11 August,2010 10:33 AM IST | | Sheena Thomas
We're here to discuss music, but Rahul Ram, bass guitarist and vocalist of Indian Ocean, can't stop thinking about cricket!
However, we're glad. Cricket has put him in a great mood he's so chatty that Amit Kilam (drummer, percussionist and vocalist) and Susmit Sen (guitarist) hardly stand a chance to put in a word sideways.
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The talented trio, who have scored two songs for an upcoming film and are busy with a series of concerts, talk about surviving nearly two decades:
In chorus
And not much has changed since then, except of course for the sudden death of their bandmate Asheem Chakravarthy in 2009 that left the three shaken, but not stirred enough to 'disband.' Says Rahul, "We've seen a lot of bands just disappear since the 1990s. But that never discouraged us; in fact we were happy thinking woh toh kat liye. I guess the problem with most of them was that they expected too much. Most bands are formed in college when you're free-spirited and reckless. As you grow older, you start worrying about shaadi, earning money etc, that's when you break up. For us, it's always been about music."
Ego on the go
Amit who's now done with his coffee, feels the need to chip in. "Even ego can cause rifts and musicians who let it affect them eventually quit. But that doesn't mean that we don't have arguments," he explains. The subject has Rahul so excited that he butts in. "If Amit has a suggestion, we try it out and see if it works. We fight but we don't hold grudges," he says. Amit explains it better, "It's not like if Susmit has fought with me 11 times, I have to level the score by abusing him that many times."u00a0
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A different beat
Susmit, clearly a man of few words, feels that ultimately the music has to reign supreme. "The documentary about us, Leaving Home, brings to light the struggles that we faced as musicians and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Many artists leave home for the love of music, but that's not the advice that we'd give youngsters. But you can't be shaken as long as music binds you together," he signs off.
