The history of Rock in Chennai is obviously not as well documented as that of say, Carnatic Music here. But the Vineyard Center (a center for enlightened development of the community) has worked on this topic.

Late '60s - Late '70s

Atomic Forest

With guys like Madhukar Chandradas, Abes, Keith Kanga and Jerry D'mous, this band was described as "the best Rock act in India". Very popular, these guys were in great demand in Mumbai hotels and in the live circuit.

Legends

Chayur Viji, Lionel Satya, Raynor d'monte and Dheena Chandradas, all from Loyola College, were the next huge band in the city. They loved to play Jazz, and were famous for their rendition of the song 'Lazy' by Deep Purple.

The Jumping Jewels

This band formed in the late 70s, featured Rajeevan David, Roshan Daniel, Jeswant Koilpillai and Dantest. They played the 'Black Magic Woman' (by Santana) kind of songs.

Desire

Madhukar Chandradas (Atomic Forest), Raynor d'monte (Legends), joined up with Rampert Rathniah, Mike Feegrade and Suresh Devanesan, and they stormed the hotel scene for a few years. What was unique about this band was that they had two drummers!

Some of the really good bands were 'Wild Angels' with Shabu, Ganesh, and Druva, and one of the best Rock'n'Roll bands - 'Future Shock' with Lashi and Sunny Singh. Moss was a band from St Bedes with Russell D'silva, Fabian Holts, and Noel Peters, who later went on to form the backbone of the Loyola College band 'Down Sterling'.

80s - 90s

Sabotage

This successful band from Madras Christian College with Ashok Cherian, Santosh Venglat, and Vivek Abraham, along with Markus Gibson won the 1984 IIT Mardi Gras.

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- The Vineyard Center, Chennai
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