Band: Grey Shack
City: Chennai
Genre: Grunge-Funk-Rock n’ Roll.
Although Grey Shack was formed way back when the founding members were still in college, the band made an explosive entry into Chennai’s live circuit at a city-wide competition organised by The Unwind Center, Chennai, in September, 2007, despite being just two weeks old. “It was our first ever ‘gig’. We were two weeks old when we won that competition,” shares Vikram Vivekanand, the guitarist and one of the founding members. This 80s fanatic draws inspiration from the testosterone-driven quirky haired guitarists from the age. His influences include John Petrucci, Frank Gambale, Steve Morse and Joe Satriani. This six-year-old band, admittedly comprises of, “a bunch of comics who enjoy inebriation… Sorry, music, and play an eclectic mix of Rock n’ Roll, Grunge, Funk and Blues. Thus the non-conformity to stick to a particular genre.”
In the next two years since their first gig, Grey Shack went on to make a mark at almost every live venue and competition on this side of the subcontinent until college ended and the band split to go their separate ways. The band released a well-received debut album with a new line-up in August last year. “A two-year sabbatical and a few line-up changes later, we finally released our debut album Step Outside, a year ago,” says Vikram. The band had been travelling and touring across the country to promote their album.
After a further re-shuffling of the line-up and now comprising Rohan Sen on vocals, Vikram Vivekanand on guitars and vocals, Conrad Simmons on bass and Hudstin Fernandez on drums, Grey Shack is riding high on their recent victory at the Mumbai leg of the Harley Rock Riders tour. The band, which was referred to as “the other Chennai band” until they hit the stage, went on to be judged as the best act of the evening. Grey Shack performed at the recently-held second edition of the goMad Festival at the Fernhills Palace, Ooty, and is now slated to play in Austria next year at the Europe Bike Week.
“It feels amazing to have won the Harley Rock Riders Band of the Year. The whole experience was brilliant, playing our first show in Mumbai at the historic Mehboob Studios and getting the kind of response we did just makes this whole experience that much sweeter. We are very excited to travel to Austria next year and intend to make the most of it. We have a former band mate in Germany at the moment, so we are planning a small 3-city German tour. It’s all in the planning phases at the moment,” says Rohan Sen, the vocalist, who is also an RJ and Music Manager at Chennai Live 104.8 radio station.
So, what’s on the cards next for Grey Shack? “We are currently in the process of recording a second set of songs, which will
probably be released in the near future as an EP. It is the result of some very spontaneous ideas that we had in the practice studio. The new sound is raw, a lot more organic, and a lot more energetic, making performing them live an absolute treat for the band and the audience. If all goes well, we should have our next release out by the end of this year, so right now the plan is to focus work on that,” shares the vocalist as the band signs off.
