Rock it On

Indie bands recently geared up to battle it out and get a chance to open for Bon Jovi in Hyde Park.

Indie bands recently geared up to battle it out and get a chance to open for Bon Jovi in Hyde Park.

The Indie music warriors recently battled it out at the Hard Rock Battle of the bands,which took place in Delhi,Mumbai,Bengaluru,Pune and Hyderabad. The prize was not a gig at a local college,but a chance to play at the famous three-day festival,Hard Rock Calling 2011,at Hyde Park,London. For the uninitiated,musicians such as Stevie Wonder,Paul McCartney,Joe Satriani and Eric Clapton as well as bands such as Aerosmith and Mumford and Sons have played at Hard Rock Calling in the past. This time,the star performer is Bon Jovi and the winning bands from across the world get a chance to open for him.

This was the first time that the Battle of the Bands,held at Hard Rock Cafe HRC,was organised in India,with Indian bands competing for a chance to play at the London festival. Of the 60 bands that approached HRC,25 were shortlisted for the Battle of the Bands.

Four bands in each city were chosen by judges after a preliminary round and one from each city was chosen through a Facebook poll. From Delhi,the three-year-old up-and-coming band,The Circus,topped the poll. The other contestants included Barefaced Liar,Projekt Square,Them Clones and Half Step Down from Delhi,Mumbai-based Tough On Tobacco and Summerpint Junkie,Chennai-based Junkyard Groove,Pune-based Swastika and Bengaluru-based Swarathma. In Delhi,the judges included Indian Ocean manager Dhruv Jagasia and band member Amit Kilam.

While some like The Circus were excited to just be a part of the venture,others like The Junkyard Groove were thinking of the future. It will be a great opportunity for us if we get to perform in London. We will meet new agents and musicians. We have played everywhere in India and its time we took our music to the international space, said Ameeth Thomas from the Chennai-based band Junkyard Groove.

Arsh Sharma,guitarist of The Circus,a three-year-old band,said that he was excited to compete with Junkyard Groove,one of the oldest and successful bands in the country,though the latter was performing in Hyderabad. We were thrilled because we won 2,000 votes in the poll, he said,adding that they played their popular numbers like Swindpittle and Gardener .

The minute Hyde Park was mentioned,Sidd Couttos voice filled with excitement. One of the oldest indie rockers,Coutto is a member of Tough On Tobacco. I have seen YouTube videos of Hard Rock Calling and there is a large number of people who attend. It is this bit that we are excited about, he adds.

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Probe him about the chances of his band making it to London,and Coutto turned analytical: My band plays a very Western style of music. I think Swarathma may win because of the Indianess of their music, he says.