When some of us were busy being dazzled by the names of the Spice Girls, reruns of The Nutty Professor and by the birth of video games, a band was quietly roaring into existence somewhere in the by lanes of Kolkata. Skinny Alley they called themselves after the Hindi phrase “Patli galli...”, rising since 1996 as a pop, soul and disco machine. We speak to the band’s drummer, Jivraj Singh as the band showcased some of their moves here in Bengaluru at a gig recently.
“The band was a result of Jayashree Singh, Amyt Datta and Gyan Singh playing together since the 80s. They started writing original material in the early 90s, informed by their exploration of a vast and varied body of music in earlier cover bands,” says Jivraj.
Subsequently, the pioneers on the indie music scene went on to release their debut album, Escape The Roar on a major label, making it one of the first English language albums to be released by an Indian band. Although they do have a late night alter-ego to their band in the form of Pinknoise, an outfit formed in the direction of experimenting in fusion and electronic, they insist that they “don’t really think about influences anymore”, although some of their favourites are Steely Dan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joni Mitchell and Weather Report. “Pinknoise began when I started playing drums and brought an interest in design, film and technology to the drawing board. Electronic music is very strongly connected to those worlds, but Pinknoise wasn’t expressly started to dabble in electronica,” reveals the youngster who has quickly risen to popularity after his graduation from the influential Red Bull Music Academy and his tryst with Coke Studios.
With the two projects on very different tangents in scope and intention, they don’t find the necessity for adaption from one genre to another. “While Pinknoise is a purely original band in the spirit of the avant-garde, Skinny Alley has begun to focus on doing reworks of the best songs that the worlds of dance, pop and soul music have to offer,” says Jiver about the projects, for both of which he features as a drummer alongside his mother, Jayashree on vocals, guitarist Amyt Datta and before his passing, Jiver’s bassist father, Gyan Singh.
They’ve been on the scene awhile, their sound is definitely here to stay and their gigs are bursting with people across ages. Ask them how they connect with youngsters and they shrug, “We don’t think about it. We just make music to connect with people; not “young” people.” Although intrinsic to Kolkata’s pop culture, they enthrall crowds across the country, “A gig is a gig – you bring your A game, gauge the vibe and give the moment your best energy,” they reveal, bursting with pride every time they go on stage and see faces light up, thanks to their music, like it did at The Humming Tree recently.
On virtue of being together for so long, Skinny Alley has developed into something more than a band – a collective, a family if you will. “We make it a point to eat a meal together on an almost weekly basis,” quips Jiver. As of now, Skinny Alley has no plans to write new music and Pinknoise, on the other hand according to the young percussionist, exists purely to move forward into the unknown, striving to always be a step ahead of whatever the “scene” may be.
