Music Spotlight: India

Rising at a rapid rate, indie rockers India thrill on their anticipated self-titled debut, answering the noticeable amount of hype they have built since their inception.

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The name India has been whispered in corners of downtown St. John’s this past year, and no, we’re not referring to the beer.

The rising indie rock quartet of Peter Lannon, Adam Engram, Jack Etchegary and Braden Howse have fast become the new addiction of choice for music buffs throughout our capital city, and we have a sneaking suspicion that the lads are primed and ready to morph from relative unknown to hot commodity in short order.

India have just released their highly anticipated debut self-titled studio release, a mere year after the four friends found their musical likings justifying a more permanent fixture in their lives as opposed to semi-routine jamming.

“We were friends first and then kinda thought we should start a band, because we all played music and played music with other groups,” shared Lannon in a sitdown alongside Engram at The Herald’s office. “It kind of came about because our other groups that we were in were either on hiatus or finished and we needed that output still. It came together really organically, which was nice.”

As opposed to chugging and grinding it out in the downtown bar circuit, playing routinely to minimal houses, the guys in India have had the foresight to limit their exposure this past year, playing only a number of gigs, with the majority of those being opening slots of more established artists, including the likes of Paper Lions and Newfoundland rock powerhouse Hey Rosetta! Gradually, the bands cult status and pension of delivering memorable outings has grown, to the point that anticipation for their debut release has reached a fever pitch.

“People are generally excited about new stuff happening around,” shared Engram. “Someone like us comes out and puts out something that’s enjoyable to listen to, and it’s a fun show. You can go down and have a good time, so people enjoy that. They have no reason next time to say ‘I don’t want to go.’ That’s kind of what we’re shooting for, keep them coming back.”

The record itself is part inspired by the bands separate interests within the music world, and part homage to their high tempo and fan-friendly live performance, which was candidly captured by recording guru Krisjan Leslie.

“It’s definitely a fast paced, super driven record,” Lannon shared. “There’s no slow songs. It’s indie rock maybe, but it’s different. It’s hard to pin it down, because we all have such different tastes in music and we’re all drawing from that obviously. You can’t really put your finger on it. It’s just too difficult. Song to song, it’s almost like the genre changes, but then at the same time it’s all within the same kind of sound. It make sense. It’s not like one song is a pop song or one song is a country song. They all make sense and they all have different tendencies to them. They sound like different types of music that we all listen to, and it’s changing now even. We’re all starting to listen to different types of music again and write new songs. The next record is probably going to sound different too.

“Another thing that we did, we really wanted to pay homage to our live shows,” he adds. “People are having a laugh at them and they are really high energy. It’s pretty hard to make that come across well in a record or recording, but Christian really hit it out of the park on this one in how he portrayed us.”

While the guys are still relatively in their infancy when it comes to their musical careers, there’s no particular end-game or blue print to be followed. For now, India and their catchy as all hell name are going to continue to rock with reckless abandon, and no one is happier with that then the four involved.

“We know that we’re having a crazy amount of fun,” shared Engram. “If people like it that’s great and we’re going to continue with it. We’re having enough fun ourselves to make it worthwhile. If we just jammed on Friday nights and didn’t play any shows we’d still be having enough fun to keep doing it.”

“That’s what it comes down to,” Lannon adds, “having a laugh on stage and having fun playing with each other.”

India’s self-titled debut is available online and in physical form at Fred’s Records. Visit indiaband.ca to keep up with one of the fastest rising groups on the island. 

One thought on “Music Spotlight: India

  1. Bernadette Meyers
    February 2, 2017
    Reply

    I am so proud of you, Jack, and what you’ve accomplished. I wish you and your band mates every success as you continue on your musical journey. All my love, great-aunt Bernie.

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