For Rainburn, one of the most promising progressive Bengaluru rock bands, it has always been about chance encounters. While the boys of the band, Praveen Kumar, Ravi Nair, Vats Iyengar and Paraj Kumar Singh, got together in the year 2011, it wasn’t until early 2015 that things started rolling — when their debut EP, Canvas of Silence went on to get selected as one of the ‘Top five Progressive Rock albums of 2015’ by a popular rock publication. A few international gigs and nominations later, the band is all set to record a full-length album titled The Anthropic Conceit, post which a tour is on the cards. In a candid chat, they tell us more...
“I’ve been reading a lot of different kinds of things this year, which has translated into material for The Anthropic Conceit It’s easily the most ambitious thing we’ve ever attempted — a 10-song concept album about the significance of life, told from the point of view of an artist,” begins Vats Iyengar, lead vocalist and guitarist of the band. “One of the things we’re doing in connection with the album is running a campaign on Fuel a Dream to fund the production costs,” adds Iyengar. Enthusing how the concept is the way forward, Anirban, one of the main band members opines, “In this day and age, when there’s less and less money in being a recording artist, unless you have a multi-million dollar contract from a record company, crowdfunding is pretty much the only way forward for albums to come to life.”
A roller-coaster journey spanning six years and counting, Rainburn’s members come with different musical inclinations. This helps them bring a slew of influences to the table. “All of us have very different influences, although there are definitely some common ones. But the differences coming together are what make our music unique, I think. For instance, Vats listens to a lot of pop and progressive rock while I’m more into modern heavy metal. Fusion/Indian music like Shakti, Prasanna, etc also influence us,” adds Praveen Kumar, the drummer of the band. Luckily for them, it didn’t take long for the efforts to reap fruits. From being nominated for the Best International Act, Ireland and being featured in the international press to being pegged as the ‘Dutch Progressive Rock: 14th best Progressive Metal album’of 2014’, the band has enjoyed a fair share of adulation too.
The four, who share a common love for creating good music, have a plan B to fall back on. “I do a lot of music sessions, work on some music workshops for corporate clients,” shares Anirban. Vats, on the other hand, pursues music full-fledgedely, and teaches the subject. “I teach music on the side, and it is something that blurs my full time and part-time activities. Praveen on the other hand has a full-time job in the corporate sector,” he adds.
Hopeful that the music scene will change for the better, Vats concludes, “Banking on the public is one of the riskiest things we have attempted as a band. We hope all our well-wishers, fans and music lovers in general will contribute generously to the campaign and help support good, independent art. We are not performing anytime soon in Bengaluru, but post the release of the album, we will be heading out for a music tour.”
