North East Special: Members of Alobo Naga and The Band opened up on touring Kolkata, creating music, their new EP, and more

Alobo: We grew up listening to many artistes and bands from Kolkata. We came here a couple of times and played at Someplace Else. That was one of the biggest venues back in the days. There was a pause because I was focusing on my solo career and the growth of the band. But we are happy and excited to be back again.

David: Our target was to not go to the same cities we have been playing. So, Kolkata was one of the places to re-introduce ourselves. We would like to see how the city receives our new music.

Alobo: All four of us come from Dimapur in Nagaland where people don’t think music can be a career option. But against all odds we are doing full time music since 2010-11. Today, we are living life with music. Riding is freedom because when you are in a bike, you forget all your stress. Music and riding is something, when we combine, we feel one.

Alobo: I won some competition in 2010-11 and for that I was supposed to represent India to Montenegro. I wanted to raise funds to go to Europe and invited some of the best musicians from Nagaland for the concert; and the best from there are still with me today.

Fung: We are still doing this because a lot of youngsters look up to us as we are the last of the pioneers left. We want to become an inspiration.

Alobo: Regarding parents and society, it was not easy initially. All of us have done studies outside music. But then we could achieve something in music and that shut the mouth of the society.

Nash: I think I was quite lucky because after the initial back and forth my parents were quite supportive. They knew that once I set my mind onto something, I would achieve it.

David: We are also smart in that way because whatever we made through music, we saved up and started small businesses in the field of music. We didn’t take jobs that would take us far away from music but we did have other means of income.

Alobo: We started at a time when social media was not there and gained popularity through word of mouth and traditional media. I say that today’s youngsters are in the best generation. You can make music inside your room and let the whole world know.  Also, today we see a lot of venues and Music Festivals where we get platforms for upcoming and professional musicians to perform. They are great platform to reach out to fans and listeners in person because otherwise you don’t have a personal connect.

Alobo: It happened by accident. My school had an audition and I went to visit. The casting director asked me to try out. Being an artiste maybe I could express. Three auditions later, I was selected. Jaideep Ahlawat and Tilottama Shome are gems in the film industry today.  More than the actor, Tilottama is a beautiful person. Everyone is intimidated of Jaideep but then he’s so friendly and nice to work with.

Alobo: Yes because it’s the first thing people notice. A good music video can make an average song beautiful. At the same time it can damage the song sometimes.

Alobo: In those days it was good option to make pocket money. Carry your CD/ Cassette and sell it. People genuinely bought that. But now it’s only streaming. We would love that to come back. We even released an album on pen drive. But sadly they are gone now.

Alobo: We want to reach out to South-east Asia through tours. Who knows we might change our genre a little bit, according to demands? Since 2010-11 it was alternative, rock now it is evolving to contemporary, pop etc.

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