Mirik & Gangtok boys to rock Asia

Siliguri, Jan. 31: A Pune-based rock band with a vocalist from Gangtok and a bass guitarist from Mirik will be the first group from India to take part in Asian Beat 2008, one of the continent’s biggest amateur music competitions.

The competition will be held in Taiwan on March 9.

The band, Silver, was formed in Pune just four months ago. Yet it came up trumps at Yamaha Roxx, a nationwide competition held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on January 12 to select one rock group from India for Asian Beat.

“It is indeed an achievement to be chosen for the finals in Taiwan. The meet is considered to be one of the most prestigious in Asia,” said Rishi Rai, who hails from Mirik and has been working in Pune for past three years.

“We had to fight against six other top rock bands in the finals of Yamaha Roxx, apart from 50 other contenders in the preliminary rounds.”

Rishi, a business development analyst by profession, teamed up with Mahesh Niroula of Gangtok who is a student at Fergusson College in Pune and the vocalist of Silver.

“Both of us desperately hunted for like-minded people who wish to form a band that would work on the mixed genre of new wave rock, jazz, funk, heavy metal and classic rock,” Mahesh said. “We found two local youths, Savio Sebastian, a lead guitarist, and Amit Godse, our drummer, and the journey began.”

In the finals of Yamaha Roxx, Silver beat bands from Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. Famous drummer and percussionist Sivamani was the judge at the event.

“We will be representing India in the international platform of rock music and are confident of making the country proud,” said Rishi, who was earlier associated with bands like Calcutta-based Cyanide Angels and Carnage of Siliguri.

This year, Rishi and friends will be up against bands from Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Philippines and Hong Kong. The winners stand to get a cash prize of $ 50,000.

The two judges who will preside over Asian Beat 2008 are Nathan East, a bass guitarist from the US associated with the band Fourplay, and Xavier Muriel, the drummer of the US-based rock-and-roll band, Buckcherry.