Loudest Discovery
LOCALS | A Secret Community for Techno Lovers
By
Akriti Niti Guha
October 21, 2017
October 21, 2017
A friend had added me to this secret forum on facebook a few months back and specifically felt the need to call me and tell how dope this sundowner is going to be. The thing with underground music scenes which make it the best is the selective few who actually make the effort to come out and support homegrown talent is what it’s all about and man, LOCALS doesn’t disappoint.
Locals is an online community for people who love Techno and it’s sub genres. They seem to have one theme in common - good vibes and fresh beats. It’s a free event and entry is by invite only (which means you HAVE to be a part of the forum) to be able to attend the gig. They have a group of about 1500 members and started out this brilliant initiative in March 2017. They not only support local talent but also do it for a cause by supporting CANKIDS, an NGO doing inspiring work for providing holistic care for children with Cancer and their families. They have a locked donation box at the event for people to do their part in whatever way they can. To find out more about CANKIDS and how you can get involved visit http://www.cankidsindia.org
The massive line-up for last month's LOCALS.[/caption]
The BYOB sundowner which was held last month began at 12 pm and went on til about 12 am at a low key rooftop venue which was perfect for those sunset vibes with chillout music. The stellar line up consisted of Kohra, Jitter, A Guy Called Sid Sal, Rohan Kale, Ray, Segue and non other than the man himself Mister.K. I will never forget the pure energy & music and there were times that I would find myself thinking, “HOW did I not know about this?” Well, as much as I wondered that, I also came to the conclusion that maybe THIS is the reason why this scene is so dope. It’s because it’s low-key and the organizers make a constant effort of selectively approving requests to join the forum. It’s simply to keep the riff-raff out and honestly, as a single woman in New Delhi, it just feels like a safe space to groove in and they’re definitely not doing these gigs for profit. It’s only for the love of music and dancing and how that connects us all.
Loudest speaks to the super talented Mister. K aka Vijay Kumar on the inception of Locals, how music comes before anything else and the LOCALS fam.
Loudest : Tell us about the inception of LOCALS and the people who make it happen.
Mister. K: Locals was created to fill the void of an after party scene with quality music and the right people and vibe. It initially started of with a bunch of us partying together while I was the only one always playing. So we decided to open doors to other artists and and their friends who were looking for a vibe like this. While we got to hear fresher sounds it also become a platform for local talent to showcase themselves and play from the heart without any commercial pressures. Locals today is a product of a lot of people supporting it behind the scenes and also the amazing people who attend it but there are primarily 4 of us who put everything together.
Each one of us comes with our own expertise and we put it to good use here, but most importantly we put our heart into it. Raman Bhandari is our creative genius, ask him to do any kind of physical labour and he will shy away in an instant but when it comes to creative graphic designing, he is probably one of the best around. Arjun Khosla, professionally a wealth and asset manager who also has experience in construction. He is primarily our go getter trouble shooter and handles a lot of our admin issues . Locals is an underground scene after all and Arjun ensures to whatever extent he can that the party keeps going! Ovais Dehlvi who we suspect has OCD because of the way he brilliantly handles our finances and brings in a system to the chaos. With an education in fashion and being a successful exporter is what gives him those skills . Without him the rest of us would be a such a mess. Then there is me - been in the music business for over a decade now. Playing music, managing artists, setting up sound systems, running a club and living in goa. I think all of those experiences is what helped me put LOCALS together and above all the universe has been kind to me! The four of us started out as friends but now we’re family and the fact that we think from the heart is what holds us together.
Loudest: LOCALS gives homegrown Dj's so much love and support. Do you think we've finally reached a point where people are giving local talent their due or is this the case only with The Underground?
Mister.K: People are ready to give local talent their due but we still have a long way to go. As of now only big or popular acts of the country are being celebrated which they truly deserve, but it is really difficult for new talent to break into the scene no matter how good he or she is. It's also got a lot to do with how venue owners, promoters and artist managers function. The best part though, is that underground quality house music and techno is still at its nascent stages in India and that gives us a lot of hope and room to evolve and catch up with the rest of the world. All we have to do is hang in there and build it together.
Loudest: How does LOCALS consistently manage to pull off such good events without the mainstream channels of advertisement?
Mister.K: The 4 of us are very particular and meticulous with our roles but that's not all. We have got a lot of support from artists big and small, who want to extend their support to the underground scene and watch it grow. Mainstream advertisement is usually required when the end goal is to make money. LOCALS was not started with that intention. That is probably one of the reasons we have been able to maintain its sanctity and receive love and support from everybody. Money has no power here, only the love for music does. Yes, we do want to bring in a business model eventually, only to be able to sustain longer and create something larger. All of that will be through different extensions or verticals, but without disturbing the original LOCALS monthly events or losing its soul.
Loudest: There is this sense of belonging in the LOCALS community which transcends just your parties. How do ya'll feel about that?
Mister.K: It's got a lot to do with the way we've built the group and how we plan the events. The group has consciously been grown organically over the months with friends referring friends and so on. Every profile is thoroughly checked. If a profile looks suspicious we do not add the person. Incase there is somebody joining without a reference we personally message or cross check with mutual friends before adding the person. Also at every event we try and keep the vibe warm always by avoiding the typical drama at most delhi venues. The venues, the crew, support staff they are all requested to work with love and humility only. The 4 of us are constantly on our toes playing host, observing and ensuring that everybody, artists and guests are comfortable and taken care of in every way possible. We strongly believe that LOCALS is all of us put together, we’re one big family and everybody is treated equally. It would have been impossible to build this ourselves. It was built purely out of love for music and that percolates into our events as well.
Loudest: What's next for LOCALS? Any plans to take it to other cities as well?
Mister.K: We have a lot planned for LOCALS, some in the near future and some already in the pipeline and we are super excited about them. Surprises are a lot of fun, so we shall reveal them in the right time. As of now, all we can promise is that none of it will ever lose the LOCALS spirit and we're here to love you long long time!
Today's stellar line-up at LOCALS.[/caption]
The LOCALS Dictum
LOCALS is an initiative to bring local talent closer to its audience without losing its artistic purity. In the process also building a community experience where people from different walks of life can connect communicate, share etc using music as a common factor. This will be a once a month phenomenon and we intend to make it a platform for talented individuals to share their work. LOCALS does not believe in exorbitant entry charges, excessive taxes and nonsensical bar rates, that the system in this city has been forcing down on us. We’re keeping it strictly BYOB. If you want a drink, you have to first pool into the common bar. We will have glasses, ice and chilling facilities available for you . Since we will never be bound to commercial venues, timelines will never haunt us, we don’t stop till the music is on! To maintain a shanti shanti vibe, we’re keeping the guest list tight, so only people on this group/list will be allowed in. If you have like minded people, you are welcome to the add them to the group.Losing my LOCALS virginity
[caption id="attachment_2154" align="aligncenter" width="278"] The massive line-up for last month's LOCALS.[/caption]
The BYOB sundowner which was held last month began at 12 pm and went on til about 12 am at a low key rooftop venue which was perfect for those sunset vibes with chillout music. The stellar line up consisted of Kohra, Jitter, A Guy Called Sid Sal, Rohan Kale, Ray, Segue and non other than the man himself Mister.K. I will never forget the pure energy & music and there were times that I would find myself thinking, “HOW did I not know about this?” Well, as much as I wondered that, I also came to the conclusion that maybe THIS is the reason why this scene is so dope. It’s because it’s low-key and the organizers make a constant effort of selectively approving requests to join the forum. It’s simply to keep the riff-raff out and honestly, as a single woman in New Delhi, it just feels like a safe space to groove in and they’re definitely not doing these gigs for profit. It’s only for the love of music and dancing and how that connects us all.
Loudest speaks to the super talented Mister. K aka Vijay Kumar on the inception of Locals, how music comes before anything else and the LOCALS fam.
Loudest : Tell us about the inception of LOCALS and the people who make it happen.
Mister. K: Locals was created to fill the void of an after party scene with quality music and the right people and vibe. It initially started of with a bunch of us partying together while I was the only one always playing. So we decided to open doors to other artists and and their friends who were looking for a vibe like this. While we got to hear fresher sounds it also become a platform for local talent to showcase themselves and play from the heart without any commercial pressures. Locals today is a product of a lot of people supporting it behind the scenes and also the amazing people who attend it but there are primarily 4 of us who put everything together.
Each one of us comes with our own expertise and we put it to good use here, but most importantly we put our heart into it. Raman Bhandari is our creative genius, ask him to do any kind of physical labour and he will shy away in an instant but when it comes to creative graphic designing, he is probably one of the best around. Arjun Khosla, professionally a wealth and asset manager who also has experience in construction. He is primarily our go getter trouble shooter and handles a lot of our admin issues . Locals is an underground scene after all and Arjun ensures to whatever extent he can that the party keeps going! Ovais Dehlvi who we suspect has OCD because of the way he brilliantly handles our finances and brings in a system to the chaos. With an education in fashion and being a successful exporter is what gives him those skills . Without him the rest of us would be a such a mess. Then there is me - been in the music business for over a decade now. Playing music, managing artists, setting up sound systems, running a club and living in goa. I think all of those experiences is what helped me put LOCALS together and above all the universe has been kind to me! The four of us started out as friends but now we’re family and the fact that we think from the heart is what holds us together.
Loudest: LOCALS gives homegrown Dj's so much love and support. Do you think we've finally reached a point where people are giving local talent their due or is this the case only with The Underground?
Mister.K: People are ready to give local talent their due but we still have a long way to go. As of now only big or popular acts of the country are being celebrated which they truly deserve, but it is really difficult for new talent to break into the scene no matter how good he or she is. It's also got a lot to do with how venue owners, promoters and artist managers function. The best part though, is that underground quality house music and techno is still at its nascent stages in India and that gives us a lot of hope and room to evolve and catch up with the rest of the world. All we have to do is hang in there and build it together.
Loudest: How does LOCALS consistently manage to pull off such good events without the mainstream channels of advertisement?
Mister.K: The 4 of us are very particular and meticulous with our roles but that's not all. We have got a lot of support from artists big and small, who want to extend their support to the underground scene and watch it grow. Mainstream advertisement is usually required when the end goal is to make money. LOCALS was not started with that intention. That is probably one of the reasons we have been able to maintain its sanctity and receive love and support from everybody. Money has no power here, only the love for music does. Yes, we do want to bring in a business model eventually, only to be able to sustain longer and create something larger. All of that will be through different extensions or verticals, but without disturbing the original LOCALS monthly events or losing its soul.
Loudest: There is this sense of belonging in the LOCALS community which transcends just your parties. How do ya'll feel about that?
Mister.K: It's got a lot to do with the way we've built the group and how we plan the events. The group has consciously been grown organically over the months with friends referring friends and so on. Every profile is thoroughly checked. If a profile looks suspicious we do not add the person. Incase there is somebody joining without a reference we personally message or cross check with mutual friends before adding the person. Also at every event we try and keep the vibe warm always by avoiding the typical drama at most delhi venues. The venues, the crew, support staff they are all requested to work with love and humility only. The 4 of us are constantly on our toes playing host, observing and ensuring that everybody, artists and guests are comfortable and taken care of in every way possible. We strongly believe that LOCALS is all of us put together, we’re one big family and everybody is treated equally. It would have been impossible to build this ourselves. It was built purely out of love for music and that percolates into our events as well.
Loudest: What's next for LOCALS? Any plans to take it to other cities as well?
Mister.K: We have a lot planned for LOCALS, some in the near future and some already in the pipeline and we are super excited about them. Surprises are a lot of fun, so we shall reveal them in the right time. As of now, all we can promise is that none of it will ever lose the LOCALS spirit and we're here to love you long long time!
LOCALS | 21.10.2017 | Somewhere in New Delhi
[caption id="attachment_2152" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Today's stellar line-up at LOCALS.[/caption]
LOCALS is organizing their signature feel good scene TODAY and they have a sick line-up (as always) featuring Murklin, Viridian Music, Seera, Freefall, Turban Raga and Hoax. For more deets on where the party is going down, join LOCALS now! Remember the only way you can be a part of LOCALS is by joining the group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/275763072846193/
#ProudLocals
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