The Bombay Royale, music for daring Bollywood-style adventures

January 18, 2015 2:13 PM

Snakes! Bullets! Super secret agents! Bandits! Monkeys and tigers! Espionage and romance! Are you excited yet? Are you on the edge of your seat? Does this sound like a movie to you? Ah, these are the recurring themes in some of classic Bollywood’s greatest cinematic extravaganzas, where acting and plot took a backseat to some of the craziest, over-the-top song and dance scenes ever committed to celluloid. Enter The Bombay Royale, a local 11-piece musical powerhouse who have taken the themes and soundtracks from these films and have infused them with all the colour, production and energy one would expect from a four-plus hour Bollywood movie. The Bombay Royale had first set down to do strictly covers from the gilded ‘60s era of Bollywood, but soon evolved into writing their own material.

Sit down with Parvyn Kaur Singh AKA "The Mysterious Lady," one of the singers of the band, for an introduction to the cast of characters behind the albums You Me Bullets Love (Soundcloud; track-by-track description with musical director and saxophonist Andy Williamson, AKA "The Skipper") and The Island of Dr. Electrico (Soundcloud; a review of the Bollywood inspired surf / disco / funk album).

If that's not enough, you can also listen to Phone Baje Na Remix 12", Inside the Brain of Dr. Electrico (a mixtape put together for Mess + Noise by trumpeter Declan Jones AKA "Dr. Electrico"), and the debut single, Sote Sote b/w Solla Solla, all on Soundcloud, courtesy of their label, HopeStreet Recordings and their lovely collection of sounds on Soundcloud.

If you're looking for videos, they have a few: Henna Henna (from the 2nd album), You Me Bullets Love (title track from the 1st album), The Bombay Royale in "La Reunion Kidnap" (a teaser for their debut single), and a video compilation of live performances, behind the scenes moments, and some old Bollywood clips. For more live performances, check out almost an 30 minute set from ABC RN earlier in 2014, and almost 40 minutes from IEC Awards 2012.

posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total)

If you'd like to understand the lyrics of the songs, you're out of luck, unless you understand Hindi and/or Bengali, but the band has provided a translation for "You Me Bullets Love".

One more bit of music, missing from the collection above: The Bombay Royale - Live at WOMADelaide 2012 is a free set of six songs on Bandcamp, where you can find their other music, too, except for their self-titled debut EP, which is on Amazon as an on-demand CD-R.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:17 PM on January 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Love this! Thank you, flt!
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 2:42 PM on January 18, 2015

Shit. some great stuff here, thanks!
posted by batfish at 5:15 PM on January 18, 2015

yesssssssss

i love this band so much, this track in particular seems like it came from an awesome alternate reality version of the 70s.
posted by emptythought at 6:47 PM on January 18, 2015

Made my evening - will blast this driving to the latest Michael Mann flick. Thank you.
posted by jettloe at 7:29 PM on January 18, 2015

Not since Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica have I been this excited!
posted by cleroy at 8:34 PM on January 18, 2015

So pleased Surf is undergoing a resurgence, intercut with innumerable other genres.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:02 PM on January 18, 2015

Really enjoyed the songs, and the videos are great fun.
posted by mogget at 9:58 AM on January 19, 2015

Just downloaded both albums from Amazon. HOLY CRAP WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO COME TO MY CORNER OF THE WORD?

I'm sorry it's Florida, unless you're into that sort of thing.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 12:39 PM on January 19, 2015

Wow! I was just thinking they remind me a bit of The Budos Band. When I checked their upcoming shows, they've got a gig with them! (In Australia - too bad for me)
posted by orme at 9:32 AM on January 20, 2015

Oh golly, that would be AMAZING. Yes, The Bollywood Royale are Aussies. I'm not sure how much they tour abroad, especially as a full 11 person band.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:08 PM on January 21, 2015

As a follow up, is there anything a five piece brass section can't turn into instant super-awesome-win? No. The answer is No.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:09 PM on January 21, 2015