Interview: The Supersonics

The independent music scene in Kolkata has very few â??bigâ?? names to its surprisingly large roster. Skinny Alley, of course, is the most prominent of these; the remaining only familiar to those part of the Eastern locale. The bands that break the geographical barrier are those that have a unique sound and the drive to make their music known. Which is why it is hard to imagine a fresh sound like that of The Supersonics being such a well kept secret, especially given the demeanor of the band.

I phone Ananda Sen (vocals, guitar) a day after his band has played a short, two-gig tour of Mumbai. Hard Rock Cafe and the Blue Frog were treated to sets of The Supersonics’ brand of garage-y, pop punk originals, and everyone present at the venues would probably agree that there is a need for such music to hit the city more often.

His throat is sore but he doesnâ??t mind talking. This is what he does for a living and he knows how important it is that his music gets out there; also because he lives in Kolkata. â??The band is almost three years old. I played with Avinash (Avinash Chordia, drums) in our old band before that, we were a cover band and used to play at Someplace Else (a popular live music venue in Kolkata). Rohan (Rohan Ganguli, guitars) used to play in another band called Cognac. We were all sick of playing covers and we decided to write our own music and Iâ??ve been writing songs now for the last 12-13 years.â?

Yes, The Supersonics are a â??full-timeâ?? band. â??Three of us, ie Rohan, Avinash and myself, weâ??re doing the band full time. Nitin (Nitin Mani, bass) has a family business which he works with along with the band,â? explains Ananda. Independent musicians in the country rarely do music full time, usually preferring to maintain a steady (paying) job while pursuing music as a side project. â??To be very honest, I wouldnâ??t advise many musicians to do it. Weâ??re only just managing to survive. Itâ??s not like weâ??re leading the good life. But I donâ??t really see us doing a â??jobâ?? while playing this sort of music. Thereâ??s a lot of other stuff involved apart from the music and though we have a manager to do some of it, weâ??re all into it as well. If you leave town this frequently, no jobâ??s going to give you that much leeway.â?

Of course, this must mean that thereâ??s enough money to survive playing music in Kolkata, and The Supersonics are no strangers to the Kolkata audiences. â??We do loads of gigs in Cal (Kolkata), but thatâ??s only been happening for the last year and a half or so because Cal is still predominantly an English cover band place, with Bengali rock there as well,â? says Ananda. â??When we started playing original music there werenâ??t many bands here doing it. At the time we didnâ??t think we could really survive (doing just the band), but now we have a huge following in Cal and weâ??ve been playing all over.â?

One of the reasons that the band doesnâ??t have much PR value outside Kolkata is the location of the city itself. Very few bands from Bengal tour outside their state, and the few that do, rarely do it again. But the situation for The Supersonics is, luckily, better than the rest of their comrades in the east. Ananda explains, â??Weâ??ve thought about moving out of Cal, maybe to Mumbai, but our bass player is married and he has his family business here so that sort of rules that out. Anyways we play so many gigs here so itâ??s become much easier now.â?

Another explanation for their slow rise in popularity is the fact that they donâ??t play any competitions. â??Weâ??re completely against competitions â??cos thatâ??s perhaps the worst way to grow the music scene in a country,â? says Ananda. â??Competitions do give you some exposure but the means to get there are ridiculous. Suddenly the bands playing competitions are not playing music but are playing to win. When we started the band we had a few rules which we agreed to stick by â?? not to play covers, no competitions and no lineup changes.â? These are tough principles to stick to and perhaps if the band had eased up on them, their success graph would be far different.

Still, things are looking up for The Supersonics. They are currently in talks with a few record labels to release their debut album Maby Baking. â??Right now HMV and a few others are interested. Whoever we sign up with has to give is a good producer. Iâ??ve noticed that most Indian bands are not produced well, and thatâ??s why I feel they donâ??t really match up to international standards. There the whole production aspect of the album is like 40% of the sound. Weâ??re looking for maybe even an international producer to come down from abroad and whoeverâ??s willing to fund that, weâ??ll sign with them.â?

With some strong singles like â??In Memory Ofâ?? and â??Hey Alohaâ?? the album promises exciting original music from one of the freshest, up and coming Indian rock acts. â??Weâ??ve been meaning to get this album out ASAP. We have a really crappy demo CD which was recorded at home, so weâ??re hoping to get the record label deal sorted out soon. I do know for sure that weâ??re going to be done with the recording and mixing process by the end of this year. But definitely by the first half of next year, weâ??re going to have the album out.â?

We canâ??t wait.

The Supersonics are featured on Stupid Ditties 2, out 12.16pm, Nov 14.