Upcoming Talent: FAME THE BAND

This week’s talents have come a long way from their musical hometown of Tura, Meghalaya.

Fame The Band is a four-piece band with brothers: Mikkimra Shira, Mark Shira on guitar and drums respectively, Tengsam Momin on bass, and Fame Sangma on vocals.

It all started in 2013 when they entered BattleRock VI 2013 as ‘Fame‘. The combination seemed star-crossed and just too good to not continue. For the competition, having an original song was a pre-requisite and even though they didn’t think they would continue, the competition became one of those serendipitous journeys in the world where everyone’s unique aspiration found way to become a beautiful realization. As a result, they bagged the second runners up as well as the ‘Best Original Song’ for “Blind Believer” and ‘Best Vocalist’ for Fame at the same competition. That’s how they became Fame The Band.

When asked if the binding thread of the band is Fame as the band name suggests, Fame answers, “Not really. The band has become its own entity. So, everyone is equally important. Suffice to say we’re all, every member of the band, the thread that binds the group.”

Trying to be full-time musicians, they have their own stories of the past but their present and future involve each other. Mark, 21 and Fame, 22 are undergraduates; Tengsam, 21, has done sound engineering from Mumbai and after completion of Mikkimra’s last year in college, nothing can stop this band from doing what they love for a living i.e. Music.

The talented singer Fame writes the songs with guitarist, Mikkimra’s help and “the guys do their parts” over the internet because they are mostly apart as of now. Their unique sound which entraps the listener is an end product of their talents uniting which is clear with their singles Like The Stars, Over And Out, We Need and Just This Smile.

They have won ‘Best Potential Band’ at Hornbill International Rock Festival 2015 which is one of the most prestigious competitions for rock bands in India! Moreover, they have already performed at many coveted places such as Tuning Fork, AHAIA Winter Festival’s Battle Rock 2013 & 2015 and more! Fame continues, “I guess Hornbill would be the time we realized that we were in this for the long run. So far, with the grace of God, we have always gotten an amazing response wherever we participated.”

Fame The Band has since then, gone on to win at Strawberry Fields November 2016, the annual independent music festival held in Bangalore and Livewire at Mood Indigo, IIT Mumbai where they opened for an American rockband Crown the Empire. All this confirmed their belief that they had potential to become professional musicians. They ranked 16th on the Sennheiser Top 50 Bands.

Inspired by Paramore, they constantly make new music and each song differs from the other. They’ve been labeled pop/alternative rock, but to them their songs are genre-less. About this, Fame speaks,”we could never properly put our songs under any specific genre. That’s why we like being flexible. We are open to all kinds of music and learn from it each time differently.”

They are planning on releasing an EP in 2017 and they are looking forward to playing at International Music Showcase Festivalat Nouvelle Prague, Czech Republic. The goal for this year is to release a professional music video while they are always open to playing at gigs, including the next ones which will possibly be in Mumbai or Delhi and in Goa, as well.

Watch out for this band because you will be hearing greater opportunities singing their way!

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