Many facets of Faridkot

Mumbai:Well begun is half done and the year 2014 has indeed been looking up for the pop-folk-rock unit Faridkot which has gone mainstream with its latest project. A reason good enough to celebrate, isn’t it! Further good news is that the band is also composing the Indian song for Expendables 3, another sequel from the hugely popular American action film franchisee Expendables. Titled Mastaaney, the song will be performed by the band at the movie’s premiere in Mumbai this month. Regularly belting out their tracks at gigs staged in Delhi, the bandsters recently released their second album after a brief lull.

Given that The Expendables series has a major fan following back home, Faridkot had to make sure that the track was catchy yet relatable. Talking about their brand new composition, vocalist I.P. Singh says: “Expendables is a huge concept abroad and within the country too. I think it is as big as Indiana Jones. While scoring its music, we always kept in mind to make the number come across as grand, aptly complementing the cinematic visuals and at the same time, easily hummable by the audience.”

Digging up its back-story, one would find that the band was going through a transitional phase since 2012 as a handful few members drifted away from its fold. In fact, this split had proved to be one of the major setbacks as well as inspiration for the band to learn lessons, evolve and move on on the road ahead.

Singh notes: “As time passes, a band no longer remains just an outfit. See we have been friends first, then stayed together through thick and thin for over a period and have even shared a part of our lives. It was a chaotic, emotional time for all of us.” Incidentally, the Faridkot boys refused to plainly dwell on those emotions. Rather they nurtured their feelings and thoughts to form the crux of their next compilation Phir Se? which had hit the stands, earlier this June.

Reflecting back, Singh confirms: “It was our way of looking for answers and a throwback at what we’ve had learnt so far. Fact is, we never tried to be preachy with this album but have only poured in all our experiences into clubbing it. We believe that each individual life carries a tale which makes him/her unique from one another.”

The USP of Phir Se? is that it sounds different from the usual signature tunes of Faridkot. The band has purposely steered away from their conventional route to create something out of the box for their musical endeavour. “For Phir Se?, I think we got much bolder when it came to experimenting with the genres. Precisely, we became more visual with this chapter and have even gambled with our style. Nature emerged as the centrepiece of our album wherein we depicted beauty and talked about the mountains and the Mother Earth. We have also upped our production value from our previous project,” explains the Faridkot frontman.