Agni (3)

Indian rock band formed in Pune in 1985 by Bharath Swamy, Pravin Bell, and Nitin "Juggie" Jagtap, rounding out the lineup with drummer Ashish Manchanda. By 1992 their lineup expanded to include Kaustubh "Koco" Davale and Rustom "Ross" Kayani. The next year, indie label Virgo took interest in the band and they'd release their debut album, Wind Dance With Fire, backed by a video for the single "Darkening Light". The reception to the music video drove sales of the record up to 10,000 in just four days, leading to an extensive tour comprising gigs everywhere, from swanky hotels to prisons and ashrams. On May 15th, 1995, the band was scheduled to record their sophomore album, Mrityunjaya: The Victor Over Death, when a traumatic car crash tragically killed both Juggie and manager Mandar Alurkar, causing the band to take a temporary hiatus. Swamy would be the first to leave, not able to cope with the loss of Juggie. By 1998, Bell took over as bassist, Koco retained his role as guitarist, and Kayani as drummer, and the three would resume recording. Eventually, the three musicians found Swamy's successor, Uday Iyer. By 2002 the album was finally released by Kosmic Music, a new age label, and was backed by a video for the single "Tandav.". In 2006, with the rest of the band's permission, Koco continued on with banker-turned-musician Kannan Mohan in the modern rock offshoot, Agnee, and the band became a major label success, signing to Sony Music India the next year. Their self-titled debut album would be released the same year and produce the popular single "Sadho Re", which earned over 1 million hits on YouTube. Since 2010, Bell, Kayani, and Iyer revamped the original band with guitarist Chris Fonceca and keyboardist Leo Matthew as "rudrAGNI", with strong emphasis on the band's legacy. Their new website featured the original video for the band's first single, "Darkening Light", and two unreleased videos: "Et Tu Brute", and an early, English recording of "Desh" from when Swamy was still in the band. On May 15th, 2020, Swamy returned to music, teaming up with Ashish Manchanda once again as his producer and releasing the single "Monster Within", which accumulated over 60 thousand streams. He has since started the project Agni Webbed, a platform showcasing his original music, videos, and art.