MUMBAI: Crowdfunding seems to be a shining beacon for indie bands since Vasudha Sharma launched her crowdfunded debut album 'Attuned Spirits’ in October 2013. Taking inspiration from this is Mumbai based Sahil Makhija for the third season of his show Headbanger’s Kitchen, and Bangalore based psychedelic rock band Parvaaz for their debut album.

"We released the EP-'Behosh’ independently in July 2012. It was everywhere and it was topping charts. But we could not make any profit out of it. Wishberry (a crowdfunding website) happened by chance. They approached us sometime ago. It was only around October 2013 that we decided to put out the music we have made. We did not expect people to put in money. Now, Rs. 600 more and we will hit one lakh. A guy anonymously contributed 20,000!" exclaimed Sachin Banandur, drummer and percussionist with Parvaaz. They have, so far, managed to collect Rs. 99,400 contributed by 40 people. The target is Rs. 2.5 Lakh, which needs to be met in the next 65 days.

Apart from Wishberry, the band has generated enough good will to have someone support their music financially. Parvaaz launched their EP-Behosh at Counter Culture and thus, know them well. The Bangalore pub wished to contribute in a different way. "We started off an initiative called Pay for the Art; free entry for the gig. Boxes everywhere and people can put in whatever they feel like and all the funds go to the band," Sachin said. Counter Culture, then, came up with the idea of making an addition to their drinks menu with a cocktail named after the band. If people come and buy it, all the money collected in one month from the sales of that one cocktail, will go to Parvaaz. "Now we all have to sit down and decide what kind of cocktail we would like to make," laughed Sachin.

The album, yet to be titled, will have eight tracks in all. "Most of our songs are also untitled. We have been playing them for 6-7 months now; we road tested our music quite a bit. We call one of the songs 'Long Song’ because it is 19 minutes long. We have a 'Short Song’ which is 3.5 minutes long. We like working out our songs in the studio so they are still getting shaped. People say that our sound in the EP Behosh was nothing like our live sound. This time we have made sure that we contain the 'live’ essence in our recordings."

Speaking about the challenges the band is facing right now, the drummer said, "It was a bit difficult to put down the songs with a lot of jams, while recording. The long song has a long jam, and the track actually goes on for 20 minutes in the live set, and we had to cut it down. The whole thing is still taking shape so we really do not know how we are going to sound in the end."

On the bright side, listeners can expect a fine blend of studio finesse and live power in this album. "There are a few collaborations on this album, collaborations that are not possible live. We would like to keep some of the songs exclusively studio versions and make them sound grand. One other untitled track has a lot of collaborations; Seth on saxophone, Ramanan Chandramouli (Rama) from Bicycle Days, and Michael Anthony Diaz for another song. Other songs will sound exactly like our live sets."

The band started recording mid-December and is currently, halfway through the process of recording. They plan on finishing it up by mid-March and are in talks with record labels as well.

Sachin is a full time musician and runs a small consulting business. "I am a graphic designer and have been freelancing for a lot of people. I just registered my own company two weeks ago." Khalid has been singing full time and Kashif is studying mass communication. Fidel has been working on and off with his bunch of friends. "We all have flexible timings. Fidel has been working with this company for 3 years but he always makes it to the gigs and jam sessions and takes 1-3 months leave. His boss really understands him," explains Sachin.

The band looks up to Swarathma, Indian Ocean, Raghu Dixit and Thermal and a Quarter. "They teach us more how to live a life. They are superb people, polite and good. That is what we need to learn from them," said he.