Aseem Bhatti,Vivek High School, Chandigarh : Vivek High School’s growing up to the band revolution and this year, a group of 15 and 16 year olds have grouped themselves into an alternative, hard rock band called Renegades of Funk. Debuting with their performance at the Annual Founder’s Week in the school this coming November 5 to 8, 2008 – the 6 member band will be playing popular songs from the just released cult movie, Rock On – Socha Hai and Sinbad the Sailor.
Greenday covers Time of your life, Wake me up when September Ends and Holiday. Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done. an old Indus Creed number But It Rained, Bon Jovi’s The Story of My Life. Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. And they have their own original composition – an instrumental called anonymous. Here are the members.
Akshat Chauhan (Rhythm Guitar and vocals)
Aseem Bhatti (Co-lead & Rhythm Guitar)
Jappreet Singh (Percussions & Drums)
Ramit Singh Chawla (Keyboard)
Tushar Gajwani (Bass Guitar)
Uday Vir Garg (Co-lead & Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals)
Aseem Bhatti:
I have been involved with music since grade 5 when I joined the school orchestra. For two years I played the keyboard but then I started learning the guitar. Thereafter I have played the guitar for the orchestra of which I have been a part of for 5 years now. But I still wasn’t satisfied with myself and my involvement in music. So I decided to take the opportunity and join the band.
The band has been there for a while now with performances every now and then but it hadn’t been really appreciated very well. But this performance in the founders will be the most major and by the far one with the maximum magnitude so far. The genre of the band is alternative/indie/hard rock. We will be playing round about 8 songs out of which one is our own instrumental composition. Others are songs from the famous Linkin Park, Greenday, BonJovi, Metallica and some from Rock On as well. We have also plans of performing in sector 17 and also in our school after the founders again. After that we have plans of entering other inter school competitions as well. “The Renegades of Funk” are surely something really unique.
Our band basically aims at helping us grow as musicians. The jamming sessions we have are an enjoyable and fun time but at the same time it helps us understand each other well. I believe that music is expression of self and the personality of a person can be judged by seeing the music he plays and this band allows us to really showcase our talent and help us enhance not only in our musical hand but also our own personalities. The confidence, tolerance, patience, adaptability, understanding which one gains from this is tremendous.
Uday Vir Garg:
The idea of a band came up tow years ago when Ramit, Jappreet and, myself Uday met and started knowing each other. Ramit and I have been close friends for 5 years now, so we already knew each other well. The three of us became friends and often played and sung together in inter school competitions. We decided to form a band but lacked the instruments. We finally performed in school but failed to receive appreciation due to the absence of a bass guitarist. Last year, Ramit and I started composing a song which was hen completed and arranged by the band.
The band actually got together last year in December when we were told about an upcoming competition to be held in Satluj Public School, Panchkula. I talked to Akshat with whom I played in the school orchestra. He agreed to join the band. Now came the bass guitarist. An old friend of ours, Tushar, had always had some interest in music but never played an instrument. We asked him to buy a bass guitar and play for us. I bought an electric guitar and Jappreet bought a drum kit. Within a week, we taught Tushar the bass guitar and prepared for the competition which we went on to win. After the competition, Aseem joined the band and now we are known as “Renegades of Funk”.
I want the Renegades of Funk to be a great band and I want us to be a part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll hall of fame!
Akshat Chauhan:
My journey of music started when I was in class 5th. It was my 11th birthday and I was gifted with a guitar. Thereafter, chords, notes, lyrics became a part of my life. Our band is doing really well and I hope it becomes better with more practice.