International desi sounds

While it takes years for bands to get that one good deal and that one label that trusts their style, Altered Reality has struck up a deal with British record label Airex Records just over a  year after the three boys — Varun Das, Sanchit Bhan and Karun Kannampilli — came together.

Not that Airex is one of the biggest companies, but for an emerging band, it brings much promise. It gives them an initial launch in four countries — UK, USA, Canada and India and a UK tour once the album is ready. Most importantly, they have been given complete freedom in following their style — something young bands can only dream of.

“We always aimed at the international market. We want to be a mainstream band and don’t want to get stuck in the local scene,” says lead vocalist Varun Das. 
The band has rejected many gigs because they didn’t want to do covers. They strictly maintain that they will play only original music — the reason why you haven’t seen this band do too many gigs in the city since it formed.

“We’ve never played at pubs for the same reason and always  had problems at gigs when we didn’t take requests,” says Das. 

The band is currently recording the album which is slated to come out early next year. What will it be called? “We are thinking of calling it Big Fat something because this is our big fat album and our first big fat chance. But we are still thinking,” says Das. 

Bassist Sanchit Bhan and drummer Karun Kannampilli are busy checking out the sound they have created. It sounds contemporary with a distinctive style. If you didn’t know whose music it was you’d definitely wonder if it’s some Brit band. There is an international sensibility and it’s different from the regular classic rock and heavy metal music we hear every other day at gigs in Mumbai.

“Our sound has the classic rock element, but there’s also a lot of punk. And we have our bit of punchy songs too, but not real heavy,” says bassist Karun.