Pinckers taking on yet another avatar, reports Amit Gurbaxani.

Though they played their first concert less than two months ago, the members of Kolkata- based band Pink Noise are already familiar to Mumbai’s rock fans. The band features vocalist Jayashree Singh, her husband bassist Gyan Singh and guitarist Amyt Datta: they’re 50 per cent of Skinny Alley, the pop-rock sextet that released its critically acclaimed debut album Escape The Roar in 2003. Jayashree says Pink Noise – which includes the Singhs’ son Jivraj aka Jiver on drums – allows the trio to temporarily move away from Skinny Alley’s structured approach to songwriting and embrace a more improvisational and experimental jazz-influenced sound.

It’s a smooth transition for Gyan Singh and Jayashree who, after performing together for 30 years, are veterans at changing musical gears. “They are among Kolkata’s rock idols,” said music director Ehsaan Noorani of the duo that have been at the helm of no less than five bands and have played almost every popular western music genre from classic rock to hip hop. The jazz leanings of their latest venture were the result of Jivraj’s natural affinity for the genre. “He didn’t go through a rock or pop phase,” Jayashree Singh said in a telephone interview. Pink Noise evolved out of Jivraj’s jams with Datta. “Their sessions grew into the seeds of songs,” said Jayashree Singh. “When Gyan and I started sitting in on them and started fleshing their tunes out, we thought ‘Why not do this regularly and start performing?’”

Their creative juices in full force, the newborn quartet had scored its first gig even before they thought up a name. The members eventually decided on Pink Noise after the now defunct jingle composing company Jayashree Singh had started with Datta. “He was the noise part and I was the pink part,” she joked, adding that the moniker is not really descriptive of their sound. “We might change it soon as we’ve since discovered it’s also the name of an alternative rock band from New York and a Pink Floyd tribute band from Pittsburgh.”

She said the band was pleasantly surprised at the positive response to their music at their maiden concert in Delhi, a city which much like Mumbai is notoriously reluctant to accept new sounds. Jayashree Singh believes that audience attitudes have changed because of the growing number of college acts producing their own material. “Today kids want to write original music and even if they might not technically be the greatest they don’t mind taking a chance,” she said. “It’s a good time for western music in the country.”

It’s a surprising comment considering Skinny Alley is still hunting for ways to release its second album. Though they’re not financially dependent on their two bands – Gyan Singh runs a medium-sized hotel while Datta teaches music by the day - Jayashree Singh feels they wouldn’t have been able to dedicate as much time as they do to their music in any other city. “The pressure on you to have this or have that is not that much in Cal,” she said. “You don’t worry about the bills so much I guess. The commuting time is not that crazy.” This allows the band to rehearse six days a week. She noted, “Our greatest luxury is that we’ve had the time to play everyday for the past 30 years.”