Hornbill Rock Contest Winners Gingerfeet To Record Debut

Experimental funk band Gingerfeet

Winning Nagaland’s Hornbill National Rock Contest comes as a big boost to most Indian bands. The prizes given out to the top three bands [Rs 5 lakhs, Rs 3.5 lakhs and Rs 2 lakhs for first, second and third placed bands, respectively] is more than enough for new bands to get started. The winners of 2011, Indigo Children from Delhi, are currently working on their album, while 2006 winners Joint Family put out their full-length album Hotbox a year after winning.

 Similar plans are in place for this year’s winners, experimental funk rock band Gingerfeet from Kolkata. They beat out 23 other bands, including the likes of Mumbai alt punks BLEK, Chennai indie rockers The Shakey Rays, Bengaluru tech-metallers Escher’s Knot and Shillong pop punk band Street Stories. Nagaland’s local entrants to the competition Clueless Attention and metallers Black Rose gained second and third prize respectively.

Drummer Abhinandan Mukherjee says, “It’s really happened in a grand way for us. Before even going to Hornbill, we had a plan set for 2013, and now winning the competition is a boost.” Gingerfeet, which comprises members from Gangtok’s hard rock band Still Waters [bassist Lokesh Mangar and vocalist Abhishek Gurung] and metallers DamagEra [lead guitarist Vedant Razz] along with Kolkata melodic rock band Cynical Recess [drummer Mukherjee and guitarist Dibya Raj Mukhia], are in the process of finalizing plans to release a five-track EP in February.

The band’s members had originally met up in Gangtok in July this year and decided to jam. By the time they decided to play at Hornbill National Rock Contest this year, Gingerfeet had already written 12 originals, including songs such as “Fake You,” “No Division,” “Am I Dreaming Or What?” and “God Forbid” which they believe won the annual contest for them. Mukherjee says the band members are shifting to Kolkata permanently to record the EP in his studio Rock Out Loud, which is also being upgraded with the prize money. The band’s next gig is with Delhi rock vets Parikrama in Darjeeling on December 29th. Additional gig details are yet to be announced.