Watch Spunk’s Adrenaline-Fueled Debut ‘Talash’

Although they’ve been a band since 2011, Mumbai-based rock band Spunk took a while to navigate the Bollywood covers territory before getting around to writing their own material. Even then, drummer Abhinandan Mukherjee says it took them many years to hone a sound they wanted after years of adding their own twist to Bollywood songs.

Mukherjee, who is also part of funk/hard rock band Gingerfeet, says, “It’d been three or four years by the time we started writing music and our bass player Rahul (Maity) had written a few structures in 2015 or so, ‘Talash’ being one of them.” Their long quest towards the right sound and the “right mind-frame” to release original music culminated earlier this week, with the release of “Talash,” their first original track.

The music video and song release brought together not just Pakistani singer-composer Junaid Khan (from rock band Call), but also production house Glitch Studios from Bangladesh, with shooting also taking place in Nepal. Mukherjee says of the subcontinental collaboration, “When Junaid came on board we felt that it would be the best time to have Glitch on board not only coz of their prowess but also to add a subcontinent feel to the project.” The incendiary hard rock track features powerhouse vocals from both Khan as well as Spunk vocalist Abhishek Chatterjee, over wiry riffs from Soumik Roy (part of metallers Yonsample).

Khan says that after Spunk reached out via social media, he agreed to collaborating and the song structure for “Talash” was ready in a few days. “This is actually the first time I’ve collaborated with an Indian band and I’m glad our genre is the same, as creating ”˜Talash’ was hell fun,” he says.

The call to break free on “Talash” is the first taste of Spunk’s original material off their upcoming debut album Aarambh. Even as the title denotes a new beginning for the band ”“ at least three more tracks are slated to release by July this year ”“ Mukherjee notes that they’re not necessarily changing directions as a band. With an eye on more festivals to showcase their new compositions, Spunk will still remain rooted in the covers circuit. The drummer says, “We’ll have different sets depending on the audience we’re playing for. The covers are always there, we made them popular, so they’re very dear to us. We’ll just go with the flow and have fun. We’re trying to keep the flavor of rock alive in the country.”