Taking a break from work

Amidst an uptight corporate work environment, experimental music hardly has any space to move, but the members of ‘Future Shock’ manage to wriggle in whatever upbeat sounds they can. This allowance for music helps them break away from any form of monotony they might encounter.

The members — Sritam (lead vocals), Gaurav (lead/rhythms guitar and backing vocals), Swarup (rhythms/lead guitar), Vaibhav (drums/percussion) and Rahul (bass guitar) — all come from the corporate sector and found themselves in need of change, every now and then. This is why they connected with each other on Facebook, over their love for music, and formed the band in 2014. While Sritam and Rahul work at SAP Bristlecone, Gaurav works at J P Morgan Chase; Vaibhav, at Infosys and Swarup, at Capgemini.  

The Bengaluru-based band, which started out as a hardcore rock and metal band, has made it a point not to stick to one particular genre after that. Says Swarup, “We realised that there is a lot to learn and by playing different genres, we are expanding our knowledge.” Some of the genres they experiment with are Bollywood, fusions, Western classics, pop, rock, punk, blues and alternative rock.

Talking about their inspiration, Swarup says, “We like musicians like Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai, Carlos Santana, Joe Satriani, John Denver, ‘Megadeth’, Atif Aslam and Arijit Singh. And I think we sound a lot like ‘Metallica’.”

The sound echoes the rock greats of the 70s and 80s, while at the same time, keep the best of Indian flavours.

But this doesn’t mean all their work is fusion. Each song and sound is different and doesn’t necessarily stick to one label.

The band also runs an acoustic instrument setup. “And along with a drum set, we also use a cajon, djembe and various other percussion instruments,” adds the guitarist. Whenever required, they also have Sarthak coming in as the growler for them. Although a relatively new band, they have performed at various venues like Big Pitcher and The Humming Tree.

Explaining the name of the band, Swarup says, “‘Future Shock’ is a novel by Alvin Toffler and we were inspired by that. We could have been solo musicians but we decided to form a band so we could make more of a difference.” He adds that for making complex sounds, it’s always better to have a band.

With 5 original compositions, the members write about everything, from familial relations to religion. “Gaurav wrote one song about how it’s easier to take the good things from different religions these days. And I recently wrote one called ‘Like A Father’, which is about the importance of a father,” explains Swarup.