IT IS ALWAYS TOUGH to analyse something when you are not sure if it really exists or not. And so making a case for rock music in India is always a dicey affair. Just when you think rock music is alive and flourishing, you see popular bands die out or fizzle away. And then as you begin to pen down Indian rock music’s obituary, half a dozen bands pop out of nowhere to shatter your slumber. Such has been the fate of Indian rock music.

 

My band Moksha has been around for a good ten and a half years and we have heard all the stories we had to hear. One of our personal favourites being, ‘The Indian scene is changing man. Rock is more accepted now and soon it going to be mainstream.’ This, ladies and gentlemen, is the biggest load of crap you will ever hear. Why? Well, we have been hearing that statement ever since we won our first competition. And guess what? We are even guilty of making that statement ourselves on a couple of occasions. Nothing has changed since we got together all these years ago. And, I would even go as far as saying that I think it is a bit worse than it was.

 

To paint an exact picture of Indian rock music is easy. It is almost like a family photograph. No one but the family and really close friends know who is in the photographs. And the rest don’t care. The rock bands are amazingly popular amongst themselves and among the splattering of fans they have managed to garner during random performances at college festivals. And, believe me, some of the music just rocks. But as I said, it is a pretty picture. But unfortunately it is also a pretty lonely one.

 

And then there is the one Indian trait that is hard to miss – politics. How can we forget the politics? Even in this small little rock world of ours, some people have managed to weave the magic of petty politics. Even here it is a North India Vs South India Vs West India. With people managing to completely shut out East India. As a band from South India, Moksha has seen the divide.

 

Being cheated out of competitions because no one wanted to lose to the madrasis. Being given less space in news articles for similar reasons and all sorts of other crap. And, there is politics as well in South India, a lot of it. The funny thing is, here people play the political game against their own bands. Most organisers have some strange north Indian hangover and so you never get called for gigs. Except in Bangalore, which is probably the best city to play rock music in. But overall, there is nothing worse than being a rock band in South India. And, who can forget the fact that everyone here seems to have very shallow pockets.

 

In such a scenario, the success that rock bands have seen is phenomenal. And, my band has a lot of fans and colleges to thank for it. But, one of the most satisfying truths for all Indians rock bands is that the success is truly their own. No sponsors, no godfathers, no marketing, and most importantly – no money! Everything that rock bands have achieved has been from sheer hard work. Taking three-day train journeys to strange places just to participate in competitions or driving down to the next town to play at some unknown college. It’s all been a part of the success.

 

Probably the answers lie abroad. There are loads of rock festivals that happen all across Europe and America. Some Indian bands have treaded that path and found limited success - but success, nevertheless. At least it is a new audience and culture that is more open to new bands and rock music in general.

 

Moksha too is looking at such a situation. It has been a long hard march to get where we are today. But we realise that no Indian company is going to put the strength of money behind any rock band in India. We have had a music company back out the day before the signing of the contract.

 

But just looking at negatives is not what Moksha is about. The rock world has given us positives that have far outweighed the negatives. That is why we have hung around so long. The thousands of fans that we have gathered along the way have been awesome. And, knowing and meeting our fans make me honestly believe that our fans are very different from the regular rock fan. They are the best! Through all the ups and downs, we have always played because there is no greater height than being on stage. The music, the fans, the accolades have all been great.

 

Moksha’s album is ready but we have not released it through anybody because we do not want it to sit in some corner of a music store with no one knowing about it. We want our fans to know about it and be able to buy it. Because the album is all about our fans. We want them to have something as a thank you from us. There are also some plans for playing and selling the album abroad.

 

From humble beginnings in a tea shop on November 24 1995 till today, it has been quite a journey. We have travelled to amazing parts of the country to entertain people. We have played at some of the biggest colleges and rock festivals. We have had people cheer and jeer. We had people leave the band, only to be replaced and carry on the Moksha madness.

 

But there is an important message in the success of Moksha. We have never needed anything extra to get us high. Music was a good enough drug for us. So for those who have heard of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, we would like to say we never did drugs.