KC Loy Band / Indie music

This Mumbai-based band regularly features guest artists. Frontman KC Loy is best known for co-composing and writing Manzil, Shrikanth Sriram’s trailer track for Oscar-winning film Life Of Pi.Chakita Dang, his other collaboration with instrumentalist Vivek Rajagopalan has bagged regional awards. After winning the Maharashtra State Award in 2006 for compositions in Marathi film Pak Pak Pakaak, he longed to take the stage. In 2011, after a performance at a concert in Bandra, he fell in love with the all-acoustic set up he had hastily put up. He started looking for musicians who vibed with his songs. Bassman Shovon Mukherjee loved Indian folk music and had a strong repertoire in rock and alternate. Loy had always known Kunal Naik as a fine artist — he’s a JJ School of Art gold medallist — but his passion for the morchang (mouth harp) was what caught his attention. “Kunal was playing frequencies that filled in for the lack of a bass guitar,” says Loy. Prasad Ajarekar (Kunal's cousin) became the percussionist. “He is a tabla maestro and is versed with both western and Indian sounds.” Amit Mitra is an IT geek by day and a rhythm guitarist by night. Latest entrant Gandhar Bhalerao is a school kid and a flautist.On their brand of music: Loy describes the band’s sound as soulful, powerful, raw and real. With an almost acoustic setup, the band has an Indo-western gypsy feel to it. The modern-day Indian suburbs and the travails of its populace are very evident in the lyrics. Singable and lyric-driven, most of the songs are different in genre and language (switching between English, Hindi and Marathi) with themes like, Baul, Bardish, patriotic, fantasy, angsty, chanty an sexy!On their a-ha moment: Playing at suburban pubs was fun but it was an arts festival in Thane last year that really got them going. “The sheer optimistic energy of the 800-plus crowd was overwhelming. They understood every word and nuance of the songs, while singing along. This was like a stamp of approval on what we were trying to do,” says Loy.On their influences: Bored easily, Loy could never keep listening to just a single genre. That's the reason his list of influences reads long. Vocally-driven songs, melody, lyrics and performances are what ‘buzz’ him. So The Scorpions, Pearl jam, Cliff Richards, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury are ‘magical. In his early days, he caught an undying fancy for the folk music of India. Add to that songs made famous by Hindi and Marathi film music — think composers like SD and RD Burman, Madan Mohan, Gulzar, Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar.On their way forward: After having released the singles Life is..., Indians Arise and Bakra, Loy’s keeping his online video channel ‘TheKcloy’ busy with collaborative covers featuring Ravi Iyer, Amit Mitra, Kolkata Kashmir Unplugged, Krazy Electrons and Chandana Bala. “We are looking for a manager,” says Loy, who’s excited about Boondein, a collaboration with Ravi Iyer of V-Ravi fame, set to release soon. He’s looking to perform these tracks live by inviting each of these musicians as guest artistes at shows. He dreams of taking the band on a pan-India tour (especially in the North-eastern states) followed by the world. He exclaims, “The world’s a stage and we're coming!”For latest Music updates follow TOI Entertain on Twitter >>> @TOIEntertainFor the latest in Music news, like TOI Entertaiment on Facebook >>>TOIEnterta