Practically seven years into their profession, Shillong soul and reggae act Soulgroove are heading out on their debut India tour, which kicked off on July 24 at Mumbai’s mainstay venue Bonobo.
This week, the band – based in 2017 by drummer John Rymbai, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalists Elza Rymbai and Zediah Hynniewta aka Zed – carry out in Hyderabad on July 25, in Bengaluru on July 26 on the speakeasy bar ZLB23 and head on to Chennai on July 27 and Puducherry on July 28. The second leg of the tour sees Soulgroove choose again up on reveals in Shillong on August 16, in Guwahati on August 17 and in Siliguri on August 18 to shut.
Drummer Rymbai says, “As we have now by no means toured as a band, each present at each venue, each metropolis is gonna be an expertise of a lifetime for us for certain.” The reside band members becoming a member of Soulgroove embody DJ-producer and keyboardist Manavon Massar, keyboardist Kynsai Manners and bassist Nash Lyngdoh.
Hynniewta says they’ve tackle “intensive preparation” for his or her India on Fyah tour, together with a ton of rehearsal. “With our chemistry already established from enjoying collectively for a substantial period of time, we centered on meticulously mood-mapping out our set [and] making a couple of strategic rearrangements,” he says.
The band is working with Bengaluru-based music firm Overture and Shillong occasion and communications agency Springboard Surprises to information them and assist promote the tour. A monetary enhance got here within the type of the Meghalaya Chief Minister’s Particular Grant. Hynniewta admits that although they’ve toured across the North East of India a couple of occasions, Soulgroove was a comparatively new band on the nationwide scene. “Venues don’t actually have a help system for bands like ours. This we perceive as venues need to run their enterprise, nobody is doing any charity work on this entrance and we don’t anticipate them to both,” he says with fun.
They went about in search of sponsorship or funding that will cowl a part of their journey and lodging throughout the tour for all seven members together with their tour supervisor. The band’s supervisor Keith Wallang – who has managed the likes of blues veterans Soulmate – wrote out a funding proposal and Soulgroove submitted to the chief minister of Meghalaya. “Fortunately it was accepted. Since we have now been gigging fairly a bit in Shillong over the previous few years, I feel the chief minister was additionally conscious of us and that helped too, I assume,” Hynniewta provides.
The setlist on the Indian on Fyah tour consists of their very own songs off the 2023 EP Soulgroovin’, plus singles like “Fyah” and their newest, “Shoebox.” Hynniewta says they may simply tweak them as they go alongside relying on viewers reactions in every metropolis. “We’ve additionally included a number of fashionable songs which can be certain to thrill the group, in addition to a spread of tracks designed to get you shifting and grooving straight out of your soul,” he says.
Vocalist Elza Rymbai provides earlier than and after the discharge of “Shoebox,” they’ve been engaged on loads of materials. She says, “There’s a large drive between the three of us to give you an album as we have already got fairly a couple of songs beneath our belt, so releasing a couple of singles off of that album later this yr or early subsequent yr feels like plan.”
Soulgroove x Overture x Springboard Surprises India on Fyah Tour 2024
July 24 – Bonobo, Mumbai
July 25 – The Moonshine Undertaking, Hyderabad
July 26 – ZLB 23, Bengaluru
July 27 – Bay 146, Chennai
July 28 – The Spot, Pondicherry
August 16 – The Night Membership, Shillong
August 17 – Jolly Anglers, Guwahati
August 18 – Hello Spirits, Siliguri
Get tickets here.