Swarathma: Working Class Heroes

Time To Growl: A tiger masque was part of Swarathma's recent show at the M.A.D fest.

Bassist Jishnu Dasgupta, who was also introduced to the band on the same day as Varun, remembers his reaction being in stark contrast to that of the lead guitarist. “I was blown away,” says Jishnu. An XLRI alumnus, Dasgupta played bass for the infamous campus band bodhiTree which became famous for its risque underground hits like “Gaand Mein Danda” and “Sabka Katega,” which parodied the boring corporate life that lay in wait for students once they passed out of the institute. In a touch of irony, Jishnu landed up doing the same himself when he began work with a large marketing conglomerate after XLRI “loading carton boxes full of cigarettes and peddling them to shopkeepers across Indore”. His respite came from forming “Indore’s only band back then,” Square One which did covers at local gigs.

By the time Jishnu moved to Bengaluru in 2007, Swarathma’s original line-up had started to dissipate with members settling into full-time jobs. Abhinanth had become a journalist with a newspaper, Pavan had become a professional photographer, Arjun was looking forward to a career in engineering while Vasu was seriously contemplating moving to Mumbai to make films. Jishnu had previously performed with Montry for a bodhiTree show at an XLRI alumni meet in 2006. “We jammed in the morning and played a highly forgettable gig in the evening, but Montry and I stayed in touch. So when I moved to Bengaluru, he was the first one I called,” he says. About the same time Montry was working on recruiting new musicians. “I told Vasu: ”˜Give me a month to put the band back together, else we’ll split.’ I started calling my musician friends every day,” recalls the wiry 34-year-old who has a wide network of musician friends across the country.

Originally from Cochin, Montry began pursuing music soon after school and jammed with several musicians forming his first band in his early 20s with keyboard player Jackson Vijayan (Avial guitarist Rex Vijayan’s brother) before moving to Chennai and finally settling in Bengaluru in 2002. The Raghu Dixit Project had just taken off and in 2006, Raghu roped in his younger brother to design his debut album’s art work and also invited Montry, who was also a graphic artist, to pitch in. The dots had been connected.

Montry recalls the first two weeks of the month-long hunt for new band mates being the toughest. “I’d put the word out but no one had responded ,” he says, “And then I got a call from a violinist friend. I still remember what he said clearly: ”˜I know a violinist who is better than me’.” The musician was Sanjeev Nayak who was then working for the software giant MindTree. “I called Sanjeev and he told me that he was very busy. He was a general manager at his company, but agreed to meet. I had to fix an appointment,” says Manuel chuckling at the memory. By then, Vasu had packed his bags for Mumbai, only to change his mind after hearing Sanjeev play. “After listening to Sanjeev play our songs, I came back home and unpacked my cartons,” Vasu says.

Thirty seven-year-old Nayak moved to Bengaluru from his hometown Karkala in 1996. After more than a decade in the IT industry, he wanted out as he was no longer doing what he loved ”“ coding programs. “I was managing people, writing reports. There was no creativity involved,” Sanjeev says, “Music gave me more satisfaction.” The timing was kosher and Swarathma had found its violinist.

Vasu says his faith in Swarathma was cemented only after the band members quit their permanent jobs in 2010 to take up music full time. “I felt that when we had no other support except the band, we were ready to take it really seriously,” he says. Though skills from their past professions do come in handy when it comes to promoting the band. Sanjeev manages the website, Pavan shoots photos of the band and handles design along with Dixit and Montry, while Jishnu uses his writing and marketing skills to edit content on the website, as well as to promote the band on social media sites.

Jishnu’s efforts have borne fruit with the band’s steadily increasing fan base. “We believe that the audience should be a part of our journey,” says Jishnu. The bassist, can’t help sounding like the management graduate that he is, but he says this with good reason. For Topiwalleh, the band roped in a fan, 24-year-old Puneet Sharma from Indore to write the lyrics for most of their songs. “I’m a big Indian Ocean fan and when I saw that the band was promoting another new band (Swarathma) on their site, I had to check it out,” said Sharma, who was hooked to the band as soon as he heard “Pyaasi”. “I was really drawn to the kind of socially and politically active songs that they write,” he adds.

To read the full story, get the May 2012 issue of ROLLNG STONE, available on news stands now.