An electric decade: The journey of India’s first Hard Rock Cafe

It was the late 90s and the schedule was pretty much fixed. Live performances from Wednesdays to Saturdays at Marine Drive's crowd puller Jazz by The Bay, and Thursdays at Juhu’s Razzberry Rhinoceros. 

“But back then, most young bands played only for food (as pay),” says Tirthankar Poddar (who insists we call him 2Blue) in his rich baritone voice. He also paints the picture: “Long haired teenagers in faded black t-shirts craved to perform for the adrenaline rush. Their parents may have disapproved, but it only stoked their fire.”

Things changed in 2006, Jay Singh and Sanjay Mahtani launched India’s first Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) in Worli. “It was a giant leap for the independent music industry. Slowly but surely, western rock found home in a country ruled by Bollywood. And this time, the kids didn't have to play for food (or adrenaline) alone,” says 2Blue.

The first launch pad

Rolling Stone India’s executive editor Nirmika Singh, who's also a singer-songwriter, says, “The first big chain to promote alternative music, HRC has also been the frontrunner and has launched more than a 100 artists.”

Cover band One Night Stand, which started playing for them in 2007, got a call to perform at HRC’s tribute night, Legends of Classic Rock. Remembering how the launch pad benefited them, the band's spokesperson Padmanabhan NS says, “Our first performance for HRC was an ode to metal. Since we played classic rock covers from the 60s to 80s, at least five to six people from the audience approached us for private shows. High-spending 40-year-olds also invited us to play at corporate shows. We grew with HRC.”

Within a year of the Mumbai launch, HRC spread its wings to Bangalore, followed by Pune in 2008. HRC Hyderabad and Delhi opened in 2009. Mumbai got it's second HRC in 2013. A year later, NCR got its second outlet in Gurgaon. 

Cover artists were a perfect fit for a place representing classic rock. “It was a great marriage of ideas with the kind of music they were playing,” says metalhead Sahil Makhija. But many feel it started on a wrong foot — asking Indian rock band Zero to do covers wasn’t artistically friendly. “But it is far more nurturing environment today with their property HRC Rising that promotes young bands,” adds Makhija, who doubles as programming head for HRC’s monthly metal nights. 

Over the years, their spectrum of genres has widened, observes 2Blue. “While the primary focus is still good rock music – be it cover or original – they also have EDM Saturdays and monthly metal Sundays among other curated events to meet customers’ demands”.

Popular among TV and Bollywood circles, HRC Andheri introduced monthly Bollywood Rock Nights for Fridays. “We aren’t into the shallow, cheesy entertainment; it took me two years to cull out 25 good songs that we enjoy performing live given our classic rock roots,” says the 2Blue lead singer. “Fortunately, the music of AR Rahman, Vishal Dadlani, Ram Sampath, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy comes in handy,” he adds.

Food friendly

A year after Worli’s HRC, Blue Frog (BF) opened doors at Mathuradas Mills Compound. But it didn’t hit them, as BF was about jazz, eclectic fusion and electronic. Comparing them, Makhija says, “Blue Frog was specially designed for live music; Hard Rock is more F&B focused, with brighter lights.” HRC stuck to rock and indie and we’re told the secret lies in understanding the current music scene and rostering the right set of bands. 

Many venues have cropped up since, with restaurants too drawing crowds with live performances and stand-up acts. So is the competition getting tough? “I wear two hats—a businessman’s and a music aficionado’s. It’s been 10 strong years in an industry where not many survive. Competition helps us improve and for musicians, I think it’s a brilliant time,” Jay smiles.

The road ahead

The 10th anniversary was celebrated with a charity auction for Bret Lee foundation that will buy instruments for underprivileged kids. Free-flowing spirits in hand, bidders opened their hearts and wallets. Within minutes, Parikrama’s guitar went for Rs 28,000, Usha Uthup’s kanjivaram saree and microphone for Rs 15,000, Euphoria’s iconic red cap (Jay himself bought it) for Rs 15,000. Shankar Mahadevan’s harmonium got the highest bid at Rs 1.10 lakh and close on the heels were AR Rahman’s studio headphones and  Sivamani’s drums that each fetched Rs 80,000.  

Jay announces an HRC privilege card for musicians and  indie music awards that they’ll host with Rolling Stone in February.