Struggling to make it as rockstars

Remember Rock On, the  Farhan Akhtar flick in which he along with his friends forms a rockband, which breaks up only to be reunited later? But in real life, in India specifically, youth passionate about rock don’t have glamour attached to them from the word go. If truth be known, then some even end up playing at friends’ shaadis and small time clubs while attemptiong to break into the big league. Indi-rock and some of the heavy metal rock bands are living examples of such struggle. The youngsters may be keen to take it on as a profession but its not a cake walk at all.

We have unlimited stories of these ‘rock stars’ in Delhi who are struggling, despite being talented. They begin playing in parties to generate some income; struggle to stay afloat, sometimes spend lakhs from their own pockets to remain in the profession and a few even change their tune to pick up something else as a career.

Vijay Longani, 24, vocalist with Rocktantra says, “Following my craze for music, I did Sangeet Shiromani from Delhi University and Sangeet Prabhakar from Allahabad. I didn’t just want to be a singer but was crazy about rock and started playing the guitar from Std VII. I have been playing the Spanish guitar for over a decade now. I have formed four bands which some or the other reason have split. The foremost being that there was lack of family support. But I didn’t lose hope. I formed Rocktantra with another guitarist, bassist and drummer.”

Though they have performed in two three good shows like Bal Bharti Alumni Meet where they shared the stage with Shibani Kashap, but regular concerts are hard to come by. Chances of being noticed in Bollywood influenced city are even tougher. Vijay has been able to manage so far because of his business family background sooner or later “it will be a do or die situation,” he adds.

Heavy metal bands have a specific audience and head banging in India is yet to take root. It began when The Indian Metal Band M.A.I.D.S (Metal Aliens In Devil's Soul) laid the foundation of Heavy Metal/Rock in Chennai in early 90s. Today, the scene includes a lot many, following the emergence of heavy metal rock bands like Skyharbor; Undying Inc; Frequency and Scribe. Aaquib Wani, 20, a guitarist of Phobia (Indian heavy metal band)-cum-creative head of Rock Street Journal says, “I have been playing with Phobia for 6 years and we have a huge fan following among heavy metallic lovers in Delhi. We also have shared stage with Sylosis(UK), Textures (Netherlands) but when it comes to taking it up as a profession and totally relying on these performances for our bread and butter, then we worry because whatever we say the whole country still is under Bollywood’s influence. Colleges and other organizers are ready to pay in lakhs to Bollywood singers but still not ready to give a tidy amount for our gigs. I would definitely have taken it as a profession in UK or US but cannot imagine doing so in India. For now, we are over passionate but these problems are stopping us from pursuing this as a career more seriously.”

Commercialisation has always hindered talent. There were some very good rock bands who use to play original compositions but Bollywood took away their charm to reinvent the music to have them play popular music.

There are those who don’t want to compromise on “real quality”. They’d rather leave the field altogether. Yasir Zafar, 23, now a software engineer had formed a rock band named Jalsa in which he was the lead guitarist. They were doing well and had a huge following but no money. For money they were asked to compromise on their “real music”. Conflicts arose as a result and the group had to split. Today, they are all in different professions. Their vocalist however, has continued to pursue his passion singing because he sees scope in Bollywood. Yasir had no option as rock instrumental talent so far is not accepted in a big way: “If I get a chance to perform in my own conditions we will form the band again and rock the country like Indian Ocean, Parikrama or Euphoria,” he adds.