New Wave Asia 2017 Kicks Off This Week

Mumbai record label ennui.BOMB’s traveling music festival New Wave Asia returns this week, hosting new and noteworthy acts from India, Asia and even one from the U.K.

After previously hosting the festival in Goa, Bengaluru and New Delhi, it finally makes its way to its hometown Mumbai on October 28th and 29th. The two-day event is set to be held at city-based indoor club venues Summer House Café on October 28th and Antisocial and Raasta on October 29th. “This year is a complete D.I.Y. effort with all [the] artists and venues and our partners getting involved purely for this vibe. And that is beautiful,” says festival organizer and founder of ennui.BOMB, Rishu Singh.

Singh”“who was unable to lock international artists for last year’s edition due to lack of funds”“has added seven international artists to the bill. He says “Seven international bands will live and interact with so many Indian bands and I hope that leads to better networking and connections between them and over the years we see a lot more artist exchanges happening across the continent. That will be a dream accomplished.”

This year’s lineup includes London’s electronica songwriting duo Ooberfuse (the sole non-Asian act), South Korea’s electronic pop-rock outfit WHOwho’s frontman Jun’s solo project JVNR, Japanese electronic street punk artist Hibari and Hong Kong-based artist Dr.Eggs will bring to the table energetic rock that he terms as “trunk muzik.” Also on the bill is Thailand pop-rock group The Note and indie alt rock band The Baby Boomrs and reggae/rap metal outfit Flying Kik, both from Bhutan.  

Bhutan indie rockers The Baby Boomrs. Photo: Courtesy of New Wave Asia

The Indian artists slated to perform are Mumbai electro/hip-hop group ViceVersa, city-based rapper Enkore, punk outfit The Riot Peddlers, electronic collective Jwala, Bengaluru rock duo Diarchy, beatboxer B-Cube, punk rockers Tripwire, singer-songwriter Raghav Meattle and more.

Day one at Summer House Café will feature 10 artists with entry charge of ₹500. Day two will witness 10 performances at Antisocial with entry charge of ₹300 between 3 pm to 8 pm and ₹500 from 8 pm onwards, while Raasta will host the rest of the artists with free entry.

On how the festival has grown over the last four years, Singh says, “The idea when we started New Wave was a simple one: to connect awesome younger indie acts from Asia to similar sounding bands and audiences across India. Over the last three editions, we have seen this happen. We are not a big huge tremendous music festival with big-ass artists. And we want this to remain for the right people, at the cheapest possible price point.”

Ahead of the festival, New Wave Asia hosts two pre-festival gigs on October 26th at Hard Rock Café in Pune (featuring The Baby Boomrs, Flying Kik and Tripwire) and on October 27th at The Humming Tree in Bengaluru, with Ooberfuse, JVNR and Hibari taking the stage.

Click here for more details about New Wave Asia 2017.