If ever there was a time to be excited about the Indian indie music space, this is it. With independent bands and artistes popping up all over the place, and fans becoming more open to experimenting with music that is not just Bollywood, the future of indie music in the country is looking pretty good. And with the launch of the Pepsi MTV Indies channel later this month, things are just starting to get interesting.
After wrapping up a gig atop the Red Bull Tour Bus, Bombay Bassment’s Ruell Barretto offered his insight to Radioandmusic.com about what the channel could mean for present and future indie artistes. “It is a brilliant stage. It is good to see that music channels are now offering a platform to independent music artistes. There are so many artists all over the country with really great music and we have seen that through the festivals that happen all over.”
The bassist, who along with his hip-hop/ drum n bass band collaborated with ViceVersa at the MTV Indies launch gig, also said that the channel will benefit everyone. Barretto is of the opinion that the channel will help all bands aspire to be on stage one day. He added that he personally liked the idea of a channel solely dedicated to indie music because he likes anything that promotes Indian bands.
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When asked whether the introduction of the channel would pressurise the bands into developing high quality music videos, Barretto replied, “That is a good thing. You need to come up with good music that you like and that others can also appreciate.” According to him, artistes should not only think about themselves, but also about their audience. With the pressure of making videos to air on TV, artistes will be compelled to make great music for their fans.
So does this mean Bombay Bassment is making some good music for its fans? It definitely does. Speaking about the band’s current endeavours, Barretto said that while they have been playing quite a few gigs all over, Bombay Bassment does have a long pending album in the pipeline. “We have been on the album for more than a year now. It has been in post production for a while now. Almost 80 per cent is done and we intend to get it out as soon as possible,” he stated.
Asked if fans could expect to see a few videos on the Pepsi MTV Indies channel, Barretto emphasised that the album was first priority. “We are not putting our hands in anything else as everything is going haywire in terms of timeline. Once the album is out we will go ahead with a few videos.” He did reveal the band already has a few ready videos like a home grown production by 9XO and another one that is really old. But they will focus on visually good videos once the new album is out, he added.
For now, the four-piece band is looking forward to some more gigging, and a small album launch tour that will take them around the country.
