Pedestrians walk with a Rock

ENARADA, Bangalore:

Bangalore has been the pensioners’ paradise, garden city and IT capital of India. Now it is fast becoming the hot bed of rock music, thanks to the youth who follow their dreams.

Five such youngsters came together in 2009 to form Pedestrians, a group that performs rock, progressive, punk rock and blues.  Their last performance was in March at Inorbit Mall in Whitefield, where the audience swayed to Gun N’ Roses, Nirvana etc.

“We started out in October 2009, from a College festival Kalanaji. There has been no looking back since then,” says Shomprakash Sinha Roy, the lead vocalist of the band.  The group has now grown to eight members and are soon expecting joining of more musicians.

The band currently comprises of Amit Das as Rhythm guitarist and the frontman, Parthiv Lakshman on drums, Sunil Kodur as base guitarist, Roy as lead vocalist, Rupa Kudwalli as auxiliary female vocalist, Adrienne on Saxophone and Frederick Nischel Kumar on keyboard. Srijan Mukherjee is expected to join the group as lead guitarist.

While Roy works for a reputed software company, Amit works for a production firm. Rupa, Sunil and Parthiv are graduate students. Adrienne is a Russian is pursuing doctoral studies in Bangalore.

“It is heart warming to see these youngsters from diverse backgrounds get together for their creative pursuit,” said Chaitra Hegde, a music lover.

The band also performs Rajasthani Folk combined with Indie Rock. The team is now exploring opportunities in the emerging music market in Western India (Gujarat/Rajasthan) and Fusion Rock that is slowly gaining popularity. “We perform for both Indian and pro-Indian foreign audiences,” Roy said.

The team has performed at Kyra Theatre of Music, National Institute of Technology, Warangal (Andhra Pradesh), Hewlett Packard Corporate Bash and exclusive Valentine’s Night 2013 at Fosters Lounge, Cibo Esca, Bangalore to name a few.

Bangalore being the hub for all kinds of explorative traits in music has been a host for multiple historical concerts that wouldn’t have worked anywhere else. “As a progressive rock band, it makes sense to be in the rock capital of India and so Bangalore is the base,” Roy concluded.

Famous bands such as Metallica, Deep Purple and Backstreet Boys among others have performed in Bangalore. City’s local Swaratma is gaining popularity among the youth.  Bryan Adams, Enrique Iglesias, Richard Marx among others have enthralled music lovers here. (Posted on March 28, 2013 and Updated on May 12, 2013)