Ever so often, you come across a band that will make you sit up and put down your drink, because you don’t want to spill it while dancing your feet away. Five months ago, Bengaluru-based Opposite Sex, with their quirky, relatable music was that band and now, they are all set to perform their pop, rock and jazz ballads at the Kitsch Mandi this weekend.
Think The Police meets Fergie by the way of Steely Dan� that’s essentially their music and it all comes from the fire crackers that are the members who make it. “I met Sid (Siddharth Gautam) in college and we’ve been playing ever since,” says Ragini Ramanathan, about her Zen-like guitarist whose personality complements her own bouncy nature. The two were earlier in a band called Plus One and when they bid adieu to college, they did so to the band as well — just not each other. Their drummer, Prabhu Muraleedharan, she says, was the glue that brought them all together. The lead vocalist and bass guitar player however always had a career in music coming — what with her parents being musicians too, among other things. “My ma is a singer and my dad sings and plays the guitar. When I was 11, he taught me and my brother Pradip, E Minor and A, and asked us to go figure out the rest,” she quips. Pradip also occasionally plays with the band. “He’s the hyper one with the One Direction t-shirt who is ready to play you your favourite Linkin Park riff, but can also rip you a fresh one – old school Stevie style, whenever you like,” says Prabhu, their 24-year-old drummer. Their parents haven’t missed a single gig.
Growing up to the tunes of Frank Zappa, Queen, Deep Purple and The Beatles, the band is a potpourri of originals and covers. Simply put, “I don’t know any other bands that cover Stevie Wonder’s Golden Girl, Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out and Scott Henderson’s I Hate You in the same damn gig and still play 10 originals that sound nothing like these songs, that attempt to describe their sound but have nothing to do with it. We play what we like,” says Prabhu whose parents have always supported his career in music since his harmonium gigs at six. Contrary to popular band culture beliefs, the members all have day jobs but still don’t compromise on belting out tunes like Love Lag and Nowhere to Run. Whether it is Vasundhara Das or their guru Bruce Lee Mani of Thermal and a Quarter, the trio are always happy when a fellow musician comes along and compliments their music — something that happens pretty often in their gigs.
While not teaching music, indulging in their favourite hobby meditation (or let’s just say that for the sake of political correctness), “We are superficial people,” says Siddharth, the crazy guy on the guitars, the vocals and a founding member of the band. Before you jump to conclusions — “Whenever we try to write deep songs with heavy metaphysics, images of stars and soul-searching, we fail,” he quips. But their immediate goal is to bring out an EP this year. While they try to zero in on which songs make the cut, go hear them live!
