The Mallroad Project

Meet Delhi based Hindi Indie band 'The Mallroad Project' who just released their new single ‘Kaafila’ last month. The song cites the deep sense of belonging and togetherness that evokes when we meet new people in life, travel with them and explore the purpose of life. The song evokes emotions for people we call 'ours' in this life.

Musicmandir - Hi, please tell us a little about yourself and the band members.
Being extremely passionate about music, we are corporate professionals by day and musicians by night and weekends.
The members of the band are Akhil Thakur (drums and percussion), Mahavir Singh Rawat (lead vocals and guitars), Praveer Kumar (bass and backing vocals) and Shankar J Sharma (guitars and backing vocals). Each one of the us comes from a completely different cultural and geographical location, ranging from Himachal Pradesh to Assam, which has contributed greatly to the unique sound which the band has carefully crafted over the years. The sound of the band ranges from surf rock to intense Indie hard rock, drawing inspirations from some of the greatest punk and grunge bands like Pixies, Nirvana, Black Rebel Motorcycle club and Pink Floyd, to name a few. We have also been covered by platforms like Rolling Stone, DNA, Instrupad, Vibesmojo, IndianMusicDiaries etc.
 
Musicmandir - In general what is the songwriting process, does the lyrics come first or is it based of a melody?
Songwriting has always depended upon some various points like, a word, sound or surrounding situation.
Song like 'Dehshatgard' was written under strong influence of terrorism happening all over the world whereas 'Thurky Boss' was created after a real life experience at work place. Sometime we get a strong word or get an interesting guitar or bass riff while practicing which leads up to create a whole sound and then we write the lyrics accordingly.
 
Musicmandir - How would you define your sound? Do you think you fall into any particular genre of music?
Our sound is solely inspired by classic rock n roll, psychedelic and grunge rock.
 
Musicmandir - Was the intention of singing in Hindi always there or did it come naturally to the band?
About singing in Hindi, we wanted to create a new modern sound in Hindi rock. Wanted to express ourselves with the kind of music we create in Hindi. Also, since it’s our mother tongue, we thought it will help us connect with a wider range of audiences.
Although our vocalist was a lead singer of an English rock band some years back while he was in Korea for a couple of years, still he loves singing in Hindi as is comes naturally.
 
Musicmandir - Tell us a little bit about your new single titled 'Kaafila'?
The song is about a sense of belonging with the people we travel this journey of life with and how they give us a sense of purpose. "Kaafila" - a Hindi word derived from Arabic, means a caravan, a procession or a collectivity in travel - is a reflection of our lives.
An expedition we all start alone towards the destination and as we move, we come across new people in life and a new story begins with each one of them, the Kaafila keeps on growing. Often in our lives, we forget to appreciate this Kaafila we have, the song is to remind us of how important these people are to us. We are born alone, we die alone. Between this birth and death, we live alone. Life is so much better when we create the illusion for a moment that we're not alone. In this journey, we come across people concerning family, friends and our loved ones. Our hopes and dreams soon begin to associate with the group of people (Kaafila) that we consider important in our life. We stay together, move together and share our joys and sorrows while we travel together in this journey of life.
 
Listen to Kaafila below - 

Support the band by following them on their social channels - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.