Most original bands struggle with the idea of writing new songs that don’t sound like the ones they’ve already produced. This especially holds true when there is one lead vocalist and one principal songwriter. Fortunately for Morgantown, WV pop-rockers Born Again Hindus, sonic and stylistic variety occurs easily, largely due to the vocal and songwriting contributions of all six members, each of whom are long-time vets of the local music community.
Formed as a trio in the mid-Aughts, Born Again Hindus (BAH) added Rick Ravenscroft (drums/ vocals), Jim Connelly (guitars/vocals) and Ray Cook (lead guitars/vocals) to the original combo of Kim Monday (keyboards/guitars/vocals), Dilip Chandran (bass/vocals) and Raj Chandran (percussion/vocals) to complete the present-day line-up in 2009. Early recordings drew heavily from their combined appreciation of songwriting by The Beatles, The Kinks and Motown-era artists, but with each successive album, the “BAH” sound has evolved. Traces of soul, funk, jazz, blues and rockabilly infused with pop and rock-n-roll can be heard throughout their distinctive catalog.
Strong harmonies and quirky lyrics highlight most of the records, all produced by Kim Monday in Morgantown. Song variety, a full band sound and the occasional on-stage theatrics set apart the live performances for BAH. Their set lists features as many as five different lead singers and up to six different backing vocalists on any given night. Although there are plenty of originals to fill two or three shows, the band has been known to play a Beatles or Kinks song, or three.
BAH released Sick Ol’ World in the Fall of 2016, their sixth studio album in nine years. A follow-up to the regionally acclaimed concept album Third World State (2014), the nineteen track collection features some of the band’s most diverse sounds and poignant lyrics to date. Other notable recordings include Pub Pundits Latest (2008), WTF (2011), fan favorite Bollywood Squares (2012) and Circus-ized (2013), all of which have received local radio airplay on WCLG-FM’s Homegrown show (101.1FM), as well as on WWVU-FM (U92FM) regular rotation.
--Scottie Smith
