Confessions of a Rock Musician

“If you do something different, people in Hyderabad or Pune just stand there and stare with their mouths open”

Many people get into music because they think it’s all about drugs, sex and rock-n-roll. It’s really not! Though if you’re looking for it, you’ll find it. I know some bands in Bombay that are quite into ‘the game’ (groupies).  I’m not so into it myself, except the odd hook-up. Two years ago, I was onstage wearing this ugly old pink bandana, and a cute woman with long hair insisted I give it to her. “I really want it!” she told me. “What will you give me for it?” I asked her. She said, “I’ll do anything,” and gave me this weird look. She ended up coming home with me. In the morning when I woke up, she was gone, and the bandana was still there.

What we overdo, though, is alcohol. We drink a lot. A lot! Especially on tour, when we do four or five cities in a week—it’s pretty much all an alcoholic haze. We have to wake up early after a late night and we’re not even sure how we get to the airport. The drinking is constant. We land, and then pull out a bottle of rum from the backpack, and go at it. We drain about three to four bottles per gig. I used to drink a full bottle a day until just a few weeks ago.

Bands sometimes do unethical stuff. If you don’t do it, someone else will do it to you! Among these: agreeing we won’t compromise on fees, and then finding out someone undercut you; bonking the guitarist’s girlfriend; stealing stuff, like cables or amps, if they’re small enough. We draw the line at guitars, though. We know how that feels.

The crowds are good if you’re good, except in Hyderabad and Pune, where people just cautiously clap; they don’t seem to know the appropriate response. If you do something different, they just stand there and stare with their mouths open. We’re starting to recognise that’s a good sign.

I worked a bit in the film industry, but it’s really sleazy. Telugu films are the worst. Everyone’s married and sleeping with everyone, and in the end, it’s a shit product. It makes no sense.

(This person has been a musician for the past 10 years) 

As told to Shruti Ravindran

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