65daysofstatic, Colour Haze to Play at Bengaluru’s Indie March Festival Next Month

UK post-rock/electronic band 65daysofstatic will perform at Indie March in Bengaluru. Photo: Danny Payne

The festival season just got another extension, with the first edition of the Indie March Festival bringing down bands such as Sheffield electronic/post-rock band 65daysofstatic, German stoner/psychedelic band Colour Haze and Scottish electronic duo Happy Meals for their India debut, alongside a total of 30 artists across five stages. A second wave of artists will be announced next week.

After three years of curating their event series Indie March in Bengaluru, providing a stage for everyone from Carnatic prog band Agam to singer Vasuda Sharma, events firm CounterCulture has decided scale up Indie March to a festival this year, taking place on March 19th and 20th. Says CounterCulture founder and programmer/producer Guru Somayaji, “Festival programming is fucking hard. It’s not just about putting all the acts you want, because that’s not necessarily what the crowd wants.”. Planning for Indie March as a festival began in earnest when their venue space in the IT district of Whitefield shut down and changed management in May last year.

Indian bands slated to perform include Malayalam rock band Avial, Kolkata dream pop duo Parekh & Singh, Delhi electronica artist Dualist Inquiry and electronic music duo Teddy Boy Kill. Mumbai instrumental rock/metallers Pangea, Bengaluru’s own sludge band Shepherd and Chennai rockers Skrat will also play at the festival. Adding more pull to the event are local favorites, prog/psychedelic rock band Parvaaz.

Indie March also includes a special set by Rajasthani folk performers The Manganiyar Seduction, led by show director Roysten Abel. Somayaji adds, “The aim was identifying a certain sound and feel and going with it.” The Manganiyar Seduction will perform on an entirely separate fifth stage with seating, with festival goers having the option to buy a ticket for just that stage or have access to the entire festival.

The inaugural edition takes place at the sprawling MoonGate, which Somayaji says has everything from a lake-side amphitheater for electronic music, while another electronica stage is an industrial shed. Add to that coconut grove-spotted stage for rock bands and Indie March looks like it does have it worked down right to the last details. Somayaji adds, “You clearly know what you’re going to hear. You will not have a jump in the sounds from stage to stage.”

Indie March 2016 Lineup

65daysofstatic

Colour Haze

Happy Meals

Onra

Wes Smith

Flako

Dualist Inquiry

Gaudi

Avial

Skrat

Pangea

Parekh & Singh

Audio Pervert

Ez Riser

Shepherd

Parvaaz

Agam

Aswekeepsearching

Oceantied

Toy Mob, Teddy Boy Kill

Fuzzy Logic

Diarchy

Sulk Station

All the Fat Children

Indie March 2016 takes place at MoonGate on March 19th and 20th. Early bird tickets: Rs 1, 199 (student season pass) Rs 1,899 (general season pass), available on bookmyshow.com. More details here.