Chandigargh, September 15: All it takes is an unplugged six-string in the backseat of a pick-up truck, a can of gas, some brothers-in-harmony and groupies if there’s room. The rest is just bull crap,’’ legendary Rock star, Jim Morrison had screamed out the verdict when a fan called him GOD. Well, no offense to the man who gave the ‘Rebel’ his revolution, but being an oblivious lone ranger is no longer the dope, even for a punk rocker who never admits to being publicity hungry. Rock bands, solo musicians, collaborators, back-up singers, instrumentalists, fusion artists and even Hindustani classical composers hang onto the commercial vine that artist management provides.

Be it a band promotion, demo release, local gig, big music fest or even a party, Indie Rock aficionados are showing their loyalty to the desi booming rock brigade by devising methods to spread the rock fever. And the best part - they are all on the bold side of 25.

Ask 23-year-old band manager Vijay Nair, who started managing bands when he was 19 and he shoots, ‘‘I was a rock journalist who used to headbang in moshpits of most college fests, till I befriended Pentagram frontman Vishal.’’ Nair and Vishal alongwith Chandy musician Bobby Talwar started their own artist management company ‘Only Much Louder’ and record label for those who wanted to burn their OCs for their fans to carry home. A few names like PDV, Medicis, and Helga’s Funk Castle suddenly got bigger with Nair’s promotion. ‘‘Indie Rock is only getting bigger. We have musicians who have the talent but not the right channel. Up until a few years ago the only place you ever heard people like Pentagram, Indus Creed, Parikrama was at clumsy college gigs and competitions. But now, they are stepping out and artist management is showing them the way,’’ Vijay graphs out the change. A change that brought 22-year-old Bobby out of his home-grown recording studio housed in his PC. ‘‘I was just another guitarist who could compose a little as well while in college. But I had no idea what a little bit of exposure could do,’’ Bobby graduated from PEC and moved to Bombay in search of a job where he collaborated with un-exposed musicians such as himself and began producing his own music, after growing out of Metallica, Vovoid and Megadeth covers. ‘‘Within two months we had a band, Wizcarft, a demo, couple of gigs around the city and reviews in rock journals like Gigpad and Radioverve,’’ Talwar is currently managing his own band under the label of OML and producing music for ground breaking artists like Soulmate.

‘‘We knew how to sing and make music. And we knew we had the sound to go global. The fact that we were Indians was not going to stop us,’’ Tripti and Rasmus, the founding members of Shillong-bred, Chandigarh educated, jazz and blues band Soulmate produced a demo and simply broadcast it on radioverve.com, an Indie rock internet radio. Overnight they had gigs, record label offers and a website promoting their music. ‘‘Now we perform gigs at least twice a week and will be going for the Sun Dance Festival in Estonia this summer. It just took two years,’’ Soulmate is full of soul.

Rock, Jazz and even Metal has found takers with just the right push and the right young blood to back it up. Bangalore born Shazneen moved with her folks to Chandigarh when she was just 12. But all she ever wanted to do was sing. ‘‘I had this rasp in my voice which was unconventional to Indian music and somehow I heard music that only appealed to rock junkies,’’ Shazneen belted the blues and shrills were perfect for heavy metal violence of Pantera. ‘‘I met this friend in Delhi and he put me across to RSJ magazine head Amit Sehgal.’’ Sehgal gave Shazneen her own motley crew and with gigs and RSJ music fests like the Great Indian Rock, they became Indie-Rock’s answer to Funk, Three Guys and a Girl. Same foes for drummer Yasmine who proved a girl could rock darn hard too when she found Myndsnare. ‘‘It’s all through Gigpad.com that I felt secure being an Indian rock artist and be proud,’’ she laid down the law. RSJ also gave Punjabi Metalheads of Pretotrika their first break. ‘‘We could just sit in a room and jam or dance at college fests. But when RSJ approached us with a grooming deal, we couldn’t resist,’’ lead guitarist Gurtej Singh coos. Within just months, Prestoika won the first season of campus rock idols, went national and after two years they are taking out their third album.

Indie Rock has really come off age and with new bands mushrooming everyday, you wonder where they were all these years. ‘‘It’s all about smart promotion. If you can perform, there should be no reason for you to sit at home and feel useless. I couldn’t let that happen,’’ Vijay Nair gets louder. Let it rip!