Soulmate: Green Hill Blues

Rudy Wallang

Wallang insists he will stick with it, with Tips, through whatever’scoming his way, fame and even rumbling from insistence that as of now, only the two of them have enough “blues and edge” to be permanent members of Soulmate. It makes for some iffy blood among former bandmates and old friends, but so far, it hasn’t cut into Soulmate’s ambition, its music and growing cult appeal. 

The college student next to me at Haze, squeezing space next to the rock-along American CEO of an Indian airline who is celebrating the company’s first anniversary with a blues blowout, is like a wraith. Cigarette and cigar smoke has turned the place blue; the air-conditioning had a coronary by the time the first set was done. But I can still make out his fiercely grinning teeth and his Tee, with lettering in emphatic white on green: WE ARE YOUNG. WE’RE NOT BAD BOYS. WE’RE KILLER BOYS. “Fuck,” the neo-convert tells me. “These guys don’t play ”˜Roadhouse Blues’. But these guys are, like, seriously good.”

Why did you guys take to the blues? You were doing all sorts of other music before.

Wallang: But most of the music we did was actually blues. Even with Great Society, it was blues-rock. There was a blues scene there. Then withMojo, it was reggae and blues. Okay, blues for mereally came about after forming Soulmate. Aftermeeting Tips.

How long back was that?

Wallang: Almost seven years. Quite some time now, man

Tips: Seven? No, na?

Wallang: Why? October 2001. Okay, six.

Did the idea of Soulmate take off earlier or only after you guys met?

Tips: No, no, no.

Wallang:  After Mojo split up.

Some would say launching a blues band in India is brave, others would say it’s foolish.

Wallang: We’ve had those reactions from people. The thing is, we, like, never”¦ as far as I’m concerned, the blues thing was after Tips came into the scene, much later, after Mojo. I thought I’d take a break for a couple of months; find my direction ”“ my musical direction. In those months, I kind of un-learnt everything that I’d learnt. I don’t know what it was. I just kept going deep into the blues. I was listening to guys like Lightning Hopkins, Robert Johnson. Acoustic blues. I’d never play it, just soak it in. I was learning everything again.

Then one day Sam [Shullai] comes and says, “Let’s form another band.” This was just after Great Society, in ’93. I needed some bread that time, so I said, ”˜Okay, let’s go and do some blues.’

Soon after that, Mojo was formed. Bob [Lyngdoh] and me were the songwriters in the band. The blues came in with Mojo. We did an album, Blues for Brotherhood. Towards the end of Mojo, Tips came to join us as back-up singer. Prior to that she had come to the studio to do some recording ”“gospel. I’d never heard her before. I said, ”˜Wow!What a voice’, and all that. Then, suddenly, Mojo split after nine years. People were losing interest in the band. Sam and Ferdy [Dkhar]; Bob had become a politician; Amit[Barooah] had left.

Tips: Sam and Ferdy were playing sessions with another band; they were less interested in Mojo.

Wallang: Yeah, so Mojo split up.  Meanwhile, we started getting together. Tips and I, you know, getting involved. We did a couple of gigs. I programmed drums and bass in my Rolland. She would sing. I played the guitar. It worked out. That’s when we decided to get a couple of sessions guys. Not really permanent. There are too many hassles; you have to feed too many egos. Blues was a natural progression. That time I had the blues. My personal life, everything, it was, totally deep in theblues. 2000-1. My life was way down. It was blue.

What about you, Tips? Wallang had the blues. You come from a gospel background, spreading ”˜joy’. You too had the blues?

Tips: I had the blues in my own way. Like, personal stuff.

What got you about the blues?

Tips: For me, blues is like releasing all the shit that’s inside. There are a lot of ups and downs in my life. But when I go up on stage, it’s like, throwing it out, letting it go.

I want to get the hang of where the lyrics are comingfrom. Blues can get you just with the music, no words. As for the words, it can be ”“ what? ”“ anything from “I had a bad cup of tea” to “I’ve had a bad day” or “I met somebody I like but I can’t get to her”.

Wallang: (Laughs.) You’ve said it all, man. After Tips and I met, a certain kind of bonding happened.

How old are you guys?

Wallang: I’m going to be 45.

Tips: I’m 25.

Wallang: We found something common. That tied us together. I would feel blue and she would understand. She would feel blue and I would write songs.

Tips, you’re his muse?

Wallang: I guess so. I write songs that affect me. There’s a song called “The Price”, from the first album. It’s about us. It was written in ’02. Shillong’s a small place. A very closed kind-of society. People are interested in what other people are doing whether it’s their business or not. I guess many other places are the same. Us getting together, I’m the older guy, we had families, I had kids. It became the talk of the town. People couldn’t handle it.

Tips: Couldn’t handle it. Everywhere I went people would talk about it.

Wallang: That she was living with me, she’s my mistress”¦

Tips: That I’m his wife.

Wallang: An older man can have a younger girl; can’t a younger girl have an older boyfriend? That’s how “The Price” came about. But I don’t think it’s only about us. I’m sure lots of people are going through the same shit, the same situation. You lookat the papers, man”¦

Tips: Hindu or Muslim, the caste system, rape”¦

Wallang: Inter-caste or inter-religion marriages, so many things. It’s the price you pay for being in love, for loving someone. There are other songs”¦

Tips: ”˜I am’.  It’s about being confident about who you are. You’re with a circle of friends and everyone’s like, ”˜You look better’, ”˜You’ve put on weight’ or ”˜Why did you cut your hair?’ Like, leave me alone: I am what I am. “A Cup of Tea” [which will be in the new album] is about my daily routine. I really like a cup of tea in the morning.

Wallang: But when I wrote that song, in Shillong we were having a bandh, some agitation, some shit happening. Some engineers called for a bandh because the government wasn’t listening to them. That’s the time I wrote the song. It’s like a conversation. “You can have your curfews and strikes/But I know just what I like to do/ To keep my mind,body and soul from stagnating/ I’ve got to have mycup of tea/ I’m alive and I want to be free.”

Tips: Then there’s ”˜Moving On’. That’s also part of the new album.