Randolph, Shiraz, Papal and Vishal came together in 1994, with a strong need to play individual, original, unique music. This was as much a reaction to the stagnating Indian Rock scene, populated by bands mostly playing cover music, as it was a primal instinct. They did the rounds of college festivals, almost immediately becoming well known and popular, by winning three major rock competitions at the Kanpur, Delhi and Bombay IIT’s.
They headlined the Sundance Music Festival in Estonia in 2003, a first for any Indian band. They were also invited to, and played at the Glastonbury Music Festival in 2005, the first Indian act to play there.
Their first album (We Are Not Listening) in 1996 was listed by Rhythm House (India’s premier record store) as the fastest selling rock album. In 2002, Up was released and published by their self-owned music label, ‘Pentagrammusic’, produced and distributed by Sony Music (India). It went on to become one of India’s highest selling rock albums with more than 15,000 copies sold. Pentagram’s 3 rd album “It’s OK, It’s All Good” released by Counter Culture Records in March 2007 spent 6 weeks on Planet M’s national sales charts peaking at no. 3, a first for any Indian rock band. The 14 track ‘BLOODYWOOD’ in 2011, both back-to- basics and extremely edgy, ranges from the intensely personal to the fun, to the socially relevant.
Notable mentions:
• MTV India’s ‘Artist of the Month’ in 1997
• Channel V awards for Best Live Band and Best Indian Band in 1997 & 1998
• First Indian Band to top Asian mp3.com charts with six songs (Album: Up) going to No. 1 for over two weeks each.
• Best Live Act at the June Rock Out awards in 2003
• Best Indian Band by Rock Street Journal
• Voice won the Song Of The Year at the Jack Daniel’s Annual Indian Rock Awards.
• Vishal awarded Jack Daniel’s Annual Indian Rock Awards – Vocalist of the year