Indus Creed: They are back and how

The video of ‘Fireflies’ is being shown on the popular music channel, VH1 under the theme, ‘India Rules’. The song is part of the new album by Indus Creed called ‘Evolve’.  The band is one of the most popular Indian rock bands of all time. Formed in 1993, it  came out with an independent album after a gap of 17 years. The first album was ‘Indus Creed’.

The band was named ‘Rock Machine’ earlier, was formed in 1984 and was one of the few Indian rock bands to perform at college and rock festivals throughout the country. It was a cover band which played the songs of ‘Van Halen’, ‘Who’, ‘Thin Lizzy’, ‘UFO’, ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘Rush’. In 1988, the band released its first album, ‘Rock n’ Roll Renegade’. 

It was hailed as India’s first all-original rock album. In states like Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, where distribution was scarce, piracy was rampant. This was a sign of success in the north-eastern part of the country, where rock n’ roll has always been appreciated.

The band came out with its second album aptly named, ‘Second Coming’ in 1990. One of the songs from the album, ‘Pretty Child’ catapulted the band to international fame. The video of the song was placed in ninth position by MTV in 1993. It competed with the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna.

To establish a new identity and to give it a more professional appeal, the name of the band was changed to ‘Indus Creed’ in 1993. Disillusioned by the changing face of the Indian music Industry, two members, Uday Benegal and Jayesh Gandhi moved to New York, where they formed a band named, ‘Alms for Shanti’ in 1997. 

They played at colleges and concerts and even came out with a Hindi album called, ‘Kashmakash’. The band was dormant in the late Nineties. In 2010, the members of the band regrouped and re-formed ‘Indus Creed’.

The new album of the band is fresh and different. It has been mixed by Tim Palmer, the Oscar nominated mixing engineer. The current members of the band are Uday Benegal (vocals, guitars, programming), Mahesh Tinaikar (guitars, vocals), Zubin Balaporia (keyboard, vocals), Rushad Mistry (bass, vocals) and Jai Row Kavi (drums, vocals).