Jotting Down The Journey Of The ‘Yellow Diary’

Jotting Down The Journey Of The ‘Yellow Diary’

Mumbai-based musical band ‘The Yellow Diary’ has earned the adulation of Odia youths after its electrifying gig at Bhubaneswar recently. Performing in Odisha for the first time, the band managed to create a sizable fan base in the state. Members of The Yellow Diary shared their experience and musical journey in a candid conversation with My City Links.

"We had never imagined getting so much love and warmth from Bhubaneswar on our first ever performance here. This has given us a reason to come here again and perform in front of this wonderful audience," says Vaibhav Pani, the guitarist of the band who belongs to Odisha. Vaibhav informed that the band members were awe-struck with the beauty of the capital city.

“The Yellow Diary came into existence five years back. Himonshu Parikh (music production, keyboard, and backing vocalist) and Rajan Batra (lyricist) were working on a song called 'Marz' in 2015. They approached me for adding guitar chords to the track. Fortunately, ‘Marz’ received a great response from music lovers. All three of us felt an instant connection and decided to form the band. Then we roped in Sahil Shah (drums) and Stuart Dacosta (bass) and The Yellow Diary was formed," informs Vaibhav.

In 2017, the band released its first EP with Sony Music, India named 'Marz' which had three songs, 'Afzai', 'Kashmir' and recreated 'Marz'. This provided a big mileage to the band in the music world of India and overseas. 

Shedding light on the significance of the band's name, Himonshu says, "People jot down their experiences, both happy and sad incidents of life, in a diary. The diary, thus, becomes a silent companion of an individual. And yellow colour, on one hand, denotes happiness and brightness, and on the other, shows cynicism and illness. Similar to life which has both dark and bright moments, our compositions are the reflections of human emotions, relationships and phases of life like one page to another of a diary."

Rajan says they create a new song in every four days. The audience gets to know about the songs mostly from the band's live performances. ‘Izafa’ is the band's second EP and ‘Rab Rakha’ their latest track.

The music style of The Yellow Diary is 'poetry with rock'. The band infuses thought-provoking poetic compositions into rock music. All the compositions carry deep meaning and are played in the electronic soundscape.

Rajan, who is a contemporary poet, informs that the songs of the bands are taken from everyday happenings of the world. "Being a lyricist, I keenly observe events, incidents, people's behaviours and situations. The minute observation helps me put my thoughts into the lyrics," he adds.

The sole aim of the band is to make good music. The musical expertise of each member adds magic to the band's compositions. The fine chemistry among the band members, mutual respect and understanding of one another's strengths have made The Yellow Diary what it is today.

The band members inform that it was scary to leave a stable career and venture into the music industry which is not always rewarding. Himonshu says, “There was a sense of fear in each one of us while leaving our well-paid jobs to pursue music for the rest of our lives. But we had faith and belief in ourselves. Moreover, our families supported us whole-heartedly. Their unconditional support helped us reach where we are today.”

A large number of compositions of the band is with Sony Music, India. The Yellow Diary is also working on several new projects which will be released soon. 

Social media has helped the band immensely in its successful journey. "During our first release 'Marz', Vaibhav took to Twitter to inform many bigshots of Bollywood. We got instant feedback from Vishal Dadlani, Raghu Dixit and many more from the music industry. In fact, through YouTube, Sony Music India discovered us. We feel that social media is one of the most powerful platforms today. It connects us directly with our fans and we get to know their reactions and feedback," Himonshu adds.