There must be something in the air of the North East. The region produces an interesting mix of musicians with a taste for experimentation as well as a passion for nostalgia. From the folk rhythms of Tetseo Sisters to the heavy strings of Girish And the Chronicles and Minute of Decay, to the bluesy-rock melodies of Soulmate, the variation is far beyond anything the plains produce. “It comes down to community,” says Abhishek Gurung. On Sunday, the vocalist will lead the veterans of the 23-year-old rock band, Still Waters, down from the hills of Sikkim for their first performance in the city in the last decade.

Founded in 2001 by Sonam Lachungpa and Anant Pradhan, the band was among the first English rock bands out of Sikkim to break through at the Great Indian Rock Festival. For Gurung, who grew up watching Lachungpa, the band remains a standard for old-school rock. “I remember watching them on college circuits, and dreaming of it. It is hard to explain how it feels to actually be a vocalist in a band you admired,” he says. While the group has been constantly changing, the fidelity to old-school rock remains constant.