Susmit Sen, the co-founder and lead guitarist of Indian Ocean, has quit the band to pursue his kind of music. Rahul Ram says the creative shift is not in sync with the band which will move to a new plane. By Iknoor Kaur
The news of Susmit Sen, the lead guitarist and co-founder of Indian Ocean, quitting the band wasn’t a surprise to many. It was the expected move. Apparently Susmit wanted to give space to his own creative expression and therefore opted out for a different route, away from his band. “It has been 23 years and now I feel the need to look beyond this band and explore myself,” he said.
Giving rest to all the speculations that there might be some sort of rift among the band members, Rahul Ram, the band’s bass guitarist said, “It’s a natural progression. Susmit wanted his own individual space and that was not possible in a group.”
Nikhil Rao has now replaced Susmit in the band and Susmit assured us that Nikhil is “very talented” and will be his ideal replacement.
Susmit added that at some point one has to leave the band, making space for the younger lot. “The band should go on and it’s important that we hand over the legacy to the next generation, else there won’t be any change. If we do not move on everything will be stagnant,” he added. But Rahul holds a different opinion, “I look at myself not leaving this band anytime soon because this is what I live for. We are in the band because we make this band,”
Rahul feels that the change will be good for their music. “When Asheem passed away, we thought the audience will not accept us and I felt weird when people didn’t react to his absence in the band. Our fans love the music we make and we hope they will accept us with the change now.”
Rahul stated that Susmit had not been emotionally connected with the band for a long time. He also added that at one point of time he was “frustrated” as he wasn’t getting his own space. “He had a different style that he wanted to incorporate it in the band and our band has a specific kind of music that we don’t alter. It is better that he gets to do what he wants and I am happy for him,” he said. And Susmit added, “I’m not emotional about leaving the band. If I would have paid too much attention to my feelings, it would have been difficult to move on. I would miss playing for Indian Ocean but I am sure they will do well even without me.”
Susmit has his own band now — The Susmit Sen Chronicles. The music will be similar to his debut album, Depths of the Ocean, for which he had been working on for ten years. He feels that the audience will now have two bands to look forward to, The Susmit Sen Chronicles and Indian Ocean.
Rahul also feels that the band would head in a better direction.
“I am positive about us as a band because we have been rehearsing like mad which we were not doing before. We do not want Nikhil to copy Susmit’s music, copying is easier, originality is difficult to find. So we want to make most of Nikhil’s unique style.”
Rahul informed that they have a big project lined up with Amitabh Bachchan Corporation limited for the music of a film starring Big B. It is Sudhir Mishra’s film.