The five-member band has staged over 800 gigs across the globe since its formation back in 2014. Consisting of Aditya Jassi and Manish Gunthey on vocals and guitars, Ashwani Verma on drums, Vipin Sharma on bass and Elton Fernandes on the saxophone, the outfit entertains audiences with a signature mix of English retro, pop and contemporary music, Hindi retro and Bollywood covers. We have a conversation about their music, their friendship and their recently-launched debut single titled Faasle.
How did you all come together?
Aditya: It all started around five years ago over a karaoke session hosted by Manish at a pub in GK-2. I had just walked in and decided to sing a song for fun. He sang a couple of songs after as well and there was immediate respect and admiration for each other’s singing abilities. A couple of beers later, we were making plans to jam (since we lived a stone’s throw away from each other). I was already working on a solo project with Universal Music India and was wrapping up my solo album and playing live with my band The AJ Project. Soon enough, we started playing a lot of acoustic-duo gigs. Ashwani is the best drummer in my books, and I have been friends for about 20 years or so. It was always a dream to play in a band with Ash and while we were all playing separately with other ensembles (I was with The AJ Project, Antariksh, Bandish, and Ashwani was with Euphoria and myriad other acts), we always got together to play a couple of gigs here and there.
What kind of music do you play and what makes your band unique?
Ashwani: Music is not what we do, it is who we are. We play anything that flows with the moment. Our songs are part of our experiences and picked not because they are hip today.
Aditya: We got together because we wanted to play and jam on songs that we grew up listening, which was very acoustic oriented. We’ve always felt that a great song is the one that can be sung only on an acoustic guitar.
Manish: So it is literally everything — Elvis, The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Maroon 5 and RD Burman, Kishore Kumar to an Arijit Singh. A good song is a good song.
Who or what inspires you?
Ashwani: I am a huge Dave Weckl fan. Of course, growing up learning the art of playing the drums you just had to follow guys like John Bonham, Neil Peart, Keith Moon and all. I love Jazz, Rock, Pop, EDM, Bollywood everything.
Aditya: I am a hardcore Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pearl Jam fan, to an extent I started copying Robert Plant’s vocals in my initial rock n roll years. But I am a sucker for Bryan Adams too. I do not think anyone has more melodies on four chords than he does.
Manish: Be it our writing or compositions, it all stems from reality, I absolutely loved the guitar Gods – Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Don Felder, Prince and the likes. I am a huge Country fan too. Give me The Eagles or Marc Cohn any given day. Amongst Indian artists, I admire Bobby Cash a lot. However, the one common thing that we all share is our love for R D Burman and Kishore Kumar; in fact the entire retro music era as it had some absolute gems.
Tell us more about your recently launched single — Faasle.
Manish: I had been working on this melody with a really cool country vibe. I recorded the verse-chorus chord progression and melody on my phone and shared it with the guys on the WhatsApp group where the entire band bounces ideas off each other.
Aditya: I fell in love with his melody instantly. I remember calling him a half-an-hour later with the lyrics. But somehow the meter just did not go into the chorus, so I built on it with a different chorus melody and we used Manish’s chorus as a bridge instead. While Manish was thinking more country, I heard a very pop sounding track. Everyone came up with different pieces and funnily enough it all fit together.
What are your future plans?
Manish: Bigger venues and bigger crowds. We want to make and perform our own music at shows because there is no bigger high than hearing the crowd sing your songs with you. We also want to do more gigs internationally and eventually give music and sing for Bollywood.
Aditya: Release a few more original songs and put out a lot of content for our YouTube channel, but basically become better musicians and just keep growing.
