JOIN USThe Supersonics’, a band that’s practically synonymous with the Indian independent music scene for their quality of music, claim to be getting old.
Sure, they’ve disbanded now and again and their energy might not be how it was when they formed the band in 2006. But musically, they’re far from running out of ideas.
In fact, they’ve been busy jamming and writing a lot of new material with Vivek Nair, formerly part of the now disbanded Mumbai-based band ‘The Mavyns’. “Logistically, it’s obviously not possible for Vivek to be with the band full time. But he’s working on the album with us and we’ll do as many gigs with him as we can,” frontman Ananda Sen tells Metrolife.
When asked this album can be expected, he replies, “Good question; I want to ask that too!” while drummer Avinash Chordia refutes with an “early next year”.
Bassist Nitin Mani adds, “We’re making new songs, people are calling us and we’re playing. But the new sound isn’t that different since we’re the same people playing.”
Talking about the band’s break up in 2010, Ananda says, “We broke up because we tried doing music as a full-time thing. Now, we’re doing our own things here and there but still functioning as a band. As musicians, we aren’t pretentious or trying anything. We know we’re no virtuosos.” Guitarist Rohan Ganguli adds, “A band’s sound evolves in the natural course. But if you don’t play, I don’t think that can positively affect the sound.
Our sound’s changed but I won’t attribute it to the break-up; it’s because we’re older.”The band is based in Kolkata and their attachment to that city often comes through in their lyrics. But on the music scene there, they express their disappointment.
“Kolkata doesn’t change and neither does the scene. There are new bands but no new venues,” notes Rohan, to which Nitin adds, “If there are more venues, there are more bands that get a chance to play. That’s not happening and so, the scene hasn’t grown that much. We’ve been playing at ‘Someplace Else’ for the last 14-15 years!”
Ananda remarks, “We don’t really play too much in Kolkata because the city can’t sustain a full-fledged professional band. There are people who love us and have seen us from the beginning. But it’s unfortunate for them and for us because there’s no place to play at.”
Still, they all agree that the affordability of living there allows them to make music with a decent standard of living. Though they haven’t played in Bangalore often either, they like the crowd here.
“Every time we’ve played here, we’ve had a full house. We don’t know the scene here too well but it’s definitely better than Kolkata,” says Avinash. Ananda, with a content expression, concludes, “We don’t know the scene anywhere. That’s what happens when you’re from Kolkata.”