Wacx: Deriving music from everyday problems

Chennai based five-member band, Wacx, who came together for the love of hard rock/alternative funk music, recently released their debut album, EP, Scramble, in a motive to make people understand the feel of their music. The team is planning to go on a national tour – Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Kolkata, to perform these six songs. Ashwath Nair, the vocalist of the band, says, “We composed these songs for past one and half years, and only now we have released the digital version of it, as we are satisfied with the output.” The band is all set to launch the album on February 9 by performing all six tracks at Savera Hotel’s Bay 146.  

He also says that the songs of Scramble don’t talk about politics, social issues, love or destruction which is quite common. “We drew inspiration from real life situations, and build lyrics in such a manner that people can easily relate to. It’s all about problems faced by people on day-to-day basis, with a bit of motivation at the end,” says Ashwath. 

The band members come from myriad backgrounds – a photographer, a real estate mogul, a content writer, a racer and a designer came! It was initially formed in 2016, by Jitesh James Dharmaraj, the bass guitarist of the band. He was joined by vocalist Brian Paiva, guitarist Vijay Krishnan and Preetham Dev Moses (drummer).”In fact, I am the newest addition to the band. As I have been shooting music shows for the past 12 years, I got acquainted with many other bands, too. I know these guys for quite a few years, and finally decided to move back from Bengaluru to Chennai to be a part of it,” says Ashwath. 

Talking about the growth of independent musicians, and bands in the city, he says, “It’s true that we have an abundance of talent in Chennai but what hurts is that, unlike Bengaluru, we don’t have proper venues to make it big. We just have Bay 146 and East Coast Indie fest to showcase our performances. Other than that, we don’t have anything at all.” He adds. “Music events should be marketed in a proper way, and there must be a value for it. Only then the city will turn into a musical hub.” 

Ask them if they are going to expand the band by bringing in new musicians, he says, “To be frank, we like the sound we have created, and it really syncs well. We are in no idea to expand the band, as we are currently focusing on taking the band closer to people.”