Orange Street’s distinctive sound is a combination of rock, Indian classical & traditional Dhol shot through an electronica bed.
1995’s "Great Indian Rock" project organized by the only music magazine "RSJ" at the time brought Orange Street to the attention of the audiences and the music community in India. By 2002 they won the Great Indian Rock competition and made sufficient noise about their presence. This consolidated their reputation for ground breaking new sound and uplifting live sets.
They started off in 1995 at New Delhi when singer Anirban Chakraborty aka Bann teamed up with guitarist Saibal Basu, at the time when, to make original music was yet to be "considered" and was largely overlooked by the country obsessed with anything "not Indian".Succumbing to what Bann says "Life takes over", the band had undergone several line-up changes till 2002 which had seen them working with guitarist Gautam Chima, DJ Jayant, drummer Ashwani Verma and bassist Neel. By this time, the band had already toured across India and Sri Lanka with two albums under their belt. "Drive Carefully for Our Shake" was released with RSJ records in 2000 and "Candywalk" was released nationally by Magnasound India Records in 2002. Songs from this album were used in the award winning feature film called "Everybody Says Im Fine", directed by Rahul Bose who is also an established actor of Bollywood film industry in India.
A major change happened in October 2003 when Bann, the driving force behind Orange Street decided to completely revamp the band including the sound. He strongly felt that people were also evolving in their own ways as times were changing. Thus getting together some very talented musicians, Orange Street evolved with a ground breaking sound which is the first of its kind in their country. The album "DHARMA" saw this outstanding collaboration of the new line-up with guitarist Donn, drummer Ashwin Andrew, bassist Dara, Hindustani classical singer Imran Khan and the Dhol player Parveen Sethi.
This was followed by an extensive tour to Europe and Scandinavia in the summer of 2004. The band played some major festivals like "Peace and Love", "Slottsfjell", "Sundance Music Fetsival" and "Little Chili" across Sweden, Norway, Estonia and UK. The concerts were a resounding success, Orange Street performing alongside top bands and artists like Motorhead, Trilok Gurtu, Timbuktu, Hanoi Rocks and Nizami Brothers. During the tour both Imran Khan and Bann were invited by Swedish producer Johanne to record for a world music album that was to feature Manu Chao. Bann also met up with the popular British Asian band, Asian Dub Foundation in London.
It was really an inspiring trip which has had a major influence on Orange Street’s outlook on music. The band has been writing ever since and have been following music from different parts of the world. Guitarist Donn is also a part time DJ who spins occasionally in clubs. Orange Street’s forceful presence seems to be breaking new grounds defying many stereotypes of the Indian musicians.In February 2005, Donn and Ashwin played with bassist John Myung of the mega band Dream Theatre. As they now say, they were truly "humbled" by the experience. November 2005 - March 2006 saw among many performances, the band playing three major fusion music festivals including the Kalaa Utsavam (Singapore), the prestigious Qutub Festival (New Delhi, India) and Siddhi Vinayak Festival (Mumbai, India).
Mid 2006, the band took another turn by limiting the songwriting within two of its main members. Donn (donny) and Bann (anirban chakraborty) were now driving the sound of the band. Donn also released his first solo album called "One Way Circle" with Zeitgeist Music. He did a short tour to promote the same. In 2007, the popular Orange Street song "Morey Piya" was featured on a unique compilation album called "Sahi Bol" on HMV records. This was unique and special as this was a compilation that featured artists only from New Delhi, which was the band's hometown.
Orange Street is now preparing for the new season of music festivals, film projects and release of the new album.
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