Sound advice strums along

Back in 2014, four youngsters conjured up After Acoustics, a folk rock band, with a simple intent — to stir up some soulful music. Precisely a year-and-a-half later, the boys are indeed making some noise in the music scene across the country — and with good reason.

Post their recent feat of being adjudged the winners at the regional finale of Project Aloft Star of India held in Bengaluru on September 30, the Pune-based band is all set to launch their debut album, Another Milestone early in October. In a candid chat, the band that set the stage alive in the city, shares the inside track and what’s next on the cards...

“I’d like to believe that us (the band) coming together was an instance of sheer serendipity. I used to teach guitar to Akarsh, and found him to be an amazing singer. Most importantly, we hit it off during classes, and then an idea of starting out a band struck somewhere towards the end of 2014.

We then found Gaurav and Unni Krishnan. The rest as they say is history,” shares Anurag Kumar Singh, founder and multi-instrumentalist of the band. Over a 100 performances later, the band doesn’t really buy into the hype of rustling up a quirky name and rather prefers their work to do the talking.

“Well, from the start, we wanted the focus to be on the tracks  and nothing else. Considering we only use acoustic instruments to make music; we think the name, though simple, hits the nail right on its head,” chimes Anurag.

While they may not have many firsts to their name, the young musicians have been fortunate enough to bag noteworthy performances to their credit. “Apart from headlining for a couple of college fests, we’ve opened for Agni, Mr Hariharan’s concerts and for even Benny Dayal and Preetham. We’d like to believe that every performance till date and every feedback has only pushed us to strive harder,” enthuses Anurag. The band previously won the Pune Channel V Launchpad, MTV Colours of the Youth 2016 and RadioCity Freedom Awards 2016.

Students by day and musicians by night, they tell us how it’s the common love which they share for music which helps them wade the odds. “At the end of the day, we’re all students who attend regular colleges and have exams to  crack.

Since we’re packed during the day, we end up meeting up at around 6 in the morning everyday to jam.  Since we are all innately passionate about what we do, it’s something we make time for,” says Unni Krishnan, drummer of the band.  Music aside, the boys also speak of how they share similar interests.

“We are all travel buffs and end up travelling together most of the time. We’re football fanatics too. And when we are not doing either of these, we’re jamming. So, in a way, even our other interests are intertwined,” adds Unni.

Unperturbed by brickbats, the young musicians are an affable lot who’re open to learning. “We’re just starting out, and hence, we couldn’t wish for more. It’s been a learning process and certainly one of the most edifying decisions of our lives so far!” they chime. Quiz them about the response they got performing here, which really motivated them, and they say, “Like most musicians, it is indeed heartening to see a packed lounge at a gig you’re performing at. But yes, when musicians like Shankar Mahadevan and Vishal Dadlani told us that they like what we do, it was indeed a high,” enthuses Akarsh, the lead vocalist, elatedly.

Letting us in on what’s next on the anvil, Anurag concludes with excitement brimming, “There is certainly lots happening on the work front. In addition to our website going live, we’re also looking forward to giving our all to the debut album. And there are a few interesting projects lined up. So, all we’d say is wait and watch for now!”