City, city strum hum

I recently went on two tours.  One was from November to December and the other was a tour in February. The first tour required me to quit my band Indi graffiti. We  did an album promo tour. We covered both the south and the north of India. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. And also one of the most sadder experiences – it was a good mix.

I think it is very important for bands to invest in tours – the amount of contacts you make, the people you get to see or meet is something you cannot get if you’re playing at the same venues in the same city over and over again. Granted, that playing at venues means you do have a steady flow of income but you’re not growing as much as you should be. I met these incredible people – fans, organisers, artist managers.

Indi Graffiti’s tour called Tumse Na Ho Payega,  was a four city tour –  Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. What we realised is that we started with Bengaluru at a popular venue. The show was beautiful with friends, family, new peeps, to see the new line-up of the band,  who cheered us on without expectations as we played our set. As we  finished that show, we rushed home. Tours have a funny way of telling how you would deal with a crisis as a band. I think it was one of the most rewarding experiences.

We headed to Chennai – where everything went wrong and still became right. Bharat lost his bag at the station. Not getting into the confusion that ensued and cutting the long story short,  he reached Chennai within five minutes of getting on stage. We played and that day I realised this band would pull together no matter what. Post that we played at Mumbai at a popular hangout. We realised Mumbai’s crowd starts partying at 10. So, bands need to start a little later. Post that, we flew down to Hyderabad. It was such an exhillarating experience. It reminded me of the Legends of Rock venue in Bengaluru. It gave me such an astounding feeling of nostalgia and familiarity. Of course, we had to call people back in. But, they responded really well.

I’ve been to the North, but never played in the North. We started with Gurgaon. We played to only family. The sound was absolutley crap. The venue wasnt willing to give us any equipment. We went to Chandigarh next, where we played to only bar- tenders which was also an experience. Towards the end of our set, people rushed in and they were floored by our songs. Dehradun was the place I realised cold weather and guitarists don’t mix. I froze my fingers off and was struggling so hard to play the set. We finally played at Delhi, where we met some incredible people. The experience was just beyond words.

The tours taught us that Bengaluru is a city that is known for its artistes. Lot of these cities have a developing music scene. As artistes, let us respect that.

There’s a different vibe to each city, and as musicians, growth is possible only if one  is willing to deal with indifference, adversity and the like... But, that’s a small price to pay for your dream.