Fusion in its new avtar

The Hyderabad-based band has Krishna Tejasvi as the lead vocalist, Naren Siddhartha as the Keyboard player, Shashank the Drummer, Jagadish the Bassist and Chinna Swamy the Guitarist.

Shashank and Naren have completed their eight grades in Drums and Piano respectively from Trinity College, London and ABRSM, London. Jagadish is trained in bass from Suvarnabhoomi Academy of Music. KT has trained in Carnatic Classical music for about a decade. Chinna Swamy is a self-taught, yet an amazing guitarist. Together, they will perform at Hard Rock Café this Friday, March 29.

Excerpts from an interview

What is the story behind 'The Jammers'? How did you come together?

It was not planned at all. We were asked to play at Vasavi College of Engineering in the month of March 2018. That's when Naren, Shashank, KT collaborated with Chinna Swamy to form this band. Following that, we gave a demo at 'The Moonshine Project' in the month of April and they allowed us to play at their venue every week since then. It's been a year now, and we continue to play. The regional music scene was good when we started off which is why, we majorly played Telugu and Hindi film songs. But, moving forward, we would love to create originals and perform them. We want to become a full-fledged band which will only be possible when we release our originals.

What do you have to say about this new-found space in clubs and pubs for Telugu?

It's a good sign. There is a lot of encouragement for Telugu music right now in Hyderabad. This open doors for many aspiring local musicians to prove their mettle and show what they are capable of.

What sets your music apart?

The way we interpret songs is unique. We are all trained in various genres of music. When all of us jam, we come up with new ideas; such fusions are an amazing experience. When we perform them, we get a lot of applause. We do western versions of orthodox Carnatic classical compositions and mashups of very old and new songs. We perform songs that make people nostalgic. We start off with a mellow set and increase the rhythm of the set slowly which is like a journey. This stuff is what we believe makes people like our music.

What were the best moments so far?

To name one moment is very difficult, but every college gig gives us that much needed high. The Moonshine Project gave us the opportunity to open for huge bands like Agam, Mahesh Raghavan (Carnatic 2.0), Indosoul and Kulam. To interact with such well established artists was also memorable. We have performed thrice on the TEDx stage which was very inspiring. We look forward too many such memories. We are just one year old now and still have a long way to go, hopefully.

How does this trend help you as a music band, do you see space for original music?

Creating original music should be the final goal of any band, at least that's something that we are eagerly looking forward to. We became popular with cover music. At this juncture, it's highly exciting for us to think of creating our own music. We are already working on our first independent album and we can't wait for all of you to hear it.

How do you feel performing at Hard Rock Cafe for the first time?

From the time we started, we have always wanted to perform at Hard Rock Cafe. It took 10 long months for them to reach us. We are nervous but are looking forward to having a great time. We are also looking forward to performing at other outlets of HRC across the country in the coming year.