They all come together for a common love — music. While the first notes strike the loudest, it takes a lot to keep up the tempoIt’s a scenario straight out of Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of 69’.Remember his first ‘real six string’, and how the band ‘tried real hard’. But then the rock star rues that ‘Jimmy quit, Jody got married, I should have known we’d never get far.’ Whether or not rock bands share the fate of this singer, the struggle they can surely definitely identify with. The student years best provide a platform for young guitar strumming crooners, who want to take on the world through the sound of music. The first beats on the drums always seem to echo for years to come, the brotherhood that rockers find amongst themselves seems to be thicker than blood, tuitions are bunked, afternoon siestas are skipped, pocket moneys are saved..all for the love of music. But then, reality hits.parents refuse to see their sons or daughters making future out of singing to a head-banging crowd. Many groups fall apart, many stick on. We trace the journeys of these Chandigarh-based music groups, how they face the heat, bear the brunt, sometimes end up singing to different tune.but they do go on.“It happens. even if a single person leaves, it effects the whole band,” says Ashish Negi, vocalist of Wasted Soul and a student of Punjab Engineering College. “Our band is four years old and within this period we have changed about 15 guitarists,” Negi tells that such changes alter the whole sound of the group, Wasted Soul started with punk and now play metal. “For the band to survive it is important that the new person not only plays well but also gets along well with the rest of the band. It’s another part of life.” So why do people leave? “Sometimes it’s just ego, many take music as a hobby, they move on to jobs that get them running incomes.” So are the groups never seen as serious business? “It depends on individuals,” Sharang of Harmonic Friction and a student of DAV College, tells us. “Yes when members leave it’s quite a difficult phase. Gurpartap had to leave us due to his exams. We had a tough time looking for a new guitarist since ours is not a popular genre. All of us knew each other from school so there has been a perfect understanding within the group. And Saurabh fit like a glove.” Though bands end up changing their genre altogether, Sharang doesn’t see that happening to Harmonic Frictions, “we may however have a variety in compositions.”Renegades of Funk is a school rock band from Vivek High School that’s created quite a wave in the young rockers scene. Uday Vir Garg shares, “The idea of a band came up two years ago when Ramit, Jappreet and I met. We often played together in inter-school competitions.” There’s a typical story of a bunch of guys coming together for a competition. While Tushar joined for the competition, post the title they took in Aseem making the ingredients of rock complete with a ‘group of five’. Not as a group, as individuals too they are still young. While they may decide to still take it easy and enjoy the notes, the young musicians are learning lessons of a lifetime. Shell Shocked came together in March 2006 at UIET. Prior to that they were an “informal group. The rock scene is highly competitive and not all can survive unless you are totally into it,” Bharat Mohan Mehta spells. “In this period we have evolved as individuals and also collectively. Not only have our tastes matured, we sound better too.” But this confident words too come after a grind. “No matter what reason members leave for, it always takes time to gel with new guys. Once we were playing in Ludhiana when members fought amongst themselves. Though it took time to cool things down, fortunately they never let the performance suffer.” Now that’s truly for music!
