By Aparmita Das
Eleven years ago, in 2011, they were a bunch of directionless but talented high-schoolers with a dream to make it big in the music scene. They were crazy about musical instruments and the only genre they wanted to delve into was, well, in their words, “heavy music”. Come May 2022, Shillong’s Symphonic Illusions not only are focused on the musical path they are treading but has also emerged as one of the best bands in the region, taking home a whopping Rs 5, 25, 000 prize money being the 1st runner-up at one of the biggest rock festivals in the country – ShiRock Festival 2022.
“Initially we were oblivious of the direction we were heading musically and had no idea where our music was going to take us. We were just a bunch of youngsters, who were crazy about electric guitars, drums, amplifiers; wanting to form a progressive metal band and play heavy music,” says Stevenson, one of the founders of the five-member ensemble and guitar player.
Symphonic Illusion had begun as an old-school progressive metal band but, with an urge to add more “zing” to their music, later, changed their genre to metalcore. “Why are we called Symphonic Illusions?” asks Stevenson. “We wanted to incorporate a little bit of everything into our songs, be it symphonies, technicalities, or melodic elements. We wanted people to hear our songs the same way they observe optical illusions – images that are deceptive and misleading to the eyes and brain. That was the concept, hence the name, Symphonic Illusions,” says Stevenson.
Stevenson had founded the band with four other “likeminded” individuals, but over the years, the band underwent a few line-up changes. Today, the lead vocalist in the band is Amedious Nongbri, who had joined the metallers in 2014. “It didn’t take that long for me to gel in because the new stuff they were doing at that time fit my vocal style and I was able to bring the best out of it,” Amedious says. The bassist, Baio Sylliang, is the newest member of the band, who joined barely a month ago. Interestingly, Sylliang is also an radio jockey, working for a leading radio channel.
The backbone of the band’s rhythm section, the drummer, Harvest Mawi, is a self-taught drummer who has been with the band since 2013. “After our original drummer left in 2013, I met Harvest, and soon began jamming with him. Our jams used to go on for close to five, six hours a day. Even though it took some time to adapt to each other’s styles, we kicked off well. I think, the most important qualities for any band to have are strong roots, musicality, and the ability to interpret what each member brings to the table,” says Stevenson.
Manbhalang Marpna, the keyboard player, joined the band during the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic. “Harvest, the drummer, who is also my cousin, invited me during one the of band’s practice sessions to do some jams. I was assigned with keys and synth tasks. In just a matter of weeks, I learnt the songs, and the band’s musical equation hit me,” Marpna says.
The members aspire to create a kind of “escape” for the listeners and more often than not, the band’s lyrical themes revolve around adversaries, downfalls and failures, most the latter, the band says, they have experienced themselves. “We want to reach out to the people who are struggling – be it drug abuse, alcoholism, the feeling of being abandoned or bullied,” says Amedious.
“When the pandemic hit the country, full-time musicians were left in the lurch. Only the ones who had or found alternative sources of income were able to sustain themselves,” says Stevenson, as he speaks of the hard times that he along with the band faced during the pandemic.
Shirock Festival, however, was a breath of fresh air that the band were anxiously waiting for. “At the fest, our game plan was to come in, participate, and put on a fiery performance like we always do on stage. And finally, our 10 years of hard work paid off and we emerged as one of the winners,” says Stevenson.
When asked about the key takeaway from the fest, the band univocally said, “The 5 lakhs and 25 thousand,”. “We plan to use the cash prize money for our debut EP. We will also upgrade our accessories and stage gears,” says Baio. He advises aspiring musicians to have a backup plan and use their career to support their passion, which in this case, is music.
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