Mumbai Pop Rockers The Colour Compound Release Debut Album

The Colour Compound: Aditya Ashok, Rohan Mazumdar, Adil Kurwa and Bradley Tellis (from left).

While Mumbai pop rock band The Colour Compound have spent a year tweaking their sound and mixes with studio engineers such as Anupam Roy [from electro rock band The Sundog Project], Kuber Sharma [from instrumental metal band Pangea] and Tanmay Bhattacherjee [from pop band Baycity Lights], they’ve hit a last-minute hurdle ahead of their launch gig at Blue Frog, Mumbai tonight. Vocalist-guitarist Rohan Mazumdar says their bassist Adil Kurwa is still recovering from a fever. Says Mazumdar, who also performs with Baycity Lights, “Some viral scene.”

From Where We Stand releases three years after the band’s debut EP,  Sincerely Yours [2011] and a little over four since the band was formed, but members agree that they found common ground despite being associated with various acts. While Mazumdar is part of Baycity Lights, guitarist-vocalist Bradley Tellis was previously with indie/alt rock band Thrice 9, drummer Aditya Ashok moonlights as drum’n’bass producer Ox7gen and performs with electro pop band Shaa’ir + Func, bassist Kurwa plays for alt rock artist Siddharth Basrur and indie rock band The Koniac Net. Says Mazumdar about the Colour Compound’s sound, “With Sincerely Yours we were just messing around. We had a ballad, we had a song that was fully alt-rock. We were just like, ”˜hey, we want one of those too’. But now we’ve zeroed in on a sound. As much as we hate to, we have to categorize ourselves. People ask, journalists ask.” Although Mazumdar says the band is banking on the music to sell itself, the vocalist adds that it felt “surreal” to hear their songs on the radio. “It doesn’t seep in for a while. We’ve been listening to it [the songs] for so long that at first we think, ”˜it’s playing’. Then we realize that a Goo Goo Dolls song is playing after ours.”

In the rush to set up for tonight’s gig, rehearsing for the show, adapting to an altered setlist from their Pune performance, there simply hasn’t been time for nerves. “It’s a matter of getting shit done, we didn’t really think about the response we expect,” says Mazumdar. The Colour Compound will perform From Where We Stand in its entirety at tonight’s gig, including their singles, “Turn Back Time” and “By Your Side.”

The Colour Compound perform at Blue Frog, Mumbai on May 15^th at 10pm. Their set will be preceded by Shayaan Oshidar and Tejas. Entry: Free.

Listen to “Turn Back Time” here