The Savages Release Limited Edition Vinyl

Prominent Mumbai rockers The Savages burst onto the scene in the Sixties, marking a pivotal chapter in the unfolding narrative of Indian rock music. While acknowledging the existence of bands preceding them, often relegated to the realms of cover performances in club gigs, it was the Savages, founded by drummer Bashir Sheikh, who transcended the norm. Not only did they venture into crafting their own compositions but also embarked on a journey that would become synonymous with the evolution of rock in India.

Although the Savages’ witnessed plenty of lineup changes, their most prominent one consisted of Sheikh, Ralph Pais (bass), Hemant Rao (guitar), Prabhakar Mundkur (keyboards and vocals) and Russel Pereira (vocals). It was these musicians who cut the band’s debut album, The Savages Live, which was released via German-British record label Polydor Records in 1971. Now, the band is out with a reissue vinyl of the LP which has been released by Kolkata’s Free School Street Records.

In this interview with Mundkur, he talks to us about how the LP came together, working with Free School Street Records for the reissue and the last time the Savages played together. Read below.

What do you remember from putting together the original album that came out in 1971?

What happened was in 1969, the Taj opened a discotheque called the Blow Up. Polydor Records had just come from Germany to India and the managing director of Polydor heard us at the Blow Up. They immediately offered us a recording contract. So, this LP was recorded in 1970, but the record was released in 1971. It was our first LP, so to speak, we had cut two 45 RPM records, so this was a really big break for us because in those days western musicians and Western music was not so popular, and the musicians were looked down upon. We used to get treated badly. Anyway, I think it was quite a landmark for Indian musicians playing Western music to release something as big as an LP in India. I think Usha Uthup was the first to release an album called Scotch and Soda in 1969 and then ours was recorded in 1970. It was at least the first three Western music LPs ever recorded in India.

At that time, we recorded the album at Jyoti Studios somewhere in Worli. Polydor wanted it to sound like a live recording, so they mixed some crowd sounds into it, which we were not happy with because it sounded very artificial. The ‘live’ [element] has been added to it artificially.

How did the reissue of the album come about?

We used to see odd kinds of sales on eBay selling the record for $3000 and some ridiculous amounts. We always just wondered whether this is a joke or if somebody really loves us so much that the record can sell for $3000. Finally, we got a call from Free School Street Records in Kolkata and they said, ‘We want to do a reissue.’ We couldn’t believe it. They said that there’s a lot of interest still. We are all in our Seventies now, we can’t believe that something we did when we were 16 and 18 would be of any value now. But they were very keen, and they put together something really fantastic. I mean it’s much better than the original album, both in terms of sound and they’ve given us a red cherry vinyl, which makes it look very attractive because the original cover was just red and black. It goes so well with the thing, and it’s just so much better than what was done in 1970. So, for us it was a big thrill because in those days we were one of the premier bands in the late Sixties and early Seventies. So, that something like this could actually make a comeback, it’s a great moment to celebrate. 

Do you recall the last time the Savages played together?

I think it was 2008 when we did a comeback show. It was at Jazz by the Bay in Bombay where we used to play in 1970 in its earlier avatar, which was called Talk of The Town. Long before it became Jazz by the Bay and Pizza by the Bay. If you go to the West, there are many Talk of The Towns, especially in the U.S., so it was like a borrowed concept, but we used to play every night there for a couple of months. So, we thought that was a good venue for us to go back and do a live show. It was totally sold out. There was no place to stand, people were going to the Ambassador to have a pee because the loos were full. We had a huge show there and what we did was we called Joe Alvarez, who used to be in the band and we Remo Fernandes, who also used to be in the band between 1970 and 72’ before he went back to Goa. Then Bashir Sheikh who was always there, me, Hemanth Rao came from Dubai and Ralph Pais was on bass. We also had some very dear musical friends like Loy Mendonsa and Leslee Lewis who joined us too. Basically, a kind of nostalgic trip with the Savages and their musician friends.

Click here to buy the limited edition vinyl.