“It’s really cool thinking about all the songs, what they mean, and what part of the movie they are for,” she says explaining how the songs form a soundtrack to an imaginary film. “There’s so much freedom to it, because no-one has done this before we can do whatever we want. We’re creating something new, but are still able to have that vintage label behind us to help us get away with it. Some of the vintage Bollywood stuff was so ridiculous, so over the top, so bold and colourful that it has kind of given us a license to do anything.”
Full of fun, frivolity, great costumes, theatre and of course, great music; word about The Bombay Royale shows quickly spread around Melbourne, leading to a sizeable cult following of punters sucked in by the espionage filled storylines and extravagantly costumed musicians. They began as a group of 11 from Melbourne’s inner North just wanting to play Bollywood covers, but have evolved into an original and creative force all unto their own, with Singh keen to point out to me their second LP will be made up entirely of originals.
“You probably wouldn’t be able to tell though,” she adds, “because we do stick to the vibe of ‘60s and ‘70s Bollywood – that surfy, disco and funk style. But it still has this modern edge to it.”
It all started, not through Singh, but through band director and saxophonist Andy Williamson (a.k.a ‘The Skipper’), Singh coming in when the band was nine members young. Initially she was taken aback at finding so many musos keen to cover Bollywood tracks.
“I was so surprised when I met them all. They’d started learning all of the old covers. I didn’t get it! But it was amazing for me because they taught me to appreciate something I took for granted, something I was used to listening to. Andy especially showed me the importance of it, that it could be cool, that other people could really relate to it, not just the Indian community and not just the old folks.”
Thankfully too, all of it translates well onto record, their first LP You Me Bullets Love lauded for its creativity and vividness; the kind of record that brought films like James Bond and Kill Bill to mind as much as it did those classics from ‘60s and ‘70s Bollywood. It was Singh’s parents who were responsible for her personal exposure to those classics, and she speaks nostalgically about growing up with her mother blaring Bollywood soundtracks whilst cleaning and her father showing her what he considered ‘real’ Bollywood.
She also speaks glowingly about the sheer joy she personally gets out of the characterisation and storylines that inform the songs. “When I’m on stage I really am that character and I think we’re all getting better at taking on those characters for real. I really feel it, it’s an awesome thing to let yourself go in the character of it and the story of it.”
They plan on taking those elements even further on their upcoming LP (which they’re recording right now), but Singh isn’t sure if she should spill the beans on what that might involve; we’re promised it’s exciting though. “It’s going to be awesome!” she gushes, tempering her excitement with the follow up, “I know I’m bias though…”
BY GARY WESTMORE
