Interview: The Captains of Hook

Having recently launched their band at Star Rock, Chennai on Feb 4, ex-Junkyard Groove peeps Siddharth Srinivasan, Craig Maxworth and Hudstin Fernandez come together to create a new alt-rock band – The Captains of Hook. With their messy split from JYG, web 2.0 style-y, they unceremoniously bid farewell to Ameeth Thomas via FB. However, in their FB message they said, “This is not the end, but the start of something new.”

That ‘something new’ is TCoH. So you must be wondering, are they going to be an exact replica of JYG (as they are 75 percent of the band) or is this going to be spankingly original? We had a chitty-chat with vocalist and guitarist for the band, Siddharth Srinivasan about TCoH, their plans for the future, and vanilla shmaltz.

NH7: Why have you decided to get back to together? (apologies, if this questions sounds like something from Emotional Atyachar)
S: There was a lot of music that was being made, by us individually. We needed a release for this music. And besides, it’s always nice to be in a band. It’s fun to be in a band. We like that whole dynamic of being in a band and touring. And we’re basically live musicians. And we enjoy playing with each other (is this sounding more and more sexual? Grrr), on stage. I guess it seemed fit at the time.

People constantly associate you with JYG. Do you think this is a good link or does it just piss you off?
S: It doesn’t really affect me in anyway. It’s part of what we had done and obviously what Junkyard Groove is today is a result of the six years that we were with JYG and sort of, help nurture the band. It doesn’t piss me off, as a matter of fact it is nice to be associated with something that was part of my life, we can’t deny that.

Do you get asked to play JYG songs?
S: We got asked once and we oblidged (laughs). That’s about it. But after that we decided that we now have a completely new band, a completely new set up. So JYG, is just something that was a part of our lives at one point in time.

Fairytale Jamroom Demo by The Captains of Hook

Future plans?
S: As of now, we are just working on a couple of gigs coming up over the next couple of months. And anyone who is calling us up is getting a ‘Yes’ because we want to play in as many places as possible… because a lot of people are still unaware of the fact that we are the new band in town and that the music is really good. Side-by-side, we are going to be working on our EP. We are also going to work on trying to get out of the country. So there are a couple of plans in place, but I wouldn’t want to disclose (laughs), what exactly we are going to be doing.

What is new about the sound of The Captains of Hook?
S: Well, this time around we are singing – Craig and myself – so we are no longer restricted by ‘someone else’s’ shortcomings. We are only restricted by our own, hahaha, which we can identify with. We don’t really look at ourselves and say, ‘Oh, I can’t do that’. Whatever we want to do we’ve been lucky enough or rather competent enough to actually achieve in terms of sound.

What’s different is that our songwriting is completely different, the lyrics are completely different. Because as songwriters we are more mature right now, and it’s no longer the age of guitar virtuoso and bass solos and stuff, it’s more about what’s best for the song, and how we treat it better. We’re also writing a lot about issues that concern us. You know, our songs aren’t about one girl and how she broke our heart and how I will never forget her. It’s more about, ‘Galaxies in Coffee Mugs’, which is about corporate injustice.

The Captains of Hook- Galaxies in Coffee Mugs (Studio Demo) by The Captains of Hook

We have a song called ‘Preacher Man’ which is about the entire holy man scandal… we have a lot of songs that address a lot of political, social issues, that probably need addressing. We also have a song about 2012, about whether it’s going to end or not. So these are issues that actually affect us and everybody else around us on a daily basis… And with only three people in the band, we are doing a lot, we are playing a lot, and working really hard on stage, to make the sound as full and as complete as possible.

Do you have a message for fans?
S: Just be prepared for anything and don’t be hung up on, one particular genre. Don’t just listen to our music and put it away, give it a thought… because it is more important to understand what the song means and what it represents than just ‘it sounds like a piece of vanilla shmaltz’.

Check out this little tune The Captains made for their band’s launch show in Chennai, on Feb 4.

Catch The Captains of Hook performing at Hard Rock Cafe, Hyderabad on Feb 9, starting 9pm. Their four song EP will be out soon.