Kerala band Skreen 6 pays tribute to 1980s hard rock with their debut album

Most music bands often have a backstory of hanging out together with people of similar musical tastes before they decide to form a band. But, when drummer K.M. Adithya and guitarist M. Krishnan struck upon the idea of forming a band, the world was in the middle of a pandemic. Yet, they gathered together four more musicians and began collaborating online through Zoom calls and WhatsApp video calls. Their first song Rockin’ Head was composed entirely through WhatsApp, with each musician recording their parts and sharing it back and forth.

Reminiscent of yesteryears

Now, three years later, the band which calls itself ‘Skreen 6’, in a nod to the members’ early days of collaboration through digital screens, has come out with its debut album titled Rockin’ Head, one of the rare independent rock albums to come out of Kerala in recent years. The music, now released in various platforms, is reminiscent of the hard rock bands of the 1980s, with some of the songs screaming out their love for the genre itself and how it has set them free, when the whole world held them back.

“Most of us have been part of cover bands usually playing popular Hindi or Malayalam numbers. All of us listen to a wide genre of music, but the hard rock from the yesteryears is what we have in common. Some of our parents are also fans of this genre, and we have grown up listening to bands like Guns N’ Roses from school. So, there was never any doubt about what genre of music the band would play,” says Adithya.

When the band, also consisting of vocalist Amal Dev, rhythm guitarist Salas Stewart, bassist P.S. Jayakrishnan and keyboardist Dibin Savio, met to jam together after the pandemic eased, they created more songs, and soon they had enough material for an album. The title track became noticed at the end of 2021 with the release of their debut music video.

“From the time we started out, creating an album has been a dream, because we have always been inspired by the success of bands like Amorphia and Chaos. But, even while putting in all this effort, it was always in the back of our mind that the audience for this genre is quite niche in the State. The response that we got for our first song was something big for us,” says Adithya.

With most of them in their early 20s and just out of college, much of the album was funded by their parents, who have all been supportive of the band. Over this period, the band, which is based in Kochi, has played in gigs in different cities within the State and outside. And, they are in no mood to rest, with three more songs already composed for their next album.