Pacifist performs at a live gig

This kicked off a period when a few related acts gradually emerged in Mumbai. Death by Fungi was formed in 2013, for example. Then came Punk on Toast in 2015. The members of Pacifist also got their act together in 2018, and will now play a launch gig for their EP, Greyscale Dreams, at a Khar venue where three other punk acts — Runt, The Lightyears Explode and The Riot Peddlers — will also share the stage. The concert will thus essentially showcase a genre that, somehow, has never quite managed to take off in a big way in this city.

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We ask Ravi why that is and he narrates an incident. His band was once booked for a gig at a central Mumbai pub. But the aggressive nature of hardcore punk is such that the audience went mental after a point, moshing in the centre and generally behaving as if a riot had broken out. The management thus got cold feet. They feared that the place would suffer physical damage. And that’s why they eventually started curating gigs that were less hazardous to their balance sheets.
This issue exists across venues. But Pacifist’s vocalist Sidharth Raveendran adds another, dire reason. “People don’t want to pick up instruments and form bands anymore, investing time and energy. That’s because there is frankly little incentive in it. But eventually, [your craft] is about what you represent as an artiste, and I guess that’s why some people are still doing it,” he says.

He adds that it’s also relatively more difficult to expand the hardcore punk fan base since the rebellious anger inherent to the genre isn’t palatable for everybody. But Raveendran also says that only if we build a lineage of punk acts in Mumbai will the genre widen. He reveals that Pacifist, for example, were inspired by bands like Slit and The Riot Peddlers. That shows how it’s now up to them to keep the momentum gained from their debut EP going so that, say 10 years later, it’s him that bemused college kids will thank for introducing them to a no-holds-barred style of music that takes no prisoners, sonically speaking.

On: June 16, 8 pm
At: The Habitat, Hotel Unicontinental, Khar West.
Log on to: instamojo.com
Entry: Rs 500