When I grow up, I want to be a Rockstar. Back in the day, Mum would smile at the enthusiasm and say, great but you need to finish your homework first. Thus, began the little child’s endless battle with algebra while dreams of becoming a Rockstar ended with a drum roll.
Rockstars were stereotyped as rebellious freaks and often revered but with the youth of our times, creative and ‘out of the book’ professions are on a dynamic rise. Rockstars have gone from being revered to respected, loved and worshipped.
We caught up with one such Rockstar, who had all the support from his family and was never forced into academics, instead his student life supported and gave platform to his dreams.
Sanam Puri, lead singer of the band, SQS and Samar Sanam, talks to us about his bands and the journey. The band, whose name was derived during a Times competition to hunt for the next ‘supastar’ band, stands for Samar, Quesh and Sanam, the first three members of the band. Later, the band included their talented fourth member, Venky for the finale of the competition. Now SQS consists of Samar Puri (Guitarist and lyricist), Sanam Puri (Lead vocalist), Keshav Dhanraj a.k.a Quesh (Drummer), Venkat Subramaniyam a.ka. venky (bassist and vocalist) and their latest addition, Rohan Abraham (DJ and percussionist).
The band was in the city recently to pay a tribute to Grammy winners over the years and while there was a lot to say in the interview, below are a few excerpts:
Q1. You earlier said you didn’t face any kind of contempt or barrier from your family and they always supported yours and your brother’s career choice. Tell us how they helped in the process and your journey until now.
Sanam: “My parents and teachers always supported us so I never really had to convince them about this. My mother, in fact, put Samar (brother) and me in Hindustani classical music when we were really young. Samar always had a keen interest in it, but I didn’t and was often forced by my mother to go for the classes. We gradually moved into western music where Samar picked up the guitar and once we moved back to India, our school, St. columba’s encouraged us since they were actively present in the music scene”.
“It’s only when I started winning competitions (and failing exams, he says meekly) that I actually started liking music. Winning made me happy and that made me want to pursue music since I didn’t want to study anyways”. In fact, Sanam even got admission in Kirori Mal College, Delhi because he was into music and the college has the best music society. “Fortunately I dropped out”, he grins, “within 6 months because opportunities outside of college started picking up, I joined the band Bandish, and started travelling a lot on tours”.
Q2. Which are the most memorable moments from your performances? For reasons good and bad.
Sanam: “I actually have two performances that I remember really, really well. I was doing my second show with Bandish in Chennai at Vellore Institute of Technology and there were around 12000 people in the audience and initially that freaked me out. While singing the song Saiyyan though, I got excited and in an adrenaline rush, I jumped off the stage. Now the stage was really high and when I tried getting back on stage, I couldn’t. I kept wondering how I’m supposed to get back on stage since there was no ramp or staircase leading up to it. To buy time, I ran between the crowds and sang for a while but when I made my second attempt to pull myself up; my zip got caught on a nail at the edge of the stage. I was pretty much left dangling there and I picked up the mic and continued singing. Someone had to come, get the nail out and pull me up. It sure wasn’t my intention to have everyone in the audience in split is”.
“The second show I remember was at Allahabad and during our first song it iself, I started running around on stage. I slipped because of the humidity and a damp plastic covering the stage, fell down and hit my chin on the keyboard”. With these bloopers, maybe he should stop running around or jumping on and off stages to which he promptly replied, “I can’t usually help it if there is so much of excitement and a huge crowds, I felt the pressure to perform well”.
Q3. Tell us about the balance between both bands, SQS and Samar Sanam.
Sanam: “Samar Sanam was always there. Later SQS started as a project for the Times competition but Samar and I had a lot of songs that we hadn’t released. SaReGaMa approached us and asked us to compose a few more songs like Paa hi liya, which we finished within a day and recorded it. We also used some previous compositions like Badalne Ke Intezaar mein in the Samar Sanam album. So while we are SQS, we are also Samar Sanam. We don’t neglect one band for the other and it is a good balance”.
Q 4. With Bangalore being a music capital and hosting various international artists, do you think there are more opportunities arising here for bands since it has been placed on the music map?
Sanam: “More international bands performing in Bangalore, while it is great, will not make a difference to the opportunities. The reason being that people like or listen to Indian bands for the Hindi music or the traditional Indian melodies. International bands perform here because the crowd is more in tune with western music than in any other city in India. The same crowd will not be attracted by a hindi band, which we are. All over the world, people know India for their hindi music, more than English and they will buy music which is original of the country because they have enough and more English artistes everywhere else. A. R Rahman, Euphoria and many others have found a way around this and relate to international audiences by collaborating and maintaining an Indian touch by way of hindi lyrics, instruments and the like”.
Q5. While performing in other cities, what do you do before or after gigs?
Sanam: “Well before a gig, we spend most of our time warming up, the band is very serious about warm ups and sound checks but we do have our fun on the sides as well. I have become habituated and before every gig I get nervous and tell the band that my throat is sore and I cannot sing.
After gigs, we prefer going home and sleeping but in Bangalore we have a lot of friends so we always end up at some after party. In Mumbai, we finish our performance and go home”.
Q6. The launch of both your albums, SQS and Samar Sanam, has placed you in a celebrity status of sorts. Have you felt the recognition from crazy fans rushing in for autographs yet?
Sanam: “I don’t believe in being a celebrity since there is no human touch to it, but yes, after shows we do have people from the audience coming in for autographs. Yeah that happens, I do not know why, but it happens every time” he says like it’s the most natural thing. “People in Bangalore though are quite undeterred because they like to chill, sit and watch a performance. They’re more of the salsa, jive and blues audience, more contained in what they do. In north India though, it is very entertaining for us, watching from the stage because everyone gets up and starts dancing. It is fun to watch them, it gets us kicked more and there is a transfer of energy each time”.
Q7. What is the thought process behind your compositions?
Sanam: “ There is always a long thought process behind a song with the exception of ‘On n On’ from Samar Sanam which we had to compose since we needed one commercial song for the album as well.
With the rest of the songs, there is always a communication about something we would like to say, or something we have experienced. Samar and I always discuss how things and situations need to change so as an example, Badalne ke intezaar mein Is about bringing about a feeling of change among the people and the world”.
Q 8. Which is your personal favorite song from both the albums and what is it about?
Sanam:” Our favourite songs would be teri aankhon se (from SQS) and Titli from Samar Sanam”.
“Teri aankhon Se is about this girl with the most captivating eyes. It is based on an experience”.
Titli was composed initially with only the melody and later Samar created lyrics for it. Titli is about female foeticide and neglecting the girl child. It is about this girl who is all alone because she has been left alone, yet she is not lonely and is still trying to move on with life by being happy”.
Q9. Out of all your gigs and interactions, which has by far had the best audience and why.
Sanam: “The best gig so far has been VJTI College in Mumbai and it was our first SQS gig. The crowd was unbelievable and they had this crazy energy. The best part was they knew some of our songs.
Another show that Samar and I had gone for, as judges will always be remembered because the last contestant sang hawa hawa from our album for us. It is always overwhelming when others know and sing your songs, it’s the most heartfelt reality”.
Q10. In the next ten years, where do you hope to be and what do you hope to achieve through your work?
Sanam: “SQS will always exist, it is permanent. All of us enjoy performing together; we are a completely in sync and get along beautifully. I personally will be singing for Bollywood, but as part of a band, we see ourselves bringing about a desire for change and hope to make the world a better place through our songs”.
Q 11. Getting tattoos of a band, fainting or standing hours on end with placards is what fans usually do for their favourite bands. Tell us about one such fan.
Sanam: “There is this girl from U.K , she is 15 years of age and she is one of our biggest fans. She got one of my pictures from my profile and edited it to make it look like I was straight out of the movie avatar. Earlier, we did not know her but we met her last year when she came down to Mumbai for the first time and now we are friends. Even when we met, she made a few sketches for us to choose from so she by far is our best fan”.
Q12. A dedication, any song, for the eight octaves users, many of whom will be reading about your band for the first time.
Sanam: “Eyes wide open by gotye, only for the lyrics. Take a listen.
From our album, Badalne ke intezaar mein, dedicated to everyone corrupt, everyone ill behaved and everything that needs to be changed”.
