Arko Ganguly, Author at Antariksh

Antariksh – The Inception of a Hindi Rock Band

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:08:12 +0000

A storm..

Great Indian Rock, 2004, Hamsadhwani theatre, a band played to a sea of people who sang and swayed like a field of daffodils in the evening breeze. Varun stood in the crowd and was struck hard by this enormous energy surging through the place. He felt this strong urge to get on that stage and lead the eye of the storm. Thus began the conception of Antariksh!

College Days

He picked a guitar and learnt it by himself with an ardent dream of forming a band he could call his own! The dream took form when he met like-minded individuals in college. Feedback and Under Siege were two bands that consisted of engineers from IIT Delhi and DTU. Varun was a part of both, lashing out on his guitar and living his dream. Chilling with machines and equations by the day and rocking out concerts at night, they couldn’t have asked for a cooler life!

Breaking away

The flow was great until college ended and priorities changed. Sucked in the corporate world, music took a back seat. Varun’s dream seemed to be fading away in the corporate buzz and that bothered him. He dearly missed playing the guitar. Being the charming management consultant wasn’t quenching his creative thirst that lay dormant for a while now. A few years passed with this gradually intensifying regret and he knew this wasn’t benifiting him at all.

A tough call

He decided to take a stand on this, quit his job and began working on a start up. He met up with a couple old musician friends, Mridul Ganesh and Gurtej Singh, who were also contemplating on similar thoughts as him. Expecting nothing very serious, they began to jam together beside their regular jobs. The year was 2012 and Antariksh was formed! The idea was to genuinely have fun and surf through Rock, Pop, Funk and Contemporary Indian Hindi Music. Putting in a lot of effort, they ended up recording an entire album together and called it ‘Khoj’. A lot of online magazines and newspapers, the music community in general and a lot of their common listeners applauded them and voiced some great reviews about the album. This was a milestone for the band and presented Varun enough confidence to look ahead in this direction.

Breaking through

Post ‘Khoj’ since 2013, Antariksh has released plenty of work so far which includes Quest, a mega collaboration with one of the world’s top ten guitar players, Marty Friedman (read more about it here). Their latest release, ‘Ye Jhootha Samaa’, is a peppy blues-funk number featuring the incredible Shruti Dhasmana on vocals and Abhay Sharma on the sax!

10 years and onward

Ten years have passed since the young Varun envisioned Antariksh. There has been many ups and downs, but the journey has always been onward and rewarding. Antariksh has helped in the advent of an intense progressive rock sound combined with a variety of musical styles from the East and the West into the Indian Hindi Rock scene.

out on tour!

The team is only getting stronger by the day and their intent of realising Antariksh as one among Indian’s greatest rock Bands is being accomplished one step at a time. The ’10 years of Antariksh tour’ is just around the corner. They head out to play HRC Kolkata on the 16th of September (tickets here). Mumbai and Bangalore will see Antariksh in the month of October. They count it as an excellent opportunity to showcase their music to people across the country and they very fondly hope to see you at their gig. These 10 years couldn’t have been possible without you listeners. Hence, the tour is a tribute to all of you! Come down, grace the occasion with your presence and rock together!

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Quest ft. Marty Friedman – Behind The Making

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:08:08 +0000

Hello

Quest has been Antariksh’s biggest collaboration so far with the amazing Marty Friedman. The former Megadeth axeman, presently based in Japan, is a celebrated guitar hero among music listeners across the world. His presence in the song enriches and concludes the final picture being portrayed through it. But how did it all begin?

The Initial Thought

Quest started off with Varun trying to sort his feelings about a crowd of people having to wait to make way for a Politian to pass. Irritation crept up as every passing minute got him late for a scheduled rehearsal! The fact that someone presumed his time was more valuable than the others waiting in the crowd, bothered Varun to his wits. “The sense of superiority and power is such an illusion!”, he thought. “Cause our life is so fragile and tied to the mere number of breaths left to breathe!”

Ideating the song..

Now here is a good part of being a musician. Any recurring thought or emotion eventually turns an expressive melody or rhythm. Likewise, Varun had most of the verse and chorus playing in his head as he drove through the road block. Humming his way into the rehearsal, he was able to lay the foundation to the song with help from Shrikant, Josh and Dan. Cooking a pot full of Carnatic music, eastern melodic ideas, some insane prog metal riffs and introspective lyrics over jams with the band gave way to the present form of Quest.

Meeting Marty

The idea for a Marty’s solo came much later while Antariksh was in Shillong playing NH7 weekender. Their set was lined up on day 1, post which they stayed back to watch Marty play on the second day. Having grown up vibing to his incredible playing in Megadeth, it was surreal to watch Marty live in his element. After witnessing an incredible gig, the band was heading back to Delhi when Varun discovered Marty and his mates sitting a couple rows ahead in the same flight! It was then he began to contemplate the idea of featuring Marty on Quest. As the flight landed, Varun took a plunge at his thought at the conveyer belts.

Marty on board

He approached Marty without many expectations. The conversation turned out to be very cordial and Marty was happy to learn the band’s inclination and appreciation towards his work. But when the idea of a possible collaboration was presented, he politely declined and said he currently refrained from doing sessions. He asked Varun to keep in touch though and share his work.

Over time Varun exchanged a fair amount of messages sharing Antariksh’s existing work. A humble Marty took time to listen and get back with constructive feedback. Antariksh’s sound was impressive enough for him to find it “interesting and unique” coming from an Indian rock band. Capitalising on this, Varun sent the demo track for Quest requesting him, yet again, to consider playing a solo on it. Surprisingly, Marty agreed! The entire band was ecstatic and awed at Marty’s humility and the fact that he found the music worthy enough to host his solo.

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Hello Antariksh – An Indie Drummer’s Account

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:08:01 +0000

Hey..

Hello folks, hope this finds you in fantastic health. This is a personal account of being introduced to and joining Antariksh as their drummer. Prior to officially meeting anyone from the band, I had heard of them from fellow indie rock musicians. “Yaar, unkey sath session bajaatey waqt mujhey proper notes banaaney padhtey hai (I need to make proper notes while playing sessions with them), they have some very progressive parts in their set!”. I can’t remember who I heard this from, but it definitely left a mark on me!

Meeting Varun

Much time passed after this incident and in 2018 I decided to move to Mumbai. Shrikant (guitarist @ Antariksh) and I, having been friends since school, wished to work on an original before I switched cities. We were meeting and jamming one fine evening at Green Box (our usual jam pad) when Varun walked in towards the end of our rehearsal. I was delighted to meet the main man behind the notable Indie rock act, but the conversation was short lived. And in a few days, I left for Mumbai.

The release of quest

All went well until dear COVID took the human world down to its knees! I was compelled to wind up, go back home and wait. It was during this period that I came across a story. Antariksh was heading towards a mighty collaboration and Varun posted a story asking people to guess who it might be. Two out of the four options were Marty and Petrucci! (read more about this collaboration here) I was absolutely stoked to read it and began to follow their release. Eventually as Quest was premiered, I fell for the song. The combination of diverse genres and time applications fascinated me. Marty’s solo shook my brains! And the fact that Shrikant nailed a melodious piece right after Marty’s blew my mind! What a feeling it must be to have your solo featured right next to the guy’s you worshipped as a child. Incredible achievement for him and the entire band.

Little discoveries

I discovered the other originals with time and was very happy to learn Antariksh was making such a difference in the Indian indie rock scene. Post Covid when I returned to Delhi, Shrikant asked me if I’d be willing to play with them. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to succeed Dan and Vaibhabh on the throne. Honestly, I sat myself down on the kit to practice for hours so I could justify the sound and play Dan’s incredible parts in every original. Dan, if you are reading this, take a bow! The jams and time spent on the kit did pay off and I am now here at the Antariksh work station typing down my time with them.

Being the part

Chatting with Varun regularly has been very enlightening as he walks me through the entrepreneurial side of making art. Their music is surely promising, but the finesse with which Varun handles all backend work at the Antariksh camp promises a fine future to the band.

I have lived as an artist for a decade now and believe a coherent set of people with the same goals can achieve the impossible. In plain words, Antariksh should be topping all charts and being named one among the greatest indie rock bands from India. Please don’t consider that to be my ego. It is a dream all musicians have while growing up. All I am hoping here is for that dream to turn true! In fact, you must become a part of our dream too! Listen to our music and crash our gigs! Love us, criticise us, help us grow! Help indie music in India grow! We will be more than pleased to have you walk with us.

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Attending My Gig – Drummer’s account

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:07:54 +0000

Hello!!

How is everybody doing? I hope you are enjoying exceptional health and rocking out to Antariksh’s songs everyday! September was an amazing month for us and October seems to be coming out even better. Our ‘10 Years of Antariksh’ Tour has been programmed for Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore! We are super stoked to play some mad gigs for all of you. Talking about gigs, I had a very interesting experience during our last show at Gurgaon. A memory I will retain for long. It was the fact that I didn’t play the gig at all! Sitting with the audience I enjoyed Varun, Josh and Shrikant perform our amazing set. Well, I did clap, sing along and take multiple videos to make up for my absence on stage. If not for drumming, I got paid to be the best audience for the day!

The Mad Rains!

To begin with, Delhi NCR received an apocalyptic downpour! Well, pardon my exaggeration, but for us Delhi folks, it felt that way. Roads turned into little streams of water while the traffic waded through it! The Sun God probably took the day off, went for a swim and here was Delhi taking a hit off His pool splashing! Antariksh had a high tea gig the same day. The client had chosen an outdoor venue without covers and you guessed it, high tea was now a late supper event. All of us reached the venue considerably on time given the roads blocks and Uber cancellations! And now the great Indian Rock Band had nothing much to do, but sit at a restaurant talking, laughing and eating sandwiches, coffee and pizza. I admit we musicians have a great life, barring the time we waste trying to maintain The Indian Standard Time.

Drummer Chucked?

Clock struck 9 in the evening when we realized we hadn’t done a formal sound check. Let alone a check, the drums were yet to be set up! Instead there was a comedian and a couple of well-decked ladies playing the violin to entertain a dimming crowd. The event organizer ran to us with NEWS. They were giving us ten minutes to line check before we started playing. The guys smirked at me. It meant the drummer had his day off.

Delightful audience

Through the back door, into the performance hall, Shrikant and myself walked into a handful of people waiting with dinner plates. Interestingly, they looked indifferent towards the dying night and weren’t in a hurry to get home. Our great horror of playing to the walls finally eased out. In fact, it was a very informal and easy setting. Everyone felt relaxed and the sound check was painless without people crying to wrap it fast. I had my phone ready and captured all I could of the band doing its thing!

Gig is good!

The rest of the night was great. Our audience, a little too small, yet captivated, was enjoying themselves and singing along to us. The Chef specially loved it, video called his wife to make sure she wasn’t missing all the fun! I was running around capturing little snippets of my dear band mates and definitely blocking them from the viewers. They might have hated me for it, but I couldn’t care less. That is what you get for not allowing a drummer to play his gig! Lol!!!

Come join us?

All the hassles were slightly bothersome, but it was a great night of getting together and having some good fun. Owing to the constant rain, our ride back home too was pretty much an adventure! We did eventually reach and slept well. Not Varun though. He had to fly to Mumbai next morning and catch up with unfinished business. Ohhh..talking about Mumbai, we are there on the 20^th of October for our ‘10 years of Antariksh Tour’ at antiSOCIAL Lower Parel! And also Bnagalore the next day at Fandom. You must come for these. I promise to play the drums here. No kidding! Delhi folks, you are welcome to join us on the 16^th of Oct at SKOL! (get your tickets here) These gigs are close to our hearts as we play our original music for you. Some incredible local bands also join us at each city. We will have a blast I promise!

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Corporate Events and the Antariksh Experience

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:07:49 +0000

Hello!!

Hello friends, hope Diwali was exceptional for all of you! The lights, sweets and adda (catching up) over a concoction of intoxicating fluids, does count for a couple of great evenings. How blessed we are to be a part of this celebrative culture that gives us a reason to smile and lighten ourselves all year round. Another reason to smile for the Antariksh folks is a call for Corporate Events! Well, you weren’t quite expecting that after my Diwali greetings I believe. Much is written about the entertainers and their performances; I feel I must share how as musicians we experience the world and present our point of view from stage.

Work ethics

The most disliked reality about the entertainment world is the fact that nothing runs on time. In Indian standards, an hours delay is considered very usual and necessary. Most of us get biologically programmed to this setting over time! The good folks in the corporate world seem to be the only people who value this precious commodity! We recently played at a corporate event for Adobe and was so surprised to find the stage set before 12pm, which was the call time for our sound check. In fact we were running late owing to our usual experiences with abnormally late stage preps.

The valuable corporate world!

Musicians have dreams, of a respectable lifestyle, of travelling and playing across cities, of entertaining a receptive audience, of making it big in life through their passion. Antariksh plays a great deal of Corporate events every year; each of us manifest our dreams through these amazing gigs. Thanks to this huge pool of work as it allows artists like us to not just survive, but add value to our art and present a pleasant picture to society for this profession. People often tend to look down upon us and disregard our form of work. That is gradually changing over time and Antariksh would love to credit its friends from Adobe, Google, Airtel, HDFC, Times of India, Mercedes, and so many more for the same; our valued partners in business.

A surprising experience!

In the very recent past, we played a show at Gurugram which was very amusing in many ways. The day saw heavy rainfall and the city almost stood still. Through all odds the gig was pulled together with a very tiny audience and no drummer (read about it here). Beyond all cravings, our audience’s appreciation for our art is what we die for. And this was the fuel for that performance. A handful of people surrounded the stage clapping and singing to us while we played out some of their favourite tunes. We couldn’t have asked for more after such a dramatic day!

The successful October!

Antariksh would like to thank all its listeners and viewers for always sending us so much love and being so supportive towards our art. It makes a huge difference to an artist to see that the music he produces and plays becoming a part of so many other lives. October has been a very happy month for us with a load of corporate events, a new single release, a successful multi city indie tour and a promise for further growth in the coming months! We are overwhelmed by the gains we have been able to make as a Hindi rock band in India for the last 10 years. The exciting part being the fact that there is so much more waiting ahead in our timeline with all of you as the bigger part of the picture.

A peek to the calendar..

Life of an artist is a very interesting ride. We dance and dive through the crazy ups and downs, insecurities and depressive moments to patiently manifest our dreams and eventually inspire many lives through our art, which in essence is the path in life we have traversed through the years. Through your love for our music, you convey your admiration for those years we spent working hard to build ourselves. Hence, we look forward to playing more for you. Gladly, would love to share that November will see us playing at BITS – Pilani and a bunch of other corporate events in and around Delhi (event dates here). It is turning out to be a promising season indeed. Hope you too are having a fruitful and eventful winter. Cheers!

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Antariksh’s Club Gig Blues

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:07:43 +0000

A confused morning

It was the 8th of October and we were to travel to Jaipur to play at taBLU rooftop bar – Hotel Clarks Amer. The cabs arrived at 5 am for an early pick up. Exactly then, our manager Akash’s phone decided to give up on him! With the main co-ordinators phone down, the whole “let’s leave early” idea went for a toss. Shrikant prepared some tea for himself and the driver while trying to resolve the confusion. It took us a good 2 hours to figure things out before we could finally leave at 7. We picked an irritated Akash on the way and headed straight to McD’s.

Some fries and amusing stories

The sky was overcast. A light drizzle kept the windshields moist and the cool breeze addressed the approaching winters. All the commotion from the morning faded away in the calm weather. The other folks were slightly ahead of us and had ordered their share of morning fries and burgers until we caught up. The evil breakfast of oil drenched French fries and loaded cheese burgers satisfied our palates heartily. Our driver had some amusing stories to share about how Sanjay Dutt was his drinking buddy! He also proudly discussed his feud with Ashwariya Rai during which he asked her to vacate his vehicle!

Ohh..the rains!!

Heading past the borders we realised the light drizzle had now turned to a heavy shower. One after another each of us cosily dosed off. A couple hours later we found ourselves parked at a restaurant. To our surprise, it was still pouring! Though not hungry, the weather propelled us to settle for some hot kulladh chai and paranthas. Having satiated our impulse, we got back to our drive. No matter how far we went, the rains wouldn’t give in. Endless amounts of water constantly poured down the highway wetting everything on it. Poor bikers took a toll with trucks, busses, cars splashing gallons of water on them.

The tension and release!

The road seemed endless. It had never before taken us this long to reach Jaipur. After a long tiring drive, the hotel showed up through the window. The fries and paranthas had disappeared by now and our tummies called for some lunch. We quickly checked in and sat ourselves over a delicious buffet, but there was a little unrest. taBLU’s gig venue is an open rooftop and the rains just refused to stop! Antariksh’s club gig adventure was under serious threat. We had enough for the day, finished our food and went straight to bed and let Natasha (our dear friend and the gig organiser) storm her brains. About an hour into my nap, Sahil (our sound engineer) woke me up to call for a sound check. YES!! The gig was happening. Not at their usual venue, but inside the restaurant. The stage was neatly set up with a large candlestick and aromatic flowers!

Such a lovely club gig experience!

Despite the rain, a fair number of people turned up for the event. It was intimate and personal. The audience was calmly energetic and very receptive of our music. What started to look like a jeopardised club gig, turned out to be one memorable evening for us! Natasha, almost at the brink of a breakdown a while ago, was absolutely rocking and dancing to the music. The organising team, the audience and us together pulled off a great gig through the major set back and I enjoyed playing a drum solo on some tables, chairs and railings. You will find this solo on Instagram.

Happy Birthday!!

Post the gig, we sat together to conclude an interestingly eventful day. Just then, Natasha got us a cake to celebrate 10 years of Antariksh. How overwhelming it was for all of us. taBLU too was celebrating it’s 19th birthday the same night! I had promised not to touch dessert that night, but my will power to withstand the desire for that delicious chocolate cake faded away. I gorged onto it like a child! Having satisfied our cravings, we left for our rooms. Varun, Sahil and Akash were to stay back, while Shrikant, Josh and I decided to head back to Delhi right then. The journey back was nothing short of a nightmare and definitely is another mad story to tell! keeping it for another time. Meanwhile, keep listening to our last release Quest (English Reprise). Do catch up at a future Antariksh’s club gig and say Hi? Here is our calendar so you know when that is. See you soon!

Cheers!

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Ride back to Delhi

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:07:38 +0000

A Head Start..

Google maps warned of heavy traffic. The rains wouldn’t stop and our driver was drunk. I still wonder why we chose to drive back right after the gig! Talk about nightmares coming to life, this was our great experience. As a starter, our almost asleep driver sped over a breaker and had us bump our heads. A great head start indeed.

Going by the books, he needed to apologise, but given his state of mind, Josh and Shrikant quickly asked him to calm down and apologised for the breaker being placed inconveniently. This man needed coffee, so we stopped to get some. While our Chauffeur knocked the effects of alcohol with caffeine, Shrikant and I stood outside and soaked ourselves in the light drizzle. And this was the second day of continuous shower.

Hitting the wall!

Back on board, Shrikant noticed a long red stretch on maps. We anticipated a congestion, but weren’t aware of its severity. In the next half hour, our luck hit us. We reached a block of trucks that seemed to be stuck there for a while. Engines tuned down and lights off, drivers lay dead on their seats slapping themselves occasionally shooing mosquitoes. Some walked around while a few chatted sharing stories of their drive so far. All of us were quite tired after the night’s gig and couldn’t care less, readjusted our neck pillows and dosed off. Unfortunately, a swarm of mosquitoes had invaded our car leaving us no choice but to break out of our slumber. Half an hour had passed and there was absolutely no movement. All trucks were glued to their spot since we arrived. This started to bother us.

Fighting the wall!

Our driver felt frustrated and needed to get out of stagnation. With a little effort, he slipped past the trucks to find a way into the service lane. It had crater like potholes served with water, one of which engulfed almost half the car! He drove around some terribly unfit roads hunting for an alternative to this truck-struck national highway. An hour of futile search made us realise there was no escaping this. We found ourselves a petrol pump, parked and got out for a little stretch. It was refreshing indeed! The vast empty stretch of green farms soothed the eyes. The clock struck 7 while we heard some honking and chaos of moving cars. It was such a delight to watch this sea of vehicles gather some energy! We hopped on and drove.

Not yet over..

Happiness didn’t last long though. A mile away from our crib, the flow dwindled to an indefinite standstill. Dear CC was nearing his edge. He took to the divider, climbed over it and fled to the other free side of the road! How merrily we applauded his smart mind. While speeding through the wrong side of the highway, we dearly pitied the array of vehicles stuck on the other. Up ahead was a diversion to Delhi that could help us avoid this madness. We found it and took off the highway. We had crossed a distance of about 5 kilometres through the wrong side, but found no traffic moving on the other! This road was free from vehicles, but flooded with water. Some parts of the roads submerged half the car. The car almost seemed to float through the road. We were just happy to have it moving and no amount of water was scaring us anymore!

Will this end?

It was about 9 in the morning, more than 5 hours had passed driving across the rain drenched landscape. We sped through the waterlogged path and took a turn to an unconstructed road. Without water this road was just a pile of dust and large potholes, but with the downpour, it had manifested into a stretch of slippery slime! We almost meandered through the entire length until the highway junction. To our great horror, the traffic had now shifted gears. The Delhi-Jaipur side of the highway was blocked and all our driver’s efforts seemed obsolete. He made it worse by taking a right into the service lane against the moving traffic. Besides being stuck in this inescapable position, we witnessed the bonnet of our preceding car crushed by a huge passing truck. Our driver lost his calm and began screaming at us, held us responsible for all that was going wrong with him and asked us to get off the car and fix the situation. All of us were dumbfound and had no clue how to handle him.

Everything does pass..

Few minutes into his blow out, we spotted a soldier in the midst of this chaos. He helped clear the traffic and got the cars back in motion. Gladly CC responded and quickly turned the car around, headed towards the closest U-turn and got to the free side of the highway. Ohh God! It was such a relief. We drove to a restaurant close by and stopped for lunch. Charged our phones and warned the other guys to find an alternative route. They had left late and thankfully hadn’t hit the traffic yet. We saved them, to which, the treat is still due. Lunch was a solid dose of paranthas, Chholey and glasses of Kadak chai. Sipping hot tea under a drizzling sky and knowing the roads ahead were clear was the happiest feeling we harnessed on that day. All our karmas for road traffic probably ended that very day. With a belly full of goof food, we got back home after about a 10 hour drive. It does count as a lifetime experience for us and what got us through was some good music and interesting conversations.

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Antariksh at Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay)

Arko Ganguly — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:07:34 +0000

To Mumbai

December 28th, we board flight 6e2328 to Mumbai. After a ton of co-ordination, phone calls, sorting logistics and jamming for countless hours, we take off to the city that never sleeps to grace the invite for Antariksh to play live at Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay). I remember buying an Upma and hot coffee for myself. Delhi was freezing and I needed to get warm! But the moment i stepped out, the coffee and my enormous jacket back fired. It was noon and Mumbai was a blazing 31 degrees Celsius! Our welcome was warm to say the least.

Touchdown

We stripped down to our shirts, collected our bags and walked out of Terminal 2 to find Astha. She was a part of the organising team and had come to receive us. The heat was absolutely unforgiving and had us dashing towards our vehicle. We dumped our stuff in the boot and locked us up in the car. The cool and conditioned air was such a relief! With all the heat beyond the window, we rode peacefully through the bustling streets of Mumbai.

IIT Bombay Campus

Driving into IIT felt amazing! There were happy faces strolling all over the campus. Food stalls were in abundance and there were various performances all through the day at multiple venues open to viewers. Sunidhi Chauhan was performing that same evening at the main stage and people stormed in to book an early entry into the open ground. The energy that pervaded the atmosphere was indescribable!

Exploring IIT Bombay

We found our stay and quickly freshened up. Hopped on to comfortable clothes, grabbed some snack and diffused into the crowd. Walked around the campus in awe of its vibrance and confusion. Luckily, with help from Sejal (another kind organising team member) we sneaked right in time for Sunidhi’s performance. The ground was now a sea of people jolting screams into the air. Our set was scheduled for the next day on the same stage. The thought of playing to this crowd got us incredibly thrilled. The rest of the evening was an experience of its own. The musicians, lights, stage, crowd and Sunidhi herself were euphoric.

Soundcheck!

Cut to the next morning, breakfast was some good old idli vada, sided with hot coffee. I had undertaken a very intimidating task of co ordinating with four cinematographers which kept me busy taking a million calls. Sound check was in the afternoon under a glowing white sun! Well, we had canopies to cover us from the pleasant sunlight and our will power to survive the humidity. The stage tech was sorted to a tee owing a smooth sound check. Sarang mixed us like a tape and we couldn’t be happier! Content with the mix, we proceeded to satiate our hungry guts. Post a quick lunch and a refreshing shower, we headed back stage. The paths began to buzz with people just like last evening. It was exciting to see so many people gather to watch Antariksh at Mood Indigo.

Antariksh Live at Mood Indigo

The sun set, lights dimmed and the crowd murmured in wait. Escorting us to stage was a team of techs and a bunch of cameramen. The emcee walked up and introduced Antariksh. Our visual played on the backdrop and the crowd lost all calm. All I remember is sitting on the kit and engaging the live player. Beyond that, it was 90 minutes of sheer energy exchange between us and the mad spectators. We delivered song after song and the crowd responded passionately! An endless stretch of people sang along to ‘Jee Le Zara’, ‘Raahiya’, and ‘Quest’ to the top of their voices. And Varun made sure every person in the crowd jumped to the chorus of ‘Fanaah’. The constant engagement hyped us up so much so our red bull cans were left untouched. All of us were absolutely overwhelmed by the intensity of the mega event!

In other News and Updates

The show was a hit and a very fulfilling experience for each one of us. Antariksh at Mood Indigo made a mark among the audience with its fresh and original music. The invites pouring in from various other colleges in the following months were a testimonial to it. We soon after played at IIT Delhi and Kanpur in the month of March. All of this buzz manifested a collaboration with Merchant Records for a song, for which we travelled to Mumbai yet again to shoot under their banner with Salim Merchant and his team. That in itself was another wonderful experience which I may share soon. Meanwhile, do keep supporting us and listen to our music on all platforms. The new song is due for release very soon and will be updated on our socials post its production. May we see you soon at your city in the coming season. Cheers!

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