MUMBAI: Yet another multinational brand seems to have taken interest in the indie music scene. Converse, the international shoe brand will be coming to India in search of one band that will have a chance to travel to New York and record at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio in Brooklyn. An OML initiative, unsurprisingly enough, the band hunt will see Rohit ‘P-Man' Pereira scout for bands from five cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The road to Converse Rubber Tracks has touched the soils of Toronto, Austin, Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Beijing, Mexico City before putting Mumbai on its map.

'Band Hunter' P-Man, was rather tongue-in-cheek when he tried to make up a story about how the concept was born. Finally dropping the act, he said, "I do a bunch of work with the indie scene and have my own YouTube channel where I host a show called ‘P-Man music files', produced by OK Potato, where I cover gigs and talk to bands. That is what made them think that I would be a good band hunter." For Arjun Ravi, Editor Nh7.in, choosing Rohit Pereira was literally a no-brainer, when he approached him towards the end of February 2014. "When we decided to do this band hunter thing, there was literally one name that came to our head. There was no option B. We have worked with him a lot and are aware of his strengths. We are sure that he will pick out some really cool acts," said Ravi.

The Shaa'ir+Func bassist will be visiting college fests, battle-of-the-band competitions, jam rooms and studios. OML is looking toward an approach different from the traditional online entries or registrations and breaking away from the sort of one way communication that happens otherwise. "We are asking the bands to pass on links of the social networks they publicise their works on, be it SoundCloud, Face Book or any other platform. We will be sending P-Man to scout some new bands as well. He has been part of the scene for over a decade and has seen it grow. On the way, undoubtedly, P- Man will find a lot of mediocre bands as well. But that is part of the fun," laughed Ravi.

A camera crew will be accompanying P-Man in his travels, which will be documented and produced. His role in the activity will be to pick bands that will perform at the city level in front of a jury of respected names in the industry. These very names will also be headlining the concerts that will take place in each of the cities. The decision will be made on the basis of voting and jury results. "They will be Indian bands who we believe represent a kind of ethos, who pursued original music and are a success story within the scene," explained Ravi.

There are two reasons for Ravi's ‘super' excitement; One, OML will be sending a band to New York to record at the Converse Rubber Tracks Studios. Secondly, they will be trying to identify talent that is global in its sound for the first time. The promising finale, which will take place in Mumbai, is slated to start around noon somewhere mid-April at a roomy venue that can accommodate about a strength of 1500 that is yet to be finalised. Each of the five bands from five cities will have an hour to record a song at a studio which will be set up at the venue itself. There will a separate area for bands to get photoshoots, print merchandise and attend workshops on topics like touring, recording, merchandise, and so on.

"The recording studio will be such that people will be able to see the band recording and the gig is also open to the public. The whole idea is, not only will those five bands get that whole experience but we also want to encourage young people who are on the sense of starting a band and show them the possibilities," added Ravi. An interesting part of the finale will be that the five songs recorded that day will be given to every person who comes for the gig. "It will almost be like an album will be recorded," Ravi exclaimed. The event will have a screen printing outpost got people can screen print their t shirts, professional photographers and more.

The harsh reality that international attention is required for Indians to take a look at our own work, something P-Man has observed, but believes to be changing. "Sadly, that is the truth where a lot of people, who are into that kind of music, will not pay attention to local talent in India. It is only when someone from the outside manages to bring them out that people get interested in them. I have met a lot of people who say "No man, I don't go for Indian gigs!" But that trend is changing now, turning around. A lot of people are listening to local bands."

The past five to six years have been really important for the music scene and not just from the venues and festivals front. "We have some serious domestic depth in terms of talent. The idea is to change the conversation, not just have a one way thing, where we take the extra step. I really want people to think of this as something that will definitely impact their career in a more positive way, a way that will significantly or somewhat change the career trajectory of that band," signed off Ravi.