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The Show Must Go On

As Parikrama turns eighteen, the band explores a heavier sound and lays emphasis on originals

Aug 25, 2009

A volley of barrelling notes on the guitars chased by deafening drum phrases assault the quietude of Subir Malik’s home at Delhi’s Sainik Farms on an exceptionally hot Wednesday afternoon in July. Vocalist Nitin Malik ambles about in his loose pair of tracks and T-shirt; with a bristling stubble and weary eyes, he already looks burnt out for the day. As the jam intensifies, he casually perches himself on the arm of the couch occupied by guitarist Sonam Sherpa. A new song is being conceived as Sherpa, Nitin, bassist Chintan Kalra, drummer Srijan Mahajan and guitarist Saurabh Chaudhary halt for suggestions to launch into a roughly edited version of the same. This nascent composition sounds like classic rock subsuming the virtues of new age metal. This is Parikrama astride a vintage Harley running on some very heavy fuel. The band’s strapping keyboardist/manager Subir – with his long mane and distinguishing horseshoe moustache – has his doe-eyed two-year-old in his firm grip as he walks into the room – she is unaffected by the sonic riot. She looks on calmly as the guys vehemently drop their props and settle down for a conversation.

As the band turned eighteen this June, the celebrations are in full swing. From a private bash at Turquoise Cottage to the more public affair with the Parikrama and Friends concert at Hard Rock Café planned for the last week of July. This will feature performances by the band and artists like Indian Ocean, Midival Punditz, Rabbi Shergill, Shibani Kashyap, Euphoria and Advaita. A similar concert is to be organised for Mumbai audiences soon.

Founded in 1991 by Subir (39), Nitin (36), Kalra (35) and Sherpa (38), Parikrama started as a four-month stint with barely any aspirations on the line. Stoked by the flattering press attention and spew of shows that came its way, this rock machine was in it for the long haul. Sherpa, who is originally from Kalimpong, remembers not going back home for long stretches as the band was booked for the better part of their holidays in college. “In all those years we were packed with shows and I think that kept us going. Also, with Subir’s guidance, we thought there is life in this music,” says Sherpa, who also runs the Parikrama School of Music in Delhi. Subir captains this ship, he takes care of the economics and as every good manager keeps the band well-advised and disciplined. Though with Subir, it’s a case of Jekyll and Hyde: He is also the much heralded screwball of this outfit. Anecdotal evidence: When denied booze at an odd hour at some hotel the band was putting up at, Subir protested by letting his hair loose, running down the corridors in a ghaghra choli. Besides, he invited Chaudhary into the band by taking a nip at his nose with his teeth. His artist management skills have come to good use now ”“ he successfully manages over 26 other artists today. Subir laughs, “Parikrama was my scapegoat.”

Through these eighteen years, the lineup has pretty much stuck together save for guitarist Vipin Mishra who left the band in 2000 and drummer Dilip Ramachandran who exited in 2008. As of today, Parikrama nestles the composure of veterans in the original foursome and the vigour of young blood in Chaudhary (28) and Mahajan (21).

Though the band ranks fairly high on popularity and has played most every college festival and rock venue there is (even the obscurest of towns from Karnal to Durgapur) the band has had to face the noise from some railing critics off and on. A huge fuss was made of Parikrama being a cover band, and the early 2000s gave rise to both informed and uninformed accusations with regards to the band’s lack of originals in so many years. “We have never cared a fuck for the critics, and we have never cared for people who crib,” Subir retorts. Giving away their singles for free digital download, the band has around twelve originals uploaded on its site. Though the band has some news to quash the firestarters: They have around forty originals stashed away. While these are not all available on their site, many make frequent appearances on their live set lists. “It’s an aberration, it’s unreal, it’s ironical that a band which has survived so long won’t have originals. It’s not like we don’t have originals. It’s just that they haven’t been recorded and put into any structured format,” says Kalra. Though they do admit that they fell slack on originals for a few years, owing to extensive touring and more importantly a whimsical perfectionists’ approach to songwriting. “This fuss about originals has become more of a status symbol for bands in India,” Sherpa adds. Mahajan who is very much a part of the current breed of indie rock, recalls his friends’ snide comments at his joining the band ”“ “So now you’re going to play ”˜Smoke on the Water’.” “Those very people turned up for some pub gig and were blown away by one of our songs ”˜Screaming Down’ which is 200 decibels of pure noise, one of our heaviest,” Mahajan rests his case. Since their first original ”˜Xerox’ in 1991, the band has witnessed the transition from the heavy demand for covers to an overbearing emphasis on originals, and somewhere seems to have acquired the nature of a cusp between the two. “We are a band that thinks about what we are doing. We are not looking to be tagged as an original band or a cover band. Either way I am not kicked nor do I feel degraded”¦ we just need to be smart about things,” says Subir.

The year 2007 saw the band open for Iron Maiden in Bangalore, this being just a prelude to playing the major league at UK’s legendary Download Festival in June, the same year. An immensely impressed Bruce Dickinson championed for Parikrama which earned them an opening slot on the mainstage, the night Iron Maiden was to play. Parikrama snuck into a line-up featuring the likes of Mastodon and Evanescence, sharing its green room with Napalm Death. They also opened for bands like Saxon during their UK tour which included pub gigs at the famous Rio in Leeds and Underworld at Camden. Besides being a landmark in the band’s career, this experience lead to broadening its sonic horizons, exploring the genre of metal.

Composing their first metal-esque classic rock number ”˜In the Middle,’ tailor-made for the Iron Maiden concert, the band hit a new note, a darker, grittier and heavier one. “After Download, bits of the change we made have stayed back with us. We liked the heaviness that it brought in as it drove in a lot more energy. We loved that solid bottom thump that came in with the slight metal touch and we are going to keep that rawness,” says Kalra of the band’s evolution on sound today. There was always a dormant metal influence within the band in its love of AC/DC and Judas Priest, though it had never been sufficiently channelled in its music. This change is apparent in the new songs the band has been writing such as ”˜L’Chaim,’ ”˜One’ and ”˜Life is Certain.’

These new tracks are being played live but haven’t found their way on the site as digital downloads as they are being held back for Parikrama’s maiden album which the band prefers to call “a collection of their originals.” Though as the band is in no rush, there is no telling as to when this would release. While writing, lyricist Nitin draws inspiration on the fly, from a newspaper article on kidnappings in Kashmir that touched him (”˜But it Rained), his love of The Lord of the Rings (”˜Tears of the Wizard) to relationship traumas (”˜Vapourise’.) “I don’t sit down and write write. Sometimes I just feel like penning something down. For instance a song we wrote about the Bombay blasts – the wound was so fresh that it probably took half an hour to write the lyrics to that. There is no fixed approach to this for me. Saying there is would just sound artistically hypocritical,” says Nitin.

Today the band is focussing on writing more songs, and playing more pub gigs in Delhi which it had been ignoring due to tight tour schedules and its focus on college festivals. Listening to them jam to a new groove, it seems they are on to new beginnings. Parikrama has sincerely been there and done that, but even after eighteen years this band is far from done.

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