lagori has come a long way since its inception four years ago...
It’s been a roller-coaster ride ever since we came together. We have been extremely fortunate to play at some of the best music and college festivals in the country in such a short span and feel extremely blessed. The journey till now has only taught us to give back infinite more music to our fans, who have been the best pillar of support for us.
Your band amalgamates classical Hindustani music, folk, funk and soft rock. How do you come up with such unique compositionsIJ
Each one of us comes from a varied musical background. Tejas Shankar (vocal) brings a lot of Indian classical elements and Indian lyrical influences to the music. Geeth Vaz (guitar) brings the eclectic sound of classic/heavy rock while Vinyl Kumar (drums) brings in his metal influences on the percussion. Shalini Mohan (bass) induces a lot of funk and Edward Rasquinha (acoustic guitar) brings in the smooth country music influences into the band.
So, when we jam up or sit to compose, we don’t try to influence each other. Whatever comes naturally to each one of us, we go with it and that is present in our every composition. At times, we can’t even recall how a particular song came together. All our varied influences automatically fuse into one singular style called lagori.
Tell us something about your recent venture with DJ trio Above and Beyond to make a cover of their track We Are All We Need.
When Above and Beyond toured India a year or so ago, they wanted an Indian band to cover their popular song Sun and Moon. They coincidentally loved our sound and also our cover of this track. For our debut album we signed with Times label, who also happens to be the trio’s partner for their digital distribution in India. Hence lagori, covering a track from their latest album seemed like a natural progression. Fortunately, they really liked our cover, and released it themselves worldwide.
The original track was heavy on EDM and trance music. How did you infuse folk elements into it and come up with an Indie-rock fusion for the trackIJ
When we first heard the original track, we wondered a bit as to how we could turn this smooth trance track into an Indie-rock, lagori sounding track. Then, we just picked our instruments, and after a few jams, we fell in love with the sound of the song. So we decided to keep the main chorus line We Are All We Need as it is in English, and build an Indian sound all around the rest of the song. We have added the lagori folk signature to our version through Hindi lyrics in the main verses and have also included strains of Indian classical elements with a hypnotic sitar piece.
You have also collaborated with Girish Pradhan for your new music video. Did you get to learn something from himIJ
We feel that Girish Pradhan is the best rock vocalist in the country today. When we first watched Girish and the Chronicles, we couldn’t believe the range and energy he was capable of. Besides his vocal ability, he is a really fun and down to earth guy. We had a blast with him in the studio and while making the video as well. While lagori has brought in tinges of folk and Indian strains in the song, Girish has lent a wonderfully retro classical rock element to it, and the fusion of both is something we are very proud of.
Tell us something about your songwriting style. How much of Bangalore is reflected in your musicIJ
The process of our songwriting is fairly simple. We meet for a session, play whatever is in each one of our minds, and then join all our ideas and thoughts into one happy, crazy lagori song. We basically have fun whilst composing it. That’s our main motto.
And Bangalore basically is a happy place—a laidback, happy and fun loving place. And that is exactly who we are, too, as a band and as people. I don’t think we are ever serious with each other, as we keep pulling each other’s legs. And that has worked wonders for us, because we are a family now and not just band mates. We guess that’s where all our happy music comes from. And we guess that’s why it’s easy to make people smile with our music. The happy quotient.
The Indie-rock scene in the country has carved a niche for itself and has witnessed a sudden rise. What do you think is the scope of this genreIJ
The music scene has become so versatile that it’s in great shape at the moment. Today, a music lover on a Wednesday night could choose between a jazz concert, rock show, classical gathering, or just an Indian pop-rock band gig.
The choices a music lover has is amazing in India, along with the great music venues that have come up, too. So when it comes to versatility and how different every band is from each other in India, our country scores greatly in that department. So even though we wouldn’t like to stick to a genre per say, the kind of music we play has worked out great until now with audiences. We have been fortunate enough to be at the good receiving end of the Indian music genre.
your songs revolve around the modern youth. Do you try to convey a messageIJ
We would like to believe we are not a preachy band. We like to keep our music in the simplest form of being leaving the perception or the message up to the listener or the viewer. But we do believe in some basic things that we love portraying in our music or videos. Mainly things like love, respect and happiness. If people followed these three basic things in life, it would be more than enough.
The video for We Are All We Need starts with a sitar solo and travels to different places, ending with a rock punch. Any funny stories related to the productionIJ
We are sure our manager Geeth Vaz would have spent countless sleepless nights getting the whole thing done. But the best part about any of our shoots is that we make it fun. And speaking about how unique this track is from our previous works, this is the first time we have collaborated with a western vocalist. So the sounds of the sitar, lagori’s signature tunes and Girish Pradhan’s classic western voice is the most unique thing we have done till date.
