They may not be the winners at entertainment awards, make that recipients at the Marathi Entertainment Awards, but Moksh can surely be labeled as India's First Raag Metal Band and First ever Marathi Rock band in the World.

Rock music in India has suffered from an identity crisis. We might have produced gems from Indian Ocean, Pentagram to Advaita who have managed to crossover, but here is a band that has changed the sound altogether in terms of the language and the music.

The five-piece Thane based youngsters sell themselves as the first ever Marathi rock band. They all are hardcore rock fans and metal fans. Verus Ferreira met up with Sagar Joshi of the band to know more about how they rock.

How did you guys decide on forming a Marathi rock band?

The band was formed in June 2009 with an aim of creating raga fusion metal music and that’s how the earlier line-up of Moksh was formed with Ameya Gawand on vocals, Chinmay Agharkar on Guitar, Yamaha Asian beat best bass player Mumbai 2010 Sagar Joshi on Bass and Sumedh Gupte on Drums. Later on Pushkar Kulkarni joined the band on Keyboards. After winning 2 major shows in a row the band came to a point where seriousness of musicians was least observed due to easy achieved fame which led to a complete dissolve of line-up leaving Sagar and Pushkar carrying the band forward. After a lot of auditions and search a final line-up of MOKSH was formed with Mandar Deshpande on Vocals, MTV ROCK ON Fame Jimmy Alexander on Guitars and Shreyas Joshi on Drums with Sagar and Pushkar holding the same positions and Sagar also manages the band. After that the band never looked backward and has won over 200 major gigs all over and played 397 gigs all over India.

What was the idea behind forming the band, especially one that plays Marathi, were you trying to portray yourselves as the first to be Marathi band?

It was April 2010 and the band was working on their new material where Sagar came across RJ Jeeturaaj who was actually looking for a Marathi Rock band and fortunately by that time MOKSH had done 2 Marathi tracks. That’s how it all got into a full fledge Marathi Rock thing when RJ Jeeturaaj declared that he is looking for a Marathi Rock band and Moksh took the challenge and made 3 more Marathi Tracks and was declared as the 1st ever Marathi Rock band in the World on 1st May 2010 with a 3hr special show on Radio Mirchi. After that the band made 3 more Marathi tracks with Professional lyricists for different tracks. Also all the band members except the guitarist are Maharashtrians and they always had a belief of contributing something to their mother tongue which led to a very strong determination of making Marathi Rock music. If a Malayalam Rock band like Avial can strongly put forward their regional music and make the world believe in it the why can’t a Marathi Rock band like Moksh. The band is also a Raaga metal band with more than 8 bandish arranged in heavy metal format. The band is currently working on Hindi music as well and the band is also working on its First ever Marathi Rock Album which is about to release in November 2013.

What feedback have you guys got from other rock bands around?

The whole Rock scene in India is very co-operative and supportive and that’s why we have got immense support from other rock bands from India as they believe in originality of a band and they are proud to have a band in India with their own new genre which itself is a big achievement from a rock band’s point of view. 4) Who are your musical influences? Ans - We don’t have any inspiration as such because we believed in ourselves and we never wanted to sound like any other musician, artist or band. According to me all what we faced in the past years from ground zero to this place in the scene right now maintaining family and career actually inspired us to make that level of music and that’s why it’s so unique because it describe us and people relate themselves to it very easily. Also we all from different background of music as Sagar and Jimmy are from the Metal / Rock / Progressive background whereas Mandar and Pushkar are from Indo-Classical / Mainstream background and Shreyas is from Modern Rock background which led to a blend of all these genres and that’s how the sound of MOKSH developed.

Did any political outfit especially Marathi supporters support your effort in bringing out the band?

Well being the only and First Marathi Rock band in the world is itself a big tag in attracting the political influences of Maharashtra. But the band never wanted to be supported by political back up as it will take the band to a great height easily and quickly but will totally destroy the image of a band who targets social reformations without any help or any obligations. The band believes in power of music to channelize the youths for a better cause… language, caste, creed; society comes last for the band.

You guys are also into metal ragas. Comment

Moksh is also India’s first Raaga Metal band which fuses Raagas with Metal Music. The basic idea was to cut down the 50-60 mins bandish to a standard 4-5 mins format to grab attention of youths as Raaga Music is an extinct genre and it has to be taken and developed to generations coming forward. So the band fused the most famous format of Metal with Raagas and made it more electrifying and heavy which resulted in shows where even youths head bang and mosh to the Raagas.

What are the challenges you face as a Marathi rock band?

We have a problem with the organizers and an artist manager. Moksh never got an artist manager coz of it being a Marathi Rock and a Raaga Metal band and that’s why till today Sagar is only managing the band and got the band to this position. Secondly every organizer asks the band not to play Marathi tracks inspite of the show being in Maharashtra because according to them the crowd might not like it If playing Marathi music is itself resisted in Maharashtra then there is no point of calling Marathi as a Mother tongue of Maharashtrians. Inspite of all this we always play Regional Music along with Raaaga metal and end up getting more people helping us in Marathi Rock Awareness.

Do you feel there is a market for a Marathi rock band?

Well if we take it that way then only playing in English language would have been a profitable part for all the bands. But still we see a major of English playing bands in India still not getting to that International mark. We never thought that we are losing larger audiences because it’s our music which is liked by all and secondly inspite of being a regional band we are still doing 14 gigs a month which is a big deal even for a band who plays in English. Only thing I believe is awareness and once people are aware about it they are ready to accept everything wholeheartedly without any linguistic discrimination. Our next target is trying to hit the International audiences as well and make them believe in our music. So the market for a Rock band is always great if it’s maintaining its originality nevertheless of its language or area from where it is.

Do you have any plans for a Marathi album in the coming months?

We are almost done with our first Concept album named Swarajya based on life of Shivaji Maharaj and we will be releasing it soon.

What do your lyrics in your songs speak about?

We always focus on our lyricists to write about social issues as we don’t want only entertainment for people but they should also be channelized for the betterment of society. Like Ghe Bharari describes about atrocities the common man is facing and how he need to make a change in himself to make a change in society. Also songs like Hava Nava Itihaas which says how ones past cannot be changed and he needs to focus on his present to make a better future. Moksh has songs on Farmer’s suicide, women empowerment, poverty and injustice to the female child.

What do you think is the problem faced by musicians in India to make it really big?

The major problem is the need of the masses. In India we cannot have a “Djent” band or a Black Metal Band have mainstream success and glamour as it’s not the need of the masses right now. Sadly majority of people here follow Bollywood and that is why keeping aside the really talented biggies of Bollywood the rest of them gets immense glamour and fame inspite of them being less talented than the underground rock bands here. So either you have to make music according to the masses, be a big name and then start making the music you love… or start making the music you love in the first place and then start an endless struggle without any income to settle your music in the mainstream circuit.

Many rock bands have been formed and disbanded. What has kept you guys going since?

The fact that the focus of the band is so crystal clear has made the band going since 2009. The band knows what the band should be doing and we are so focused that we already have a plan till 2018 for Moksh and we are just sticking to the plan just like career planning ambitious peoples do. Confusion among members is the only thing in disbanding of some of the major bands in India. And thanks to a huge fan base and our amazing followers that has made our focus even stronger. P.S – Here are some of the important points that I want to share. 1. Moksh is the only rock band to do work with professional lyricists for different tracks. 2. Awareness and Promotion of Marathi Rock and Raaga metal is Moksh’s primary motive. 3. Influencing youngsters to take up music as a career and helping them in their musical journey is the secondary motive

Can you tell us all your band members name and the work they do?

We are all in our early 20s and have Mandar Deshpande on Vocals. Mandar also works as a Sound Engineer for Star HD, Jimmy Alexander is our Lead/ Rhythm guitarist working as a Guitar Instructor at Strings Academy in Vashi, Pushkar Kulkarni is our Keyboards player and works as a freelance Programmer – Composer and Shreyas Joshi is our drummer boy studying Airship Cargo. And myself as bass player and manager, I work at J J Hospital, Mumbai.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira