The Local Train: On The Fast Track

- Riddhi Chakraborty

A lot has changed for Hindi rock band The Local Train since they won the first season of Sennheiser Top 50’s band hunt in 2015. The release of their album, Aalas Ka Pedh, solidified their status as the flag-bearers of college-aged angst and dreams, and garnered them a loyal fanbase. Their high-powered debut, coupled with their thorough rounds of India’s college festival circuit, their emotional, detailed music videos and their goofy, fun-loving personalities ensured that The Local Train’s rise to popularity—especially online—was inevitable. Also inevitable: the pressure to deliver a suitable follow-up.

As they gear up for the release of their sophomore album Vaaqif, lead vocalist Raman Negi, bassist Ramit Mehra, guitarist Paras Thakur and drummer Sahil Sarin believe they’re in the best place they have ever been artistically. The feedback on their most recent tour of India to promote Vaaqif is proof: the high demand for the band warranted a second show in both Bengaluru and Pune. “The tour’s going good, we’re all tired as fuck so it’s good,” says bassist Ramit Mehra with a laugh over the phone from Baroda, where the band will be performing as part of their 13-city India tour.

Mehra explains that with Aalas Ka Pedh, they were able to build the bones of their musical style, figure out a little more about who they were as artists and determine the next direction they wanted to go in. “Vaaqif was always something that we wanted to work on—in fact, we finished