Mumbai’s Pacifist are Challenging the Status Quo With Their EP ‘Five’
Pacifist. Photo by Prashin Jagger.
Hailing from the busy streets of Mumbai, India, Pacifist are doing post-hardcore an immense service. Inspired by the likes of Refused, Modern Life is War and Title Fight, the group came onto the scene in 2019 with Greyscale Dreams and now they’re better than ever on their new release, five.
Pacifist is a group of five brought together by the intense lifestyle of Mumbai and the lack of an actual hardcore scene around them in the late 2010s. “India’s heavy music scene was always associated with metal,” says drummer Varun Sood. Wanting to do something different, Lead vocalist Sidharth Raveendran found himself in a new city wanting to start a band that had some “personal truth” to it. From Rage Against the Machine cover bands to finding bandmates in roommates, it happened naturally for Pacifist.
Pacifist. Photo by Yash Jagtap.
Seven years since their debut EP and a global pandemic in between, Pacifist have grown from the raw anger on Greyscale Dreams. Apurv Agarwal, the guitarist and producer, reflects that this change was already in motion seven years ago. As the lineup changed and expanded to include two guitarists, they found themselves writing more melodic hardcore and exploring a newer sound which shines on five. A collection of five tracks, each different and complex in its own light, the EP is a brilliant showcase of their creative evolution. Five does not adhere to a single concept but instead explores various styles and themes, reflecting the band's growth and experimentation.
From the pop-punk rhythms of “Running Out” to the thumping marching drums in “Built to Destroy,” Pacifist are carving the sound of rebellion.“I think [our] challenge to the status quo is not necessarily a lyrical theme, but it’s more to do with our approach as a band,”says Sidharth. The five are challenging conservative societal norms that dominate the industrial nature of culture around them. A personal highlight on this project is “Purge, Atone”— not only is it a display of excellence, it also is a promising future for the group. Lyrically, the final track on the EP is sheer brilliance, we find Sidharth exploring the catharsis of letting go in a “web of lies.” Reflections on the world they live in — “Manipulation, blur the truth, all inverted and crude, no facts can suit” — and loud blaring guitars are shaping a new generation of punk.
Where hardcore wasn’t a major scene in India until late 2010s, the voice of grassroots challenges to authority was hip-hop, Pacifist found the genre’s ability to represent authenticity and dissent and brought that into their music. “There was something inherently political, there were songs about people talking about their hardships, struggles. But it didn’t take long for that to commercialize and turn into the product it is today,” said Sidharth. This fear of commercialization is what pushes the band to keep experimenting their sound and has led to solidifying them as a pillar of their scene.
Pacifist. Photo by Yash Jagtap.
Beyond their music, the group maintains how important it is for them to challenge the status quo as they took their music off from Spotify a while ago as the group found themselves at a crossroads with the institution of the platform. “F*ck Spotify… Everybody was waiting for the other person to say it,” said Varun. The platform’s new shift towards AI-generated music and struggles with royalties have driven pacifist away from it. Sidharth noted, “Coming back to what Spotify does for Indian musicians in this country, everything’s so lopsided and it’s so against everything we believe in and stand for.”
Pacifist are punk to their nature. A hardcore band in India's upcoming scene that is only getting better from here. Keep them on your radar as they move towards working on a full length record. You can find their music, “everywhere but Spotify” as Sidharth notes.