Axix’s inclination | Bandwagon

ANUP PRAKASH

Everybody else was worried about Y2K but these four boys were readying to raise their voices at the start of the new millennium. They had entered ournepal.com's Beat Master Contest and named themselves Axix at the last minute. The name symbolised the meeting point of their musical inclination.

Sandeep BK's vocals made listeners take notice. But he started out as a pianist before switching over to guitar then drums. It was only in Axix that he decided to try out as a singer and did a great job of it. Sanjay Paudel was the drummer, who began by banging out beats during PT practice at school.

Paudel has left for Amsterdam and Ratna Tuladhar is the new drummer now. Romit Shrestha, bassist, began as a rhythm guitarist. Seventeen-year-old Eshant Karki, lead guitarist, is a much sought-after, having strummed for artistes like Sanjeev Singh, Anil Singh and Pramod Nirwan. Santosh Shrestha, band manager, a bassist himself, he keeps watch on the music scene for his friends.

Axix had already recorded seven songs. Only in 2004 did they release their debut album Black and white, which was an instant hit selling nearly 30,000 copies. The band chipped in Rs 80,000 to make a music video for Timi pheri aauna, which proved to be a brilliant move. "People prefer watching music videos nowadays. We earn quite a bit selling albums and performing at concerts, we don't hold regular jobs," says Sandeep. Axix is now working on their new music video.

The band has built a name for itself beyond Kathmandu. Fresh from a tour to Bhairawa and Nepalgunj, Axix has also performed live at Narayanghat, Butwal, Dharan and Biratnagar. Live concerts fuel the band's enthusiasm. Romit reminisces a concert in Pokhara, where nearly 10,000 people turned up. "It was amazing," says Eshant. Sandeep BK then laughs over an incident that took place during their first concert beyond the Valley. "The mass of people was so huge that we were shut in a store room for our own safety," he says. Sandip and Sanjay recount a night in a Biratnagar lodge when they were dying of thirst but had nothing to drink. "So we crept downstairs to the restaurant using our mobile phones as torchlights and stole two Fantas," they smile exchanging high-fives.

Catch them live at Kathmandu Utsav, Bhrikuti Mandap this month.