It’s been about a week since the Shakey Rays got back in town. After a four-city tour in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and finally Chennai, the city-based band is looking forward to some ‘chilling’ time for a while.
“We’re going to use the next six months to try something different with our sound,” says Dhruva Gautham, frontman of the ‘pop’ group.
“It’s not ‘that’ kind of pop,” he clarifies with a hint of mock annoyance. “It’s popular music if you know what I mean.” If you don’t, look out online for Tunes from the Big Belt — their debut album which released last year.
Loud guitar riffs infused with strains of rhythm and blues ensures they play a brand of music that borders on pop, but sounds a whole lot like old school rock.
The rest of the Shakey Rays trio is completed by lyricist-guitarist, Vikram Kannan and drummer, Niranjan Swaminathan (drums). “It has been a little over a year-and-half since we got together,” recalls Vikram. This was after Dhruva and Vikram disbanded popular rock group, Easy Street that hit the Chennai music scene earlier on in 2006. But once this was done, they got to looking for a fresh sound and break the cliche of ‘rock band.’ “We’re the anti-rockstar band,” laughs Niranjan. He adds for effect, “I mean, I do take off my shirt sometimes, but only when it’s hot.”
So was there any time to compose new material on tour? “There was,” Dhruva pauses, “but there was just too much chaos to write it all down,” he sighs. Asked about new tunes that the group is working on, he adds, “You never know what a song is going to turn into after the starting point,” reveals the vocalist. “It’s like a monster,” he laughs and adds, “A friendly monster.”
So, if you haven’t been to one of their shows yet, watch out for I’m gonna catch that train – this song manages to get you humming along with its upbeat vocals and is one song you’d want to have on your I-pod for a rainy day.
Next on the music front, the boys have a few singles that should release shortly — but aren’t willing to part with more on just yet.
Probably because they’re not quite sure of the specifics themselves. “That’s what makes it fun, the not knowing part,” smiles Vikram. They do tell us this for certain. “We have a second album coming out by the end of the year.”
He adds unexpectedly, “Hey, at least we’re at least getting out one album a year, otherwise we’re not prolific enough as musicians.”
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