Listen: New Delhi Prog Rock Band Udan Tashtri’s Psyched-Out New Single “Fatti Kameez”
What happens when prog metallers and experimental rock band members get together? They launch a flying saucer of course
Udan Tashtri – Siddharth Kaushik, Akshat Taneja, Anshuman Mishra, Abhinav Chaudhary and Abhishek Shankar. Photo: Cheryl Mukherji
When keyboardist Akshat Taneja joined Delhi psychedelic pop/rock band Faridkot in 2013, he realized just how much he enjoyed performing Hindi songs on stage. It was a marked change from playing with his other band ”“ prog metallers Guillotine, also from New Delhi. Says Taneja, “It [playing in Faridkot] definitely had a role to play in developing as an artist. It was an initiation.”
When Taneja left Faridkot late last year over differences, he dug out a few old songs leaning towards psychedelic prog rock including “Gattah” (Hindi for cardboard) and “Lost,” both in Hindi. According to Taneja, “Lost” is about “ a person who has a lot of choices in front of him and doesn’t know which one to pick.” He adds, “But in the end, he realizes that they all lead to the same place.” The keyboardist had written these songs back in 2013 with another metaller ”“ drummer Siddharth Kaushik from melo-death metal band Arcane Deception. Together they began building Udan Tashtri, a prog rock band named after the Hindi word for flying saucer, and played these songs to guitarist Anshuman Mishra from Bengaluru metal band Escher’s Knot. In 2014, Udan Tashtri was finally ready for take off with bassist Abhinav Chaudhary from experimental rock band The Circus and vocalist Abhishek Shankar from prog rock band Atmatattva. Both Shankar and Kaushik contribute lyrics for Udan Tashtri.
While you’d expect Hindi lyrics in a song titled “Fatti Kameez,” it is a track in English, which is also the band’s third single. Taneja adds about the new song, “It has two parts. The first part is about this person who is lost in thought and is thinking about his head inside his own head and the second part quotes [poet] Kabir’s lyrics about how you should evolve collectively and that your energy doesn’t really belong to only you.” Now there are plans for a six-track album in the works, slated to release in February. Says Taneja, “We still have to write the lyrics and record vocals for the remaining tracks, but everything else is done.” While they’ve been concentrating on recording material, Taneja says that Udan Tashtri has tentative bookings to perform in February.
Listen to “Fatti Kameez”
