'There is no method to our madness'

This band seems to derive inspiration from not taking themselves, or life too seriously. A fast rising musical outfit in terms of popularity in the country due to their unique compositions, which they term as ‘awesome’, members of Live Banned say that while parody and satire has been their forte so far, they can get serious at times too.
“We bring out serious issues affecting society in such a way, that people from different walks of life, right from the man on the street to an audience from the corporate world, can relate to.Our recent performance at the MAD Festival had a six-year-old girl grooving, and an old man headbanging too,” says an amused Amrit Rao, vocalist.
“We might be the only band which had moshing as well as the dappankoothu being done during our performance, proving there is no method to our madness,” Dheerendra Doss, drummer, adds chuckling.
Having played in various music festivals and corporate gigs since it’s inception last year, Live Banned admit to having a wide variety of musical influences. “Our musical influences are derived from 80s south Indian music, Bollywood, disco, pop, rock and metal. Our non-musical influences, which are more important, are the college professor we all love to imitate, a bully back in school, the good old auto driver we have all spent hours haggling with, and the self-righteous moral brigade in the country,” Amrit explains.
The basic ability of not taking themselves too seriously is what defines the music of Live Banned. “We have the ability to laugh at ourselves, right from the way we walk and talk to the sounds that emanate when we sing. We improvise on the spot, judging the wavelength of the audience,” reasons Dhruv Kumar, the guitarist.
The inspiration to start this unique mix of music apparently came from a two-minute conversation. “On a hot afternoon, after gulping down a few banana milkshakes, Dhruv and I had a conversation about what our music must be all about. I told him, let us remix some of the classic songs we have grown up listening to, add some heavy riffs and make it totally ‘dhinchak’.
Having performed in many radio shows, the band is now at work releasing their first music video, which will go viral by the end of the month. “It is titled Auto Tune, which is the outcome of the unforgettable experiences we have had with auto drivers in the city over time. It is also a clever take on performers who use pitch correction and vocal tuning techniques in their albums,” the vocalist signs off.