John and the Locals are Indie Pop from Nepal, transforming the Powerstation into downtown Club Kathmandu for one night.
My intrigue was sparked. 35 years ago, I spent months trekking in Nepal and hanging out in Kathmandu. Local music was Folk and heavily Eastern flavoured.
Western music blared from cafes and hangouts, usually distorted from overburdened speakers. Just background noise.
Tonight, there is a 600 plus crowd for the Friday evening start to the weekend. Predominantly South Asian sub-continental brown. 18- to 35-year-olds, strutting males preening around hot young women dressed to kill.
A typical Friday evening for clubbing to Pop music and that is what we got.
The MC for the evening, and the band members, spoke predominantly Nepalese. The majority here are Nepalese, which is surprising but maybe not.
The Everest base camp trek is the most popular. Tenzing Norgay was Nepalese, and he helped some Kiwi knock the bastard off.
John and the Locals act like seasoned professionals, with an easy and practised stage manner.
John Rai lead singer and keyboards, resembling Michael Jackson in a sartorial sense, and in some of his movements.
Steve Rai lead guitar, Mannu Myan bass, Chaggu flute and acoustic guitar, and Jasper on drums.
Asking some of the young women what they played prior (they are in the majority), and being described as a mixture of Pop, Folk and maybe Jazz.
First song Nihita is a lament and begins with a flute. Starts Folk Rock and melodic with touches of Prog.
Follow with Samaya Lay and it is Western Folk Pop with just a little Indo-Asian flavouring. John Rai is looking like Question Mark and the Mysterians, standing behind the keyboards with his dark glasses.
This could be a classic Sixties American garage band, trashy organ sound and all, with some Jazz and Folk smarts.
Emphasises the global cultural dominance of American music, across the Boomer generation onwards.
They sing predominantly in their native language, but the phrasing is all recognisably Western.
There’s a feeling I get when I look to the West/ And my spirit is crying for leaving. Led Zeppelin developed the American Blues tradition and cast themselves adrift in the Moroccan Master Musicians eventually.
These Nepalese musicians are bringing it all back home again from Asia.
Several Pop ballads which have long spoken passages. Although I can’t understand it, the audience response conveys the emotional sense, and it is meant to appeal to female sensibilities.
Hawa Jastai has the offbeat accented in Ska to Rocksteady fashion. Singer displays vocal pyrotechnics with a robust Pop tenor.
Heavy Rock with drum fire on Farkanna Hola. A nod to Van Halen’s guitar on Jacko’s Beat It, when the guitarist takes a solo.
The more ballads we hear, the more the singer sounds like he is channelling the Laurel Canyon style.
Nakshatra is a bigger surprise.
A four-piece which commence with a Metal attack. A power trio and a vocalist.
Harsh guttural vocals, crunch riffs sitting atop a brutal engine room, all in native language.
At times I hear chants of Die! And Pray! That would be the intent, I imagine.
Then they settle back to a more classical Sixties American Rock band approach, like Steppenwolf.
One of the guys has an Iron Maiden tee shirt.
Very little Asian apart from the language of the lyrics. The phrasing is all Rock Americana.
There was one folkie Pop ballad, where the audience sang the refrain.
But when they were called back for an encore, they laid into Toxicity. An AC-DC rhythm riff attack which they turned into Glam Rock rage.
John and the Locals are getting more pastoral and dreamier towards the end. Acoustic guitars, some Pop Soul singing.
A lot of talking by John the leader. This is what makes him a local sensation with the girls in Kathmandu.
The South Asian diaspora is large enough for this band to break out globally.
Closing song is likely Hawa Jastai. An epic, sounding like Donovan’s Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness) to start with, then cycling through variations of Folk Pop and ending in siren call guitars.
John and the Locals and Nakshatra turned expectations completely on the head. Since we are now experienced, these bands can expect big responses on their return.
Rev. Orange Peel
John and the Locals – photos by Azrie Azizi. Click any icon to view a full gallery.
Nakshatra – photos by Azrie Azizi. Click any icon to view a full gallery.
