Chennai band Akaash chase wanderlust and self-discovery in their first single, Kahani

The four-member troupe released the song earlier this week
Akaash, the band (L-R) - Ritesh Dharmaraj, Akash Kumar, Jitesh Dharmaraj & Vijay Krishnan
Akaash, the band (L-R) - Ritesh Dharmaraj, Akash Kumar, Jitesh Dharmaraj & Vijay Krishnan

One of Chennai's newest bands, Akaash, is a pop-rock outfit that was formed in June 2019. Comprising Akash Kumar on vocals, Vijay Krishnan on guitars, Jitesh Dharmaraj on bass, and Ritesh Dharmaraj on drums, the band aims to ‘carry over the indie flavour into regional music’. Excerpts from an interaction with them on the occasion of the release of their first single, Kahani:

Tell us how the band was formed. What's its core philosophy?

We have all been involved in the music industry for a considerable period of time. Ritesh, Jitesh and Vijay play for several popular indie rock bands like RJD, Junkyard Groove, Tails on Fire and Wacx, while Akash has been involved in the Hindi music circle. We all had a similar vision for what we wanted to do with this band.  

Describe the band's soundscape. What kind of themes do you intend to touch upon in your music?

The band members have several years of experience with popular indie bands and so the soundscape is pretty vast. It’s an amalgamation of rock, pop, dance and film sensibilities. As far as originals are concerned, we just released a single with a video. That’s a good starting point for us in terms of soundscape and find​ing​ our space.

Your first single​, Kahani,​ is a soft and gentle one. Will we see a progression to a heavier a sound in the band's future songs?

​Kahani is a more mid-paced song, a little bit for everyone. The tonality of the music and the compositions depend heavily on our state of mind and mood when we construct the song. And of course, the song has to be in sync with the lyrics and the context of the song.

What's the inspiration behind ​Kahani? What's it all about? 

The song is about wanderlust and self-discovery. It's about stepping out of routine to try and discover something about ourselves that we might have let slip due to our fast-paced stressful lives.

Is there an album in the making? Tell us more about it. 

We plan on taking it one single at a time. It’s also trying to find a balance between covers and originals. As far as regional music is concerned, it has always been heavily dependent on the film industry. That’s slowly changing, but as of now, we focus both on covers and originals. We have a few renditions of Bollywood songs that we have uploaded to our YouTube page - AKAASH THE BAND, and we have a few one-minute songs coming out soon on our Instagram page​,​@AKAASHGRAM.

Lastly, when’s your next performance? How would you describe the band’s approach to live sets?

At the moment ​Akaash is performing exclusively at weddings, parties and corporate shows etc. Since we are focussed on weddings, parties and corporates​,​ our current shows cater to all ages and all styles from hits of yesteryear to latest releases. We plan to go public after our originals garner some traction​, which should be soon hopefully.

Watch Kahani video below:

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