They are the surwallahs from Surat in Gujarat. Sounding though unusual from the place-perspective which has no rock history to really harp upon, the five-piece experimental, alternative, classic rock band Odyssey is quite a journey in itself to narrate about. At a recent performance at Kolkata’s swanky nocturnal address — The Big Ben, they belted out their swinging numbers for the spilling rockheads to jive over.
Dealing with a tapestry of diverse music genres, Odyssey’s claim to fame catapults it to a first among its equals’ status. Well, the truth is that the band is Gujarat’s first and only outfit to break into the national rock scene.
The current line-up comprises an awesome quintet, a team of five talented bandsters with frontman Yogendra Saniyawala aka Yogi at the helm as the lead vocalist. He also doubles up as a bass guitarist and contributes on the loops too. Besides, Chaitanya Bhanawala on the guitars and backing vocals, Himanshu Bhardwaj on the keyboards and loops at the same time, Gaurav Kapadiaaaa on the drums, percussion as well as the sound, Anand Joseph Mani again on the guitars and as a back-up singer and Ankit Mavchi as an artwork designer, video imagery and graphics artiste, completing the outfit with proficient ease.
Formed in September 2009, the band with an average age of 26 years, boasts members who have a cumulative experience spanning over 30-40 years as rock-machines in the music field. For those not tuned in, the band had lodged its maiden performance at the scintillating IIT Kanpur in September 2009 and impressively stood seventh out of a bevy of 160 bands having participated in the competition. Seemingly a favourite band with the IITians, Odyssey had made inroads into the IIT Mumbai as well. Followed with their outing at the IIT Kanpur, they performed at the Live Wire-IIT Bombay in Powai, in 2009. “These two back-to-back shows are our landmark achievements so far,” says Himanshu.
“As far as the band composition is concerned, Indian bands generally play heavy metal. But we chose a different path and set our eyes on hard rock instead. However, we don’t indulge in fusionistic elements,” affirms Yogi.
“Sad but true, our roots don’t prop up a popular culture that we crave for in our music. Surat with its very close-knitted conservative milieu lacks in promoting what we call an electrifying entertainment. Unlike the huge influence of a sizeable breed of English bands up in the North East zone, which is unarguably a hot-bed for all rockbands to emerge and explore the north-western coast on the other side starkly cuts a dismal scene for the budding rock sensations to flourish in its own accord. It is clearly devoid of an encouraging platform that can truly tap raw new talent and harness them into ripe fruits with rockish flavours. There’s hardly any identity or knowledge about western music doing the rounds back in our hometown,” he rues the absence of a congenial ambience to crack their kind of music.
“Owing to a paucity of English speaking people, a huge chasm has been created. While provincial folk dances and music such as, garba or dandiya have already gained ground on a national scale via the mass media footage, citations or film songs, the station of band music still remains as secluded and sparsely filled in by a handful few rock and metal maniacs. In fact, the popular Delhi-based rockband Euphoria was surprisingly debarred from crooning their English tracks at a college fest. An aspiring rock junkie has to develop a keen sense of rock music right from the start. How you inculcate it, all depends upon yourself. You should get your mind and ears attuned to the genre form a formative age, put your heart and soul into it to vibe well with its nuances and peculiarities which is the basic dictum and one needs to follow that,” says band-member Chaitanya.
At an infrastructural level, a band outfit comes as a conglomeration of manpower, equipment, financial support, a managing company, sponsorship, stage gigs, album launches, fame, co-ordination, synchronisation, et al. If one loses a beat, the rest totters in no time, remarks Yogi.
An electrical engineer from the reputed NIT in Ahmedabad, this lanky guy with a spunky spirit notes: “Look, assembling ourselves to converge at a point and forging a band is the best thing that has happened to us in the past one year or so. But at the same time, it’s always significant to jam at regular gigs or discs and pubs on a continual basis. The show must go on uninterrupted, for sustenance-sake. At least two shows per week I would say will be a double delight to keep the moolah flowing in steadily.”
“When we started fresh, our idea was to make original songs which would be our signature pieces and within a month’s time, we sent our profile to IIT Kanpur. At that time, we desperately needed a drummer and a girl stepped in to do the honours. Though she was a bit amateurish, she met our requirements to fill in the gap for us. Only one and a half day’s practice stood us in good stead and we finished with an overly satisfactory seventh position out of a bulk of 160 bands. We tasted blood with this overnight success and people woke up to our hidden potentials as a promising band of tomorrow,” he further recounts. Incidentally, weighing Yogi’s experience, one finds his stint as a bandster a practised one. “Yes, way back in 1999 and 2000, I did float two bands called Tantra and Antariksh, respectively. Although I’ve splitted away from Antariksh during the recession lull, when business was a bit down, a Hindi album was incidentally unveiled from the band’s stable in 2005,” he apprises.
Venturing forward to conquer and melt a million hearts across the nation as well as on the global music-map, these musicmakers from Surat, a place remotely connected to rock, sound gung-ho about announcing their forthcoming next. The band has decided to release a self-produced album by the year-end to begin its musical odyssey in the Indian alternative music scene.
The awesome fivesome confirm in unison that their sole aim is to make some soulful music and strike a chord by connecting with its listeners. No Hay Banda, a Spanish synonym for the English version — “There is no band” is the intended title of Odyssey’s future endeavour. While a zillion netizens have already tuned into their meaningful tracks on the Youtube, Yogi informs that “our online page has already been hit by a horde of 50 nations varying from Nigeria, Oman, Brazil, Chile, Japan to the US and the UK.”
Jamming at their own space and speed, these fast-upcoming rockers, don’t rule out options to make a foray with the tinselville tunes. Game for scoring in Bollywood movies, Yogi lauds the catchy refrains and unconventional notes composed by Amit Trivedi for films like Dev D.
“Music is no longer compromised on. Of course, the run-of-the-mill dancing around the trees routine is an absolute no-no for us. But then we are sincerely on for anything that is creatively appealing to our tastes,” he says as they gear up for a string of performances lined up in the months ahead.