Indus Creed waited for 15 years before deciding to make a comeback, but when they did, it was because it was simply meant to be. “We just found ourselves thinking about reviving the band again,” says Uday Benegal, the band’s lead singer. The Indian rock band will be taking the stage at the Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi tomorrow and at the Music Room Dubai on Friday. Fans can also hope get a sneak peak of their new album, Evolve.
Fans of the band rejoiced when the band announced that they will perform again. What took them so long to get back together?
“We were very disappointed with the music business in India, so Mahesh [Tinaikar] and I decided to end the band and move to New York where we started a band called Alms For Shanti. We were active for about eight years there before I moved back to Mumbai in late 2008. Around 2010 we [Benegal, Tinaikar and Zubin Balaporia] found ourselves on the same page deciding to revive the band. We recruited two new members, Rushad Mistry and Jai Row Kavi, and here we are today,” said Benegal during a phone interview from India.
“We have been extremely blessed and lucky to work with Grammy-nominated mixing engineer Tim Palmer and veteran mastering engineer Andy VanDette on our latest album,” added Benegal.
“We learnt a lot. We wanted the mixes in our latest album to have the same kind of expansiveness, power and clarity that Tim and Andy had produced for British band Porcupine Tree. So we sought them out. And thank God for the internet. They mixed the tracks for us from America and sent it across for our approval.”
âlabour of love’
Having made fans wait 15 years to hear them again, the prospect of a new album is intriguing. “Evolve is a labour of love, blood, sweat, tears and a lot more. The sound is contemporary, loud, large and melodic. With two new members in our team and having travelled extensively we have all brought more things to the table this time,” said Benegal.
This will be the band’s second time in Dubai — or, as Benegal likes to put it, “the first time after a long time”.
The band are looking at playing some good music. “When we first changed the name to Indus Creed we had played in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat about 15 years ago and that was a slightly different band and sound. We try not to anticipate too much because we rather experience it fresh. We hope our old fans would be around and we would pick up some new fans for our music here.”
Benegal and the band don’t see any reason as to why rock music can’t find a good audience in the Middle East.
“Rock music is so catchy and fast. It’s like water, it finds it own space. With the internet now there would be no stopping the listeners.
“As musicians we never rule out anything. It might be possible that we mix Arabian beats and Turkish percussion in our future tracks. At this moment this is the album we recorded sans any ethnic instrumentation. It is a true blue rock album of the current time, which reflects what we are experiencing now and have experienced in the past,” Benegal added.
Frontman Uday Benegal tells tabloid! about some of his favourite tracks from Indus Creed’s upcoming album, Evolve. “A song which is proving to be more accessible to the listeners is called Fireflies — people find it easier to hook onto this one than the rest in the album. It is very melodic, emotional and hooky track. Fireflies is also leading the album, being the first track. Other songs that are going down really well is a song called Take It Harder and The Money, which is a little electronic-ish, very funky, cynical song about money. A song that is particularly close to my heart is Come Around, which I am hoping people don’t miss. It is not one that is instantly accessible — you would probably have to listen to it a couple of times — but it is very close to me. Then there is another song that Mahesh [Tinaikar] and I composed called Dissolve which is also very close to my heart.”
Don’t miss it
Indus Creed perform at the Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi tomorrow from 7pm (Dh100) and The Music Room Dubai on Friday, from 8pm (Dh80). Both events are for over-21s only. Tickets available at Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi (050-7859324) and The Music Room(050-4539727).
“We try not to anticipate too much because we rather experience it fresh. We hope our old fans would be around and we would pick up some new fans for our music here.” —
