FOLK AND LORE

Band members: Sunny and Akashdeep (fourth year), Niladri, Shirshajit and Saahil (third year), and Sayandeep and Somdutta Paul (second year), all biotechnology students of Amity University.

Performed at: Perfect Place in Town (Salt Lake), Barcode (Salt Lake), HB Community Centre (cultural) Salt Lake.
The sound: Acoustic melodies and woodwind instruments meet heavy metal riffs. “We want to balance the light and dark sides,” says  Sunny.

Come together: “We want to compose songs rather than just do covers.”

Memorable gig: “At Barcode, because the crowd accepted our music and for the first time people danced and headbanged to our music.”

Inspiration: Eluveitie, Omnia, Korpiklaani and Alestorm.

In the works: “We are working on our debut music album, Fables, which will be a collection of songs about social issues.”

FELT TIP PENCILS

Band members: Ritam (second year, English literature student, Asutosh College), Rickraj (second year, BCom, Bhawanipur Education Society College), Rudrajit (third year, media science, NSHM), and Srinjoy (passed out from South Point in 2015).

Performed at: Someplace Else, Jamsteady at Princeton Club, CC&FC, The Irish House and Club Boudoir.

The sound: “We try to cover a wide range of genres — punk-rock, rock ’n’ roll, alt-rock,” says Srinjoy.

Come together: Ritam came up with the name after he exhausted the list on Band Name Generator (website). “We’ve been playing for almost six years now but FTP opened up a lot of things for us. We suddenly got selected by a record label called Orange Music who made What The Fish!, our debut EP, possible.”

Memorable gig: December 18, 2016 at Someplace Else. “It was the release of our EP, What The Fish! and it turned out to be one of our best gigs. Most of the people who turned up, knew our songs,” says Rickraj.

Inspiration: The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, Dream Theater and many jazz artistes.

In the works: “We are releasing an animated music video with a brand new sound,” says Srinjoy.

AGNEESH DUTTA TRIO

Band members: Soumyadeep (second year, media science, The Heritage College), Agneesh and Swarnavo (both third-year, mass communication, St. Xavier’s College).

Performed at: Old House Jam (Jamsteady) at The Vault (Deshapriya Park) and Friday Night Originals (an acoustic jam sessions conducted at different locations).

The sound: Instrumental funk and jazz. 

Come together: “We are friends who used to jam often. One day we were jamming at a music store and decided to form the trio. Our first show was at Someplace Else,” says Agneesh.

Memorable gig: “Old House Jam because we sounded great. Also, there was a very nice crowd. Most importantly, Amyt Datta, who we look up to, was at the show.”

Inspiration: Screaming Headless Torsos, Dice, Chris Potter Underground Orchestra, Miles Davis and Wayne Krantz.
In the works: An EP in early 2019.

PATHETIC DISILLUSION

Band members: Debarghya (second year, media science, Brainware), Rounak (BCom, Syamprasad College), Joel (Class XI, Assembly of God Church, Park Street), Anwesh Maitra and Ronnie Adhikary (engineering graduates, Durgapur Polytechnic College).

Performed at: They have won several competitions, including Utsav 2016 (R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital) and Battle of Bands (Rajabazar Science College), and was second runner-up at Almafiesta (IIT Guwahati).

The sound: “We design our sound with odd counts, polyrhythms and syncopated patterns, punching heavy low ends, djent guitar tones, heavy riffs with some delicious ambient background sounds and power vocals,” says Rounak.

Come together: The band was formed by Debarghya six years ago. All the members love metal and they intend to add more headbanging vibes to the metal scene in town.

Memorable gig: “The most memorable show was when we were booked for back-to-back shows at The Vault (Deshapriya Park). We pushed ourselves and the response was great.”

Inspiration: Tesseract, Periphery, Skyharbor.

In the works: An EP with a music video around September.

UPSTAIRS JAM

Band members: Sohom (first year, journalism and mass communication, Asutosh College), Rohan Chakraborty (Class X, Assembly of God Church School, Park Street), Saptak Mitra (second year, travel and tourism management, Barasat Government College) and Raunak (second year, BCom, Syamaprasad College).

Performed at: They have performed at various college fests, like Raphsody 2017 (Calcutta Medical College) and Agon 2017 (Calcutta National Medical College). They have also performed at Calcutta Rowing Club and Rotary International.
The sound: “Our focus is mainly on Bollywood, songs like Tum mile and Raabta. We also cover popular English tracks,” says Sohom. 

Come together: “We are musicians from different backgrounds who came together to make people happy and have a good time. We decided to do covers because people usually don’t get a chance to listen to their favourite songs while attending gigs.”

Memorable gig: “We had a great time at CRC, playing for a big crowd. We were also proud because it was a charity event and to play for people who are devoted to a cause feels great.”

Inspiration: Underground Authority and The Local Train.

In the works: Upstairs Jam wants to compose songs which may lead to an EP.

Text: Manjis Kar
Pictures: Pabitra Das