Nearly two decades ago, Indus Creed shared the stage with the Guns N’ Roses star at a concert in Bengaluru. Now, as Slash returns for an India tour, Indus Creed is opening a gig for him.
When he first met Indus Creed — one of India’s first rock groups — at the launch of MTV India in 1996, the legendary Slash (of Guns N’ Roses fame) said, “I hope you guys don’t mind, I don’t want to step into anybody’s shoes. I know this is your gig, I hope you don’t mind me playing with you.” The band shared the stage with Slash in Bengaluru. Nearly two decades later, they’ll be performing together again, at the forthcoming edition of MTVi Xtreme on November 14.
Mumbai-based Indus Creed will be one of the opening acts for Slash’s concert in Bengaluru. Slash (and Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators) will start their India tour in Mumbai on November 7.
Recalling the adrenaline rush from 19 years ago, Mahesh Tinaikar (Indus Creed guitarist) says, “It was unexpected. At that time, Guns N’ Roses were huge and at their peak. But he (Slash) was so humble with us.”
Uday Benegal, Indus Creed vocalist, says he was initially intimidated. “He was a rock star. He came in during the rehearsal the night before. We had scheduled a session with him, for a few mutually agreed upon covers — Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper and mostly Blues rock,” says Benegal.
Indus Creed was founded in 1984 as “Rock Machine”, at a time when people were reluctant to listen to original music and covers ruled the roost. “That was the culture those days. The audience in India did not like original music. The idea was ‘if you are a Western band, you need to emulate a Westerner’. We had to overcome that as we wanted to write our own music,” Benegal tells us. “We took a chance and went for it. Luckily, people accepted us,” Tinaikar says.
So, how did the mindset of the listeners’ change “Since we weren’t sure whether or not the audience would accept our song, we used to announce it as a cover of some unknown American band. Since music from the West wasn’t easily available, people trusted us, that we were introducing them to a new song. Once they responded, then we would say it was our original. Gradually, the audience understood the joke and started asking for our songs, like Rock ‘n’ Roll Renegade, Top of the Rock.”
After a good run till 1997, with three studio albums — Rock ‘n’ Roll Renegade (1988), The Second Coming (1990) and Indus Creed (1995) — the group split. They reunited in 2010 and released their fourth album Evolve (2012) after a gap of 17 years. “We were unhappy with the way the industry was heading. Indipop was in full flow. Recording companies were asking us to follow the trend, we just couldn’t do it and hence, disbanded,” say Benegal and Tinaikar. Inspiration and idols “We were just doing we thought was cool, trying to sound like bands we admired. But Van Halen was an inspiration.”
Favourite young Indian bands “Skrat, from Chennai. They are fresh, great energy. Soulmate from Shillong.”
Popular tracks by Indus Creed Pretty Child Trapped Sleep Fireflies Current line-up Uday Benegal (Vocals) Mahesh Tinaikar (Guitars) Zubin Balaporia (Keyboards) Krishna Jhaveri (Bass Guitar) Jai Row Kavi (Drums)
