MUMBAI: Delhi based rock and roll band – Parikrama turned 24 this year, and as part of the milestone celebrations, the band will be holding concerts across India. While the ‘Parikrama @ 24’ tour will begin in October, merchandise for the band’s anniversary is already available in various stores. In fact, a 24 hour online store with the Parikrama merchandise collection will soon begin.
Confirming the same, Subir Malik (Organist and synthesizers) said, “Every year when we celebrate the band’s birthday, we organise a tour. It started when Parikrama turned 22; and of course next year is a big one with Parikrama turning 25. We will hold 25 shows across the country with Seagram, and another 25 shows in colleges.”
In addition to working on the tour, the band is also tying up with a lot of stores to sell its merchandise. However, the band is not involved in the manufacturing of its merchandise; and only approves merchandise that is being put up for sale at these stores. “My Dream Store, Freecultr, Speaking Walls and Jack Of All Threads are the stores that have our merchandise. Apart from these, we are also working towards a 24×7 online store very soon. So, a lot is happening for Parikrama,” added Malik.
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Parikrama is also working on new material for the upcoming tour and NH7 Weekender. “We are writing a lot of new stuff. We have ‘Sweet As Sure’ and ‘How Do We Decide It?’ amongst many other songs last year. And this year we are working on four or five more songs, but they do not have titles as yet. We are also doing three NH7 concerts this year, so we are also getting material for those ready. ‘As The Rain Will Fall’ is one song that we sang only on our USA tour on Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center in 2011, but we plan to play it this time,” said the musician.
He revealed that the track had been kept on the backburner for a while as the band did not like it post their performance. But, this time they will be playing a transformed version of it, along with ‘Life Is Certain’. Malik also said that the band will release ‘Life Is Certain’ with a new bunch of songs.
In the last 24 years as a band, Parikrama has never released a full length, and does not plan to anytime soon either. Commenting on that, Malik said, “We have sponsors for the same in place. Everything is ready, we just have to go to the studio and start recording. But, then we do so many gigs it gets a little difficult to work towards it. And frankly speaking, when we started Parikrama, the idea was that it will not be an earning source for any of us; it is a passion and it stays that way. With that thought in mind, we made a rule in 1991 that we would never financially depend on the band. Every member has his own business from where the main earning comes. In fact, we would have had so much more time had we only focused on the band,” stated the musician.
Even as they turn 24, Parikrama feels as young as ever. “It has always been great fun. Even today when we are together, we have a ball of a time. That is what keeps us together,” Malik confessed.
