Indie bands’ new ‘tour’ de force

Indian indie bands now have a reason to rejoice. The concept of ‘tours’ — prevalent among bands in the West, but missing in India — is catching up. Earlier, most performances were restricted to one-off concerts or local gigs characterised by lack of funding and absence of a sizeable musically educated audience. That made it difficult for bands to get to a point where they could live off their music. So this transition from one-off concerts to nationwide tours has come as a boon for bands.

“The Internet has made the world a smaller place. Someone in Bhatinda can download the same tunes as someone in Boston. This has led to us playing in places which we never thought had a music scene,” says Arjun Vagale of Delhi-based band Jalebee Cartel.

Helping the bands is a platform called Short Circuit conceived by Only Much Louder (OML), an artist management company. It focuses on introducing audiences to newer sounds. Vijay Nair, the founder of OML, says, “It’s a platform for bands who wouldn’t mind going on the road for a long period of time to get some exposure playing for new audiences. Over the last year, many of our bands ended up getting offers for multiple gigs every time they’d be in a city for a show. Such gigs helped them get a lot of press and a steady buzz going on.”

Surojit Dev of Them Clones, a New Delhi-based band, feels this concept took a long time coming in India because of ‘lack of infrastructure’. “Earlier, there were no players in the market with a vision to adapt the Western method of a tour,” he says.

Jishnu Dasgupta of Bangalore-based band Swarathma feels the changing mindset of
bands and organisers has resulted in the concept of tours. “Earlier, not many people were open to the idea of Indian bands creating original music. Organisers felt this form of entertainment was not viable as a commercial option. Also there weren’t enough serious bands. All this has changed now,” says Jishnu.

Shiv Puri of Bamboo Shoots, an American musical group, who are on a five-city tour of India, says, “India is a lot like the US; it’s a huge place and here, you have to tour if you want to be known outside your home town.”

Surojit feels the most effective way to make live music a more regular phenomenon across India is by creating a format which will generate buzz. “Though good music sells, a great packaging helps to create and develop interest,” he ends.