Whether it’s from the radio, watching Michael J Fox play a Chuck Berry tune on stage or singing in a church, Mellowdyn picked up their love for music early on and it has stuck with them ever since. Peppered with live-wires Imaiyan Aaron, Vanshaj Sharma and Swikrity Singh, this Bengaluru band is now lighting up stages across the country with their performances with a sound that they believe, is steadily moving towards the blues. What’s more? They hint at an album or an EP perhaps is on the offing for them.
Counting Ella Fitzgerald, Eva Cassidy, Junior Wells, SRV, Pink Floyd, Joe Bonamassa, Mark Knoffler, Les Paul and Ray Charles as their influences, the band is known to play everything from the odd originals to pop-rock, soul and the blues. “Our style and sound has definitely undergone change. It’s not just about playing a song anymore. It’s about playing a particular melody that we all feel flowing through our veins, you know?” says Imaiyan, who is a familiar face behind the band’s keys and vocals. Ask them what inspired their name and they are quick to say, “We started playing together at a diner and the music was rather mellow. Put those together now and voila!”
The trio who are occasionally trained by their audio engineer and Hindustani vocalist Mriganka Boruah, their “daddy”, believe that the key to them sticking together is not just their love for music and the choices that they have to make, but also the most important and neglected factor – discipline. This of course, when supplemented with the love and support of your folks. “In fact, my father was the one to suggest I enroll in a sound engineering course,” says the band’s guitarist and vocalist Vanshaj, who believes that his love for tunes may have passed on from his grandmother who played the sitar. “My brother was always a music enthusiast and that was my earliest influence,” Swikrity tells us. Although a vocalist, she says, “I’ve been a keen listener. I didn’t even know I could sing until about two years ago. Although my parents are supporting, I think they’d rather it stayed as an intense passion as it is now.” For Imaiyan, music has always been a part of his family – near and extended. “My parents were always supportive no matter what, as long as they know I can pay the bills and do good doing that in the future,” he says.
Even as they sometimes take a rebellious approach through their music towards the country’s governance, they find time to unwind at their ‘Mellowden’, the band’s pad. “ We also take off on road trips and love eating and cooking food,” say the youngsters, who some day hope and dream to play at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
