Top of the Rock brigade

Girish and The Chronicles (GATC) have been a prominent name in the Hard Rock/Metal scene of the country since 2009 — their inception. Looking back at the ‘crazy roller coaster ride’, Girish Pradhan, lead vocalist and founder member or the band, says, “Our journey so far would definitely make a best-selling biography for sure!”

Laughing, he starts, “We were 10 years younger than today and although we faced a hell uva hurdles, we were always determined and knew that there was no turning back. We are thankful to all the venues and people who knowingly or unknowingly helped us out in our initial days. Everyone involved had a part to play. No plans, no strategies, just go and ram the gates open — that was the way we did things and in a lot of ways, still do. We’ve learnt a lot over the years. We have our regrets and triumphs, but like they say, never too late to mend the mistakes. That means there are a lot of albums in the horizon.”

The band predominantly started off from Gangtok and moved their base to Bengaluru, marking their place in the rock/ metal scene in the country. Quizzed about which of their songs would represent the band in its fullness, Girish says, “From the band’s perspective, I guess it would be Ride To Hell, Rock The Highway, Revolving Barrel. But I’ve always noticed that from the audience’s perspective, it’s always Angel, Endless Road and most recently, Rock the Highway are the defining songs for GATC.”

Like most of the other Indie bands out there, GATC has covered some of the best classical anthems of all time at the beginning. From Led Zepplin to Guns and Roses, they gave great renditions to classic songs. “I guess it’s deeply embedded in us — the blues, classic rock and the ’80s. We have immense respect towards the artists we have covered over the years. These are the bands that literally made us pick up our instruments. It’s because of them that we chose music as a profession. In this era where rock n roll is almost dead, we play some of their songs and watch people go crazy, proving that it’s always fresh, something people can have a real good time with.”

Rock and metal are still limited to certain audiences in our part of the world, says Girish, adding that they are yet to get the recognition they deserve. The band believes that the Indian music industry is largely film-bound and indie music is not even accepted as a pure music industry. “A lot of bands from our country deserve to tour the world and yes, earn more recognition. Perhaps it’s the movie industry that overpowers the independent scene and other fields like folk music. But I can see that the independent scene is coming up slowly because of platforms like YouTube.”

The band had been to some amazing concerts round the globe. “Opening for Hoobastank, Poets of the Fall, Destruction probably got us the big audience. Apart from that, we toured Hong Kong back in 2012, Dubai, Thailand and Vietnam. The music award fest in Montenegro and of course, every northeast tour is packed with a loyal following.”

Currently busy with some shows, Girish shares that their primary goal is to release their new album by February and then go on a promotional tour. On February 8 and 9, they will be performing in Bangkok as well.

Before signing off, Girish says, “We want to give the audience a taste of good old hard rock/glam/heavy metal songs. The songs will be made keeping in mind live concerts. We really feel a lack of this genre in the country. There are also plans to release a video, every one or two months in that direction.”