By Heather Cecilia Phanwar
Rum and Monkeys, a new band in town, comprises a group of young and “carefree” music makers.
The band recently performed at the Hills Festival 2018 and swayed the audience with its original music as well as covers.
The band’s members — Atom (vocalist/rhythm guitar), Anon (keyboard), Daniel (lead guitar), Dominic (bass guitar), and Zothan (drums) — are all in their early twenties except Daniel who is the youngest at 19.
On the unique name, the young artistes say, “Rum means peculiarity and ‘monkeys’ are usually associated with tom-foolery and being carefree. Our music and we as individuals are a mixture of the two.”
Describing their music, the band members who were earlier part of The Rocket Men band, say, “The passion for music that we all have mixed with the frustration of being struggling musicians who wanted to make a difference fuelled us to form the band.”
The members come from different backgrounds of music genres ranging from classical, metal to hip-hop. “Our specified genre though would be Indie Rock/Pop,” they say.
When performing covers, the young musicians make their own rendition of the songs. At the Hills Festival, Atom was mesmerising in his performance of Ezra’s Budapest. The music arrangement was different and deserved applause.
Rum and Monkeys, formed last year, is steadily making its presence felt in Shillong as well as outside the hill city. It has performed in Guwahati and is now preparing for a tour, says Atom, who is also the band’s manager and handles all the gigs.
However, the young vocalist does not divulge much and urges his fans to follow the band on Instagram for updates.
Atom is the main songwriter and Daniel too helps with lyrics. “After the lyrics we sit together to structure the music,” says Daniel.
The band often plays its popular single, Back Again, which tells the story of a boy falling in love with a bartender. But it also plays covers and always has a set list for every gig. “The feel of the first chord followed by the first sentence, then a band sit-down trying to figure out the best way to structure the song, that could take days or even weeks before we actually are ready with a song,” says Anon.
Rum and Monkeys is set to finish an EP (extended play) and then will release its first album. “The topic for the album is one that deals with a man’s life, his dreams, his downfalls, his infatuation, etc,” the members say.
The young musicians say squeezing time out of studies or work for their passion is a daunting task but they are learning how to juggle the two. “We do have a dedicated time each week for practice but with most of us already working or studying, we do struggle to balance the two. Having said that, the moment we hit the jam room, that time is purely for music,” says Zothan.
Describing their year-long journey, the members say it has been both learning from and teaching each other. “As we mentioned before the band is a mixture of musicians from different backgrounds, hence some members are more experienced than others but ever since we formed the band there has been a mutual ‘learning and teaching’ process and we’ve gained so much knowledge from each other that is truly helping us as musicians, friends and as individuals,” explains Atom.
The members say the Shillong music scene, especially talented young performers like Gino, The Band Phantasm and LB King, have helped them work towards becoming better musicians.
However, the biggest challenge for them remains people’s attitude and the recurring statement, “Music is a waste of time.”
“So less talk and more work — that’s the attitude that the band represents and so we’ve decided to let go of all these inhibitions and negativity and focus on our work,” says the drummer.
The band’s music is available on YouTube. The members say social media has become a crucial platform for young musicians and they too have been benefitted in terms of promotion.
The young members believe in hard work and say it is crucial to achieve one’s goal.
“Hard work beats talent. If you want it bad enough and you’re willing to put in the effort, anything is possible. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough,” they say.
