An Indian hard rock act has made it to a US-based magazine’s list of best albums of 2020
Girish (Pradhan, third from left) and the Chronicles
We are living in an age when 21st century sounds have infiltrated music like a bunch of unannounced guests who land up at a party. But Rock the Highway by Girish and the Chronicles is an album that harks back to a time when bands picked up their guitars, sat at the drum kit, and belted out tunes without the aid of software like Ableton Live, which is the bread and butter of bedroom producers. The outfit is originally from Gangtok, Sikkim. But the members are now based in different Indian cities, and their collaborative record has recently found mention as the third best album of 2020 according to MetalSucks, a music webzine based in the US.
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That speaks a lot about India, a country where musicians who stick to the old school are finding it increasingly hard to stay afloat in a sea of electronically produced sounds that seem to be the current wave. Front man Girish Pradhan tells us where the conundrum lies. He explains that there are people who appreciate his voice because it resembles that of Axl Rose of Guns ‘n’ Roses, and thus expect him to play covers. On the other hand, there are those who deride bands that don’t play original music. “I can’t explain it,” he says about what it means to be caught in between such a rock and a hard place. “I just want to play what I love listening to,” he confesses, adding that while growing up, his earliest influences included a diet of Megadeth, Pantera and other such acts that would wake the neighbours up, had those unannounced guests at the afore-mentioned party been metal-heads who took over the playlist.
And that’s all it takes, really - keeping it real. “Many people tell me that you have the voice for Bollywood, why don’t you try your hand at movies?” Pradhan says, adding how all he wants to do is stay true to the musician he is, without being trapped in the corporate mesh that the mainstream music industry has been reduced to. He’s received kudos for that mindset from MetalSucks and, closer to home, we’d like to extend the same respect to the band for, well, keeping it real.
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Learn more about the spirit of Christmas with Enchanting Stories, a series of five storytelling sessions spread over as many weeks that delves into Christmas tales. The second episode will see Shalini Bansal and Seema Wahi Mukherjee narrating a musical story called Santa’s Gifts, followed by Kapil Pandey’s retelling of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. Tune in and get enchanted.
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