At their recent stop in Bengaluru, guitarist and composer Sutej Singh and his band had one of the most unusual welcomes one can expect for a progressive rock fan. Although not low on emotive content by any means, prog is often cerebral and Sutej’s music being entirely instrumental and guitar-led adds a layer of dexterity.
So when the artiste from Solan in Himachal Pradesh and his five-member band came out to play the first song, confetti canons went off and fireworks rose onstage, making it a puzzling sight. Sutej was, however, unfazed. After the show, he recalls his state of mind in that moment, “It was unplanned. No one told us about the timing of that confetti, it was funny.”
Often a resolute player on stage, Sutej kept calm. “Normally, I am like that,” he says with a laugh. “But especially for these moments, you need to just focus on your instrument. In the end, that can’t go wrong,” he adds. The show was not without its share of technical difficulties on stage, causing the band to re-check instruments and restart songs, but fans did not mind.
Running through songs off his new album Restless | Relentless and his debut album The Emerging (2018), Sutej and the band comprising bassist Aditya Negi, drummer Paarth Koser, violinist Disha Goswami and guitarist John Jeenu, performed songs like ‘Comeback Trail’, ‘Mayflower’, ‘Land of Gold’ (his 2023 single), ‘Oceans Apart’ and a tribute to Pink Floyd and guitarist David Gilmour.
