'(L-R) Buti, Bumpy, Baji, Dibyendu, Sidhu and Ratul at The Park. Picture: Sayantan Ghosh Cactus turns 21 today

Cactus turns 21 on Saturday. What does that mean to you?

Sidhu: It’s like we are living up to our name. Like the plant that lives on despite all adversities, we have also persevered against all odds.

Baji: It’s like we are celebrating adulthood. It’s a journey that has attained new heights. Amra boro holam!

Bumpy: During the early days of Cactus, the band was written off by the press. Cactus has proved that it is playing an original form of music.

Is there a sense of achievement that you have proved critics wrong?

Sidhu: Yeah, we felt that sense of satisfaction a long time ago. We are not only pioneers of Bangla rock but we set a trend of spreading guitar-based music. Previously every Bengali home had a harmonium; now, you’ll find kids playing the guitar in every alley.

Did you ever think that you would reach 21?

Sidhu: We never started with a target, a figure. We are doing music because we enjoy it. Bhalo lagchhe, korchhi… and people like our songs.

Bumpy: Cactus has initiated a change in the vernacular scene from classic rock to modern rock.

How do you deal with line-up changes?

Baji: Any band that has been in the business for a long time will face this. [After their album Tuccho in 2008, Allan Ao (guitarist) and Sayak Bandyopadhyay (vocalist) left the band and Ratul (guitarist) and Pota (vocalist) joined; then bassist Sandip Roy and Pota left and Dibyendu Mukherjee (vocalist) and Mainak ‘Bumpy’ Nag Chowdhury (bassist) joined.]

Sidhu: I feel these line-up changes turned out to be a boon.

Baji: We have always found people with whom our chemistry matched. Consider the band as an artiste... individuals don’t matter!

And Sidhu is the only vocalist who has been there since day one.

Baji: We had different singers on each album. Rajesh Lahiri on the first (Cactus, 1999), Pota on the second (Rajar Raja, 2004), Sayak on the third (Tuccho, 2008) and Dibyendu on the fourth (Blah Blah Blah, releasing in September 2013).

Sidhu: I am always tense since aamar pashe je thake aamar cheye onekta better gaye (laughs)!

Your take on your contemporaries?

Sidhu: We have evolved, oneke evolve korte pareni. For a few bands, the target audience has shifted. Fifteen years ago, kids didn’t have the Internet. So their listening was limited. Nowadays, kids are listening to a whole range of artistes and bands... that has worked in our favour. We are playing to college freshers today.

A rock band is incomplete without its share of sex, drugs and rock ’’ roll stories. What are yours?

Sidhu: Shob achhe, bolbo na kichhu (It’s all there but mum’s the word)! Shobey adult hoyechhi toh; we’ll share the stories on our 25th birthday!

Tell us about your forthcoming album Blah Blah Blah (mixed and mastered by the New Zealand-based Zorran Mendonsa)?

Sidhu: There are eight songs on Blah Blah Blah, five new and three from the OST Nil Nirjane (scored by Cactus, 2002). The three (old) songs have been recreated. The title track talks about how politicians don’t deliver on their promises. There is another song called Status update, which has nothing to do with Facebook! It’s about how we (Bengalis) overcome lethargy to finish work at the eleventh hour.

You are performing at Someplace Else for the first time on your birthday!

Sidhu: Ekta ichche chhilo… Music-wise we are not a pub band, but a ‘concert band’ that plays in arenas, but we’re looking forward to our first gig at SPE.

Cactus’s biggest hit is Holud pakhi. Do you ever get tired singing it?

Sidhu: People get very emotional; students start crying, they hug each other when the song comes on…

Baji: We keep changing the versions so that the song remains fresh… at present we are performing the 67th version of Holud pakhi! It doesn’t get monotonous.

Cactus landmarks

First stage performance: August 24, 1992 at the Calcutta National Medical College fest
Professional debut: March 6, 1993
Holud pakhi: The band is currently playing the 67th version of the song, which first appeared on their self-titled debut album in 1999
Abroad: Toured the US in 2006 and 2008; the UK in 2010