Music bands from North East prefer metro cities to homelands

New Delhi: More and more music bands from the seven-sister states, whose music range from rock to grunge, and progressive metal to heavy metal are seen to base themselves in metro cities, which seem to offer them endless music making opportunities.

The heavy metal and rock bands from northeastern states have been found to settle down in cities such as Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore, abandoning an established capital of rock music Shillong, which is located in the far northeast.

Hard rock or heavy metal band 'Girish and the Chronicles' (GATC) from Sikkim, which is presently based in Bangalore says "poor accessibility" is limiting opportunities of upcoming musicians in the future from the region.

"The rock scene in northeast is not new. It had started a long time back. But for a band to get prominence there is very hard. There is always the transportation issue. Most musicians end their careers because there have never been proper management of bands in northeast," says Girish Pradhan, lead singer, GATC.

Heavily influenced from bands in the west such as Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Guns and Roses, the GATC band feels that Bangalore has given much hope for its success and it "hopes that one day the people would want to come to the north-east to witness the kind of rock they play."

Musicians cite a variety of factors for artists moving away from their homelands. They include greater accessibility of recording studios in cities, more music companies wanting to experiment, no transportation problem, proper management of bands and their music and more promoters in the states.

The phenomenon is not new as earlier in the west there has been a similar movement where English rock bands like Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath and led Zepplin moved to America because of greater opportunities and gained success.

"In Delhi or Bangalore, we get bunch of managers who deal with small and big bands in a proper way. This helps in the progress of a band, we end up getting more focused and noticed," says Pradhan.

Many bands also believe that it is difficult for a band to grow in the far east because of the 'deadline' imposed in the after hours.