''Fossils'' (') is an Indian hard rock band from Bengal formed in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, West Bengal,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in 1998. The group is considered one of the pioneering rock acts in

's Bengali music scene. The band currently comprises

Rupam Islam Rupam Islam (born 25 January 1974) is an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, music composer, writer and humanist. He is the lead vocalist of the popular Bengali Rock Band Fossils. He gained popularity mainly through his solo albums and his work ...

(lead vocals, additional guitars), Deep Ghosh (rhythm guitar), Allan Temjen Ao (lead guitar), Tanmoy Das (drums), Prasenjit 'Pom' Chakraborty (bass guitar). Their music is flavoured by a blend of blues, rock and

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dr ...

, along with Rupam Islam's vocal renditions of his characteristic psychoanalytical lyrics. They are noted for their social commentary and advocation of causes such as the welfare of HIV positive people.

History

Formation and early years: 1998–2000

The band was formed by Rupam Islam, the vocalist. Their first stage show was held on 9 January 1999 at Najrul Mancha for Gaan 99 organised by HMV. While performing on stage as Rupam Islam and group, on that very day Rupam announced that henceforth he will perform as FOSSILS. This show had Deep on acoustic guitar, Deep Ghosh on guitars, Tanmoy on bass, Rajiv on drums and Rupam.. This line up was short lived and the very next show saw Chandra and Teno on guitars, Baji on drums, Bumpy on bass, Jatu on keyboards and Rupam. The group started to call themselves "Fossils" after a suggestion by their guitarist Deep. The name is inspired by a line from one of Rupam's lyrics: "''Khoro aamar fossil, onubhutir michhil protikriashil kono biplobe''". Initial audience reaction to the band's music was not encouraging. During their first few shows, they met with jeering and hostile objection to the rock style and techniques they employed. Thus, the band name was meant to convey a sense of an "underground" movement that the members felt they had initiated and their belief that they would be fossilised into history under the pressure of social disapproval of their music, only to be excavated decades later by musicologists wishing to discover the roots of Bengali rock. The band would experience a flurry of line-up changes until the end of 1999, by which time a sort of permanency was achieved with Rupam (vocals), Chandra (bass), Allan (guitar), Stephen (drums), Indra (keyboards), and Parikhshit (manager) as the members. In spite of the hostile feedbacks, the band decided to stick to their sound, and for the first time in the history of Indian Bengali rock, a full-fledged, continuous, effort was made to establish the Bengali Rock sound.

Fossils: 2000–2003

In 2000, the band recorded a demo version of their tracks. They faced rejection several times from different record houses. In 2001, the guitarist Allan left the band for a corporate career. Former members Teno and Deep re-joined in Allan's stead. A contract was landed with Asha Audio and by the end of the same year, recording for the band's first studio album began. The recording had to start without Allan, whose departure was so sudden there wasn't enough time to rework their tracks. Some of the guitar tracks for this album had to be lifted from the demo version. The album was entitled ''Fossils'' and released in 2002. It was not an instant success, but the music caught on once the FM radio stations started broadcasting the tracks. The album's popularity has increased with time, and today it has achieved a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic ...

. Teno left the band in 2002 and was replaced by Partha. In 2003, the drummer Stephen underwent rehabilitation. Andre served as part-time drummer till Bubun joined. By this time, the band had created a nice audience and dedicated following among the youth.

Fossils 2: 2004–2005

The band's second album, entitled ''Fossils 2'', was released in 2004. It was then noted as the Bengali band album with the highest budget to date. The album was partly sponsored by the Thums Up brand. The mastering engineer was Steve Fallone of Sterling Sound, New York. The band witnessed a surge in popularity. In 2005, the manager Parikshit was expelled from the band; Rupam and Deep jointly took over his work. As of 2007, management is handled by Deep and Rupam's wife Rupsha Dasgupta.

Mission F: 2006

The band's third studio album, entitled ''Mission F'', was released in 2006. It was a theme album for the first Kolkata Police Friendship Cup Football Tournament. A special track, "Aeka Nauo", dedicated to HIV positive people, was included in the album. It featured

Usha Uthup Usha Uthup Iyer (born 7 November 1947) is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film '' 7 Khoon Maaf'', won the Filmfare ...

and was produced in collaboration with the Kolkata Sukriti Foundation. A free VCD distributed with the album contains the music video for the track, which shows HIV positive people with their faces uncovered interacting freely with Uthup and the band members. The VCD also contained a chat session with band members.

Radio Mirchi Radio Mirchi (also known as 98.3 Mirchi) is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group. ''Mirchi'' is Hindi for re ...

collaborated with the band to produce two "unplugged" versions of previously recorded tracks that were included in the album. According to a survey conducted by

, ''Mission F'' was declared the best-selling album in

for the year 2006. On Earth Day, the band covered

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Earth Song "Earth Song" is a song written and performed by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson for his ninth studio album, ''HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'' (1995). It was released on November 27, 1995, by Epic Records as the third s ...

in Bengali exclusively for the news channel

CNN IBN CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides interna ...

Aupodartho: 2007

In the first half of 2007, Rupam Islam worked on a separate project named ''RnB'' with the bassist Bumpy. In the second half of 2007, the band released a music video album entitled ''Aupodartho''. The album was scheduled to be launched in Music World,

Park Street, Kolkata Park Street, is a famous thoroughfare in downtown Calcutta, India. In Bengali, it oftenly referred as Shaheb -er Para or the “neighbourhood of Englishmen”.The street runs through what was a deer park of Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of ...

. The crowd turnout was so unexpectedly huge that fans had to be turned out and the outlet's premises closed. The police had a tough time controlling the crowd. The release eventually happened on the same day, with Rupam Islam placing himself atop a stool outside the outlet and addressing the fans without a microphone. During the Pujas of 2007, Rupam Islam's 1998 solo album was re-launched by Sa Re Ga Ma HMV. On 9 November, Fossils played lived for the first time in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

at the Dhaka Rock Fest 2007, the first ever international Bengali rock festival.

Fossils 3: 2008–2013

Fossils featured in the Rolling Stones India magazine in 2008. The end of 2008 saw Fossils begin the recording of their fifth studio album, which was released on 19 September 2009. It was titled ''Fossils 3'' and developed as a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. So ...

. It endeavours to tell the story of a mysterious character known only as ''Shada Jama'' (White Shirt) through the interlinked audio tracks as well as a separate graphic account contained in the inlay cards. Mayookh Bhowmick on the distortion tabla, Indrajit Dey (Indra) on the keyboards, and a team from the Kolkata Music Academy Chamber Orchestra led by Abraham Mazumder were the guest contributors to the album. Fossils 3 would go on to win in the Best Non-Film Album category of the

Anandalok Awards Anandalok Puraskar or Anandalok Awards ceremony is an award ceremony for Bengali film in India. The ''Anandalok'', only film magazine in Bengali language, published from Ananda Publishers and ''Ananda Bazar Patrika'' presents this award (Puraska ...

2009. 2009 marked the band's tenth anniversary. The band's official fan club, Fossils Force, was launched the same year, which started their operations through a blood donation camp on 1 May 2009. They continue to engage in activities for social welfare, such as contributing to the relief of people affected by the Cyclone Aila and another blood donation camp in 2010. ''Rupam on the Rocks'', written by

and published by Ananda Publishers was launched at the Kolkata Book Fair 2009. The same year saw Fossils touring the UK and

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. 2010 started with a change in the line-up. Bubun was replaced by Tanmoy on the drums. In July 2010, the band played live at

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

in the United States. Later in the year, Rupam Islam won a

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

(Silver Lotus or ''Rajat Kamal'') in the Best Male Playback Singer category from the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

for his work in the film ''Mahanagar @ Kolkata''. June 2011, Allan rejoined the band in place of Partha. September 2011, Fossils visited Dhaka, Bangladesh for the third time. July 2012, Fossils performed at Las Vegas, USA; which was a huge hit.

Fossils 4: 2015

The sixth studio album of the band is scheduled to be released on 19 October 2013 at City Centre II, Rajarhat – Kolkata. For the first time, the band has soft launched their album "Fossils 4" as full-length online streaming to the audience days before physical release of the album. It is also the first time the band holds both copyright & publishing rights of this album whil
INRECO
will do the distribution & marketing. By its online release it already seems to be a superhit. Sayantan the drummer joined as Tanmoy went for a degree. Tanmoy will be rejoining sooner as heard by the fans. another young artist from Kolkata, is set to join the band in 2017 as a bass guitarist and lyricist.

Discography

* ''Fossils 1'' (2002) ** Aro Ekbar ** Ekla Ghor ** Nemesis ** Hasnuhana ** Dekho Manashi ** Bishakta Manush ** Nishkraman ** Millennium * ''Fossils 2'' (2004) ** Keno Korle ** Manob Boma ** Chhal ** Harano Podok ** Tritiyo Bishwa ** Acid ** 29 Se October ** Bicycle Chor ** Shasti * ''Mission F'' (2006) ** Etwastata ** Sototar Bilashita ** Manob Boma ** Friendship Chai ** Bondhu He ** Kichuta Somoy ** Bishakta Manush ** Eka Naow ** Sono Amra Ki ** Hari Na * ''Aupodartho'' (2007) ** Aupodartho ideo Album* ''Fossils 3'' (2009) ** Swabhabhik Khoon ** Maa ** Danober Utthan ** Guru ** Phire Chaulo ** Bidroher Pandulipi ** Mummy ** Bhoot Ar Tilottoma 1 ** Dhongsho Romonthon ** Haspatale ** Mrityu: Mrityur Pore ** Railline-e Mrityu ** Schizophrenic Bra ** Bhoot Ar Tilottoma 2 * ''Fossils 4'' (2013) ** Khnoro Aamar Fossil ** Bñaador ** Haajar Bichhana ** Mohakaash ** Baari Esho ** Shoytaan ** Resolutions ** Sthaabor Austhaabor ** Mrityu * ''Fossils 5'' (2017) ** Janla ** Stobdho Jibon ** Mrito Manush ** Palao * ''Fossils 6'' (2019) ** Ghreena ** Hridoy Bhangbar Gaan ** Dewali Pee

Gallery

File:Fossilslive.jpg File:Fossilslive2.jpg File:Fossilslive3.jpg File:Fossilslive4.jpg

References

External links

Rupam Islam's Official Site

Interview with Rupam Islam on his playback singing in "Jannat"

Rupam Islam: A profile

Interview with Rupam Islam on Fossils

The Telegraph reports on Fossils 3 pre-release buzz

The Times of India reports on Bengali rock bands

Rupam Islam and composer Debojyoti Mishra talk about the history of comic songs in Bengal

The Telegraph reports on the impact of a new generation of singers on Bengali film music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossils (Band) Indian progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1998 Bengali musical groups