Motherjane is an Indian rock band from

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, India, formed in 1996. The band consists of John Thomas (drums and percussion), Clyde Rozario (bass guitar), Niranj Suresh (vocals) and Anubhav Langthasa (guitars). They have released a total of three studio albums, and five

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

. Since their formation, genres like

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

have influenced their music.

History

Formation and early days

Motherjane was formed in 1996 by drummer John Thomas, guitarist Mithun Raju and bassist Clyde Rozario to "fill in" for another band which had backed out from a college festival at St. Albert's College, Kochi. The initial line up consisted of John Thomas (drums), Clyde Rozario (bass), Mithun Raju (guitars) and Laji and Nirmal (vocals). Vocalist Laji soon left the band and Motherjane had to continue as an instrumental band without a vocalist. In 1999 lead guitarist Mithun Raju left the band and was replaced by

Baiju Dharmajan Baiju Dharmajan (born 7 March 1968) is an Indian guitarist, music composer, producer and guitar tutor based out of Kochi, Kerala. A celebrated musician in his own country, Baiju had an extended stint during the 2000s as the lead guitarist of the ...

. Around that time, Motherjane used to jam at a restaurant called Ancient Mariner at

Marine Drive, Kochi Marine Drive is a picturesque promenade in Kochi, India. It is built facing the backwaters, and is a popular hangout for the local populace. Despite its name, no vehicles are allowed on the walkway. Marine Drive is also an economically thriving ...

. In 2000, Suraj Mani, who used to perform with

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

based rock bands, shifted to Kochi and chanced to meet the band at the Ancient Mariner. John invited Mani to sing with the band, but he was not satisfied with the band only doing covers and not writing original material. Mani became the band's vocalist and wrote Motherjane's first original song "Disillusioned" soon after. About the same time, Motherjane recruited yet another guitarist,

Rex Vijayan Rex Vijayan (born 26 April 1983) is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out hi ...

. Things took a slight detour after six months, when Mani moved back to Bangalore, but they continued to meet and jam as a band. In 2008, Motherjane opened for

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

and

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

in Rock in India 2008,

and for

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

in Saarang '08 at

IIT Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

. Motherjane has been a frequent headliner of college rock festivals across India. Motherjane was ranked No. 1 in ''

Rock Street Journal ''Rock Street Journal'' or ''RSJ'' is a monthly magazine covering the rock scene in India and South Asia. It was started in January 1993 in Allahabad by Amit Saigal and Shena Gamat Saigal after they noted the lack of a support system for India ...

''s bands of the decade in 2010. In the 2010 AVIMA Awards, Motherjane won the award for the Most Popular Act of Asia, and lead vocalist Suraj Mani was awarded Best Rock Vocalist. In the 2009 AVIMA Awards, Motherjane was awarded the Best Rock Act. They has done an OST titled 'Jihad' for the movie 'Anwar' by

Amal Neerad Amal Neerad (born on 7 October 1976) is an Indian film director, cinematographer and Film producer, producer who mainly works in Malayalam Cinema. He attended the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata (first batch). He was awarded ...

in 2010.

In November 2010, Motherjane on their website announced guitarist Baiju Dharmajan's departure from the band to work with his new band Wrenz United. In January 2011 Motherjane announced that Santhosh Chandran has joined the band as the band's new guitarist. In the same year, Motherjane performed at

Autumn Muse Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

, the annual cultural festival of

St. John's Medical College St. John's Medical College is a private medical college and hospital situated in Bangalore, India. It is part of the St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences run by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. It was established in 1963. T ...

. Motherjane's vocalist left the band in November 2011 citing health problems. He was replaced by Vivek Thomas who joined Motherjane in December 2011. Santhosh was replaced in 2013 by Nithin Vijayanath. Towards the end of 2012 the band started work on a new single 'Clayplay' with

as producer with a vision to revamp the sound of the band. Clay play was eventually released on January 10, 2015, and marked a drastic shift in the musical direction of Motherjane. Around 2017,

Niranj Suresh Niranj Suresh (born 1990) is an Indian musician, playback singer, Composer and actor. Niranj is the lead vocalist of the Indian rock bands ''Motherjane'' and Nemesis. He is also the lead vocalist and songwriter of a progressive rock band called ...

joined The band as the vocalist and can be deemed as the right fit for the new sounding band. The single 'Namaste' released in May 2018 is to be seen as a follow up to the change in musical style, again produced by Rex Vijayan. It hit #1 on the Apple Music rock charts in India within the 1st week of release. In June 2018 Motherjane announced on their Facebook page that they have recruited a new guitar player, Anubhav Langthasa, through auditions.

''Insane Biography'' (2002–2003)

Motherjane released their debut album, ''Insane Biography'' in 2002 under Kan & Will Records. The songs "Maya" and "Soul Corporations" had strong Indian musical elements which would continue in later albums. "Soul Corporations" was featured in ''Geki-Teki Metal'', a compilation album released in Japan in 2004. Soon after the release of ''Insane Biography'',

left the band in 2003, and was replaced by Deepu Sasidharan. Sasidharan, at that time, was playing with the Kochi-based

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band 13AD. ''Insane Biography'' was the only Indian album to be featured in the Asian Rock Rising Festival in Japan on 1 November 2003. The band also headlined

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to o ...

Great Indian Rock 2003.

''Maktub'' (2008–2021)

''Maktub'' which was released in 2008, marked a change in Motherjane's musical style. Influence of

was prominently seen in the guitar, vocals and percussion, and native instruments like the

chenda The Chenda ( ml, ചെണ്ട, ) is a cylindrical percussion instrument originating in the state of Kerala and widely used in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in India. In Tulu Nadu (Coastal Karnataka), it is known as ''chende''. ...

were used. In 2009, ''Rolling Stone'' India named ''Maktub'' as the album of the year.

''111'' (2022)

Songwriting started in 2018 and was completed by the beginning of 2019. The theme for this record was also metaphysical, reflecting the band's views of the existential plane.

was roped in as the producer for this record also. Although the band started recording in 2019, the process was abruptly halted, first by the

2018 Kerala floods On 16 August 2018, severe floods affected the south Indian state Kerala, due to unusually high rainfall during the monsoon season. It was the worst flood in Kerala in nearly a century. Over 483 people died, and 15 are missing. About a milli ...

, and then by back to back touring. It was pushed further again by the covid - 19 pandemic. The album was finally released through the band label - Motherjane Music Productions LLP on May 19, 2022. The sound has evolved with the passing of time, becoming more current and relevant. To add to the post rock driven sound palette synths have been used extensively in this record. The 'Thavil' solo on the intro of 'Contact Sense' is also a new feature added to this record. The album is well received by the loyal fans and by the new listeners. ''Rolling Stone'' India magazine has stated in their article on the release - "Clarity and confidence drive Motherjane's new EP - '1 1 1' ". John by Rohith krishnan

Line-up

Current members

* John Thomas – Drums (1996–present) * Clyde Rozario – Bass (1996–present) *

– Vocals (2017–present) * Anubhav Langthasa – Guitars (2018 – present) Touring Members Ajay George Joseph - Guitars

Former members

Suraj Mani Suraj Mani is an Indian rock musician, poet-philosopher, songwriter and former lead vocalist and member of the band Motherjane, and one of the prominent personalities in the field of independent music in India. He is popularly known as the 'sing ...

– Vocals (2000–2011) *

– Guitars (1999–2010) *

– Guitars (2000–2003) * Laji George – Vocals (1996–2000) * * Mithun Raju – Guitars (1996–2004) * Deepu Sasidharan – Guitars (2004-2013) * Biju Peter – Vocals (1996– 1998) *

Deepak Dev Deepak Devraj Komath (born 30 April 1978), better known as Deepak Dev, is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema. He started his career in the Film Industry through the movie ''Chronic Bachelor'' (2003) di ...

– Keyboards (1996–1998) * Santhosh Chandran – Guitars (2011–2013) * Nithin Vijayanath - Guitars (2013-2017) *Vivek Thomas - Vocals (2011-2017)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Insane Biography'' (2001) * ''Maktub'' (2008) * ''111'' (EP) (2022)

Singles

* ''Tribes of Babel'' (2010) * ''No Contest'' (2011) * ''Clay Play'' (2015) * ''Namaste'' (2018)

References

13.https://rollingstoneindia.com/watch-motherjanes-feisty-new-video-namaste/ .14.https://www.indulgexpress.com/culture/music/2018/may/09/listen-to-motherjanes-new-single-namaste-7246.html 15.https://www.indulgexpress.com/culture/music/2018/may/04/motherjane-is-back-7162.html 16.http://www.radioandmusic.com/entertainment/editorial/news/180512-namaste-about-recognizing-and-accepting 17.https://www.retrokolkata.com/post/motherjane 18.https://www.clubby.in/clubbytalks/motherjane-not-an-ordinary-rock-band/ 19.https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/how-motherjane-carved-out-niche-itself-kerala-s-rock-scene-164710 20.https://rollingstoneindia.com/motherjane-an-indian-tale/ 21.https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/motherjane-set-to-play/article6769182.ece 22.https://rollingstoneindia.com/watch-motherjanes-feisty-new-video-namaste/ 23.https://rollingstoneindia.com/motherjane-111-ep-interview/ 24.https://www.timesmedianews.com/lifestyle/kerala-based-rock-band-motherjane-releases-its-new-ep-111/ 25.https://newscinema.in/kerala-based-rock-band-motherjane-releases-its-new-ep-111 26.https://highonscore.com/in-conversation-with-motherjane-score-short-reads/

External links

Official Website
* https://www.facebook.com/MotherjaneOfficial/ * https://www.instagram.com/motherjane/ {{Authority control Indian progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1996 Musicians from Kochi Indian rock music groups Music bands from Kerala