After serving as chief executive officer of two advertising agencies BBH India and Publicis Worldwide India till September 2022, Subhash Kamath has spent time mentoring, consulting, training and advising different organisations on leadership and brand strategies. Simultaneously, he pursues his passion for classic rock and blues music, as frontman of the group Wanted Yesterday.
The band will perform in Goa this month, on the second day of the Malhar & The Sea festival in Goa on July 25. The evening will pay tribute to the Beatles. “It will be great fun, but it will also be very challenging. Most people would know the songs and we can’t afford to go wrong,” says Kamath.
The Goa gig will be Wanted Yesterday’s second tribute this month. On July 17, they will do an Eric Clapton night at the BlueBop Café in Khar, Mumbai. “We have done the Beatles shows a few times. Clapton has been on our agenda for a long time, and we’re glad it’s finally happening,” says the vocalist, who also plays rhythm guitar.
Kamath will be joined by Hanez Patel on lead guitar and vocals, Jordan Rodrigues on keyboards, Alanis Rodrigues on bass and Glyston Gracias on drums. Most of their shows offer a mixed bag of songs, but in the past, they have done tribute shows for Bob Dylan and special blues nights, covering the classics.
Music had been part of Kamath’s life since childhood in Kolkata. He recalls, “I was born in a music-loving family. We were exposed to Bhimsen Joshi and K.L. Saigal. On the radio, me and my brothers heard Manna Dey, Kishore, Rafi, S.D. Burman. When I was in class 8 or 9, my dad took us to watch Abba: The Movie. That was my first exposure to western pop music.”
When a friend gifted him a cassette which had no names of the artistes or songs, he fell in love with the music. He says, “It had the songs Help and Ticket To Ride. On asking around I found out they were by the Beatles. That’s how my Beatles craze began. When I heard Bob Dylan, I didn’t initially like his voice, but it grew on me, and I began following the depth of the words.”
At St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, he began learning the guitar, and started hearing more classic rock. A few years later, he got exposed to the blues and a whole new world opened up. Though he sang occasionally for the college band, things changed once he took up a job in advertising in Mumbai. “For 20 years, I focused totally on my career. And though I continued to listen to music intensely, I never played it,” he says.
Wanted Yesterday was started as a band of advertising professionals. Kamath recalls, “In 2007, Bhaskar Das who was associated with the Ad Club told me of an event where two bands would play – one of younger ad professionals and one of those above 30. I spoke to my advertising friend Rajeev Raja, who plays flute, and he said we could ask Prabhakar Mundkur, who once played with the rock band Savages. They asked me to sing, and though I was initially nervous, I took up the task.”
The band’s name had two connotations. Kamath says the term Wanted Yesterday is commonly used in advertising in connection with unreasonable deadlines. He adds, “It also has a retro flavour around it. That’s what our band stands for.”
Initially, Wanted Yesterday played only at advertising industry events, brand launches or private parties like a reunion of agency Mudra’s staff. But soon they decided to play at public venues. Their first show was in Bonobo, off Linking Road in Bandra, and then they had a few successful shows at the erstwhile Blue Frog in Lower Parel. Meanwhile, Raja wanted to focus on his jazz fusion band Rajeev Raja Combine and Mundkur wanted time-off for personal reasons. Kamath kept the group going by inviting other like-minded musicians.
Most of their shows would consist of assorted classic rock and blues, but being a Dylan fan, Kamath wanted to do a special show at BlueBop Cafe to mark the legend’s birthday two years ago. “I knew only Dylan fans would come there, but the response was amazing. This year, at our show on May 29, I was surprised to see many youngsters too,” he says.
Doing a Beatles tribute was a natural extension. Omar Haider of Showhouse, who curates the Malhar & The Sea festival, attended one of their shows, and invited them to Goa. The audience there can gear up for masterpieces like Hey Jude, Let It Be, With A Little Help From My Friends, A Hard Day’s Night and Come Together.
Malhar & The Sea 2025 will be held at Taj Exotica Resort & Spa from July 24 to 26. The line-up includes Anup Jalota, Wasifuddin Dagar, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Ronkini Gupta, Ranjani-Gayatri, Danish Hussain, Priyanka Barve, Wanted Yesterday and the Tasawwur Ensemble, spanning a wide variety of Indian and western genres.
