“This is no ordinary love.” A loud, distorting screech from the guitar ends the Sade cover and a few enthusiasts hoot. It’s ‘Indigo Children’ from Delhi, headlining this year’s Hard Rock Rising, Bangalore. They don’t claim to be advanced beings from another planet as their name suggests, but they do play with certain higher frequencies. Inspired by the Indian freedom struggle to name themselves after a song by the industrial band Puscifer, they hail from a time when cosmopolitan Indian groups are just starting to go beyond shelling out a set-list full of covers. Though they’re missing their lead guitarist tonight, the remaining three members manage to create enough space between them to comfortably engage time.
“Where will we be? The winter's comin' on…summer's almost gone.” You might put Indigo Children down as a 90’s psychedelic rock act with a good amount of alternative influences thrown in. The impact of Jimi Hendrix is almost always apparent in the way Sanchal Malhar yanks on the strings, but with modern additions to his sound like the fuzz-head and delay pedals that the original virtuoso never got to see. Meanwhile, bassist Nikhil Rufus Raj and drummer Sahil Mendiratta bring in influences such as Tool, Muse and Mars Volta. The vocal melody figures as the central theme in the songs, when they’re are not jamming past extensive solos.
The sound travels smoothly despite the resounding, high ceiling. Beholding the band on the awkwardly leveled stage above the bar, surrounded by Clapton’s steel-body guitar, Elton John and Prince’s elaborate stage suits, and John Densmore’s snare drum, the crowd has somehow fallen into an unresponsive quiet. A basic groove on the drum speeds up to match a running bass line. A post-Arctic Monkeys Black Sabbath cover turns things around. “You introduced me to my mind and left me wanting, you and your kind.“Either, the rocknroll is finally oozing out of the merchandize and through the amps, or these guys have been playing for long enough to have a seasoned grasp over what they invoke in the crowd –who’re now cheering between their mouthfuls. The track continues into some hip-hop, with a mash up of Dr. Dre, Nasty Nas and an own composition. By now the crowd’s excited. The hip-hop element working through the live instruments make them sound like Red Hot Chilli Peppers with a Delhi twang. “We’re doing it old school, we’re going Shiva style.’
“Thanks so much for putting up with this. You all look so good, by the way; and well dressed.” They launch into the last song for the evening, an alternative tribute to The Beatles’ spiritual side. It starts with ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and ends on ‘Within you, Without you,” causing wonder over how cultures continually influence each other back and forth. The kids in Delhi are affected by ‘the same shit everyday, rigged systems, traffic, etc.,” says Sahil. “So we get high and write songs, right?” “Everything that’s real has to do with your body and your own self,” Sanchal adds, as he rolls himself a tall cigarette. “and politics is an absolute waste of time.”
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