‘Aizawl’, ‘Mizoram’ are not names that one would be familiar with unless you’re a fan of home-grown blues and rock music. Boomarang, a four member band from Aizawl, Mizoram in the north eastern region of  India, has come a long way since covering angst ridden American band Rage Against the Machine’s numbers and playing their first gigs (including the Great Indian Rock- GIR) in 2007. Today the quartet, which plays ‘JUNK’ rock (a blend of Jazz, Funk and Punk music), and considered one of the country’s best rock outfits, is on the verge of hitting big time. Their single ‘Home’ from Luke Kenny’s ‘Rise of the Zombies’ has been well-received. Radioandmusic.com caught up with vocalist Atea for a free-wheeling chat about the band, their philosophy and healthy disregard for Bollywood music.

Excerpts:

A little about the genesis of your band- members/ music influences and style

We are a four-member band- PB Lianmawia (Atea) on vocals, Lalruatliana Hangsing (Boom) on the guitar, Joshua Zoramliana who plays bass and  Rosangliana (R.S.)  on the drums.

We first started out covering Rage Against The Machine at a small gig in our home town, Aizawl, back in 2005. What was thought to be just a bunch of guys jamming some of their favorite covers quickly discovered their potential as a band. We started out writing and playing our own music and soon won several competitions and awards.

Our sound is a mixture of some of the greatest elements of music ranging from Jazz to Punk, Blues to Metal, Reggae to Funk, etc. called, “JUNK” since it’s basically a blend of Jazz, Funk and Punk. Anyone who loves music can always relate to the unique diversity in the sound of Boomarang.

How has the going been since Boomarang came into being?

We first launched an EP called, ‘Rhythm Of A Revolution’ back in 2005. We had released some few special edition CDs for some promotional uses. Our first album (a self titled album which we always wanted to launch ever since the band started) is expected to come out soon this year.

We always thought that we're doing this band on part-times but we never really had time to do anything else. Ever since we played GIR 2007 in Delhi, gigs and shows never really stopped coming. We're not that busy a band, but we have been traveling reasonably often. So, I guess Boomarang can be considered as a full-time band.

Fast Forward to 2013:  How was your experience working in ‘Rise of the Zombies’? Is this your first project with a film?

We were stunned to learn that one of our latest songs, ‘Home’ was picked for a film by Luke Kenny. ‘Rise of the Zombie’ is a very interesting film; it is fresh, original and very different from any of the Indian films ever made. We were always hoping for a film like this to come out. We are truly honored to be a part of this project.

Zombie is our second project with a film, our song ‘Stellar’ was also used in a South Indian film, a couple of years ago.

What was the brief for the background music/ song- Rise of the Zombies?

Luke Kenny is always taking steps towards promoting independent Indian films and music. The band had met Luke a couple of gigs before 'Rise of the Zombie' was made. He had seen and heard us play a couple of times and I guess he liked the song from those events. Our part of the project was simple: Home was a song we've already written and we were asked to put the song in the film.

Do you think the Indian audience is more open/receptive to independent music- beyond Bollywood music?

We are not a very big fan of the whole Bollywood scene, so we don't have much of an idea, but it is kind of obvious the majority of the Indian audience is inclined towards Bollywood music.

The North east has strong musical roots, it is usually limited to the region. Do you think there is a need to expand the region’s musical reach to a larger audience?

The North east has a rich taste in both Western music and original roots as well. We need some means to reach a larger audience.

How open would artists be to incorporate ‘Indian’ sounds and styles?

A Fusion of Indian Classical Music with some Western Electro/Funk/Rock etc. is always very classy and interesting. But the typical Bollywood style of pop flavored, dance with lame English lyrics is always a failure.

Any similar projects in the pipeline?

No film projects are currently in our list. But our long awaited ‘First Album’ is soon to come out.

Given a chance, would your band be game to compose/ perform a Bollywood item song? Any artist/ composer you’d like to work with?

If we were to cover a Bollywood song in Bollywood style the answer is a Big NO!

If we were asked to write/compose a song for a Bollywood movie in our own style, the answer is YES!

Pentagram's Vishal (Dadlani) would be very interesting to work with.