Mumbai Psych Rock Band Rosemary’s Catalog Now Up for Streaming

Amongst the most well-traveled and keenly followed bands from a decade ago, Mumbai psychedelic band Rosemary called time on performing and writing in 2011, shortly after they released their debut EP A Legacy of Ruined Days. About nine years later, the trio – frontman Achint Thakkar, bassist Suraj Manik and drummer Aditya Ashok – have made their music available for streaming, plus a video for one of their best known songs, “Golden Trees.”

Formed in late 2007, Rosemary went on to perform and win over audiences everywhere from the Hornbill Rock Contest in Nagaland to Campus Rock Idols, bigger events such as the Big Mushroom Cloud Festival in Bengaluru and more. Following a win at long-running band competition Livewire at I.I.T. Bombay’s cultural festival Mood Indigo, Rosemary even got an opening slot for U.K. prog band Porcupine Tree’s India debut in 2009. Ashok, who went on to start his drum and bass project OX7GEN, says, “Rosemary gave us our first taste of travelling and playing shows around the country and this album will always be the soundtrack to those glorious psychedelic teenage years.” Thakkar, who is now a composer-producer with a solo project, says, “Our point with this is just to put the music out there for the people who message us and ask us for it. There have been times we’ve even ‘WeTransferred’ the EP to people. Talk about being underground. So we just thought it needs to be up.”

Watch the video for “Golden Trees.”

A heady concoction of psychedelic and prog that drew from The Beatles, Nirvana and Tool, A Legacy of Ruined Days showcased a refreshing yet urgent sound that also flowed into chill spaces. Manik, a full-time architect who also handled bass duties for Thakkar’s solo project, says that the record was a result “of the most organic jams.” He adds, “There was definitely some material that never made it out, but in hindsight there were tons of unrecorded jams that should have at least made it to our own hard drives.” There are still a few old demos on each of the members’ personal storage, but for now, Thakkar gathered old video footage from their shows to put together the music video for “Golden Trees.”

There’s clips from the time they competed at Mood Indigo (where metaller The Demonstealer aka Sahil Makhija was judge), and Thakkar recalls fondly that drummer Jonathan Fernandes – who passed away in 2011 – was behind the kit that day. “The others are from the Bandra Amphitheatre, Celebrate Bandra, B69, Mushroom Cloud Fest in Bangalore, some Pune gigs and even Independence Rock ‘09 elims at Jazz By The Bay! Memorable times,” the frontman adds.

When asked if this digital release could possibly signal a reunion for the band, all three members express a keen interest. While Thakkar feels a one-off reunion gig would be “cool,” Ashok adds, “I’ve always wanted to do at least one show with a full production.” Manik says in addition to a band reunion, he’d like to gather round “people who loved our music.” The bassist adds, “It’s been a long time since we were in the Rosemary zone of music, but I am sure we can snap back into that vibe almost instantly, only this time as more evolved musicians. As long as Achint and I can be as punctual as Aditya, this can actually happen.”

Stream ‘A Legacy of Ruined Days’ on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.