Rock Scenes
See also: Bangla rockMany cities and regions have produced collections of bands large enough to be classified as a scene within Indian rock.
Shillong, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore has long been one of the principal founts of Indian rock and continues to produce bands regularly. Some of the most notable contemporary rock bands from Mumbai are Pentagram, Tough on Tobacco, Bhayanak Maut, Demonic Resurrection, Split, Sridhar/Thayil, Scribe, and Goddess Gagged. The recent reunion of Indian rock pioneers Indus Creed was received with great enthusiasm, especially with regard to their plans to produce a new album in 2011.
Delhi's music circuit has seen its share of ups and downs, but has held on largely due to the local presence of Rock Street Journal. Delhi being the operational home of the Allahabad-based magazine, local bands have benefited by the proximity to India's first dedicated to stories and features based around rock and metal. The Great Indian Rock festival was mostly held in Delhi, now foraying into Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore, North-East India and Pune has exposed the upcoming musicians of India to a wider variety of musicians. Notable bands from Delhi include Parikrama, Hundred Octane, Indian Ocean, Them Clones, Menwhopause, Guillotine. Bands from Bangalore include Raghu Dixit Project, Vichitra, Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ), Kryptos, Inner Sanctum, The Down Troddence (TDT) Agam, Buffer Zone, Eccentric Pendulum, Swarathma, Eastern Fare, Divine Raaga, Ek and Galeej Gurus. Bands from Kolkata include Cassini's Division, Skinny Alley, Underground Authority, Pseudonym, Hobos and Rikterskale. There is also a massive regional rock scene in Kolkata that includes bands like Fossils, Cactus, Chandrabindoo, Krosswindz and Bhoomi, Kashish having huge international popularity. A relatively recent entry into the Indian Rock circuit is the city of Pune has been the home of bands over the years and off late there has been a new surge with notable genre defining underground acts like Albulu, Abgobi, Champakali and more. The live music scene of the twin cities Mumbai and Pune has been on a steep rise since 2005 with major International acts like Meshuggah, Tesseract, Satyricon, Freak Kitchen, Sahg. Pune plays host to an annual musical festival, The NH7 Weekender, which takes place in the month of November and showcases international (mostly British) acts like Imogen Heap, The Magic Numbers, Asian Dub Foundation and Reverend Soundsystem to name a few.
Recent restrictions on live music in Bangalore's bars has affected the rock music culture of the city but is slowly recovering with pubs like Kyra, B Flat and Legends of Rock hosting more live bands. Festivals like Rock 'N India, Rock Ethos, Great Indian Rock and more recently Deccan Rock continue to take place in Bangalore, a popular destination for international acts like Iron Maiden, Lamb of God, Bryan Adams, Scorpions, Sting, Aerosmith, Megadeth, Elton John, Metallica and Deep Purple.
Mumbai's longest-running festival has been the Independence Rock Festival. 2010 saw I-Rock, as it is popularly known, celebrate its 25th year. Independence Rock XXV paid tribute to the city that has hosted the festival by featuring a spate of local bands. The recently reunited Indus Creed headlined the festival, which included other local favourites like Bhayanak Maut, Scribe, Demonic Resurrection and Pralay, as well as stalwart musicians like Dhruv Ghanekar, Warren Mendonsa, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan Noorani, Farhad Wadia (the festival's founder and promoter), Ravi Iyer, Chandresh Kudwa, Shazneen Arethna and Sidd Coutto.
Another major Indian rock festival is the June Rock Out, organised by the Unwind Centre in Adyar, Chennai. There are also other smaller rock/metal festivals happening regularly in Bangalore and Chennai, like "Euphony", the "September Underground", "Last Band Standing," and the weekly "Live 101." The Bands Association of Chennai (BAC) is an organisation which actively promotes the cause of original music by Chennai bands. In Calcutta, the underground Metal Bands organise an Event called The Pit at Tapan Theatre in Kalighat. In 2009, 3 editions of The Pit were successfully organised.
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