In a music scene long dominated by Bollywood soundtracks and classical virtuosity, one Indian band is rewriting the script — armed with heavy riffs, long hair, and unrelenting passion for rock ‘n’ roll.
Bengaluru-based Girish and The Chronicles (GATC), a four-piece hard rock band with roots in Gangtok, Sikkim, stunned the global stage last week with their blistering performance on Season 20 of America’s Got Talent. Their hard rock rendition of Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain took both the audience and judges — Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel, and Mel B — by storm, earning them a standing ovation and a unanimous pass to the next round.
The moment marked a milestone in the band’s journey — one that has taken 16 years to build, far from the mainstream spotlight. Formed by vocalist Girish Pradhan, the band features Suraz Sun on guitar, Yogesh Pradhan (Girish’s younger brother) on bass, and Nagen Nags on drums. With a sound deeply inspired by classic Western rock and metal legends like Guns N’ Roses and The Eagles, GATC has always operated on the fringes of India’s music industry — and proudly so.
Who are Girish and the chronicles?
From performing acoustic sets at a small pub on Tibet Road in Gangtok to opening for Guns N’ Roses in Mumbai, their rise has been slow, deliberate, and fiercely authentic. Now, with over 1.7 million views on their AGT audition, they’re getting the international attention they’ve long deserved.
Their music, unapologetically steeped in classic rock, stands in stark contrast to the image of Indian music most audiences abroad are familiar with — classical ragas or filmi beats. But this disconnect, the band says, is what fueled their commitment to their sound. “We’re not trying to redefine what it means to be Indian,” frontman Girish has said in earlier conversations. “We’re just sharing our story.”
That story began in Sikkim’s capital, where Girish and Yogesh grew up in a musically rich household — their mother, Bimla Pradhan, is a well-known Nepali folk and classical singer, while their father, Shyam Pradhan, was a football commentator and the band’s first manager and mentor.
In the early 2000s, the band was born out of shared roots in the Eastern Himalayas and a shared obsession with rock ‘n’ roll. Girish dropped out of engineering to pursue music full-time, teaming up with guitarist Suraz Karki from Namchi and drummer Nagen Sarki from Darjeeling. After years of gigging across India and Nepal, the band solidified its lineup and released its debut single Angel in 2009.
Since then, GATC has played countless college festivals, released three studio albums, toured across Asia, and steadily grown a cult following. But it was a soundcheck video from Mumbai’s Independence Rock Festival — posted on Instagram — that caught the eye of a producer at America’s Got Talent. A DM turned into a dream invitation.
Last Friday, just days after their AGT performance aired, GATC played to a packed crowd at Delhi’s newly launched The Piano Man, where audience members screamed “AGT winners!” as the band launched into a set that included their now-iconic Adele cover. “Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay,” Girish roared — and few in the crowd would have disagreed.
As the band preps for the next round of AGT and an upcoming tour through Asia and Europe, their success is a reminder that Indian music is not a monolith. There’s space — and growing demand — for sounds that are raw, loud, and unapologetically different.
In a world where representation often comes in neat, culturally coded boxes, Girish and The Chronicles are shattering expectations — one blistering solo at a time.