'All three of us have a good sense of humour'

Grounded musicians

Everyone is aware of the unmatched skills of Loy Mendonsa on the piano and how dynamic Ehsaan Noorani is on the guitar. No doubt, the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is popular. In the City recently for a performance, the three artistes complemented each other perfectly.

Metrolife caught up with Ehsaan and Loy to know more about the bonding the trio shares. They agree that the journey so far together, has been a great experience. “It’s been great for me and we have spent lot of time together. It is a growing experience because we change as people. Playing in a band teaches you a lot. It teaches you how to get along with each other, you learn how to compromise,” says Ehsaan.

He says the bond between them is like a marriage. “You learn how to keep your ego aside, fight and then forget about it ten minutes later,” he adds. Loy admits that he is “monosyllabic” and talks less. So the rest of the talking is done by Ehsaan. He says that though they spend time professionally, the band members make sure they don’t spend time personally. “We feel it’s unhealthy for our relationship. As it is, we spend more time with each other than with our families,” says the 48-year-old guitarist and music composer.

Ehsaan further says every day is an entertaining one for all the three band members. “All three of us have a good sense of humour, which really helps keep our spirit alive,” he notes.

Despite performing many stage shows and concerts, Ehsaan confesses that the pressure is the same every time. “When you are on stage, you are always under pressure to perform well. We always hope that nothing goes wrong. For instance, nothing was working prior to our concert here. So I panicked and everybody was trying to figure out what had happened. But then we realised that the control button of some machine was down.

So such things keep happening and we have to be prepared,” he says. Talking about their fans, he says they get to meet all kinds of people. “I have fans who are my friends too. But I’ve also met weird, drunk people trying to get on us,” he giggles. Admitting that Bangalore is one of his favourite cities, Ehsaan has a message for all his fans here. “We like to perform here. So call us more often,” he signs off.