ROFOs Caged Authority holds a mirror to our world

How did a rock band from town find yourself writing an idea EP a few Burmese python whose household is making an attempt to flee a conflict zone? Rascals of the First Order (ROFO)’s drummer Sujay Hazra says it emerged from an off-the-cuff dialog about “invasive species.”

Talking in regards to the underlying theme behind their debut EP, Caged Authority, Sujay says, “These are creatures launched into ecosystems by people, usually for their very own profit that find yourself inflicting deep, irreversible hurt to the setting.”

The band realised a bigger comparability might be made about “how energy constructions manipulate and displace for management, and the way the ripple results are felt by those that had no say in it” and that led to characters and storylines for his or her five-track EP, which launched in June this yr.

“While we’ve used animals symbolically, the underlying themes communicate to human experiences — exploitation, displacement and resistance. In a manner, this EP mirrors world battle. That’s what makes it so related proper now,” he provides.

Originally a university band who regularly made their manner into town’s gigging circuit, ROFO’s Caged Authority is jam-packed with fist-pumping rock mirroring influences that vary from Soundgarden to Rage Against The Machine, Queens of the Stone Age and Chennai’s rock act Skrat. It alerts some highly effective songwriting not dictated by shrinking consideration spans, leaning extra on epic-length storytelling, with every quantity averaging at 5 minutes.

Vocalist Sivan Chakravarthy reiterates that on the core of the EP is their message of resistance. He took the Burmese python’s displacement (in line with him, it was initially thought-about an Indian species) as the muse to speak about injustice and existential crises in songs akin to ‘Python’ in addition to ‘Hardwired’. This python, with a beaver and an ex-army basic banding collectively in an unlikely alliance to take again management, type the lore of Caged Authority.

Among the highlights on the EP is ‘Feels Like S**t’ which appears much more rooted and playful in its use of modern-day life, invoking settings akin to visitors jams. Sivan says, “Lyrically and story clever, this music is an extension of ‘Hardwired’ the place the protagonist all of us knew transforms into the antagonist.”

There is a whole lot of journeying via molten riffs and solos on Caged Authority and ROFO really feel they’d not have it some other manner. Guitarist Pranav Kapadia says, “We have been centered on what sounded good to us in telling the story. Sometimes you want adequate textures, soundscapes and visible imagery so as to construct that world in your head. We have been egocentric about it — we did what we favored and left the interpretation to the listeners.”

The guitarist provides that they don’t essentially lengthen or shorten songs based mostly on an trade normal, however hints that the method will “hold evolving based mostly on the tales we wish to inform”. Pranav says, “We not too long ago wrote a music which is about three-and-a-half minutes lengthy.”

With the EP out now, ROFO are plotting a multi-city tour within the coming months, setting their sights on reveals in Mumbai, New Delhi and naturally, Bengaluru. “We wish to throw a celebration in each metropolis we play in and make individuals dance. And rock makes you dance,” Sivan says.

There is likely to be new music movies from the EP in addition to new songs. Sivan admits it’s “fantastic” in addition to “difficult” to be a rock band in India proper as the necessity to stand out from the pack is extra needed now than ever earlier than.

“We are sticking to constructing a long-term group of Rascals. We prioritise our newsletters to speak to our followers and are experimenting by way of constructing a digital group via different means akin to merch,” says Sivan.

Pranav provides, “We try to carve our area of interest inside this motion and up to now it has been effectively obtained; we now have made some nice buddies alongside the best way.”

Get the EP on rascalsofthefirstorder.bandcamp.com