I see us as having a conversation with that genre but we’re mostly from an Australian background other than the singers who are from an Indian background. Those films have everything from gangsters and bandits through to romantic and comedy and its all rolled into one. Hopefully if they listen and if we’re doing a good job they’ll know that there’s a lot of effort gone into making it sound the part.īob: What attracts you so much to this music from the 60’s and 70’s Bollywood?Īndy: Especially in that period they were really making up the rules there was a big western influence but it is a genre into itself. But if people have watched those films and know about the genre they’ll know there’s the tongue in cheek element to it. But it’s always been about the music.īob: Were you concerned that people might not realise that it’s a homage, that they might see it as a joke?Īndy: There is probably always going to be a percentage of people who will take it like that.

It’s sometimes a double edged sword where audience members see us all dressed and see us doing that theatrical thing and take it on that level and get distracted by it. I just thought it would sound awesome because it’s this mash up of Indian styles and Western cinematic influences as well which are really fun as a musician.Īnd on the other side I didn’t want it to just be a whole bunch of musicians standing there in jeans and t-shirts playing it really straight. So initially I wanted to be in a band playing this stuff live. Fantastic soundtracks and no one really performing it live. The more I researched I had this growing awareness of this old cinematic stuff, Bollywood movies from the 60’s and 70’s. So that meant both live performance and recording. Is this what you originally envisaged or were you just thinking about the music when you began?Īndy: It was always about the music. I spoke to the skipper, Bombay Royale founder Andy Williamson.īob: I’ve just seen you play live at Womadeliade and it’s a visual feast with fantastic costumes and a real theatrical aspect to your performance. Whilst many of the soundtracks these days utilise the highly popular Bhangra dance music, there was a golden period of Bollywood film music in the 60’s and 70’s when names like RD Burman and Ghulam Haider reigned supreme, dropping one amazing genre defining soundtrack after another.

The music is incredible, often a unique fusion of Indian instruments and traditions alongside the blatant theft of prevailing western genres, and more often than not the very riffs of popular songs. Because lets face it, no other culture could do what they do. The music, the dancing, the cheesiness, the colours, the cheapness, the lavishness, the lack of tongue bashing, the clichéd storylines, the amazing cultural clashes, the sheer bizarreness, and cultural uniqueness.

The best thing about Bollywood films is everything.

Bombay royale band