Meghalaya: This all girls band ‘Haystack Ladies’ from Tura is taking Girl Power to new heights!

From the land of beautiful clouds hails all girls band Haystack Ladies. Formed in the year 2011, this four piece rock band from Tura is pouring a catchy flavor of music showcasing girl power into the Meghalaya music scenario. They have achieved the unthinkable, liberating themselves from the all too comfortable constraints of our thriving domestic music scene and garnered the attention of listeners. Their lyrics mostly depict about struggles, empowerment and anything that gives voice to various causes.

 Here is haystack Ladies with The Northeast Today

TNT- How did you first come to playing music? Is it something that came naturally to you?

All of us were exposed to music at a fairly young age. We all knew of relatives or friends who were engaged in playing music either in church or in their own bands. Before we got together as a band, we were all active in different areas of music. Also, since we were all generally interested in playing music, it was a natural choice for us.

TNT- How did you all first meet?

The vocalist and the bassist were good friends even before the band came into formation. They sought out the lead guitarist in 2011 who, during that time, was the only female in town ever to shred the electric guitar. The drummer at the time of formation was a cousin of the lead singer but the current drummer joined the band in 2013.

TNT- "An all-girl band comes with a lot of ups and downs" can you elaborate on this and give us examples of some of ups and downs you've experienced?

Mood swings are definitely first on the list (haha). Jokes aside, I think all of us struggle with family responsibilities and we try to juggle everything whether it's work, family or friends. For us personally, the ups would be the various experiences we get to go through together as sisters. We try not to focus too much on the downs but working extra hard to get noticed on the male dominated rock band scene definitely tops our list.

TNT- What projects are Haystack Ladies currently focused on?

We are currently working on releasing our first album.

TNT- What are your songs inspired by? Do you find reoccurring themes filter through into your songs?

We normally pick songs which we all enjoy playing but songs which have heavy rock sounds to it are our favorites. As for inspirations for our original compositions, we like to write about struggles, empowerment and anything that gives voice to various causes. Heartbreaks and heartaches are not far behind (haha).

TNT- Besides the band, what do you girls do as individual?

Our bassist is a Radio Jockey on AIR, our drummer is a Communications trainer, our lead guitarist is in college pursuing her studies and our vocalist pursues music full-time.

TNT- How profoundly do you guys jam?

We try and get together every week but if there are no upcoming shows then we dedicate our time to our family and studies. 2-3 weeks before every show we jam everyday.

–Interviewed by Ritu Raj Boruah for TNT- The Northeast Today

riturajboruah48@gmail.com