Being the city of youngsters, Pune is emerging as one of the hotbeds for rock music buffs and lovers. The city has spawned bands like Acquired Funk Syndrome, Strange Brew, S.i.l.v.e.r., Black Hole Theory (BHT) and so on. These bands, believing in playing only originals, are bold examples for new bands to let their creative juices flow by encouraging them to compose their own originals instead of playing covers.

"We are not in it for the money or the glam. Music has always been our only motive," says Naveen Deshpande, drummer for BHT and manager for Pentagram, a band from Banglore. Deshpande also organises events in the city, "I can fore see a change in the trend in the near future. With the onslaught of big international bands, crowd turn up has skyrocketed. For a band like Iron Maiden or The Rolling Stones performing in the country, a 60,000 strong crowd shows up and I do believe that after a couple of years, the same number of crowd will show up to watch an Indian band performing an all original set list."

Out of the new wave of musicians from Pune who believes in original compositions and experimenting, S.i.l.v.e.r. is a band that has taken their talents to the next level. They are also the winners of Yamaha Roxx, 2008 held in Taiwan. Rishi Rai, handling bass duties for the band, says, "When we enter the studio, we do not have anything definite in mind, we just go with the flow and improvise on the spot." Their hit single Feel the heat, is a product of one of these sessions when Rai made a comment about the sweltering heat during one of their jam sessions. In spite of a plethora of talents in the city, Rai feels," There is a dearth of proper publicity and advertisement in the city. People come to know about a rock concert only after the event is over. The need of the moment now is more exposure to the masses."

Melissa Fernandes, a student of mass communication and manager for the band Rigor Mortis too has the same opinion. "The rock scenario in the city is being paid very less attention. Although there have been a lot of new bands coming up, it hasn't really been accepted by the masses." observes Melissa. "The only initiatives are taken by the youngsters and college shows are the only platform for them to showcase their talents. They need a lot of encouragement from all quarters. They also need a lot of exposure from the media, which has been at best negligible."

Shayoni Mehta, another mass communication student, has a different take on things," Pune really needs more understanding of rock music. We have bands that like nothing more than rehashing covers that have been done to death. We do need something new and original that is inspiring."