Music, the Ska way

Known for their bold attitude and tracks with socially charged lyrics, city-based band The Ska Vengers are back with the release of their second album XX as they gear up for a packed UK tour after performing at Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru.
The album is the band's yet another piece of work with the lyrics questioning the established order. Music has a greater role to play as the band has taken a step further from its signature tunes and introduced new elements.
The opening song of the 9-track album, 'Kick Up The Rumpus', is one song with heavy rock and roll elements establishing the rebels that The Ska Vengers are.

The album that came up in bits and pieces in the last three years sees the band taking off from their Ska and Reggae dominated sounds and venture into multiple new influences including Latin music, Jazz and psychedelia, with tracks like 'Afro-Fantasy' and 'El Cumbanchero'.
"The album reflects the band's evolution over the time, it's our sound, it's not typical ska, typical reggae. Over the last 6 years of us playing, it's the sound that we have arrived at. We're not trying to play within a bracket, there are no parameters," says the band's founder and keyboard player, Stefan Kaye.

"Two years ago Samara and I toured the UK and we were supposed to have finished all the vocals by then, but I think the long duration led to better creativity and we have improved a lot over that time. I'm much happier with our performance now than I was at that time," says the band's vocalist Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate.

With an array of collaborations ranging from saxophonist to a trumpet from Bollywood's retro era, the band has explored new opportunities, this time to create a unique fusion of Ska and Jazz, Latin melodies.
"We have been less restricted in this album. With the first album it was mostly about creating an impression as Ska was still new in the country back then, nobody really knew about it," Taru says.

'Afro Fantasy', a ten-minute Afro-Cuban track, is another
highlight of the album. A video for the track is scheduled to release next month. It has been directed by Sachin Paillai and Kaye and features Russian ballet dancer and contortionist Yaroslava Yaraslava.
The song also features French guitarist Mathias Durand who has mixed most of the songs on the album.
The band's line-up stands with Begum X and Delhi Sultanate on vocals, Stefan 'Flexi' Kaye (organ/percussion), guitarist Chaitanya Bhalla, bassist Tony and Nikhil Vasudevan on drums with support from Shirish Malhotra on tenor saxophone and Bollywood music veteran and mainstay of RD Burman's orchestra, Kishor Sodha on trumpet.

The band is now gearing up for a packed tour schedule in the coming two months, during which they will be performing in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru on July 14, 15 and 16 respectively before heading for an eight-week UK tour with a magnificent line up of 15 performances at various venues including festivals like Secret Garden Party, Boomtown and Bestival.
"It's going to be a great experience I feel, we are excited to play our sound for the people, none of the indie bands in India have made the kind of music that we have this time. Even Ska bands in UK don't know the genre well and the fusion that we have done will be an interesting thing to show to the audience," says Kaye.

'Frank Brazil', released as a single in July last year, was the band's interpretation of a murder ballad - on the life and trial of Indian revolutionary Udham Singh who shot dead a British official to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
"For us it is natural. Reggae music talks about life and things that concern us, not just in India but in the world too, so naturally this would be reflected in our music. It is not that we decided that now would be a good time to write a song about FTII or something. It comes out when you jam and talk about it, the music then brings out a lot in you," says Taru.

Interestingly, the band had actually prepared as many as 18 tracks initially but decided to use only nine out of them. The other nine are likely to be released later this year.
"We've only used 9 of them and for the rest we are planning to put out another album later this year," says Kaye.
"The way people listen to music has changed now. No one listens to a full 60-minute long album now, people start skipping tracks. We need to be cohesive. We'll put out another LP later," he says.