25 Iconic Indian Rock Acts

It seems incredible when you think about how the Indian independent music landscape these days is filled with all sorts of eclectic sounds, starting from hip-hop to electronic to metal. But this wasn’t the case for decades, until the turn of this century. Earlier, there was pretty much just one genre that ruled the roost – rock (though there was a fairly vibrant jazz scene in the country as well). Starting from the beat generation of the 1960s all the way to bands like Pentagram and Zero in the 1990s, that was the kind of music you’d get to hear wherever you went, whether it was at festivals like Great Indian Rock or venues like Kolkata’s Someplace Else. It was a steady stream of rock that fueled India’s indie circuit like a river that feeds the sea.

It can be argued that the genre has taken a bit of a backseat these days, what with all sorts of new-fangled sounds emerging in the digital age. But it would be a mistake to assume that all rockers are collectively hanging their guitars up, because you only have to look at the reemergence of festivals like Independence Rock and the sort of fan following that current bands like The Local Train and The F16s have to understand the genre’s enduring appeal. Sure, there are new hip-hop and electronic acts popping up in the country like mushrooms in springtime. Yet, veteran rock acts like Indus Creed are still going strong and venues keep getting packed for rock gigs, as was the case at Mumbai’s AntiSocial when Tough on Tobacco recently played an album launch gig there.

So, here at Rolling Stone India, we have listed – in no ranking order – 25 iconic acts from across the years that embody a genre that has stood the test of time, refusing to die down thanks mainly to the sheer no-nonsense, visceral quality of its music.

High

Compared to what we have today, the Indian indie music landscape in the 1970s was as unrecognizable as an audio cassette would be to someone born after 2000. Bands were few and far between, and most were playing covers of rock classics by the likes of The Doors and the Beatles. But there was one act that pioneered the practice of original songwriting in India. It was called High, and was led by the legendary Dilip Balakrishnan, a prodigious talent whose life was snuffed out too early in 1990. The other High members including Nondon Bagchi and Lew Hilt disbanded after his death. But this wasn’t before they left a long-lasting legacy with thematic rock operas like The Tolkien Suite and White Knight’s Tale.

The Human Bondage

The Human Bondage is of the same vintage as High, having first been formed in Bombay in 1970. Brothers Ramesh and Suresh Shotham later shifted base to New Delhi, recruiting a then-teenaged songstress named Radha Thomas. The act pioneered a sound described as ‘raga rock,’ composing original tracks including “Raga Jam.” They disbanded in 1976 and never recorded any of their music, meaning that the glory of the band is largely confined to rare clippings of live concerts and to the memories of the people who were fortunate enough to catch them in person.

Fossils

The sort of fervor that Bangla-rock stalwarts Fossils commands in their fans has to be seen to be believed. We had once witnessed a live concert of theirs at a Kolkata venue, where the audience went so wild that the riot police should have been put in place. Frontman Rupam is a bona-fide superstar in Bengal, and his high-octane performances can almost rival Linkin Park’s terrifying gig at Woodstock 99. Having been formed in 1998, they are still going strong to this day, with the levels of wildness remaining exactly the same.

Rock Machine/Indus Creed

It can be argued that in a way, this is the band that ushered in the modern era of independent Indian rock music. They took us from the days of Doordarshan in the 1980s, when they were called Rock Machine, to the MTV era of the next decade, when they were renamed as Indus Creed. Rock‘n’Roll Renegade, their first album launched in 1988, is widely hailed as the country’s first all-original rock record, while their video for “Pretty Child” in 1993 gave us one of the first glimpses of what it meant for an Indian band to narrate a story through visuals. Indus Creed re-banded in 2010 and are still going strong with a line-up that has old faces like vocalist Uday Benegal and new ones including Jai Row Kavi, a monster drummer. The members are the perfect amalgamation of veteran rock stalwarts sharing the stage with next-gen talent.

Parikrama

There was a collective outpouring of grief when guitarist Sonam Sherpa passed away just before the pandemic hit in 2020. It was mainly because the band he’d represented – Parikrama – is ingrained in the nation’s consciousness as an act that, like Indus Creed, burst onto our screens in the MTV era with hard-hitting videos for tracks like “But It Rained,” thus shaping our imagination (the images of the band members playing their instruments in a brown, mountainous region persist in people’s memories to this day). And like Indus Creed, Parikrama, too, left hardly any corner of the country out when it came to blowing the roof off at campus rock events.

Pentagram

Most people associate Vishal Dadlani nowadays as one half of the Bollywood-composer duo, Vishal-Shekhar, who’s delivered hits in films like Chennai Express and Jhankaar Beats. But fans of non-film music would also recognize him as the vocalist of electro-rock act Pentagram, who have had a penchant for tearing up stages since the 1990s (though these days, their live gigs are few and far between). With virtuoso guitarist Randolph Correia embellishing the band’s sound with electronic elements, they can be considered as an act that lies at the cusp of the rock era entering the digital age. Let’s just put it this way – bands like High and The Human Bondage would have never been able to conceive of making music the way that Pentagram did.

Thermal and a Quarter

Bangaloreans hold Thermal and a Quarter as close to their hearts as a student with an A+ grade would proudly hold his report card close to his chest. That’s because this veteran act has done a stellar job of keeping the city’s rich indie legacy alive with albums including Plan B and A World Gone Mad. They started off in 2000 and are still going strong, with guitarist Bruce Lee Mani regarded as a singer and guitarist to be reckoned with in the indie circuit.

The Supersonics

Four lads from Kolkata – Ananda Sen, Avinash Chordia, Rohan Ganguli and Nitin Mani – embodied such an unfiltered western aesthetic as The Supersonics that their fame spread across the country. You had to be there at Mumbai’s BlueFrog for the launch gig of their second album, Heads Up, in 2014 to witness the genuine outpouring of affection that the audience had for the group. Sadly, they disbanded soon after. But they have left behind a legacy of music that includes such gems as “In Memory Of” and “Even When The Sun Don’t Shine.” If India has ever had an answer to international acts like The Strokes, then The Supersonics is it.

Orange Street

New Delhi rock band Orange Street formed circa 1994 and comprised vocalist, guitarist and composer Anirban Chakraborty (Bann) and Saibal Basu on guitars. With Bann remaining as the permanent member, Orange Street underwent several lineup and stylistic changes over time, tapping into everything from rap to electronica and fusion. With past members including guitarists Gautam Chima and Donn Bhat and drummer Ashwin Andrew, Orange Street released several albums, including Dharma and of course, Candywalk, whose melancholic yet sullen title track remains one of their best-known songs ever since it came out in 2002.

Superfuzz

New Delhi rock trio Superfuzz formed in 2005, adapting the name from the iconic grunge album Superfuzz Bigmuff by Mudhoney. Guitarist-vocalist Sanchal Malhar, bassist Nikhil Rufus Raj and drummer Aditya Paharia were among the tightest units playing punk rock-infused, Nirvana-worshipping music. It led them to conquer big competitions and stages such as Channel [V] Launchpad, Campus Rock Idols and Great Indian Rock, and be a part of British-Indian collaborative recording project Soundpad. Even as Malhar went on to launch a psych-rock alter-ego as Indigo Children, Superfuzz are still best known for anthemic songs like “School” and “What I Really Think” and their lightning paced “Four Times and Once After.”

Colourblind

Formed in the Nineties, Mumbai-based duo Colourblind’s Ram Sampath and Siddharth Achrekar created one of the most versatile Indian rock albums of all time when they released their self-titled full-length record in 1997. Sampath went on to become a mainstay in Indian commercial music, scoring for ads, films and even working on Coke Studio. Colourblind’s debut album, however, remains ever-refreshing in its diverse blend of rock, electronic and more, especially with songs like “Fragile.”

Avial

Malayalam rock would arguably haven not existed if it weren’t for Avial, who came together in 2003. Rex Vijayan had come in from Motherjane and the late great John P. Varkey was also involved. Rooted in the powerful vocals of Anandraj Paul Benjamin, turntablism by Tony John (who took on lead vocals after Benjamin moved to the U.S.), drummer Mithun Puthanveetil’s dexterous work and bassist Naresh Kamath (Bombay Black, Kailasa), Avial were a powerful unit distilling fusion rock. Songs like “Nada Nada,” “Chekele” and “Aadu Pambe” drew from socially conscious situations and gave them the urgency of rock, all released as part of their 2008 self-titled album.

Skrat

Chennai trio Skrat formed in 2006 and have had four albums since then. While the classic lineup comprised guitarist-vocalist Sriram T.T., drummer Tapass Naresh and bassist Satishkumar Narayan, they later brought in the powerhouse bass playing of Jhanu Chanthar. Bring Out the Big Guns in 2013 mucked about in indie and garage-rock goodness, while The Queen in 2014 honed in on an arena-ready sound. Their most recent record, Bison in 2017, ramped up an angstier, fiery sound.

Indian Ocean

Formed in 1990, New Delhi’s Indian Ocean are the definition of path-breaking rock, not because they got to the fusion-informed rock sound first, but because they carried it off artfully. With the late vocalist and tabla player Asheem Chakravarty, bassist-vocalist Rahul Ram, drummer Amit Kilam and guitarist Susmit Sen (who left around 2013), Indian Ocean presented whirlwind tunes which drew from tradition as well as modernity in the country. Although they released their self-titled album in 1993 and followed it up with Desert Rain in 1997, their most famous song came with “Kandisa” and the album of the same name in 2000. Composing incendiary and emotional songs like “Bandeh” for filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s 2004 film Black Friday gave the band yet another push into Indian music legacy and the song remains a mainstay.

Skinny Alley

There are different dates that peg the birth of Kolkata rock act Skinny Alley. Some say it was when bassist Gyan Singh and vocalist Jayashree Singh came together with longtime friend Amyt Datta in 1996. Other sources note it was in 2001 that the band was formalized. All this, even as the Singhs were actively part of Kolkata music circles since the Seventies. With Skinny Alley, they introduced freewheeling rock that was occasionally experimental, as heard on songs like “Fence” from Escape the Roar in 2003 and “Only Human” taken from 2007 album Songs from the Moony Boom. Skinny Alley later morphed into a “late-night alter-ego” for more sonic experiments as PINKNOISE.

Usha Uthup

Although known more as a jazz, pop and film music singer, there’s an unmistakable rockstar status that vocalist Usha Uthup has cemented for herself. Starting out in the late Sixties, Uthup hit everything from clubs in Chennai to Kolkata, covered “Jambalaya,” sung full-throated, goosebumps-inducing jazz and soul and traversed 25 languages. Although often credited for creatively interpreting songs across countries and cultures, her love for rock wasn’t hidden. In 2007, she collaborated with New Delhi rock veterans Parikrama for “Rhythm and Blues,” a true testament to how Uthup has always held her own in a predominantly male world of Indian rock.

Zero 

“Four Dadar boys, three albums, two hemispheres and one shaking paunch” is what’s written in the bio section of Mumbai rockers Zero’s Instagram page. While their humor is on point, the band – comprising vocalist Rajeev Talwar, guitarist Warren Mendonsa, drummer Sidd Coutto and bassist Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar – does take one thing seriously, their music. The three albums they’ve released – 2000’s Albummed, 2002’s Hook and 2005’s Procrastination – have gone on to spawn some cult-favorite Indian rock music such as the blistering “PSP 12”” and the emotive “Spitleaf” amongst others. Although the group has been mostly inactive for the last decade or so (apart from one-off gigs every now then), the good news for fans is that they’ll be back performing together this November at the returning Independence Rock Festival.    

Junkyard Groove 

Although Chennai-based rockers Junkyard Groove have gone through a host of lineup changes since they formed in 2005, the voice of the band has always been the same, thanks to frontman/vocalist-guitarist Ameeth Thomas keeping the group alive. With albums and EPs such as 11:11, Nicer In A Minute, Accidental Hero and Head Above Water under their belt, they’ve managed to churn out a number of hits such as the sing-along “It’s OK,” the jumpy “Folk You” and the anthemic “Rock & Roll” amongst others.  

Soulmate 

Shillong blues outfit Soulmate first hit the music scene in 2003 when singer-guitarist Tipriti Kharbangar aka Tips and lead guitarist-vocalist Rudy Wallang joined forces to play the blues together. Joined by drummer Vincent Tariang and bassist Leon Wallang these days, the band have gone on to release four splendid albums – Shillong (2005), Moving On (2009), Ten Stories Up (2015) and Give Love (2020). As a live band, Soulmate are right up there with the best with their slick brand of blues, funk and soul music.  

Goddess Gagged 

Mumbai post-hardcore band Goddess Gagged formed in 2008 when vocalist Siddharth Basrur, guitarists Arman Menzies and Devesh Dayal, bassist Krishna Jhaveri and drummer Jeremy D’Souza decided to make music together. The band’s fresh sound juxtaposed with heavy melodic sections helped them grab music festival slots, awards and a legion of fans. Some of their hits include “Sink Or Swim” and “Vibes.”  

Tough On Tobacco 

Mumbai rock outfit Tough On Tobacco were a breath of fresh air when they first hit the scene and released albums such as The Happy Goat (2009) and Big Big Joke (2013). Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Sidd Coutto, the group also included musicians such as drummer Jai Row Kavi, bassist Johan Pais as well as guitarists Pozy Dhar and Gaurav Gupta. Their hilarious music video for their acoustic-rock feel-good number “Taxi Song” is a must-watch.  

Blackstratblues 

During his first stint in New Zealand, Mumbai guitarist Warren Mendonsa released two instrumental guitar-based albums entitled Nights in Shining Karma (2007) and The New Album (2009) under the moniker Blackstratblues. The new sound was fresh yet nostalgic and was a treat for any guitar-loving music enthusiast. Upon his return to India in 2011, Mendonsa took the project on the road and recruited drummer Jai Row Kavi, keyboardist Beven Fonseca and bassist Adi Mistry to form a formidable live act. With his talented rhythm section in place, the guitarist would go on to release three more albums: The Universe Has a Strange Sense of Humour (2015), The Last Analog Generation (2017) and When It’s Time (2019). Now back in Auckland on a permanent basis, Mendonsa released his sixth Blackstratblues album in 2021 called Hindsight Is 2020 and even dropped a live album called L​.​I​/​O​.​V​.​E. Vol. I earlier this year.  

Them Clones 

New Delhi alt-rockers Them Clones first came together in 2000 and included vocalist Prithwish Dev, guitarist Akshay Raheja, drummer Surojit Dev and late bassist Clarence Gonsalves. What started out as the Dev brothers’ bedroom project turned into an act that picked up multiple accolades and played plenty of big gigs. The group’s 2009 album Love.Hate.Heroes includes one of the best Indian indie songs ever written, the wistful “Zephyretta.”  

Peter Cat Recording Co.

When Delhi-based Peter Cat Recording Co. played the launch gig for their 2017 album Bismillah at a Mumbai venue in 2019, the performance was so mesmerizing that it put the audience in a trance of sorts. The band has a full sound that comprises all sorts of instruments including a striking horn section and a trippy harmonium, complemented with Suryakant Sawhney’s dreamy vocals. It’s no wonder, then, that the band has garnered a dedicated fan following over the years, who’d be loathe to miss a PCRC concert if the band plays in their city.

Swarathma

Bengaluru-based folk-rock act Swarathma exemplify how music doesn’t necessarily have to mean serious business. They are such a fun band to listen to that they are guaranteed to bring a spring in your step. Not just that, they are also a socially conscious act, having played fundraising gigs for a number of NGOs, proving that music isn’t just a tool for having fun, but also a vehicle for making the world a better place.