Bengaluru band MudRoad revives classic rock with Eagles tribute show

Bengaluru's MudRoad started as a vocal harmony band man years ago. Since its inception, it has maintained to keep that at the centre of its identity. Country, gospel and rock genres are just interlinked elements in their music. Across its existence, the band has covered many popular western names in country rock and pop, including Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John and others

MudRoad talks Eagles tribute, Bengaluru’s evolving sound and more!

The talented performers are all set to take the stage in the city soon. And this time, they’re paying a tribute to the evergreen rock band Eagles in a show titled One of these nights, named after a classic number by the legacy group. Band members Sheridan Brass (lead vocalist), Daniel Selvaraj (drummer and vocalist) and Joshua Selvaraj (acoustic guitarist and backup vocalist) are all amped up for an exciting gig. We chat with all three of them ahead of their show to learn what to expect, what the old-school Bengaluru sound was and still is, what their favourite Eagle deep cut is as a band, and more!

Why Eagles? We first learn from them how the iconic band’s music has stayed with MudRoad since its inception. “One of the first songs we started doing was a song by the Eagles called How Long. The band shaped our identity as musicians because that’s where we saw our strengths, our harmonies and the way we blend our voices being reflected. Music is an emotion and we are given the gift to harness that emotion and culture produce it for our fans. There’s no greater band than the Eagles who have done that. Since we look up to them and they are so popular, it was just a matter of time for us to do a dedicated show to the Eagles,” Sheridan says. He further adds we’ll see much of MudRoad’s touch to the tracks on D-day. “We will definitely be bringing in our own elements because we have great camaraderie on stage and that’s what has to come through to our crowd. We are very close-knit and have fun on stage and that’s how we will channel our energy and blend it with what the Eagles have,” he mentions.

The band has now regrouped from their respective geographical locations and are looking forward make the best of their rehearsal sessions. With one of their first having just been completed, we inquire how the ambience and energy during such sessions is. Experimentations or surprising discoveries are definitely on the cards, as Daniel highlights. “We’ve always listened to the Eagles recreationally and have covered a couple of their songs in the past. But now that we’re doing a complete tribute, we’ve been studying their music and their lives. We’re finding a lot of nuances during rehearsals, especially with the vocal intricacies and harmonies,” he reveals. Daniel further adds, “We have a very solid band and our music director, Blesswin Winco, has thought the whole show through and put the music together. He’s getting the band together and making sure everyone has their parts in place. We’re just having fun during rehearsals. We have another week of rehearsals and we’re looking forward to the performance.”

Being true - blue Bengalureans, we were also eager to know from the band as to what the ‘sound’ of the city is or has become. Joshua delves into old-school musical identity that the city was popular for and charts the evolution to today. “I think primarily why we’re doing a tribute to the Eagles is because of the way Bengaluru appreciates country and rock music culture. The sound of Bengaluru has changed from the rock genre that people normally used to associate it with. I think we want to bring that back, in our own way. It’s lost a bit of its... I don’t want to say soul, but the way people usually associate Bengaluru with rock music is completely different now. We want to bring back that culture of good music,” he says.

Finally the band reveals that Busy Being Fabulous by Eagles is what truly captures the band essence. “Most of us love that song because it’s very similar to the music we play as a band. The storytelling of most of the Eagles’ songs is just beautiful. However, each member has a different top three songs. But overall, their storytelling and the way they’ve written their music have inspired us differently,” Josh concludes.