Those rock stars of the 90s

If the city has a flourishing rock band culture today, much of the credit goes to a handful of musicians who set the ball rolling 20 years ago. The late 80s and early 90s had to their credit an army of local rock bands generating gigs along with an equally appreciative audience that was warming up to them. It wasn’t long before names like Fusion Ensemble, Strange Brew and Blackbirds were names that set feet tapping in the city.

Milind Date, who started learning the flute at a young age, is one of the pioneers of music in the city. A student of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Date wanted to try out something different so he along with some friends started a band called Fusion Ensemble in 1998. With Derek Julien on guitar, Roger Dragonnette on bass, Uday Deshpande on tabla and Sanjay Jack Barde and Sanjeev Pandkar on drums and percussion, this band has performed at 2,000 concerts.

“Rock music culture emerged in early 80s in the city. There were popular bands like Rock Machine and Hammer Smith. Tall Fat And Thin was one band which used to organise big rock shows. Music itself has changed tremendously over the years. The way it is appreciated is noticeable. We learnt by listening to various musicians in the city—be it classical or jazz numbers,” says Date.

Sanjeev Pandkar of Strange Brew formed his own band when he was in standard XII. The only other bands then were Strangers, Black Warriors and Waterfront which were popular. “When we started in 1987, we used to play at BJ Medical or Loyola ground.

People listened to only two genres of music - jazz and retro.”

But limited exposure to music wasn’t the only challenges faced by these young musicians. Pandkar says they had to deal with a lot of criticism as well. “None of us was rich enough to afford expensive instruments. But we gave the best we could with  practice and passion,” says the drummer.

There was Blackbirds, founded by Vineet Alurkar in 2000 when the rock band culture had made a mark in the city “That time we were the only live band in the city. We used to play at Jazz Garden near ABC farms. We had Dhruv Bhate on vocals, Varun Venkit on drums and Bhupad Limaye on mandolin. During one performance we played at five places back-to-back for five hours.  The college crowds used to be a part of our show in great numbers. But today, the scene is much better,” says Alurkar.

With more and more youngsters tuned into rock music, and Pune donning a more cosmopolitan look, there’s space for all kinds of genres.

Shitalchandra Kulkarni, the guitarist of the rock band Tungsten feels that Pune is going to be an unbeatable city in a few years. When they started in the 90s, they had to face many challenges.

“ In those days, the audience was as receptive as it is today. Only, now they are more open to experimental music. With global music
coming into picture, we have access to all kinds of music. Earlier, we had to wait for years to get an album but today it is available at the click of a mouse.”

Tungsten started in 1994 with their first tour with Apache Indian. “With Sanjay Subramanian on vocals, Dhananjay Bhogle on drums, Kevin Pinto on bass guitar and Sharmil Avachat on keyboards, we cut our first twin album. Bands mostly played in colleges, but we still managed to draw 7,000 to 10,000 people,” says Kulkarni.

Drummer Varun Venkit, who is still an active part of the music scene, started playing when he was barely 15.

“The first band I joined was Wishful Thinking with Prasanna Chitnis. Later,  I also played with Moon Struck and then Blackbirds happened. The rock culture started in the city one generation before me,” says Venkit, who uses his music as a therapy.