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When old friends reunited

Musical saga
Last Updated 12 August 2016, 18:32 IST

Before punk was in demand, before the word ‘indie’ was popular and before post-rock was a thing, ‘Bombay Black’ stood for all this and much more.

The iconic indie band was a collective of some of the finest artistes in the circuit and their music was something that challenged genre typecasting — unless ‘rebellious’ was a genre. But the members went their separate ways in 2005 and it was only last year that they got back again, much to the delight of their fans. The group comprises of Randolph Correia, Paresh Kamath, Samrat B, Lindsay DMello, Abhijit Nalani, Tyrone Fernandes, JD, Vibhas Rahul and Naresh Kamath. Rajitha Menon listens as the band recounts their musical memoirs.
 
How was this band formed?

Paresh: It all started in the year 1999, when JD’s cousin in Australia asked us to send across our music in the hope that he could get us to feature in a music festival there. So we made a mixtape of all the original music we had been working on. Then my friend, the late Amit Saigal, heard that mixtape and said he’d release it along with his December issue of Rock Street Journal. That’s when we truly hit the limelight.

How was that?

Paresh: Because he had a strong 30,000 subscription for his magazine. All those people suddenly had that music and they loved it but they had no idea who the people in that band were. Then we won the GIR battle of the bands competition and the prize was opening for Aerosmith in Los Angeles in 2001. That was our high point. Soon, everyone found work in Bollywood, ad jingles, joined other bands and so on and Bombay Black slowly lost momentum. Last year, all the members of the band met up after many years and someone brought up the idea of getting back together...and as you can see, we did get back!

How do you describe your music.

Naresh: A base layer of funky grooves, sprinkled with toppings of jazz, rock and electronica.

What are the favourite genres of all members?

Randolph: It changes from time to time. We go through intense phases of loving one type of music, only to go from that to something else a few months down the line. And of course we bring in all our inspirations to the table when we play together. That’s why when bands replace members, the whole sound and dynamic changes.

What is the story behind the name of the band?

Jaideep: Tyrone suggested it and it went down easily with everyone else. It was also the first name anyone could come up with. Bombay Black is a slang word for the charas that you get on the streets in Mumbai.

Most memorable gig?

Paresh: That would have to be playing in front of 20,000 of Aerosmith’s fans in LA.

Funniest back stage incident?

Tyrone: I met Siedah Garrett backstage in LA and mistakenly called her N’Dea. Both were vocalists with ‘The Brand New Heavies’ at different times. And then I felt like such a fool because Siedah just walked away.

Musical inspiration?

Lindsay: We’ve all got tons of inspiring people to look up to. The trick is to stay inspired. To keep broadening your musical horizon.

If not a band, then..?

Paresh: Tough one. Maybe we’d all be singer-songwriters going up onstage with acoustic guitars and singing about our love lives, or our alcohol problems or something like that!

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(Published 12 August 2016, 16:23 IST)

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