Indus Creed are back! The trailblazers of the Indian rock movement return to form with their highly awaited new album. Self-produced by the studio (and live) veterans, and mixed by mixing genius Tim Palmer (Pearl Jam, U2, Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, Porcupine Tree), Evolve will be released in the first quarter of 2012. Expect Uday Benegal, Mahesh Tinaikar, Zubin Balaporia, Rushad Mistry and Jai Row Kavi to break new frontiers with their high-on-energy/big-on-melody sound yet again. Tune it here for info on the album release and availability.
The story of Indian rock cannot be told without a mention of the country’s most iconic rock band. Uday Benegal (vocals), Mahesh Tinaikar (guitar), Mark Selwyn (bass), Jayesh Gandhi (guitar), Zubin Balaporia (keyboards) and Mark Menezes (drums) first came together in 1985. Then called Rock Machine, the guys had no mission or plan. Just an unflagging desire to play the music they loved. In the face of all reason (there was just one government-run TV channel and radio station, neither of which thought rock’n’roll to be particularly "cultural") the band set out to do just that. It took blood, guts and a steely resolve to cut through the crap. It was just a matter of time before practically every college and concert promoter in the country wanted to book what had become India’s favourite band. The rest is history. They recorded three albums, won a bunch of awards and changed their name to Indus Creed. And in the process they inspired an entire generation to pick up an instrument and rock it out. Here’s a quick roundup of some of their multifarious achievements:
• Toured the length and breadth of India
• Repped the country at the Festival of India in the USSR
• Played at Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festival in the UK
• Performed with Bon Jovi to over 40,000 people in Bombay
• Performed on stage with GN’R guitar player Slash for MTV’s launch in Bangalore
• Toured the UK and the Middle East extensively
• Rock’n’Roll Renegade (Rock Machine)
• The Second Coming (Rock Machine)
• Indus Creed (Indus Creed)
• They were the first Indian artistes to appear on MTV Asia. All their videos were chart-toppers.
• Their first video "Top of the Rock" (dir by Deven Khote) was a massive success.
• The next video "Pretty Child" (dir by Subir Chatterjee and Namita Roy Ghose) overwhelmingly won MTV’s Asian Viewers’ Choice Award, across all of Asia. The video was ranked 9 in MTV Asia’s top 100 videos of the year, competing with such major acts like Madonna and Michael Jackson.
• "Trapped" (dir by Subir Chatterjee and Namita Roy Ghose) was nominated by Billboard and MTV.
• "Sleep" (dir by Subir Chatterjee and Namita Roy Ghose) was nominated for an MTV award.
• In 1994, MTV produced a "Rockumentary" on Indus Creed, the first for a non-Western act.
• In 1997, the band was named Best Indian Band by Channel V.
Rock Machine and Indus Creed were extensively covered by almost every major newspaper and television channel in India, along with multiple regional publications. They were also featured in a number of international publications and TV networks, including The New York Times, BBC, Time magazine and Musical Express (Japan), and radio stations in India, Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East.
But no achievement makes the rockers prouder than the smashing the taboo of Indian bands making original music. Their determination to play their own songs, and the audience’s subsequent demand for the same, remains their biggest accomplishment. That legacy is the bedrock of the contemporary Indian rock scene.