BLEK Announces New Drummer

It looks like a season for lineup changes. First, it was Spud In The Box drummer announcing that he was parting ways with his band. Next up, we hear that BLEK drummer Varoon Aiyer has decided to leave the band to focus on his career as a consultant at a business and IT consultancy company. It’s a shame since Aiyer will be terribly missed and all those raving reports about making a career in music seem to have taken a hard knock with this news. But frontman Rishi Bradoo and bassist Jared Creado, who founded the band in 2010, sounded optimistic when we met them recently.

Says Bradoo, “If you change the lineup, it’s actually a blessing in disguise, because you can sit and produce a whole lot of new things you’ve never done before.” Their new drummer, Linford D’Souza, who played a few songs with BLEK at their last gig at BOMB Thursdays on June 20th, has followed the band ever since they started out. Says D’Souza, “I’m influenced by a lot of other music [apart from dance], so it’ll be interesting.”  The band continues recording songs with producer Ayan De for their upcoming EP, which now has about seven songs, according to Creado. Bradoo too is scheduled to leave the country to study music at Alchemea College in London in September, but BLEK promises there will be a steady flow of new material out in the coming months.

BLEK goes on a four-city tour in August, three of which are with Delhi-based post punk band The Vinyl Records. The two bands play in Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi, after which BLEK supports Mumbai post grunge band Blakc and the IIM Band at the Ahmedabad edition of Harley Rock Riders Season IV.

BLEK August Tour

With The Vinyl Records

August 1st ”“ Hard Rock Café, Pune

August 3rd ”“ Bflat, Bengaluru

August 22nd ”“ Hard Rock Café, Mumbai

With Blakc, IIM Band at Harley Rock Riders Season IV

August 31st ”“ IIM, Ahmedabad. Download passes here.