Parvaaz Ready Debut Album

Parvaaz. Photo: Sajid Nissar

Apart from their upbeat “Ab Ki Subah,” Bengaluru psychedelic rock band Parvaaz, by their own admission, don’t really play happy songs. Says drummer Sachin Banandur, “We’re not really playing happy music, even though we are happy people.” For their dark, grand songs constructed in the style of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, Parvaaz have a new wishlist for any open air shows they are offered next. Says Banandur, “I wish we could play when the sun goes down. A lot of our songs are dark, so that way we’re glad we play enough club gigs.”

Comparisons with international rock bands aside, Banandur says their new album is going to make it tough for listeners to pigeonhole them. “It took us two years to get rid of the Sufi rock tag. We still get calls to perform at corporate shows as a Sufi rock band, but listeners are going to have a hard time putting our new album into one or two genres,” says Banandur.  Whether it’s the post-rock-esque 17-minute epic tentatively titled “The Long Song” or live staple set closer “Ab Ki Subah,” that sounds like the happiest song the band has written, there’s much more experimentation on the new, yet-to-be-titled eight-track album.

Bengaluru-based American saxophone player Seth Molloy guests on two songs ”“ “Ziyankar” and another untitled song with guitarist Ramanan Chandramouli from alt/psychedelic rock band The Bicycle Days. Guitarist-vocalist Michael Anthony Dias, from jazz/funk rock band Mad Orange Fireworks also lays down riffs on a as yet untitled song. Says guitarist Kashif Iqbal, who formed Parvaaz in 2010 with vocalist-guitarist Khalid Ahamed, “We had this gig called Parvaaz and Friends [in September 2013] and just wanted to experiment with our existing material. ”˜Ziyankar’ was written two years ago, and at some point we got bored with it. Adding Seth’s saxophone parts really made it different.”

Also among collaborators is Bengaluru producer and keyboardist Jason Zachariah, who is recording, mixing and mastering the album at his studio, Nathaniel Production House. Zachariah also got liner credits on Parvaaz’s debut EP, Behosh. Says Iqbal, “He [Jason] is a well-trained musician and most of us in the band are self-taught so he can always tell us when we sound off [on songs].” The band says they are going in for a bigger sound this time, although Iqbal notes the album is “half acoustic and half electric.” They’re happy they could test their bigger sound on bigger stages such as the Bacardi NH7 Weekender festival last year.

Parvaaz plan to recover album expenses by crowdfunding to give away the album. Considering their strong fanbase in Bengaluru ”“ from followers who bake cakes and write poems dedicated to the band on the occasion of their third anniversary ”“ this is a step taken with confidence, according to Banandur. Guitarist Iqbal adds, “That kind of support [of a fanbase] was only recent, maybe since one year. It’s only now that we’ve got people religiously coming to ”¨our gigs.”

This article appeared in the January 2014 issue of ROLLING STONE India.