AATMA IS A four-member band, comprising Niranjan Burke on the guitars, Sandeep Madhavan on bass, Sujay Harthi on vocals and Greg Hamra on drums. The band thrives on creating original music, which is not only emotionally intense and technically dazzling, but also gets the crowd grooving.

 

The band was formed in 2000 in Bangalore with a need to produce frequencies that entirely belonged to the band members. It is backed by solid experiences that its members have accumulated while working with other bands over the years.

 

Performing mostly original songs, the band draws on influences that range from blues, jazz and funk to prog, metal and traditional hard rock. The band is highly influenced by Miles Davis, Tribal Tech, Primus, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Stanley Clarke, Weather Report and others to compose new music.

 

The hard-working band first took the stage at the Richmond Park Revival Concert in March 2000. Since then, it has seen growing fan following, and scintillating live shows has taken them twice to Chennai, playing in front of more than 5,000 audiences. One of the highlights of their frequent out-of-state tours is the crowd-pulling performance at the Jazz Garden in Pune, which has played host to Louis Banks, Karl Peters and the Jazz Yatra.

 

On their home turf of Bangalore, Aatma has been thrilling its fans with regular performances at Planet M and Music World, pubs like Styx and Urban Edge and prestigious events like the Bangalore Habba. They have enthralled audiences at venues like at the Pondicherry Shopping Festival, the Navy Ball in Kochi and Not Just Jazz by the Bay, Mumbai.

 

The band has a full-length album of original compositions titled Too Much Juice. It is a collage of all the musical emotions that go into Aatma sound and showcases the band doing what they are best at – making original music.

 

The band has seen many ups and downs, but the rock scene is now improving in India. With loads of international acts coming to the country, the local bands are getting better exposure. And, gone are the days when there was one Fender Stratocaster that some guitar player had and all of us would do anything to get a glimpse of it. Today, we are flooded with great gear and every budding musician has the best possible guitar, keyboard or drums. It is just a matter of time that an Indian band will make it to the top of the charts.