The Orange Octopus Records' Story

The Orange Octopus Records was founded by Mr. Samdarsh Jalali in 2016 with the aim to provide a platform for budding artists to grow.

Long story long, below.

We started with a metal bands concert on 21st August 2016 at Anonymous Cafe in Kalyaninagar, Pune. We did another one on 18th December 2016. The events were filled with some ridiculously amazing artists from around the country and everyone had an absolute blast!

2016: Metal Concerts

2017: Open Mics, Curated Events, Bangalore Expansion and Open Gigs!

In early 2017, we decided to diversify the kind of events we do and also to conduct events more frequently. We decided to partner with small cafes and organize intimate open mics, including not just musicians or singers but any artist who wants a stage. Our mic first opened at a beautiful little cafe called SAM's in Balewadi on 13th April 2017. Starting with an open mic there once in two weeks, we quickly expanded to venues across the city like Chai (Viman Nagar), High Spirits and Unwind (Koregaon Park). Additionally, we organized a few curated events at Lost The Plot (Aundh), programming exceptional talent that we identified through our open mics. We also experimented with Poetry Open Mics and an Open Theatre for actors.

By November 2017, we had started organizing events in Bangalore with Open Mics at Boondock Bistro (Whitefield) curated Gig Nights at York St. (Koramangala) and Christmas edition and NYE edition Gig Nights at Tobey (Koramangala)!

By December 2017, we expanded the idea of an open platform for artists to accommodate complete bands by organizing our first Open Gig in Pune at Unwind, who were generous enough to support the experiment! It turned out to be a boon for several bands who were eager to get stage time and perform together outside of jam rooms.

2018-2019: Our Tentacles Go Wild in Pune & Bangalore + Delhi & Nagpur Expansion

In 2018 and 2019, we continued to collaborate with more venues and execute a diverse range of events with a primary focus on open mics, which acted as a funnel for us to identify exceptional talent who we collaborated with for curated events. We also would receive inquiries for artists and so, we started programming artists as well.

In April 2018, we conducted our first open mic in Delhi at Hookapani Baithak (Safdarjung) and received an overwhelming response, resulting in us having to spread the event out across two consecutive days. We soon collaborated with Kunzum Travel Cafe (Hauz Khas Village) in June and did regular events at these two venues. In September we also started doing events in Gurgaon at Cafe Free Bird (now Cafe High On Way).

In August 2018, we organized a few open mics in Nagpur at Bloggers Cafe (Ambazari) and Puzzle - The Flea Market (Civil Lines). We also organized Jungle Jam - a camping night with some beautiful music performances in collaboration with Hustle Turtle.

In 2018 and 2019, new venues that we collaborated with in Pune included Waikiki, Upside Down (Mundhwa), Classic Rock Coffee Co. (Kalyani Nagar), XO Zero (Sus), Nukkad Cafe, Pecos, All Rounder Shots (Viman Nagar), Teddy Boy, Highland, Urbo, Filament (Baner), Boka Book Cafe (FC Road), Legacy Bar (Bavdhan), and Pune High (Aundh). In Bangalore, we collaborated with new venues Giselle (Kammanahalli), The Namakh Store & Cafe (Mathikere), Petoo (Electronic City), Zone by the Park (MG Road), Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (Golf Course), Pin Me Down (Koramangala) and Foxtrot (Marathahalli). Apart from mixed open mics, we organized comedy specials, poetry open mics and poetry specials.

Along with open mics, open gigs and curated events like "TOOR Select", we also organized workshops for vision board & sound healing with Pragnya Wakhlu of Mousai and acting with Mr. Sammeer Satiish an acting teacher and film writer-director.

2020-2023: Online Open Mics & Gradual Offline Resumption

In early 2020, needless to say, as lock downs became the norm, our events went online. We hosted tons of virtual open mics, curated events. We also started releasing TOOR Recommends, a monthly playlist which featured a range of talented local artists. In March 2021, we resumed our offline Open Mics at Boka Book Cafe (Pune), but had to pause again due to another wave of coronavirus. In August 2021, we resumed Open Mics again by organizing events with Hoshtel 99, followed by collaborations with Slay City. Through 2022, 2023 and half of 2024, the organization went through a slight restructuring and events were not as frequent as before. It was the quiet before the storm

2024: Full Circle

In July 2024, The Orange Octopus Records re-initiated events after a gap of a year. We started Open Mics with a venue called Nagarik Commune (Baner) which had several uncanny resemblances (from the layout of the space, location and even down to the name of the founding member) to the first ever cafe (SAM's) where we organized an Open Mic. The reincarnation started off in similar fashion with unbelievably wonderful artists gracing the stage and our Open Mics quickly becoming a regular affair like before. This also immediately led to some lovely artist collaborations and culminated in us organizing a Ghazal Night, "Shaam-e-Bashar" in August.

We also organized a board game event for Shasn, an increasingly popular political board game which was a lot of fun!