Anurag Tagat Jul 11, 2019
Bengaluru indie rock band Iyer’s Filter Coffee – (from let) Sachin Iyer, Pushkar Ravindra, Rushil Mishra and Dennis Dey. Photo: Madhurima Deka
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There’s something about coffee and Iyers which seem to populate the Indian independent scene at the moment. Besides Bengaluru rock band Iyer’s Filter Coffee, a search might yield results for Kerala fusion act Masala Coffee, electro-fusion act Filter Coffee and New Delhi Carnatic rock band The Iyer Project.
And it’s not just that, as Iyer’s Filter Coffee’s drummer Sachin Iyer notes. “That’s been a minor problem at times, with people tagging us on pictures of filter coffee on Instagram, an email from some Alibaba vendor selling us some coffee-making equipment, and Dennis (Dey, bassist) getting a call with an enquiry about potentially catering to someone’s coffee needs,” the drummer says about the band’s name.
Thankfully, there’s never been any lost opportunities on the gig front or confusion between promoters. Their moody, garage rock-charged debut EP Coldturkey, was released on Apple Music, as part of the New Artist Spotlight. The band claims the EP has garnered over a 100,000 streams across platforms since then, with over 45,000 plays coming from Apple Music. “We got to number 7 on the English Alternative charts,” Iyer says.
The band’s live set includes Arctic Monkeys-informed songs like “Eleanor” and “Beach,” while “Soma” throws in quick-paced, fuzzy rock and “Moonlight” brings dance-rock to the front. There’s a typically Indian rock love ballad too, called “Why Don’t You Come Over.” At their upcoming show at Indigo XP (previously known as Indigo Live Music Bar), Iyer’s Filter Coffee set will be “extra-saucy.” Dey says, “We’ll probably play 12 to 14 originals, a few from the EP and a few from the new album and cover some songs by our favorites like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys et al.”
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The gig comes just after the band spent two weeks in Kochi, recording with producer Vivek Thomas for a full-length album. Dey says, “We think it’s a much more mature sound we’ve managed to get… It’ll include elements from Coldturkey, and from a lot of modern indie influences we’ve been listening to, Indian and otherwise. We plan to launch the album in Q4 this year.”
Iyer’s Filter Coffee performs at Indigo XP, Bengaluru on July 11th. Entry: Rs 299. Get tickets here. Event details here. Listen to ‘Coldturkey’ EP below.
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