation in Chennai?
I don't like to come with expectations, but I'm just looking forward to a new audience that is ready for some high energy rock! See you soon!
