College bands rock the city malls with their music

The city is slowing opening up to the concept of live music and is providing opportunities for up and coming college bands to show their mettle. While the domain of college bands was limited to cultural events such as SRM Milan, MCC Deepwoods and IIT Saarang, students are now boldly pushing the horizon by taking up gigs outside the purview of cultural events. Johnson Thomas, a second year English Literature student of Loyola College and a member of the alternate rock band The Rebel says, “Currently many pubs in the city are eager to hire college bands. Malls are the other venues where students get an opportunity to perform. On most weeks, you will find college bands performing at Phoenix Market City.”   

Stevie Joe, a student of Madras Christian College and the frontman for the band Nobody and Hoel says, “Earlier, bands would invariably disband at the end of college. But with the growing audience for live music, we have the space to grow as artists and take up music as an alternative career path.”  

However, on the flipside, the infrastructure needed to launch college bands is still lacking in the city. Students are faced with a dearth of record labels that are willing to promote them. “Record labels are not the best avenues for us to promote our music. We prefer SoundCloud, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter to spread the word and stay connected. In the event we do release out music it is an independent venture by the bands themselves,” adds Johnson.