A cheap, patched-up second-hand guitar and makeshift drumkit were all that Jay and Manoj had when they started the band Autumn Leaf with a few other musicians in the early 1990s in Thiruvananthapuram. The independent music scene was not exactly thriving, and support was not easy to come by.
Yet, they persevered, creating some original classic rock tracks at a time when playing covers of popular songs was the norm. Though the band continued performing for four years, they had to part ways as careers came calling.
Bitten by the rock bug, they were bound to come back to it, which happened decades later in 2014, with the formation of the band Lazie J, which has already performed at quite a few venues. Now, back in their native city, they are attempting to create something they had lacked – a platform for independent musicians.
The duo is set to organise the International Indie Music Festival, a five-day fete, to provide a platform for upcoming independent musicians along with bands from various parts of the world, with support from the Kerala Arts and Craft Village, near Kovalam, from November 9 to 13.
It all started with Jay launching the Lazie Indie Magazine during the pandemic period. In a short span of two years, the magazine with the tagline 'Artistes help artistes', has featured upcoming musicians from more than 40 countries, with musicians being the contributing writers too. This attempt to form a musical community has helped, as some of them are now landing in Kerala to perform at the festival.
"I started exploring the independent music community some years ago to promote our songs. Our tracks received a lot of exposure on online platforms and radio stations abroad. This also brought us in touch with a lot of musicians from around the world. At a time when large corporates and labels control the tastes of the masses, it is important for independent communities to come together and promote each other. The magazine and the multi-genre music festival is a result of that endeavour," says Jay, who works in the IT sector in Bengaluru.
Performing at the festival are some big names, including U.K.-based blues/rock guitarist Will Jones, U.S./Brazil hard rock band Sami Chohfi’s Blue Helix, reggae artiste Anslom Nakikus from Papua New Guinea, Singapore-based vedic metal band Rudra, metal band Chaos from Kerala, hip hop-jazz musician Roc Flowers from Italy, Carnatic rock band Agam, vocalist Sithara Krishnakumar’s Project Malabaricus, Job Kurian collective, Lazie J, Rane from the U.K., pop-folk band When Chai Met Toast, Sherise and Lyia Meta from Malaysia.
The Kerala Arts and Crafts village, an initiative of the Department of Tourism, is supporting the festival as the large gathering, including visitors from abroad, is expected to give a fillip to the business of the in-house artisans here.
As part of the festival, Lazie J is also organising a John Antony guitar contest in tribute to the legendary guitarist who used to play in the band before his death in 2019. Santosh Chandran is the band’s current guitarist.
“Quite a few local musicians are getting the opportunity to play with international artistes as some of them need sessions musicians to perform here,” says Manoj.
