Weird hairdo. Check.
Style statement. Check.
Cool quotient Very cool. Check.
Thoroughly Hilarious. Check.
Insanity. Check. Check. CHECK !
Well. I need not introduce this bunch of amazing men to you. I am sure if you are reading this, they have performed in your college, or, you MUST have heard about them. Or, you follow them on YouTube for sure. I am sure you haven’t guessed it right, whatever man!
Now before I introduce them to you (But they don’t need an intro and it’s not even funny!), let’s talk about music. Now, each of us is deeply connected to music. There probably isn’t a day when you haven’t slept, pooped, cried, danced, decided, thought, cooked without music. Now I am not going to get all emotional and talk deep about how songs inspire and console us, and how it changes you and how you realize certain stuff and how it calms you down and how it’s your best friend. (But I just did!).
My basic point to discuss with you all is, because India is progressing, and here we (we bloggers are the best people on Earth. We run behind people and beg/beat/cry/entertain to answer our questions) are doing our homework on this certain campaign which talks about unconventional career options, I decided to choose Music as a topic to discuss. Please don’t throw eggs on me because I chose music as all of you, all of us, know that it’s not unconventional because it’s India and we are known to be the richest (DON’T BE SHCOKED) when it comes to culture.
Yeah, it is true but my focus is on BANDS. Any kind of Music Band. Basically, the Indian parents are still not convinced that a Music Band is considered as a Career Option too, and who said it doesn’t have money? LOL. It has loads of money, loads of respect, LOADS of fans, FAME, etc. And, you might have a lot of questions now, but sorry man, I cannot answer your questions because OMG, I HAVE THE UNDERGROUND AUTHORITY WITH ME TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS (thank me later) and I have the coolest Guitarist from UA to inspire you.
UNDERGROUND AUTHORITY.
EPR. The Vocalist who is funnier than Kapil Sharma, and he has the coolest hairstyle ever with unconventional hair colors and his fashion statement is way above Vogue.
BUBBLA. He plays the guitar. Bass/ Double Hypin’. Oh! He is such a foodie and given him a chance, he will buy all the brilliant restaurants and eat all the food himself. And, he never says no to food.
SOURISH. The drummer who looks like a stick himself. Looks wild. And aggressive. He is a secret himself!
ADIL. The lead Guitarist who leads a life of a gentleman. He is famous for his mother’s amazing Beef Biriyani. Also, his hobby is to sleep and bully people and he keeps lecturing everyone around (FOR GOOD). And, I am typing this article to you only because he agreed to answer to my questions. He is the best man on Earth.
No, this is NOT ‘UA’. These four guys do not complete UA. There are a lot of people behind their shows and success. Gujju (UA is very racist), Deeptarko and Ayan (the reason all these 4 guys have good dps and expressive videos), Bihari ( racist again), Hasan Bhaiya. All these people make UA, and of course, their fans. Now, here is a very interesting conversation that I had with Adil regarding Music band as a career and how they formed it and how it is an amazing option and not boring as traditional careers.
“Underground Authority” was formed pretty much by accident because when we were playing together, that is, Bubbla, Sourish and myself ( Adil ), we were in another band and EPR was in another band and we used to be rivals, but there was this mutual respect that was always there, deep down inside we all wanted to play with each other. We always wondered what it would be like if we got together and made a band.
Now what happened was EPR who was the host of the team of a show, called me and Bubbla as guests on the show and we started jamming and somehow we really just clicked and you know it turned out that we match musically and we started making songs and the songs that we made, we loved, people loved and we are so comfortable with each other that we stuck on from there”, said Adil and this is how UA was formed. Who said accidents are bad? This accident has made them so famous, so rich, so talented! Accidents are cute.
Anyways, so I have always wondered how did UA manage to take it forward, and if it was their hobby or did they really wanted to make a career out of it! I asked this to Adil personally because he plays for shows where Hariharan ji is a judge, Adil is the Guest Performer there, so I always wanted to know what it is really! “Well, for me, I was always fascinated by the guitar and music ever since I was child. My brother used to watch a lot of rock concerts and somehow the whole image of being on stage with the guitar before a huge audience really appealed to me. I remember right from the beginning I never ever thought or considered music as a hobby. From the moment I took up the guitar, I always wanted to do it properly and professionally. So, playing the guitar was my top priority. The same applies for the others as well.
Bubbla wanted to learn the guitar so he learnt it from me, Sourish was a very good drummer when I saw him and then he improved and EPR also, I am sure when he started Rapping, and he had this Image of himself that he wants to do it professionally on stage”. More often, I keep wondering what my generation would do with conventional career options. Like, we are known to break the rules and we have this habit of making something and earn a living. Our creative side is strong and what makes me think deeper is what would those people do who really wish to build a career based on Art but restricted because the stereotypical thoughts say that being a doctor is respectful, a 9 to 9 job is respectful, etc.
So, I asked Adil what he thinks about this as they have broken the stereo into pieces. Adil feels that Music has always been respected in India but not western music. “But a lot has changed over the years and to be very honest we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without the support of our fans and most of them are Indians. Times change, people changed as the generations have progressed and people have more and more open to music. In our country there are more performances and events where the Music Clan comes together. It was always rocky in the beginning, always will be, still it is not considered as a major or one of the primary career options in India but I am glad that we are one of the people who are doing it and there are a lot of people who are coming up and a lot of them have made it with music and I am sure the future looks bright!”
And Adil believes that India WILL accept other people like they have accepted us! And as we were conversing, I found out something very interesting. Composition in bands has stories. In UA, the story is different. Their taste in music is different, “Composing for UA has a comic process. We come up with random ideas and since all of us have different musical influences and preferences, the compositions that come out as an UA composition are very varied.
We cannot put this in a box and say that this is Rock Music or this is Hip-hop music”. Basically, everyone has ideas and they keep brainstorming and come up with something. But they do not play anything that they don’t love, there is always agreement, they don’t play it if they don’t like or love it. “You have to be pretty confident about it before you present it to your audience and we don’t think what people will like or dislike, as long as we are happy with the composition, we are pretty sure people will like it and if they don’t, we always try to work on that”.
So basically, this Calcutta based band has won multiple awards, and it is impossible to talk about it here because the list won’t end. As I was telling you all that UA has covered almost every college in India, so I asked Adil how it feels to be recognized because they didn’t plan the success, they received love from all over the country, they do more than 100 shows a year and all that swag, you know!
“It came as a surprise to us. People started enjoying our music, started watching us on television, so we started getting invitations at colleges, other people came to those colleges, saw us perform, liked us, they called us at their college, and it grew. It has been a wild rollercoaster ride. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that we have performed all over the country. Sometimes we fail to perform as our dates don’t match. It’s a very nice feeling. So, we went to perform in a college at MP and because they don’t have an airport, we took the train. It was a school festival going on and they welcomed us with garlands and all, singing, dancing for us. We stood there like stupid people and wondered how this could happen to us. You know we appreciate everything that people do for us”.
I also asked Adil to make it simple for the ones who wish to pursue it as a career as it is too much restricted and all. He said that one needs to keep rehearsing and researching and experiment. “Keep at it, keep learning, don’t ever consider yourself as a complete or a perfect artist because there is no such thing”. He feels there is no limit or age to learn music.
“Never feel comfortable with what you have achieved. Try to achieve it more be it in the form of art itself. All the best wishes from me and from the band. Don’t ever be disheartened. Keep at it and at the same time take care of every other responsibility that you have in your family or studies because very honestly you do not have to give up anything to do your art. The only thing that you have to give is your time and more effort”.
On a very serious note, I don’t think I have ever come across such a humble personality. It made me feel better after hearing the last few lines. Now you know why I call him a gentleman. Just like him, all the other in the band are as amazing as Adil. EPR is extraordinary because he doesn’t belong to this world. Yeah, so that was UA for you. Hope they made an impact on you. So, if you have restricted yourself because your parents don’t allow you, talk it out, show it to them, fight for it, and try not to fight with them. You know, I am studying Comparative Literature and I wish to be what I still do not know but I have dreams. My parents weren’t ready to let me get into Acting, I had to prove it to them in order to make them believe in me and once they got convinced, my father allowed me to perform in Delhi ,Mumbai, Singapore. So, don’t be disheartened. If you believe in it and sure about it, always know there are ways.
I never expected myself to be so motivating so please thank me for such words of wisdom. Haha. But honestly, it’s time you all give up on societal rules and do what you love doing.
To subscribe and hear them often, here are the links. Oh, I will post some funny videos too! Oh, they also composed for Dabbang’s Munni Badnaam hui Rock Version. AND, UA IS PERFORMING IN NH7 THIS YEAR!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQlYiP8uBTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEgCRI0dcZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9g6fC82LJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuZX8Wisbk
https://www.facebook.com/UndergroundAuthorityInc/videos/1062967853714436/
https://www.facebook.com/UndergroundAuthorityInc/videos/980056018672287/
https://www.facebook.com/UndergroundAuthorityInc/videos/1022734444404444/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPPPgYSMTyw
This post is a part of our awareness campaign #MyCareerMyChoice. To read more posts from this campaign, please click here.
