MUMBAI: Having topped every aspect of music making- from the arty, to commercial achieving much of the kudos, singer-composer and guitarist Lesle Lewis is following his heart and going back to where it all started- playing in a rocking band.
“I am going back to where I started as an 18 year old. I have a band of young musicians- from music colleges-and we have been playing as a band. The first few gigs were little hard to come but now people are appreciating it,” he confirms.
Lewis and his yet un-named band rocked a Barcardi Night show at Bhubaneshwar two weeks ago and are set to perform at Guwahati on 14 September.
“We play a mix of my songs, reworked Bollywood classics which have been re-invented and interpreted the Lewis way. For example, our ‘Dam Maro Dam’ is nothing like the original but it works. Our take on ‘Mera Nena Sawan Bado’- a slow ballad has been rocked up without taking out its meaning,” he explains. Depending on the audience they perform to, Lewis & Co. can also belt out rock classics from the Beatles, CCR to Stevie Wonder.
Allaying apprehensions of generational gap between him and his mates, Lewis says all are on the same page.
“We are on the same platform-the only way I am “above” them is that I am senior to them and I pay them. I have to learn also, so it’s a two-way street,” he explains.
And fronting the band is another aspect that Lewis enjoys with his band.
“When I was in Colonial Cousin, I shared the space with Hariharan and it was a give and take relation. Today people are surprised and appreciative with my singing.”
Lewis’ reinvention does not end on stage. Ever the innovator (his resume includes pioneering the Hindi pop and re-mix genres to introducing artists like KK, Alisha Chinnai and Sunita Rao to Coke Studio platform for MTV), he is also putting on the finishing touches of an EDM (Electronic Dance Music) album with Akshay and Karan Hariharan, Siddharth and Shivam Mahadevan, Shane and Alyssa Mendonsa, Bindu and Ambi Subramaniam. He is also producing an album for upcoming singer Shilpa Sharma’s album (on Universal label).
“Every time I reach a level in the different line of music I feel the need to do something new. And at every point I have been positive in the things I do and have set trends,” he points out.
“I started out in a band, went on to be a top session musician, worked on jingles, became a producer, formed a award winning band. Now I am reinventing myself as a singer- an artist with a band. I feel I have completed a full circle.”