Listen: I Quit’s Punky Friendzone Song ‘Eye Candy’

Chandigarh-based pop/punk band I Quit. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

One listen to Chandigarh-based pop/punk band I Quit’s debut single “Eye Candy” and you can tell the band is a huge fan of American punk band Blink-182 and their Canadian counterparts Simple Plan and Sum 41. Interestingly, I Quit didn’t start out with punk roots; the founding members, vocalist/guitarist Nikhil Ghai and guitarist Sushil Sharma, tell us that their first music stint was a metal band called Clarion back in 2009 that played Metallica covers. “The Chandigarh scene was totally metal at that time,” recalls Ghai.

When Ghai and Sharma decided to start writing music together in 2011, they soon realized metal wasn’t really their thing as they found themselves naturally leaning towards an alt-rock/punk sound. Says Ghai, “There was no point writing metal originals when you can’t really feel it.” Apart from the challenge of figuring out their sound, the band also went through various lineup changes until Ghai and Sharma finally settled on bassist Ranbeer Sidhu and drummer Paarth Koser last year.

I Quit’s debut single “Eye Candy” opens with a catchy, almost classic punk-rock riff which then moves onto Ghai’s Mark Hoppus-esque vocals. The three-minute track is filled with slick time changes, a badass groove that hits you in the face as the song reaches the chorus and some heavy mid-song guitar parts which hold their own terrifically.  

The song, co-written by Ghai and Sharma, tackles the oppressive issue men around the world have been dealing with since time immemorial: the friend zone. Says Ghai, “It is about a girl you like throughout college who has friend-zoned you, but you aren’t able to get out of it.”

“Eye Candy” was recorded at Illusion Studios in New Delhi, run by noted guitarist/producer Keshav Dhar from prog metallers Skyharbor. The band self-produced the song while Dhar mixed and mastered it.

Click here to stream “Eye Candy” on Saavn. Buy the track on OKListen.