In conversation with Suraj Mani: A TKM Alumnus who’d later become a Music and Entrepreneurship giant!
Excerpts from a recent interview with former Motherjane frontman Suraj Mani were he talks about his journey with music, present-day Indie music, his time at TKM, and more.
“I still remember everything. The bed bugs in the Men’s hostel, my batchmates, the pretty ladies… There is hardly anything I can’t recall about TKM. Funnily enough, I just now remember the time I was ragged into singing a rock song at Karicode junction wearing a lungi with a banana in my hand. The locals would look at me highly amused.”
Suraj Mani is perhaps the least talked about TKM alumnus for a man of his posture. A pioneer in the Indian Independent music scene, Suraj was the charismatic frontman and lyricist of the veteran Rock Band Motherjane. A band which used to make great waves around India in the first decade of the 21st century. Suraj was known for his husky voice modulation, strong on-stage body language, and his iconic half-painted Kathakali face. Motherjane has to be one of the earliest taste of Indian Independent music rockheads born in the late ’80s and early ’90s have experienced. It was an easy crowd favourite headlining almost all premier Indian rock festivals and opening for legendary metal and progressive rock bands like Megadeath, Machinehead, and Opeth when they toured India.
Motherjane back in their glory days would have a turnout of more than 10,000 listeners for their live shows. Suraj along with his confrère Baiju Dharmajan (both would later part ways with the band) were the iconic duo at the centre of this new thick phenomenon. Awards and accolades came rushing for Suraj and Motherjane during their association. For Motherjane’s highly recognized second album Maktub (2008), Suraj was honoured as the Best Rock vocalist in Asia at the Asia Pacific Voice Independent Music Awards (AVIMA) in 2010. He was also credited with the prestigious Jack Daniels rock award and The Leon Ireland award in 2009 for best Singer/Songwriter. But there is much more to Suraj Mani than the award-winning, crowd-pulling handsome vocalist that he is.
The student community in TKM has always had a great cultural outlook. They have always enjoyed promoting literature, critically acclaimed movies and music, entrepreneurship, and new cutting edge technology. Suraj Mani is an interesting crossover of all of the above. A successful Independent musician who has went on to become a key figure in a band which would later be known as the best Rock Band in Asia, a skilled HVAC Engineer who runs a fast-growing Air Conditioning business under his own name, and a patron of Independent music through his production house Aum-i-Artistes. Aum-i-Artistes is Suraj’s brainchild which would later go on to create the much renowned properties like Music Mojo, Muse Room, and Mojo Rising. Sharing excerpts from an interview I recently had with Mr. Mani about his music journey, his adventures with Aum-i-Artistes, his business, and his time in TKM where he claims it all began.
We will begin with a question perhaps you’ve been asked many times. What were the events that lead to your stepping down from Motherjane?
I had met with a spinal injury in an accident long back. I woke up from bed one day screaming. The doctor told me it was the combined effect of my older accident and too much day to day stress. I was working extensively back then and had to take a 12-hour bus ride between Kochi and Bangalore whenever I could for practice. All the physical activities in relation to the band were taking a toll on me and I had to step down. It was an emotional time for me given the ups and downs I had with the band and the close relation I had with the rest of the band members and the fans. I never expected myself to return to music again.
Why was there a huge gap between Insane Biography (the band’s first album released in 2002) and Maktub (released only 6 years later in 2008)?
Rex (Rex Vijayan) was a key member of the band between 2000 and 2003. He played the rhythm guitar for Insane Biography and all the shows that we went for during that period. He left the band aspiring to create music of his own liking sometime in 2003. He rightfully did so by leaving us and had a great run with Avial. We, therefore, didn’t have a guitarist that would make us feel like a unit again. Not that the guitarists who’d fill in for Rex lacked quality. Some of them were really great including Mithun Raju (presently lead guitarist at Thaikkudam Bridge), but lacked the camaraderie that we had as a unit while we had Rex. The way that we came together as a group is what really helped us create music apart from individual quality. Sometime in 2006, Deepu (Deepu Sasidharan) joined us from 13AD. He had just come back from Dubai and was not planning to return to music again. With some conviction from John (Motherjane’s founding member and drummer) and Baiju, Deepu started jamming with us and very soon we felt like a Band again. Within two years of occasional shows and practice, we were able to release Maktub.
Everyone who remembers the old Motherjane quite easily remembers the iconic duo of Suraj Mani and Baiju Dharmajan. Baiju clearly had a great influence in the style of music that Motherjane back then projected. How would you characterise your relationship with Baiju now?
We are still great friends. In fact, I’m still pretty close with all of them from that time. We were a set of really different people and as I mentioned earlier, our personalities too have contributed to the songwriting. It is the conversations and constant listening during our sessions that often paved way for a new song.
You have recently released a new album ‘Rinse and Repeat’ with your solo venture Suraj Mani and The Tattva Trip. Tell us a bit about the Idea behind this ‘Tattva Tripper’ and the feedback you’ve been getting for Rinse and Repeat.
Unlike most people who have very defined views of who they are and what they do, I have over the years learned to explore and embrace the contradictions that exist inside me. This has led me to a very different life, a life in which I’m a Poet, a performer, and the voice of a contextual traveller over a journey I call the ‘Tattva Trip’. I explore different ideas and look at it in different angles. Tattva as you know is Sanskrit for principle and so I look at things from different perspectives which is why I call myself the Tattva Tripper. The music that I make now is more aligned to the message than the conventional idea of music. Rinse and Repeat is my second album and it has been getting some good feedback. I get loads of DMs on Instagram about the title track of the album saying how it has helped them look at issues differently and figuratively rinse and repeat. An interesting thing about this set of feedback was that it was beyond any age group.
You are a very articulate person, a man of words to put it lightly. Your songs have great references and choice of words. Where did all of that come from? You had some literary influences?
I’m an avid reader. Growing up in Nigeria, my father used to get me books on birthdays and other occasions. I was initially a little incandescent given how the other kids used to get interesting toy sets and play kits. But, eventually, I grew towards books and reading became a constant in my life. I started off with fictions like Hardy Boys and Agatha Christie but soon moved into reading much more non-fiction once I began a career in marketing. I have spent so much time reading the philosophies of Osho and Zen too, they have widely influenced my poetry.
So is it safe to say that Reading has empowered you both as an artist and an Engineer?
Oh absolutely! I wouldn’t have achieved anything in life without reading and the personal skills I’ve developed from the same. It has yes, helped me become a better poet and songwriter but the way it has helped my business is tremendous. Always being able to communicate and find some common ground helps you massively in the corporate world. I often share the insights I’ve received through constant reading and later pondering about what I’ve read with my employees. They’ve told me that they find it helpful in their day to day pursuits.
Has this avid relation with books given you any other political, social or cultural identity other than the Tattva Tripper? You have mentioned about the unfortunate Indian girl in your single ‘Maya’, are you, therefore, someone who looks at the much-sophisticated issues of the society we live in?
I don’t think I identify myself in any way per se. Living in a country like India makes you surface with a lot of issues and I always find myself having an opinion about something or the other. The way I make peace with it is often by writing a song. Maya too came out like that. The only identity that I’d have for myself is that of a ‘creative thinker’. God has given free will to everyone to believe and express themselves and I’m an advocate of this privilege. I, therefore, although an opinionated bum, never had any political or social identity.
You’ve reaped great success in your stint as a music manager too. Could you share a bit about your association with Aum-i-Artistes which would later produce hit shows like Music Mojo and Muse room?
Okay, so I began Aum-i-Artistes (The name, he later reveals came as a pun on ‘Oh my artists’) as a music management for Motherjane. After my time at Motherjane, I decided to take this enterprise into a level where I can support Independent music and art. So although it was headquartered in B’lore, I set up a team in Kochi to handle all the operations. We never signed any artists on our label but created a platform for them to perform and do live shows.
So in the initial days, we decided to set up a business model that would allow the best Indie artists to come and perform for us. We narrowed down to creating a TV show that would allow the performing artist to earn a remuneration for their participation. This eventually meant that they’d get plenty of promotion through Television and YouTube and also a remuneration for their participation. It was a win-win situation for the artist. Mathrubhumi was on board with the idea and that’s how Music Mojo was born. The show received nationwide coverage and some of the best artists in the country has now performed for the show. It is easily one of my favourite achievements with Aum-i-Artistes.
Similarly we thought of beginning an acoustic live TV show in Panampally Nagar for artists who are primarily more acoustic. This was the birth of Muse room. It too became very popular after a few good artists like Agam debuted there. We eventually wanted to do an Independent music festival out of Kochi and that paved the way for Mojo Rising.
Rock has changed invariably from your time with Motherjane. The bands which refer to themselves as a rock band these days have a clear change in their perception of things including the music. How do you look at the whole thing as a veteran in this field?
Well, things have changed drastically within the space of a decade. One of them is that music production has left studios and every band seems to have a Home studio for themselves. This has given rise to a plethora of content out there leaving everyone puzzled about what to listen or where they could find what they’d enjoy listening. Another drastic change is how an algorithm is currently deciding what kind of music we listen to. We have moved away from a culture where we share music with each other through messages, e-mails, tapes, and CDs. This has definitely affected the music that we listen to and our general perception about the same.
Rock, for me, is all about the attitude. It’s a genre that gives you the freedom to bent the rules a little bit and the listeners always encourage you to try something new. In that sense, I’m very much satisfied with the contemporary artists and the great music that they make. Even when I see some Sufi artists perform with great passion, I choose to believe there’s a bit of rock in them.
Let’s talk about your time in TKM a bit, shall we? You have in a previous interview mentioned that your whole music journey began at your ‘Engineering College’. Could you shed some light into that?
Haha. Where shall I begin? I lived in Annexe V campus hostel during my first year. Some of my friends eavesdropped me singing in the shower. I never have performed much anywhere before as a singer. So when my friends who eavesdropped asked me to sing for them, I simply couldn’t. There were about 13 people in my room that day and they really kept pushing me to sing. They finally convinced me under the condition that they’d all sing if I did too. Some of them were obviously terrible and when my turn came, I had to sing. They were impressed and told me that I should sing more often. Interestingly, I got ragged by a couple of seniors the next day itself. They too made me sing and was fairly impressed. I was made to come to the Men’s Hostel (Now first-year LH) every now and then. I had to jump the fence at Annexe V and a different fence at MH to meet them most of the time. I was made to sing and occasionally even made to buy them dinner. I had to learn the body language of appearing as a second year at MH or else it’ll be murder every time I walked past a senior. But in a way ragging did me good, haha. I wouldn’t have become a singer or a successful entrepreneur if it wasn’t for ragging.
Is there anything else that you can recall other than the ragging? What is the biggest memory you have taken away from TKM?
I still remember everything. The bed bugs in the Men’s Hostel, My batchmates, The pretty ladies… There is hardly anything I can’t recall about TKM. Funnily enough, I just now remember the time I was ragged into singing a rock song at Karicode junction wearing a lungi with a banana in my hand. The locals would look at me highly amused. The biggest takeaway has to be my batchmates though. I still remember the days when they’d come and support me while I was performing. This included my friends who hardly listened to western music. The sheer amount of love that I received was incredible. I’m still in touch with almost 15 of them and had the pleasure of meeting some of the rest during a get-together.
There were all kinds of people in my batch. Some well to do people who came through management quota, some who came through merit and had to do occasional menial jobs to support their education. Interacting with all these different people taught me about what people truly represent and how their origins have little to do with what they become. TKM has truly taught me how to appreciate people.
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Suraj is currently settled in Bangalore and has two beautiful children. He is creating more music through his solo project Suraj Mani and The Tattva Trip and his recent album has been featured in US and UK Radio. His Air Conditioning business Suraj Mani Engineers Pvt Ltd is still going strong and has helped him to invest in his music and Aum-i-Artistes. Suraj left his association with Music Mojo and Mojo Rising in 2019 following a difference of opinion with his team. He last paid homage to his Alma Mater sometime in 2015–16 while he was invited for a performance and hopes to go back to the campus soon. He was surprised to learn that the MH was now converted into an LH but wasn’t very surprised to know that the hostel mess still serves not so great food. A successful Engineer, Entrepreneur, and a Musician recognized throughout Asia, Suraj Mani’s aspiring story is something the TKM community should celebrate more.
