Indus Creed - Change of Name

Change of Name

Seeking a change of image and sound from that of a college-style band to a more internationally suited one, Rock Machine changed their name to Indus Creed in 1993. They began to experiment a bit with Indian instruments, such as tabla and sarangi. When their video of “Pretty Child,” directed by Subir Chatterjee and Namita Roy Ghose of Whitelight Moving Picture Co., was released in 1993, the response was unprecedented. MTV instantly put the artistic video on massive rotation. The surreal black-and-white film captured the imagination of a whole generation, winning Indus Creed an Asia-wide MTV Video Music Award (Asian Viewer's Choice Award). The same year, MTV ranked “Pretty Child” the 9th best video of the year, competing with such international heavyweight artists as Madonna and Michael Jackson.

In 1994, Indus Creed released their first album under their new name. The self-titled album was recorded in Los Angeles and promoted extensively on MTV and Channel V, a new music channel on Rupert Murdoch’s rapidly expanding Star TV network. Indus Creed released two videos to support the album: “Trapped” and “Sleep.” The drummer’s chair saw a yet another change when Bobby Duggal was replaced in 1995 by Adrian Fernandes. Indus Creed continued to tour heavily across India as well as explore other regions like the UK and the Middle East. In 1996, MTV flew down Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash to play on stage with Indus Creed at the channel’s relaunch as MTV India in Bangalore, India.