Journalism of Courage
Their first music video,Auto Tune about autorickshaw drivers who harass and try to fleece commuters was launched on Youtube around two months ago. It has already received almost 11,000 hits and the band is in the process of making its second music video for their song,Fast Fast. Since their first performance last year,Bangalore-based Live Banned has completed 40 shows,including a performance in Pune at High Spirits.
Live Banned performs mash-ups of Bollywood songs with Reggae,Rock,Metal,Blues,classical Indian and even South Indian music. They sing about unusual subjects such as autorickshaw drivers,hunger-strikes,death. We write original songs,which are satires on social issues. We try to make our point with humour,” says Siddhart Kamath,the band’s keyboardist.
The other members of the band comprise vocalist Amrit Rao,guitarist Dhruv Kumar,drummer Dheerendra Doss,bassist Raveesh Tirkey and keyboard player Siddhart Kamath. Each of the members brings different styles to the band,says Rao,and this is why they can include so many genres in their music.
“I know it’s such a cliche and every band says that their music is ‘different’ but our music is definitely something you haven’t heard before. We like to call it Indian Mass Music,” says Rao. Encouraged by the response they have received so far,the band plans to shoot weekly Youtube episodes about their lives and their music. They also plan to design and launch their own merchandise such as shades,headgear and lungis,soon.
Talking about their upcoming video,says Rao,”Fast Fast is about all the hunger strikes and fasting movements that people have been holding for different reasons. This video will be animated and we’re really excited about it,” adds Rao. Their latest song,Death Dance is about an Indian death procession. “There are some communities in India which dance at death processions,and we wrote a song about how people shouldn’t just mourn for the dead but also celebrate their life,” elaborates Rao.
The band has an interesting story about the origin of its name,Live Banned. “We obviously wanted to put across the idea that we are a live band. But,around two years ago,when we first started our band,live acts were banned in Bangalore and we just put the two together,” Rao explains.
The band members plan to write more originals for future performances and have no immediate plans to launch an album. “We have always seen ourselves as a live band and we want our songs to be audio-visual,” he says.
