The Pennydrops Band: Smiling with high hopes. Picture by Farah Gherda

Who: When you first meet The Pennydrops Band at their practice pad, they come across as just another generic high school jam band on the verge of strumming Hotel California. Until they actually dig into their respective instruments, leaving you unsettled with a riot of hate and a screaming, angsty sound. Shourya Sinha (Rob) on vocals, Chandrabhushan Swarnakar (Bo) on drums, Arkajyoti Garai on guitar and Debangshu Roy (Chiku) on bass make up this pop punk/emo foursome. “Emo is an attitude that we wear. We make and play our own music,” says Arkajyoti.

Why: Self-proclaimed comrades against the bipolarity of the present Calcutta music scene — leaning towards classic rock or metal — the quartet is here on a mission to spread the e-word. Their tactic? A combination of shock marketing and exploiting the I-am-who-I-am angst. “We want to join the new-wave bandwagon and bring about a difference in the music scene,” says Chiku. Fair enough.

How: Being chums since school, The Pennydrops Band’s extension into a motivated band came about naturally. “Technically, Pennydrops debuted at our inter-school competition (at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), where we performed as a guest band a year back. We then played a more professional show a few months back at Planet M,” explains Arkajyoti. Only a few gigs old and having undergone three line-up changes already, the revamped Pennydrops promises to have learnt from the experience. And thus grown into a tighter sound. Their common ideal? “A marriage between the bristly heft of hardcore, the song-writing sensibility of pop-punk, and the tortured artistry of an emo individual”.

Style: “We all have our individual styles. Like Rob starts off with an emo tune, Bo catches up with his punk-slated techniques, so does Arka, followed by my bass style that is heavily influenced by funk. What is interesting is how all the influences merge together to form a tight and unique sound, which makes Pennydrops,” explains Chiku. So there’s the scream-heavy original Invisible Wounds, the bright and melodic Long Way To Go, the pop punk-spiked Winnie Cooper. Dark and ambient, all the tunes give off stubs of bright melody.

Influences: Those would include Blink 182, Circa Survive, Underoath and Saosin. “We don’t want to stagnate by being stubborn and sticking to just one genre. We want to evolve with time and see where music takes us,” says Rob.

Sign-off: “We have a long way to go. We do plan an all-original EP and a lot of shows. We also plan to convince India to take us and our music seriously,” sums up Arkajyoti.