Best Kept Secret is India’s leading Pop – Rock Band. Led by its charismatic frontman Behram Siganporia, Best Kept Secret has performed worldwide across 95 cities and is expected to cross the 100 cities mark with their upcoming shows in Europe and Africa soon. The BKS boys have built a strong fan base ranging from teenagers to senior citizens and whether you’re 15 or 75 the Band is able to make you groove to their tunes. Their music plays on radio stations and TV channels around the world with their hit songs “Can’t Let You Go” and “Moving On” topping the charts. Known for their eclectic style and enigmatic stage presence, their electrifying performances have made them one of the most sought-after artistes from Asia. We caught up with the band in Bangalore, just before they were to embark on a show in Zimbabwe. Here’s a Provoke exclusive with Behram Siganporia (vocals/bass), Hemanth Diwakaran (guitars), Abhilash EK (drums), and Steve Rajan (keyboards) of Best Kept Secret.

Looking good guys. What brand are you all wearing?
We’re wearing Rare Rabbit. We always invariably end up wearing Rare Rabbit. It’s a brand that we really like, and I think it looks good on us.

How did the name Best Kept Secret come about?
If we tell you, then we won’t be the best kept secret.

Seriously? Nothing? Please spill the beans.
Ok, basically, when we started off, we were supposed to play just one show, so we decided to call ourselves One Nite Stand, because it was supposed to be a one-night, one-off gig. But the show went well, and there was a lot of great chemistry between us. One show led to another, and we ended up doing a bunch of gigs. And then when we got signed by Universal Music who was looking at releasing some original music with us. That’s when we found out that there’s another DJ, in Australia called DJ One Nite Stand. So, we decided to change our name and ran a radio contest with our fans on air. We got a lot of good names as entries, but the one that really resonated with us was the Best Kept Secret, because it’s also three words, and because a one night stand is always the best kept secret. It was also legally available, so we decided to roll with it.

Your band has not just performed across the country but also internationally in many countries. You’ve played across the world. Would you like to name a few countries that you’ve played at?
We have played everywhere from, New Zealand to Australia to England and Germany. Also, Norway, Russia and across Asia and most recently in Montenegro. We’re flying out next week to Africa for the first time to perform in Zimbabwe. It’s been an amazing journey. We are very grateful to be able to do this, and to be in the position that we are in right now.

How did you all come together as a band?
Hemant and Abhi were friends from before, and, I was like, this new guy in town who had just come to Bangalore. We had a common friend who was getting married and, he was very keen for us to get together and form a band to play for his wedding. He said, I know this amazing guitar player, and also a very funky, groovy drummer. He told me I think you would be the right guy to jam with them, form a band and be the singer and the bass guitarist. He kind of put the three of us together and then we just hit it off. The missing piece was a keyboard player and eventually over a period of time, Steve joined us. Now we are here – a four-piece band performing across the world.

How has the sound evolved over the years since the time you started?
We are into Indie rock and have a very different style. We have evolved from an Indie alternative to a more electro pop punk band. Initially when we started off, it was all about rock and a lot of rock and roll. And then, we introduced a lot of blues. We wanted music that would appeal to everyone. Over the years our music and our sound just kept growing and evolving. Through feedback from friends and fans and clients who suggested to us, saying – why don’t you guys just try singing some Hindi songs also. I had never sung in Hindi before. I think initially when it started off, it sounded extremely funny and slightly anglicised. But during the lockdown I practiced singing in Hindi giving to the pressure online from fans and people who follow us. Practice makes a man perfect. So, I kept working hard on my Hindi songs as well. Everyone liked how we mixed English covers and also sang a few Hindi songs during our live shows. And now I think, we’re almost there.

You sing a lot of popular covers. How do you gauge the audience for their liking and build on the tempo from there?
We pick songs that we like. As a band, we should like the songs that we will be playing as well. And we have to also identify how musically enticing and exciting the songs are for us to play. Our energy and happiness translates on the stage and that’s what moves to the crowd as well. So, when we are happy, we have energy and we’re enjoying ourselves, everyone watching us live is also going to enjoy themselves. The first and foremost step was to choose songs that we enjoy, find ways to make it our own, add our musical touch and our musical prowess to it. We have always been very open-minded as musicians and are always listening to all kinds of music. If there’s something that strikes us, we share it on our group with each other and try out new songs. Good music is appreciated no matter where you come from, or what language you speak or what your age is. We don’t have any problems with regards to engaging with our audience because we believe that what we play will always appeal to everyone.

Have you also done some singles of your own?
We have released a few singles. It was a very, enjoyable process and, we are currently working on something very new and exciting, which is written and composed by the band. We’re very excited about it. The reason we haven’t released too many singles is because I’m the only single person in the band (he laughs). But, no, jokes apart, we do have more singles coming out soon.

Tell me about your girl fan following and how do you handle all that adulation?
We’re all plugged in during our shows, so we can’t really hear the girls screaming my name, but it’s all good. I think lately we’ve seen a lot of guys also at our shows. So, in a way, that’s a good thing. When we started off, we had a big female fan base, and we were very young then. It was fun to play at colleges and, see the fanfare over there and that kind of in a way spurred us into believing that we should pursue this a little more. We felt we were doing something right for people to be screaming like that.

You guys are friends, but have there been any times when you’ve had disagreements. How do you deal with them?
We are four different guys with four different opinions on certain matters. But when it comes to music, a band invariably requires everyone to be on the same page. And, on most matters, I would say we’re on the same page, musically as well. It’s always good to have creative disagreements and we do have creative disagreements in the jam room, but we have very few disagreements. In terms of everything else, like the direction of the band, personal goals, professional goals, as people, I think we’re all very wired in. We’re all pretty much the same, which makes things quite seamless and easy for us.

Would you like to recall one of your most unforgettable live performances?
Behram: Opening for Bryan Adams would probably rank right up there for all of us. We’ve grown up listening to him, and he’s got, banger after banger, hit after hit, coming out. We opened for Bryan Adams, not in one city, but in two cities. Another show that really matches up to it would probably be a show that we did in Germany. We played at a music festival in Germany and that was a cool experience for me because the crowd was just chanting something in German, which I didn’t know exactly what they were saying, but they wanted me to dive into the crowd. So, the organisers came on stage and made it happen. I was not so sure, because I had never crowd surfed before. But when I did it, it was a very special moment for me.

Bryan watched us perform and asked the stage manager to bring me and the band backstage because he wanted to talk to us again. He told me, “I just wanted to tell you guys that you guys are amazing. And thank you for opening for me. You guys are really going to go places.” He was very sweet and told me that he really liked my higher octane and range of my vocals, because I almost sing in the similar, vocal range as he does. He told me he liked my upper range. His compliments were very encouraging. He said, “You’re opening for me today, but one day someone’s going to be opening for you guys as well. I’ve seen how you have grown, and I see that you will be able to stand up there and someday somebody else will be opening for you.”

Hemanth: Octoberfest where we played this original of ours called; She’s out of control. And then when I went on the stage and started playing the guitar and looked at the crowd, it was so amazing. It was like a dream come true. It was unforgettable. After that everything changed for me.

Abhi: We were performing in this city called Rourkela. It was an engineering college, and we all come from an arts background. We reached there and we see a sea of people, easily about 15,000 people just standing and looking at us, wondering what these four boys would do. We started with our own original and it was just madness. Everyone loved it and it was the most incredible moment for me. To perform for them and to win over a crowd like that was cool.

Steve: Opening for Bryan Adams was a dream come true and that evening was so magical. We also met him backstage, and he gave us all plectrums with his signature (guitar picks). We opened for him in Bangalore and in Hyderabad. Bryan Adams was on the stage during our last two songs, and we were ending the show with, a song called Can’t Let You Go, which is our own song.

How many cities have you performed in across the world?
We have performed in 95 cities across the world for Millennials to Gen Z to oldies.

How do you balance commercial and popular music to the creative side of music?
A lot of times, when art takes over, you end up forgetting or neglecting the fact that you really need to earn a good living if you want to pursue your art.
So sometimes there might be some compromises on your, art. Sometimes you might have to do a certain kind of show to fulfil the financial requirements to grow and sustain. Because I think just like any other business, the business of being in music also requires us to constantly ensure that we’re making money. As artists we know how to draw a line how much we want to push ourselves, into being commercial or how much you want to push ourselves into being independent or artsy, if I can say it. It’s always good to make money when you do what you love. And you just got to find your niche where you do what you love and still make good money.

You guys are singing yourself to the bank, performing in a different city and rocking it. But has there been some point where you had to face challenges and how did you overcome them?
We’re doing over a 100 shows a year. We’re playing all over the world. There’s always going to be challenges in life. Professionally, especially. We just take each day or each week, or each show as it comes, and fortunately I’m surrounded by three incredible musicians who, can make things happen very fast.

There are times where, because we do so many private events, there will be times when someone will ask us to, play a certain kind of music or a song at the last minute. In Montenegro recently, the organisers wanted us to do a particular song, which was not at all a part of our setlist. It was amazing because these guys are so quick on picking up things. And more than just being great musicians, you need to have incredible chemistry, where we don’t even need to look at each other to understand what the next step is on stage. There are times where I don’t even look back at all and still know exactly what they’re going to play, or when they’re going to end the song. I don’t think they need to even look at each other, because they just know that this is going to be the next chord. So, it all comes down to having great chemistry and tackling every situation as it arises. The big fat Indian weddings are here to stay. You guys have been the face of so many celebrity weddings, not just in India, but also destination weddings across the world. People have titled you as a band that’s making Indian weddings cool and turning the usual song and dance into a rocking concert.

Tell us something about the big fat Indian weddings that you have performed at?
We treat every show like a concert. It might not be necessarily a sangeet or a cocktail, but for us, it’s a celebration. And people are there to celebrate with us and party with us. And that’s how we treat the show. Playing in a different city every other night, traveling to different cities and countries and showcasing what we’re capable of, is always very exciting for us. We’ve been very fortunate that we are part of this trillion-dollar wedding industry. There’s just no formula to see how we got into it. Over time we got sucked into it and we’re very happy that we’re changing the way people look at weddings and at wedding artistes now. We’ve also had the opportunity of watching some incredible Indian artistes at some big fat Indian weddings as well. Artistes who have been around for 20 to 30 years, the pioneers of Bollywood music and what not. We’ve had the opportunity of sharing the stage with them and learning so much from them. It’s a great feeling to know that people want us to perform on their special day. That’s probably the most important day of their lives, and they want us to celebrate it with them. So, we’re just flattered that we can do this.

Would you like to share your pre-show ritual before getting onto the stage?
Steve will blow dry his hair for half an hour before the show and look at himself for another 15 minutes in the mirror and style his beard. So, Steve’s pre-show ritual is the longest, I think. We’ve been eating dinner early these days, sometimes before our shows, otherwise, what happens is that we end up finishing a show very late and eating very late which is not good. So, we decided to eat at around 6.30 pm every day. Sometimes in the green room we plan a set list. We usually love to go with the flow, but now we’re at a stage where you also need to have things planned. I also have some hot water or some hot toddy before getting on to the stage. We are constantly playing for two hours nonstop, so our stage of let’s try it this way or that way has been reduced.

Would you like to tell us your connection to South India?
I love South Indian food. These are my South Indian brothers. I’m just a Parsi boy in Bangalore who met these other South Indian boys and now I’m as South Indian as they are. The good part is that the South of India is knowledgeable about music. Everywhere you go in South India people know their music and they love their music. It’s a great feeling to bloom out of South India. We have seen predominantly in English and a little bit in Bollywood, in Hindi. And, we get a lot of love from Chennai, Hyderabad, even from Kerala and Bangalore, of course, being our hometown. So, in every aspect, I think South India is just an amazing place to be in. And I’m very grateful that I got to have three South Indian brothers in the band. That’s the power of music. It transcends all boundaries.

If not a musician, what would you have been?
Behram: If I was not making music, I would be flying. I was a pilot, and I was trying to balance the two professions. When the band had just started out, I was still pursuing my aviation career, and, I had a job as a pilot, at the same time. I’m very happy that, the band took off faster than my aircraft. One of the reasons why I wanted to be a pilot was to travel the world. I get to do that while making music now, so it’s a great feeling.

Hemanth: I’ve been a chef, so probably I would have my own restaurant where I would be experimenting a lot with my dishes. I’m also good at curating healthy recipes.

Steve: I was a music teacher, so probably I would continue teaching music.

Abhi: I studied art. I have completed my Bachelors in Fine Arts. I used to paint and have sold a few of my paintings as well. I also come from a musical background. My dad was a guitarist, so music was always there in the family while growing up, but I never pursued it seriously. And like Steve, even I started teaching music for some time. I also worked for three years in a teambuilding company, so I used to teach music. If music wasn’t there, I probably would go back to painting.

So what next? Where do you guys go from here? How do you see yourself in the next few years?
We’re going to have to work a little harder and hustle it out for a couple of more years to achieve what we really want to achieve. We would like to do more international shows. People across the world are calling us to perform, which is a very great feeling. And a lot of people have been really anticipating some more original music from us. We also have some very exciting opportunities, which are lined up for us in the coming months. We aren’t revealing much, but maybe if it all works out well, we will be on OTT platforms as well. So, let’s see where life takes us. We like to go with the flow and will continue to do so.