Exclusive Premiere: Bengaluru Rockers Permission Slip’s Ode To Friendship on ‘Gazab Ki Yaari’

The fact that it’s taken rock band Permission Slip five years to record and release their first song “Gazab Ki Yaari” shows just how much first impressions matter to the Bengaluru rock band. Lead guitarist and vocalist Aakash N.S. explains, “I composed this song back in 2017. I wanted this track to be that one song that all college students can connect with.”

The song taps into what Aakash calls “every college student’s experience” about friends moving away but the bond remaining strong enough to draw them back together. The frontman called on Banshi Lal Vishnoi – part of his college Hindi Literature club – to write lyrics and filmmaker Arun K.R. (whose previous credits include working on Kochi fusion band Thaikkudam Bridge’s video for “Saalaikal”) to direct a music video.

Sonically, “Gazab Ki Yaari” taps into arena-rock level energy and inspirational choruses. Keyboardist Eugene Kurian Abraham and bassist Vishwesh Sivasubramanian mention that it took months to find the right video production team, work on the script until they were happy with it and shoot the footage across the span of weeks. “When we were confident that this song will sell and has the potential to be the next big thing, we felt that the best way to do justice to this song was to produce a music video,” Abraham says.

While they’ve just played a college gig at Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology in suburban Bengaluru, drummer Samuel Rao says it’s been tough to gradually scale up from a school band to a touring act. He says proudly that they’ve won every battle of the bands competition they’ve participated in, but are slowly getting the attention of college festivals and more. Rao is aware of the city’s tough “decline” of live music venues, but adds, “We’re still so grateful for every opportunity that we have had so far.” Up next, there’s another music video for a song in the works for early 2020 and an EP due in late 2020.

Watch the video for “Gazab Ki Yaari” below.