During the Lockdown imposed in India due to COVID-19, we all got a much-needed break but there were people among us who found it productive but at the same time straining. Musicians were a group of people that made the best use of the lockdown at the same time had a straining experience. Krishna Tejasvi, the lead singer of Hyderabad-based five-member band Jammers said, “During the beginning of the lockdown the band was happy with the break. After performing almost 40 gigs at a stretch the lockdown was relaxing for all of us."
Credits: Dhanush
The band includes Naren RK Siddhartha who plays the Keyboard, Jagdish Chintala – the Bassist, Shashank Bhaskaruni – the Drummer, Chinna Swamy who plays the Guitar along with Krishna Tejasvi.
But almost two weeks into lockdown, the band wanted to stay relevant to their audience and started an online series named ‘Quarantine Jams’ on their official YouTube channel. “With the help of recording set up at our homes all five of us took up jam sessions and released 25 songs within 50 days,” added Krishna.
However, there was a lot of hard work put in for the jam sessions, since all five members were at different places it wasn’t a cakewalk. He said, “It was tedious work during the lockdown and since we were going live on YouTube, we had to be careful with everything we did for quarantine jams.” The band eventually took a break after 2 months and then started with another 11 jam sessions.
The Lockdown period gave the band the time to work on their original composition. “We have always had the intentions to sing our original song for a very long and not sing composed by others. We wrote 3 songs during the period of lockdown and all of them have been released in 2021,” added Krishna.
They hope their original composition can help them reach out to a wider audience outside Hyderabad. Krishna said, “We plan to go out and play to every kind of audience. We might produce songs in different languages as well to adhere to a variety of people.”
Credits: Jammers Official
Krishna mentioned, “Lockdown has been very productive, for I was able to learn a lot of things which would otherwise take me years because we are busy with our gigs and as musicians, we don’t tend to find time to practise since our schedules keep changing. So that wat this lockdown was needed.”
There was a downside to it as well, not everything was rosy. “After June when the lockdown was lifted partially, we were faced a lot of difficulties. All of us were worried about when will we get to play gigs again. There were these continuous thoughts about when the virus would be gone and when will the vaccinations be out,” Krishna said.
The uncertainty about everything was worrying for the band since they had no idea about what the future was going to look like for them. He added, “We couldn’t depend on live gigs alone. To deviate from things that bothered us we started to compose our original songs, but then again, we five of us have different tastes in music and we all had to validate every single thing which wasn’t easy since all of us were doing it through calls or online.”
In the eight months of lockdown, the band did not earn anything. Krishna specified, “It was only during the first live gig we earned again. A couple of my bandmates like the ones who are married and those who are full-time musicians face strain financially but it has become better now.”
He also mentioned that he had already resigned his MNC job for an International tour of the band in the UK, US, and other countries for gigs but then the lockdown happened to result unfortunately in a financial struggle. Krishna added, “ I don’t regret resigning the job because I would have done it today or tomorrow but it would have financially aided me when we weren’t earning.”
Credits: Jammers Official
International gigs might take time again for the band since each country has different rules owing to COVID-19. “We might travel next year since a lot of people are willing to host us. But there is a lot of things to be kept in mind, hoping it turns out well and we can play our original compositions internationally as well,” said Krishna.
Jammers were a band that travelled domestically as well to places like Bengaluru and Vizag for gigs, but with the new work from home lifestyle along with the virus still existing the band has performed live gigs only in Hyderabad since the total unlock. “Travelling has become concerning, we will travel for gigs but again coming back home is risky because one is sceptical about catching the virus and coming home to our parents,” he added.
Krishna further mentioned, “We have been playing a lot of gigs since places have started to open up. It is normal once again with precautions and there is less crowd.” It seems to be chilled out but the precautions are being taken to avoid contracting the virus but the band is still financially struggling. However, they are earning well for now to sustain each of them but they hope to earn better.
Listen to the Jammer's band members here:
Credits: Thomas Afrem
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