Their goal is the Grammy
The three-member Incinerator rocks Chandigarh with funky beats, says Kanwal Singh.

TRANSCENDING the barriers of culture, age, class and religion, music is food for the soul. It has the power to drive one’s inner being to unconquered heights. Contributing to the world of rock, are some lethally talented musicians from Chandigarh.

Adit Kundra, Nitin Bhaskar and Rahul Kandal, all students of Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, joined hands to form Incinerator two years ago. Adit and Nitin, both 21 years old, are final year students, while Rahul is in the third year. Their passion for music drove them to drum radical beats and produce some incendiary guitar riffs. Incinerator is the only metal-punk rock band in Chandigarh.

"Incinerator, as the name suggests, is basically a heavy metal band. We started with metal and have grown into punk," says Adit, guitarist and lead vocalist, who along with Nitin, a drummer, set up the band, which was later joined by Rahul, a bassist. Two years with the ban d, and the trio have already done a recording for a few Canada-based artists who would be releasing their work early next year. They have also competed in IIT Rendezvous, Delhi. Perhaps their biggest break came last year, when they opened for Hundred Octane and The Big Ban Theory, both international-level rockbands, hailing from Delhi and Ahmedabad, respectively, as part of their album promotional tours in Chandigarh. "That was a giant leap for our band. We got an opportunity to showcase our music on a global platform and got a lot of exposure as well," explains Adit. Besides, they have a large audience in their college, where they perform at least one show a month. "There are a lot of people in our college who have an ear for our kind of music," remarks Nitin.

These young musicians compose tunes separately and overlap their sounds together in "interactive sessions" in hostel rooms, garages, auditoriums`85wherever they find the place. With big plans to make a career out of their passion for music, they are all set to move to Delhi to further their talent.

"Since we are friends first and musicians later, we are comfortable playing with each other. We have formulated our own style and share amazing stage chemistry," chorus the trio. Their efforts seem to have fetched results: they won the first prize in a music contest held at the Cyanide fest, held in February by the Department of Chemical Engineering in Panjab University. "To be a good musician, one needs talent, dedication, good equipment, a place to jam, right attitude and spirit and the patience to make it. Results don’t matter, the effort does," says an enthusiastic Adit. Quiz them on their future prospects and they very optimistically opine, "Fifteen years down the line, we see ourselves with five successful albums and 10 Grammys." With amazing potential and ability to create, their dreams may not be that distant after all.