Band members from Messiah experiment with blues, metal, rock and punk. Kush Nahar talks about creating music that is ‘raw and in-your-face'
Why did you choose to define yourself as ‘punk alternative’IJ
When you define someone it becomes easy for people to identify with them and those definitions are for convenience. We decided to term our band in two contradictory words because we do not have a definite genre of music. We experiment within all the genres that one can think about — jazz, blues, metal, rock, punk. The kind of music we play is indie, which does not need any sort of classification.
You formed the band in 1998. How difficult was it for you to establish yourselfIJ
It was a great challenge and the difficulties that we faced were many. At that time, a few bands that existed only played cover songs of popular Western bands and did not play their original compositions. We, however, were hell-bent on singing songs that we wrote and playing music that we composed. Needless to say, we were rejected in the beginning. People refused to listen to us; we did not get a chance to play anywhere. But we did not give up hope. We ran from pillar to post, spoke to show organisers to give us a chance to play. A few agreed, some did not we achieved something because we believed in ourselves.
Please share with us something about your album The Antidote.
The album released in 2005 and in that time it was a very big deal for a band to come up with an independent album before 10-12 years. The fact that we reached that stage within seven years was a feat in itself. The three of us — Mickey, Sunit and me went into the studio, recorded the album and then released it. It not only made us proud that we released an album with our original compositions but also encouraged us to do better work.
How did you fund the albumIJ
It was a different ballgame. We did not want to take money from our parents. So we decided to pool money by doing stage shows and then investing it in an album. And Delhi 10 years ago did not have as many events and stage shows as they are now. We performed at college fests and various events in the city for Rs2,000 and 3,000. Eventually, after a few years when we had enough funds, we went straight to the recording studio.
You have not recorded any album since then…
We have been doing so many stage performances that we never got that much of time to sit and chalk out a plan. But we will hope to do one soon.
Why did you name yourself MessiahIJ
We always wanted a grand name for the band — something that was so unconventional that it would intrigue everyone. Besides, the music we play is different from the conventional, too. Whatever we play always ended up sounding like Messiah music to us. It is raw and in-your-face. The word Messiah sounded very relatable to us and it was grand as well.
Who do you think your target audience isIJ
I guess the younger generation associate better with us and that is why we keep experimenting with our compositions to hold their interest.
What did you grow up listening toIJ
People would find it hard to believe but I grew up listening to everything that was recorded before us. I have heard everything that was recorded in Western music before 1997. There were a few Indian bands that I listened to, too.
Did the musical interests of the members not clash during jamming sessionsIJ
Strangely, we never had a clash regarding our music. For the first few years we used to sit together five days a week for four hours, we spent 20 hours every week together. That was the kind of hard work we put in. We enjoyed those sessions so much that even if any dispute arose, we resolved immediately. More than a challenge, taking the band ahead was a passion for us. Also we share a good understanding.
Did you know each other before Messiah was formedIJ
Yes. We were all school friends and I used to play the guitar. One day I asked my friends if they would like to play the drums and the bass and they agreed but we neither had the instruments nor the money. So we saved our pocket money for a year and bought second hand instruments and learnt to play them. And we have not looked back since then.