Kapow! Are Releasing A Song Every Month This Year

At the launch gig for rock band Kapow!’s new song “Experimenting with Hoomans” last month at The Piano Man Eldeco Centre in New Delhi, strange creatures got on stage to abduct vocalist Mayank Mittal mid-performance. “It was like a Sci-Fi play unfolding for our audience,” Kapow! says in a joint email interview.

That song was one out of 12 songs that the band will launch each month, teaming up with one of the capital’s only mainstay venues, The Piano Man to have a launch gig for each single every month. In February, they’ve already released the more Valentine’s Day-adjacent love song “My Favourite Notification.” On February 14th, expect more theatricality as Kapow! performs at The Piano Man Jazz Club in Safdarjung. “We are dressing it up as Cupid and will be taking over the coziest and the most intimate venue in town. We have a lot of themed activities, games and surprises planned. A big stunt that we will have to keep our mouths shut about,” the band says.

In terms of promo plans and a marketing strategy, Kapow! and The Piano Man have likely ventured into new territory in a sense. There are likely plenty of artists who perform monthly at music venues, but each gig will be specifically tailored to mark the launch of a new song. The band says songs have been in the works for over two years and this plan has been in motion for the last 12 months. “We spent months agonizing over the order of songs, the social media content, the artwork, and so much more. KAPOW! has been practically living on Notion, Trello and Calendar for the last few months, and we are eager to share the results,” the band adds.

Promising more “inter-dimensional shenanigans” along the way like they did at the launch gig for “Experimenting with Hoomans,” Kapow! are bringing in costumes, monologues, “soundscaping” and lighting engineers to create a new experience each time. The idea to release the album in a piecemeal fashion wasn’t due to current streaming algorithms’ preference for singles, according to the band. It was more to do with the sonic diversity of each song. “We’ve explored everything from Sci-Fi rock to Seventies Bollywood. A lot of the tracks releasing as singles this year will eventually be compiled into albums, like ‘Kaali Billi’ and ‘Bhedchaal,’ which are part of a Hindi hard-rock album called KAPOW! In the Jungle and ‘Hassi,’ and Mausam,’ which will be part of a three-song EP called Zindagi about a person’s journey through life,” the band says.

Seemingly run like a company, Kapow! claims to have an R&D department and a marketing department within the band. To that end, visuals and art are also dropping alongside the music, as well as quirky merch suited to each song’s theme. That includes Kapow! rolling papers, comics and condoms. “We are planning to disrupt our fans’ bank accounts,” the band says jointly. Specifically with “Experimenting with Hoomans,” Kapow! have a music video that’s “more graphic novel than an MTV clip” in the works.

The band is all praise for The Piano Man and its founder Arjun Sagar Gupta for the “support, freedom and resources” to put their song release plan into action in 2024. There isn’t an exclusivity clause that prevents them from playing more gigs. The band says they will be “traveling extensively” this year, around India and the world. They add, “Besides doing live shows, we will reach new audiences through the power of the Internet and all it has to offer. We are crafting newer and crazier plans for that, too.”

Hear “My Favourite Notification” below. Kapow! perform at The Piano Man Jazz Club, New Delhi on February 14th, 2024. Get tickets here.