Exclusive: Underground Authority to release their new single, ‘Bhoole Na’

Siddhant: It’s an acoustic love ballad. It didn’t really take us a lot of time to make. It was done within a couple of hours. It is the fastest we have created any song (laughs).

Adil: The song came very naturally. When he (Siddhant) made us listen to it, all of us liked it. It’s a song that a lot of people can relate to. It is basically about not being able to forget and go past a certain individual situation or a feeling. Even the music for it was quite simple and natural.

Adil: Not really. It’s basically using whatever strengths you have. Previously our strengths were something else. Now, those are something else, and we have always believed in making different kinds of music. We’ve been influenced and inspired by different genres. This was an opportunity for us to explore the whole ballad space which we have not been able to do for the past 13 years. We’ve tried even with the old setup, but haven’t been successful.

We are creating the music that all of us always wanted to create. We have been wanting to play this kind of music since forever and there’s a severe lack of vocalists who do stuff like this. Then we found Siddhant and he’s always been the ‘classic rock guy’ right from the beginning.

Soumyadeep: As Adil had put it, it’s something that came very naturally and once you stumble upon something and you like it, you don’t want to mess around with it too much. So yes, it does have certain portions that make you nostalgic. Honestly, the indie pop element that you can hear is not the ’90s, but a much earlier pop-rock from the ’80s and ’70s — something that we’ve grown up listening to.

Sourish: It’s been a journey of constantly figuring out and a journey of new experiences. So for the past 13 years, we were a different entity. We existed in ways where we were figuring out stuff and stumbling onto things. I think for the first time in the past one and a half years, Underground Authority has been responsible for its decisions and it has come out as something that it wants to do rather than something that it’s become famous for.

Honestly speaking, we never wanted to be a band going up on stage and playing Bollywood music. We don’t have anything against it but in the past one and a half years, we’ve taken a decision to promote original music to showcase our music.

Soumyadeep: We were together for 13 years, so obviously the change wasn’t well taken. We were friends before, we have always been friends and we are still on good terms. However, the separation cannot not be a little bitter. The fact that we have existed for 14 years shows that there are also lots of expectations. People have literally grown up listening to Underground Authority, and the change has obviously brought out some reactions. However, we are very positive about the fact that we are in a space where we wanted to be for a very long time, and we are excited about the road ahead.

Soumyadeep: Speaking of live shows, we kind of ruined the scene. Because of us, this Bollywood rock thing became such an explosion. But original bands like The Yellow Diary, The Local Train, are independent Hindi bands, and they are doing so well. People now want to listen to original music and we have seen people like Anuv Jain getting popular too. Original music does have scope, but then again, it requires a lot of planning and how you channelise the marketing strategies, to make your song a hit.

Soumyadeep: It is, but it’s a trap. We are from a pre-Instagram generation and we are constantly having these chats with our friends, who say that “Oh your music has to be Instagram-savvy.” We tried it, but it doesn’t work that way. So you may target Instagram as a portal through which you want to promote your song. However, if you compromise on the musicality, then it’s not going to work. We released a three-song album, which was all one minute long thinking they would go viral on Instagram. They didn’t, they sounded horrible! (everyone laughs)