Visually electrifying. Sonically infectious. No doubt, Bangalore-based Swarathma is India’s favourite festive band. And the team of Jishnu Dasgupta, Vasu Dixit, Pavan Kumar, Varun Murali and Sanjeev Nayak are certain to make you go crash, boom, bang at their Bacardi NH7 Weekender gigs in Shillong and Calcutta.

After thriving on laal maas in Jaipur last week (which their FB page proudly announces), they are looking forward to chamchams and more here....

So, what’s a favourite activity of this fun band at a Bacardi NH7 Weekender, besides the gig?
Calcutta is one of our favourite cities to begin with! And coming to play there at a Weekender is simply the icing on the indie cake. Speaking of sweet things, the band is crazy about Bengali sweets, and is likely to be found at a mishtanna bhandar or two when not at the festival. Don’t let our south Indian origins fool you, here is a band that knows its chamcham from its chhanar jilipi!
 
What about the time between the concerts at Shillong and Calcutta?
We’re looking forward to spending some time in the Northeast, travelling around Shillong. We also plan to come to Calcutta a couple of days in advance to rehearse with a very special local musician (the name is being kept hush-hush!) who we will collaborate with at Weekender. The evenings are likely to be spent on Park Street or in New Market. We love the vibe of the city.
 
Tell us about the craziest concert you have ever done...
We do a series of concerts called Action Replay where we perform for free for audiences who may otherwise have no access to live contemporary music. This has seen us play at blind schools, Alzheimer’s care homes, leprosy rehab centres and villages.... We played one such concert at the Pune Home and School for the Blind where the kids broke into spontaneous applause and jigs right in the middle of the songs. Nobody has ever told them to wait for the end of a song to applaud, you see! At the end of the gig we were mobbed by loving hands, with kids using their fingers to “see” who we were. It was an overwhelming experience. 

And the weirdest gift from a fan?
We’ve some lovely, crazy fans who’ve given us everything from personalised keychains to T-shirts with our faces on them. But the craziest has to be this one time a fan gave us a pair of Converse canvas shoes with caricatures of our band members on it. That was really wicked! Even the guys who wore bigger shoe sizes wanted them!

What’s your favourite party-wear piece?
We love those multi-coloured fake afros. Except Vasu who has an original one he wears everywhere!

If your house was on fire, which records would you save?
Alas, we wish there were records to save these days! If it was up to me, I’d save the cassette collection I’ve inherited from my father and father-in-law: a set of irreplaceable Rabindrasangeet and old Hindi film songs. All the rest of our music is on the cloud.
 
Lately, have you seen any good movies?
That’s hard to say but we watched the iconic Hyderabadi movie The Angrez while on tour and totally tripped on it.

An “innovative” cuss word you have picked up?
It isn’t as much a cuss word as it is a value judgement (which hurts much more). It is from the Gangs of Wasseypur movie and has to be said the right way: “Ee tumse na ho payega.”

Catch Dualist Inquiry and Swarathma at Bacardi NH7 Weekender Shillong (RBDSA Sports Complex, Madan Kurkalang Bhoirymbong; October 23-24) and at Bacardi NH7 Weekender Calcutta (Aquatica; October 31 and November 1). Tickets available on Insider.in. Price: Rs 1,250 to 2,250