Punk from Afar

An Ireland-based band promises to redefine their music with an instrumental twist at the NH7 Weekender this Saturday.

A little less than a decade ago,in the tiny,beautiful town of Portrush in Northern Ireland,four best friends spent their afternoons skateboarding,and their evenings strumming the guitar and singing in grunge and punk bands. They shared a common dream: of making it big as musicians.

It was then that these 20-year-olds Rory Friers and Tony Wright on guitar,Johnny Adger on bass and Chris Wee on drums formed a band titled,And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA) in 2006. In no time,they catapulted to success with their fascination for instrumental punk-rock tunes. Now,the band is touring India and will make a pit-stop at the Delhi leg of NH7 Weekender on Saturday. We all played in progressive,punk rock bands back then and attended small and sweaty gigs but we wanted to make something more expressive and emotive. Basically,we wanted to push our personal boundaries and maybe we have succeeded, says Friers. The band travels across the world and have performed at prestigious festivals such as The Great Escape Festival and Pukkelpop Festival.

Adger came up with the name of the band when they first performed at a friends birthday party and Friers believes it has a George Orwellian,futuristic surveillance feel to it. Apart from the bands name that intrigues a lot of people,its the various influences that their music reflects which has made them one of the most well-known bands from Ireland. We grew up listening to Cream,Led Zeppelin and the Beach Boys because of our parents. Individually,of course,we have different tastes, says Friers,30,who does most of the composing.

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While the band was at its peak,Wright quit and Niall Kennedy was brought on board. It was a huge change,but the positive is that we ended up recording an album as a three-member outfit, says Friers. Apart from being part of ASIWYFA,the members also work on other projects,and Friers is excited about listening to Indian indie acts and a possible collaboration. For this performance,we will have some tracks from our latest album,All Hail Bright Futures and of course,a couple of old tracks. It will be an hour-long set, informs Friers.

After the Delhi gig,the band returns to Ireland for a well-deserved break. We will start writing new music in January. Its exciting every time and is such a rush, says Friers.

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Northern Ireland