Reload of rhythms

Conventional, but with a twist. This is how the vibe of B#Reloaded is best described. The Bengaluru-based band's music is an amalgamation of rhythms that any Bollywood and world music can relate to. The six member band, which rustles up Sufi and core Bollywood creative collections with a streak of world music, has amassed massive fan following in a short span of two years. And now, the boys are gearing up for bigger innings — shooting their first video, slated for release in December.  In a free wheeling interview, they share the inside track...

“The video will be reflective of our indigenous music along with something popular. We are planning to mix some foot tapping retro hits that stood the test of changing music trends, infused with new age music that will strike a chord with a wide range of music lovers," begins Apurva Gupta, the violinist and one of the vocalists of the band. What began as a chance project in the year 2014 by a bunch of working professionals for ‘the love of some 'good mash-ups' is panning out rather well. “We started off doing covers as-is. Off late, we have been trying to experiment with the instruments, mainly flute and violin, to create a harmony between eastern and Western, while keeping the core intact. We'd like to believe that we have evolved as natural mash-up specialists,” begins Pranay Ranjan, the lead vocalist of the band.

The band comprises Pranay Ranjan (guitar and vocals - frontman,) Subramaniam K (percussion, cajon and vocals), Anand P Gopinath (flute and lead guitar), Apurva Gupta (violin), Sriram Nandyala (percussion/tabla) and Rohit Suresh (bass guitar.) Their music influences dart towards Western music and are mostly dependent on the compositions and arrangements of a song, shares Rohit Suresh, the bass guitarisr. “We pick up those, which have variety in instruments and try to replicate the flowy interludes with the violin or flute and the rugged ones with electric guitar. Everyone in the band has their own share of Western influences, so we primarily try to mash up our songs with an English number (as we don't position ourselves as an English band, we play those lines only as instrumentals,” he elucidates. The band, which has a varied age group of artists performing, revels in the differences. “Our band has a couple of senior members like myself (vocals and guitar) and Anand ( flute and guitar) who try to keep the core strong, while we have Subbu (on vocals and percussion) and Sriram (on percussions), keeping us fast paced. Apurva on violin adds the romance and feelings. Having Rohit on the bass and acoustic guitar brings us some great ideas from his finger-style guitaring. We allow each other to express and end up creating something with great diversity. That’s the best part of our jams,” reveals Pranay.

Summing up how a soulful mix of retro with new age tracks is what the band looks forward to creating, Rohit adds, “The idea was to give a fresh experience of Bollywood retro songs (we do covers of RD Burman songs a lot).. and with a mix of newer ones with the likes of AR Rahman's and Arijit Singh's numbers.”
Speaking about what’s  next, Pranay concludes, “We don’t have any albums in line but a couple of shows in December and perhaps New Year's eve are in the pipeline. We’re yet to be contract ready. We are focusing on digital content for the next quarter and write a few originals.”