When people go to a live performance, the vocalist and the guitarist are usually the crowd favourites. But what the audience fails to notice is that the bass players and drummers are key in setting the groove too - they are the backbone of every outfit. In this segment we shift the spotlight a bit, and take a look at a list of bass players (in no particular order) who are creating waves in the indie music scene.
Nithin Krishnan Iyer
Nithin has been a part of a progressive experimental metal band named De'Sat since 2011. But that's not all he does; he owns a guitar institute called Sankalp where he along with his father teach guitar, while working as the head of the music department for a reputed international school. He hails from a musical family, therefore growing up listening to BB King, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth and AC/DC was as natural to him as Michael Jackson was to the rest of the world! However, as a bass player, he draws influences from Nightwish, Metallica and Opeth among others. He says "playing the bass is like swooning a woman, you got to keep with the timing while grooving like crazy!" He knew he had to play the bass after watching Iron Maiden play live in India for the first time, and considers Prakash KN and Reuben Bhattacharya as bass gods!
Kaushik Kumar
A talented bass guitarist who juggles between bands like Mad Orange Fireworks and Alexis while working as a freelance architect! Growing up, his influencers were Pink Floyd, Megadeth, Pantera and Michael Jackson. But after picking up the bass, he moved onto Queens Of The Stone Age, RHCP, Jimi Hendrix and The Police among others. He picked up his first acoustic guitar as a hobby to learn from his roommate, whom he's thoroughly grateful to. And then, as they say, is history!
Praveen Biligiri
Praveen Biligiri is the bassist for not one but three bands - Peepal Tree, Bhoomi and Second Hand. His journey to becoming a bassist, according to him, is a funny story though! He started out by taking part in a university competition along with vocalist Sujay Harthi, and since Sujay was a trained vocalist Praveen thought of taking up the bass even before knowing what the instrument was for! He chuckles at the thought of when he complained that a bass guitar has only four strings, but hasn't looked back since. His biggest influence was Steve Harris from Iron Maiden and the list goes on to Paul Turner, Garry Willis, Bunny Brunel among others.
Shalini Mohan
If you thought women can't hold their own in the indie scene, check out this four-stringer diva. She not only lends basslines for the folk outfit Lagori, but is also a session player who has performed with renowned artistes like Vasundara Das and groups like Allegro Fudge. She quit her day time job when she was asked to step in as a vocalist for an in-house band, but that was not all. She was later asked to take up bass duties when the bass guitarist decided to quit! It was love at first sight when she tried her hands on the bass guitar. She calls herself a funk junkie and is drawn by bass freaks like Bunny Brunel, Flea, Keith Peters and more. When she thought she could sustain without a day job, she quit working as a techie and took up music full time. She also teaches bass and music theory from time to time.
Aditya Patwardhan
Aditya is a part of two bands, Flu and Bauls and Blues and has had quite a journey since. He also works with the professional service firm KPMG as a day job. He first started out playing the acoustic guitar as a hobby, but quickly learned the value of the bass guitar when he first played it at a music store! His major influences are Cream, Nathan East, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Beatles.
Ganesh Krishnaswamy
Ganesh is a multifaceted power house! He is the bass player for Kryptos and vocalist for Bevar Sea and a member of jam rock psychedelic band SloHawk, which he started with Deepak Raghu and Rahul Chacko. For him, becoming a bass player came out of necessity, but it is a decision he is glad to have made! When Nolan and Ganesh were creating Kryptos, he started out as the rhythm guitarist. Soon they realised that they couldn't find the right person to take up the bass... enter Ganesh with the bass! His influences range all the way from 60s rock to Florida Death Metal and bass players like Roger Glover and Cliff Williams to Chris Squire and Geezer Butler!
Ganesh is a multifaceted power house! He is the bass player for Kryptos and vocalist for Bevar Sea and a member of jam rock psychedelic band SloHawk, which he started with Deepak Raghu and Rahul Chacko. For him, becoming a bass player came out of necessity, but it is a decision he is glad to have made! When Nolan and Ganesh were creating Kryptos, he started out as the rhythm guitarist. Soon they realised that they couldn't find the right person to take up the bass... enter Ganesh with the bass! His influences range all the way from 60s rock to Florida Death Metal and bass players like Roger Glover and Cliff Williams to Chris Squire and Geezer Butler!
Sandesh Nagaraj
Being the bass player for Myndsnare is just the start. He was the guitarist for Extinct Reflections, bassist for Fractalline and started two projects Serotura and The Sonic Chameleon, for which he composes and plays the guitar! His journey to becoming and being identified as a bass player began when Myndsnare asked him to join them. Till then, he says, he was just a regular guitarist. Sandesh's teenage years were influenced by groups like Alice in Chains, Pantera, Cynic and Megadeth and much more. His music now, however is influenced by composers such as Ligeti, Ravel and Stravinsky!
Being the bass player for Myndsnare is just the start. He was the guitarist for Extinct Reflections, bassist for Fractalline and started two projects Serotura and The Sonic Chameleon, for which he composes and plays the guitar! His journey to becoming and being identified as a bass player began when Myndsnare asked him to join them. Till then, he says, he was just a regular guitarist. Sandesh's teenage years were influenced by groups like Alice in Chains, Pantera, Cynic and Megadeth and much more. His music now, however is influenced by composers such as Ligeti, Ravel and Stravinsky!
Gaurav Vaz
Gaurav has been the bassist for The Raghu Dixit Project since 2006 and works as the programming head at RadioVeRVe. He says his mother is the reason he was enrolled in guitar classes when he was a young chap. Gaurav's taste in music ranges from Bastille to a mix of Indian folk music; he enjoys listening to Coke Studio too. In his college days Gaurav picked up the bass because the bass man quit! Long story short, he's one of the most accoladed bass players in India and it all started upon a chance!
Vickram 'Vicky' Kiran
For Vickram music did not happen by chance, it's something he grew up with. He's been in musicals like Curtains and been the bass player for Souled Out, Spitfire, Advaita and Raaga and is currently the bassist for All The Fat Children. He grew up in a household that echoed with country and classical music, therefore, it comes as no suprise that he picked up the classical piano at the age of 11. But that wasn't enough for this multi-talented music junkie. At a school summer camp, his music teacher encouraged him to start strumming the acoustic guitar, and six months later came the bass! Vicky says, once he shifted schools he met Prakash KN (former TAAQ bassist) who happened to be the music teacher at his new school. And in the days when internet was in it's formative years, Prakash happened to be the beacon for Vicky to better himself at playing bass by lending his music DVDs. He is what one would call 'a self taught' musician.
Behram Siganporia
A pilot, a singer and a musician? That's an amalgamation one does not see often. Behram siganporia is the lead vocalist and bass guitarist for the band One Night Stand and was previously associated with Mumbai based band Other People. Behram attended Bishop Cottons Boy's School, where he was a member of the choir and the vocalist for the school band. It was only when the requirement for a bass player came up that he was introduced to the bass guitar. He says his biggest inspiration is Sting; he admires him for his guitar and vocal skills. He also appreciates how Jamareo Artis (bass player for Bruno Mars) has taken over the music world. His other influences include Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney and Stu Hamm.
Matthew Harris
This experimental powerhouse is the bassist of the renowned Galeej Gurus. He is also considered, by many, to be the backbone of the band with his constant suprising acts of riffs and raffs! He says there are many influences that have helped hone his musical talents, but some of his favorites are Mr Big, Led Zeppelin, RHCP, Joe Satriani, U2 and Mutemath among others. Matthew's idea of becoming a bass player happened by accident. His reason? To miss classes and take part in comepetitions of course! He tried his hand at drumming initially, but it took a back seat as he didn't have a drum kit at home. So then he moved onto the bass and aren't we glad that he did!
Jishnu Dasgupta
Jishnu's journey to fame came way back when he was a young lad at Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur with the band Bodhi Tree, when one of their songs achieved cult status in 2006. He went onto being a member of bands like Southern Rain, Square One and Radiation Hazard, but nothing as serious an effort as Swarathma! His journey to becoming a bass player was by choice. Jishnu says, he was never too good at playing the guitar so he had to pick the bass. But the journey since then, has been incredible and he cherishes being the bridge between groove and melody. He greatly admires and is influenced by Indian Ocean and he says "It's not just Rahul Ram, but the philosophy the entire band follows." Jishnu is also a die hard fan of Sting and Nathan East.
Leslie Charles
Leslie is not new to creating waves when he's on stage; having been a part of bands like Allegro Fudge, Pipers and The Leslie Charles Trio (along with Ramanan Chandramouli and Deepak Raghu), he's now the bass player for Thermal and a Quarter! He started his journey when he was just 13, practising on his acoustic guitar, rewinding old cassette tapes to figure out parts and learning through an instructional book! What got him interested in bass was when he learned that figuring out chords is easier when you learn the bass lines. Leslie's father gifted him his first bass guitar when he was 17 and the rest is history. He has tons of influences whom he looks upto, such as Miles Davis, Tupac, Radiohead, Prince, James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Flea, Guy Pratt, Family Stone and Steely Dan and the list goes on!
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
For Jayaprakash, music is like breathing. He's been a part of several bands such as Cryptic, Arcane Ritual, Bevar Sea and now he's founded one of his own named, Djinn and Miskatonic (2011). He first layed his hands on a bass guitar when he was 17, a blue Fender Precision replica and he had fallen in love with the instrument instantly! Jayaprakash first understood the importance of a bass guitar only after listening to Steve Harris pull off some serious riffs, since then, he's had tons of influences such as Geezer Butler, John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce and Ben Shepard among others.Naresh Nathan
Being the bass player for Slain, Classic Wild, Soul Sonic and Jukebox is just a part of how talented Naresh Nathan is. He's also the content producer and post-production audio specialist for Aussie Corp! Ten years ago Naresh began his journey to becoming one of the most coveted bass players simply by fabricating a small lie, he couldn't really play the bass back then! He's been fascinated with the bass since he was in the eighth grade and loved to work on his acoustic guitar's last four strings to get the right feel. Looking back at the journey it's no suprise that he'd been awarded Bass Player of the Year (2010) by the Rolling Stones Metal Awards India and by opening for bands like Iron Maiden, Mr. Big and Epica to name a few. His air guitaring skills at the of age three and listening to Jim Reeves, Dream Theater, Michael Jackson, Behemoth, Slipknot and RHCP (among others) influenced him in honing his skills to a large extent. The bass players who continue to influence him now are John Myung, Billy Sheehan, Flea and Justin Chancellor to name a few.
Prakash K N
Many bassists have looked upto Prakash for inspiration. Therefore, it's only right that he makes it to the list! Having played for Thermal and a Quarter, Cryptic, Antaragni and Amit Heri Group among others, he has created quite a name for himself, not just in Bangalore but internationally too. He loves to form melodic lines while improvising and can also play the classical guitar as well as kanjira. He draws his influence from Victor Bailey, Steely Dan, Matthew Garrison, Victor Wooten and loves to listen to The Beatles, Tool, Porcupine Tree, Alice In Chains and Eric Trufaz among others.
Abhishek Michael
Abhishek Michael is the bass player for Inner Sanctum and Sheperd. He says, he picked up the bass when he was in high school and started enjoying it thoroughly when he started performing as a member of various college bands. He also says "it's the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off!" Abhishek's musical influences that help him shape as a bass player come from Rancid's Matt Freeman, Intronaut's Joe Lester, Karnivool's Jon Stockman and Klone's Jean-Etienne.
Abheet Singh Anand
Abheet is the bassist for 'Clown With a Frown', a funk outfit and a progressive-ambient metal band 'Tangents'. He hopes to produce his own music in a couple of months while also playing for the bands! He says his uncle is the reason he grew up listening to good music by bands like Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin and The Prodigy (which also happens to be his favorite band) and will be forever indebted to him. His non-musical influences happen to be books and FOOD (more than he likes to admit)! For Abheet, his uncle and his mom were the biggest inspiration growing up. His uncle introduced him to bass at a young age of 8 and his mum was always there to back him up! It was only when he was 16 that he picked up his first bass and hasn't looked back since. He loved the melodic and primal feel the bass gave him and it was love from a young age!
Narayan Shrouthy
Narayan transitioned from being a mandolin player to a bass player and that bagged him opportunities to open for bands such as Satyricon, Lamb of God, Metallica and Periphery among others. He's been the bass player for outfits like Myndsnare, Extinct Reflections and is currently playing with Lucidreams, Neolithic Science and Bajaow! He says most of his influences are derived from New Wave of British Heavy Metal and thrash. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer and Death have also influenced him in shaping his musical talents.
Jayawant Tewari
Having been the bass player for bands like Mutiny, Dry State, Kryptos and now Vital Signs, Jayawant has come a long way. His band Dry State, was the national runner-up for the first edition of Campus Rock Idols and he was an integral part of Kryptos' very first tour of Europe, making him a member among other musical legends. Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Geddy Lee and John Entwistle happen to be his influences. His journey to becoming a bass player began at a young age of 12 when he brought his first Iron Maiden album and fell in love with and I quote 'that thundering, galloping, growling and sonorous instrument'. Eventually, his first bass was a gift from his parents when he was in high school.
Gopal Krishna
Gopal has been the bassist for The Black Regiment for over eight months now, he was previously associated with the now disbanded band Gun Powder Accounts. He always considered music to be a big part of a person's mental growth, but he never did take a shining for the guitar (he felt it to be too mainstream). He did however like the feel of a bass and played it whenever he had a chance. He now kills it with his skills! His biggest influences are Victor Wooten, Cliff Burton, John Myung and Lemmy Klimister; while Municipal Waste, Overkill and Black Sabbath are some of his favorite bands.
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