(L-R) Subhodip Banerjee, Neel Adhikari, Roheet Mukherjee and Avinash Chordia. Picture: Arnab Mondal

A few days ago, indie rock band Neel and the Lightbulbs hit the studios to record their second EP. The guys were pumped, they were “sounding good”, the “chemistry was rich”, and the band ended up with nine songs that now make up their yet-to-be-titled debut album.

So you have a political song on the new album?

Neel: We have one political song called Big Mistake. It talks about wanting to paint the town red! But the problem is only blue paint is available! Then Washing Windows is a song about isolation and the urge to get accepted. It’s about a person standing outside, cleaning a window of a house. It’s cold, it’s damp, and he is looking into a warm, lovely living room and he is wondering who could possibly live there, and one day how he could enter that house through the front door and be accepted.

Didn’t you get busted by the cops when shooting the video for Washing Windows? Neel: We were finishing the song and just as we finished the third take around midnight, the cops came in and stopped everything. We were shooting on the street. Later that night when I was dropping off everyone I forgot to carry my driving licence and we got busted by the police a second time on the same night!

With four boys in the band, do you have more girls coming to your gigs?

Neel: Girls come for our shows, not because the boys are cute, but because the songs are great! And each and every member of the band apart from me has a massive female fan following.

Roheet: Lies, all lies!

Neel: They are clean, cute boys! They are nice people. You don’t have to be a Brad Pitt for the girls to like you. You just have to be nice. Imagine girls screaming when we perform Washing Windows! We won’t be able to hear ourselves and that might be a problem.

Any crazy fan moment?

Neel: We don’t have fans; we have friends! When a gig gets over, everyone can come up and have a chat with us. There have been times when we have gone back to my place after a gig, and there are like 42 people in the house, and I don’t know what the f*** to do!

How do you stay motivated?

Avinash: There’s Old Monk, there’s whisky (laughs).

Neel: We were planning to call the band Neel and the Alcoholics, and I am the only guy who doesn’t drink much. I have other vices! But then everyone was sober on the day we came up with the band name. The scene here is very genuine. People play music for basic, elemental reasons… no one’s making a lot of money, and it’s not like we are having major orgies! The good thing is that everyone is in it for the music.