Hindi Rock Band Archives - 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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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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