Avial – The Interview

Avial – a name that every rock fan in India identifies with, even if s/he can’t make out a single word of what’s being sung.

Ever since the release of their explosive song, Nada Nada, along with an extremely slick video, in 2005, the Malayalee rockers have been a sensation, and along with Indian Ocean, are the country’s answer to a truly authentic ‘Indian’ rock sound.

The band’s popularity can be gauged by the large number of fans that throng all their concerts, singing and humming along without even knowing what they mean! We spoke to Avial and we hope their legions of fans lap this up. We look forward to more music from this spectacular band in the future, and eagerly await their second album.

Enough chatter… Check out the interview!

Namaskaaram aliyammare! You’re probably India’s most original rock band today. When you started off Avial, did you ever think that it would get to this stage? A rock band singing in Mallu being greeted with a huge reception in Delhi and Mumbai!

Oh no we never thought about that (genuinely ). We were really touched when we saw the crowd in Delhi and Mumbai singing along with us. We think that is the one of the biggest achievementss for any band or artist.

Do you think that no matter how pro-English rock we Indians claim to be, somehow deep down there’s a connect with music made in Indian languages?

Yes of course, English Rock is not the music what most of us grow up listening to. It generally comes in during the teens but the trend is that most of us forget our roots when we get into it.

That is one reason why Avial exists. We have a deep connect with our language and culture inspite of being rock music lovers.

Tell us about a typical Avial songwriting process.

We don’t sit prepared to make music .  It has to be something that comes naturally while jamming, and we always have a  portable recorder to record the tunes we make. Everything sparks out of surprises . At the end of the day if the music  still sounds interesting and gets us excited, we go for it and the next step is writing down the lyrics. It can also happen vice versa.

Any plans to further regionalise? Maybe a mridangam? Ghatam? Use of a shruthi box, perhaps?

If we make something where these  instruments are required, then why not. But nothing as of now.

How has Anand’s departure from the band hit you? Tony does a commendable job filling in of vox of course.

Yes it was unfortunate that Anand Benjamin Paul had to leave. He is the voice of the album and left the band just a few weeks before the album launch and promotions. We even auditioned a couple of singers after that but it didn’t work out so well with them. So Tony had to take over this job. And he has also sung two songs in the album.

What do you think of the current Indie scene? What do you think Indian rock needs to do inorder to get recognition abroad?

The current scene looks good with bands making more original music. Indian rock bands should pay a lot of attention to their sound.  It’s very difficult to get recognition abroad if your sound isn’t unique or the same as the western bands.

What’s up next for Avial? A question many fans want me to ask you is… When’s the next album coming up?

We have started working on our new album. We plan to release it later this year if things fall in place.

Photos credit: Aditya Jha and live pic by Kunal Kakodkar

Deepak Gopalakrishnan is a Mumbai-based rock freak, blogger and cartoonist. He blogs here and tweets here.