‘We have more audience because we are main-stream now!'

Say duo Riktam and Bansi, who are known for their electronic dance music
For those who know GMS, no explanation is required to introduce you to them. For the ones who don’t, they are called Growling Mad Scientists (GMS) and they play by their Sanyasi names – Riktam and Bansi. The duo play electronic dance music and psychedelic trance music. The Growling Mad Scientists started their journey playing music and DJing on the beaches of Goa where they got famous and the world reckoned their presence.
It is rather uncommon to hear such Indian names of artists. Bansi says, “It is our Sanyasi names that we got in the city.” “When we came to Pune and joined the Osho ashram; that is when we were given these new names and we stuck by it,” says Riktam. People all over know them by their Sanyasi names rather than their real names.
Their popular tracks have been by far, Hyper-active; Juice, Gladiator and these are the tracks that people recognise GMS with. Over time, the music has morphed into something that sounds very different and Riktam is quick to answer, “We are trying to bring these sounds back. It will be slow, but surely you will see the return of our original sounds.” Their change in the style of sounds from psychedelic, dance and twisted is striking and Bansi explains, “It is because of technology. It gets boring when you do the same thing as a musician and also as an artist. You have to keep evolving as an artist and keep doing something new.”
Trance genre has very few takers. And the genre that GMS plays has a a niche audience. Riktam adds emphatically, “Our music is accessible to more people. It is not just restricted to a certain group anymore. It has become more main-stream now and not just underground music.” So, that would imply that their audiences have changed as they now cater to a different audience. Bansi says, “It is not like we have a change of audiences because of the different sounds that we are playing these days; we have more audiences to our music.”
Since their sounds have become more mainstream, does that affect the audiences and their perception about the music. Riktam says, “No, it is nothing like that. It is about people having a great time at a party which is common all over the world. When people want to have a good time, they are open to music of all genres. I don’t think that our audiences have changed. It has only increased.”
Incidentally, the duo have not released any album this year. Riktam says, “The CD’s have become a Jurassic thing now. We release mainly online and digitally. We are also coming together and making a new record label.” Bansi chips in and says, “We have a lot of upcoming work like remixes of other music and our music. Our plates are pretty full now.”
The duo shot to fame with the Hollywood film Requiem for a Dream. Ask them if they are keen to experiment in Bollywood and Bansi says: “There is always a moment where you can squeeze in some sounds.” Indeed, when two different genres of music, culture and expression merge, they tend to create something new and out-of-the-box.