Originals, Not Covers: 7 Songs by Bands (October 2026)

Seven original songs by Indian independent bands, from Thaikkudam Bridge's Fish Rock and Swarathma's Raushan to Avial's Nada Nada.

Seven bands from Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra, with releases from 2008 to 2024.
Five of the seven releases carry the band's own name on the Apple Music ℗ line. Peter Cat Recording Co.'s Bismillah is credited to the French label Panache, and Avial's debut album to Avial Music Production.
Thaikkudam Bridge's debut television show had 12 songs, and Fish Rock was one of only two originals, according to The Hindu.
Aaoge Tum Kabhi by The Local Train sat at No. 32 on Spotify's Indie India playlist on the morning of 26 October 2026.
Easy Wanderlings' Enemy was used in the Amazon film Gehraiyaan, and its parent EP was named the best Indian EP of 2022 by Rolling Stone India, according to Wikipedia.

Episode 3 of Originals, Not Covers is about bands. It picks seven original songs by Indian independent bands: Fish Rock by Thaikkudam Bridge, Raushan by Swarathma, Aaoge Tum Kabhi by The Local Train, Nee Aara by When Chai Met Toast, Enemy by Easy Wanderlings, Floated By by Peter Cat Recording Co. and Nada Nada by Avial. Each entry gives the band, the year, the label credit and what makes the song the band's own. Every fact is linked in the Sources list at the end.

Key facts

Seven bands from Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra, with releases from 2008 to 2024.
Five of the seven releases carry the band's own name on the Apple Music ℗ line. Peter Cat Recording Co.'s Bismillah is credited to the French label Panache, and Avial's debut album to Avial Music Production.
Thaikkudam Bridge's debut television show had 12 songs, and Fish Rock was one of only two originals, according to The Hindu.
Aaoge Tum Kabhi by The Local Train sat at No. 32 on Spotify's Indie India playlist on the morning of 26 October 2026.
Easy Wanderlings' Enemy was used in the Amazon film Gehraiyaan, and its parent EP was named the best Indian EP of 2022 by Rolling Stone India, according to Wikipedia.

Why bands this week

Plenty of Indian bands start out playing songs that crowds already know, and there is nothing wrong with that. Cover sets teach a band how to hold a stage and how a room reacts. The songs in this episode are the moment each band stepped past that and wrote something only they could have made. Some are funny, some are political and some are about a flood or a wedding, but all seven were written by the bands that recorded them.

Episode 2, Originals, Not Covers: 6 Self-Owned Songs, looked at solo artists whose names sit on the ℗ line. This week the filter is the band itself. Several of these groups also have full profiles on Discography, linked below.

How we checked each song

For every pick we confirmed three things. The release year and ℗ line came from Apple Music's catalogue, since the ℗ line names whoever owns the sound recording. The story behind the song came from interviews, reviews and Wikipedia, all listed under Sources. Where a band is credited to a label rather than to itself, we say so plainly. The Indie India position for The Local Train comes from a snapshot of Spotify's playlist taken at about 9:30 AM IST on 26 October 2026.

1. Fish Rock by Thaikkudam Bridge (2013)

Made by: Thaikkudam Bridge, the Kerala band founded by Govind P. Menon
Released: 2013
Label: Independent (℗ 2013 Thaikkudam Bridge on Apple Music)
What makes it original: a rock song built around a list of the fish Malayalis love to eat

Fish Rock starts like a rock version of a folk song and then turns into what The Hindu called "a fishmonger's list of goods": ayela, mathi, choora, kaari and more. Govind P. Menon told the paper why he wrote it: "I love eating fish and it was a given that I had to write a song on fish, a tribute to my love for fish."

The song came out of the band's first television appearance on Kappa TV's Music Mojo. According to The Hindu, the 13-piece band played 12 songs on that show, and only two were originals, Fish Rock and Shiva. The band uploaded the performances to YouTube, and Fish Rock passed 50,000 views in its first three weeks. It is a neat example of a band using a cover-heavy debut to show off the one idea that was entirely theirs. Our history of Thaikkudam Bridge follows what happened next.

2. Raushan by Swarathma (2024)

Made by: Swarathma, the Bengaluru folk-rock band
Released: 19 February 2024
Label: Independent (℗ 2024 Swarathma on Apple Music)
What makes it original: a song about lightness and freedom, built from a melody the band wrote together on retreat

Raushan marked Swarathma's return after a three-year hiatus, Rolling Stone India reported, and was released as the first glimpse of the band's fourth album. Vocalist Sanjeev Nayak explained where it came from: "We crafted the main melody for 'Raushan' during a band retreat in December 2022." He added that the song "explores themes of liberation, freedom, and a sense of lightness."

Indulge Express credited the lyrics to Puneet Sharma and noted that the band's earlier albums were Swarathma (2009), Topiwalleh (2012) and Raah-e-Fakira (2018). Apple Music lists two more singles from the same run, Bas in June 2024 and Aiyanar Kudurai in December 2024. The cover photo on this page shows Swarathma at Cardiff Castle in the United Kingdom in May 2009.

3. Aaoge Tum Kabhi by The Local Train (2014)

Made by: The Local Train, the Hindi rock band that formed in Chandigarh and moved to Delhi
Released: as a single in 2014, then on the album Aalas Ka Pedh on 25 September 2015
Label: Independent (℗ 2015 The Local Train on Apple Music)
Indie India position on 26 October 2026: 32

Aaoge Tum Kabhi is one of the singles that built The Local Train's following before their first album. In 2015 the band's bassist Ramit Mehra told The Indian Express, "For us, it has always been about breaking the stereotypes, of putting the Hindi in indie and making original music."

According to Wikipedia, Aaoge Tum Kabhi was the band's first music video, and the song was used in Pan Nalin's 2015 film Angry Indian Goddesses, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. More than a decade later it is still on Spotify's Indie India playlist, which says a lot about how long a well-written original can last. Read more in our profile of The Local Train.

4. Nee Aara by When Chai Met Toast (2019)

Made by: When Chai Met Toast, the Kochi band
Released: 8 August 2019
Label: Independent (℗ 2019 When Chai Met Toast on Apple Music)
What makes it original: the band's first Malayalam song, written about the 2018 Kerala floods

When Chai Met Toast had mostly sung in English, mixed with some Hindi and Tamil, when they decided to write Nee Aara. Onmanorama reported that the August 2018 floods in Kerala inspired the band's first Malayalam song. Vocalist Ashwin Gopakumar said, "The song is about coming through hardship and breaking through it." Guitarist Achyuth Jaigopal added, "We wanted to give something back to the land we hail from. This is a song about all those who stood together during floods."

It is a good example of an original that could only come from this band and this place. A cover could not have carried that story.

5. Enemy by Easy Wanderlings (2021)

Made by: Easy Wanderlings, the soul-pop band from Pune
Released: as a single on 7 May 2021, later on the EP Caught in a Parade in 2022
Label: Independent (℗ 2022 Easy Wanderlings on Apple Music)
What makes it original: a song about cancel culture that found its way into a feature film

Wikipedia describes Enemy as a single centred on cancel culture. It was featured in the Amazon Original film Gehraiyaan, starring Deepika Padukone. The EP it later joined, Caught in a Parade, was rated the best Indian EP of 2022 by Rolling Stone India, according to the band's Wikipedia page.

Easy Wanderlings have played NH7 Weekender in Pune in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and Lollapalooza India in Mumbai in January 2023, Wikipedia notes. Enemy shows a band using its own voice to take on a topic most pop songs avoid.

6. Floated By by Peter Cat Recording Co. (2019)

Made by: Peter Cat Recording Co., the New Delhi band formed in 2010
Released: on the album Bismillah, 7 June 2019
Label: Panache (℗ 2019 Panache on Apple Music)
What makes it original: a love letter written into an album that celebrates a wedding

NME's review of Bismillah said the album "delves into a love letter on 'Floated By'". Atwood Magazine, in a 2023 interview feature, described Bismillah as a celebration of singer Suryakant Sawhney's wedding day and said Floated By "encapsulates – quite literally – the flowy nature of this record," quoting its line "Time just floated by."

Bismillah is the one release in this list credited to a label, the French label Panache, rather than to the band. The song is still entirely Peter Cat's own writing, and Wikipedia lists Floated By among the band's singles.

7. Nada Nada by Avial (2008)

Made by: Avial, the Malayalam alternative rock band from Thiruvananthapuram
Released: on the album Avial, 8 February 2008
Label: Independent (℗ 2008 Avial Music Production on Apple Music)
What makes it original: Malayalam lyrics set to rock, from a band whose members had played in English-language bands

Nada Nada was written by lyricist Engandiyur Chandrasekharan and first tuned by John P. Varkey for his Thrissur band Jigsaw Puzzle. Guitarist Rex Vijayan then reworked it, according to The Hindu. The song became the start of Avial.

Singer Tony John told The Hindu in 2016 why they chose Malayalam: "All of us had worked with English bands. We felt there was something missing and started singing in Malayalam." The album that followed won six Jack Daniel's Rock Awards, according to Wikipedia. Our Avial band profile has the full story.

FAQ

What is Originals, Not Covers?

It is a Discography series that picks original songs by Indian independent artists. Each episode lists who made each song, when it came out, how the recording is credited and what makes it the artist's own. Episode 3 focuses on bands.

Who wrote the Fish Rock song?

Fish Rock was written by Govind P. Menon, founder of Thaikkudam Bridge. He told The Hindu in 2013 that he loved eating fish and had to write a song as a tribute to that love.

Which movie has the song Aaoge Tum Kabhi?

Aaoge Tum Kabhi by The Local Train was used in Pan Nalin's 2015 film Angry Indian Goddesses, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to Wikipedia.

What is the meaning of Nee Aara by When Chai Met Toast?

Nee Aara is the band's first Malayalam song and was inspired by the 2018 Kerala floods. Vocalist Ashwin Gopakumar told Onmanorama it is about coming through hardship and breaking through it.

Who wrote Nada Nada by Avial?

The lyrics of Nada Nada were written by Engandiyur Chandrasekharan. John P. Varkey first tuned the song for his band Jigsaw Puzzle, and Rex Vijayan later reworked it, according to The Hindu.