Bands We Love: Faridkot

Now onto their second album Faridkot’s band members talk about struggling to define ‘confused pop’, a failed crowdfunding attempt and why Hindi lyrics make sense...

“We were in talks with a few radio channels from down South who refused to play our songs as we are an all Hindi outfit. That was seriously disheartening,” Inderpreet, lead vocalist for Indie-pop band Faridkot says. Faridkot, which is now working on releasing their second album Phir Sey has made a conscious attempt to stay away from crooning English covers and sticking to Hindi, a gamble that has paid off and earned the band a loyal cult following. “I was so moved by Amanda Palmer’s TED talk on how a musician forms a bond with people who like his music at a personal level,” Inderpreet, the lead vocalist for the band says. In fact they were so moved by the talk that they decided to embark on a campaign to raise money for a music video. Even though they missed their target of ₹6 lac, they did something even more significant — opened the door for other music bands. But, since marketers hardly attract as many groupies as musicians, Producer Christopher Fudurich with experience of working with bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Britney Spears, Nada Surf etc was roped in and the band got back to their core business — making music. The new album besides their own tracks also boasts of collaborations with Aditi Singh Sharma and Suhal Yusuf Khan. “The point is to take an artist and make him do something he has not done before, or at least try to get something new out. And it always is a crazy experience as you never know what is going to come out,” IP explains. The two year hiatus between their albums not withstanding, Faridkot are now concentrating on their third album which taps into the national obsession with Electronic Dance Music. “We love electronic music. Our keyboardist has just bought an analog polyphonic synth and we are mighty excited to use it in our third album.” You can also expect some electronic influences to be tossed into the mix. “We want to learn and grow and make all kinds of music. We are not threatened by any trend changes, and our aim is to make music that is timeless.” The band is currently obsessively touring the lengths of the country and is seemingly excited for their forthcoming album. Before signing off, we ask them about the theory behind calling their music ‘confused pop’, to which they humbly respond, “We want to make music that people can relate to, which makes our genre predominantly pop, and since we don’t want to stick to only one kind of music we call it ‘Confused Pop’.”

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From the May 2014 issue of FHM India.