Peter Cat Recording Co. Is On The Move

By the time our call connects, it's clear Peter Cat Recording Co. doesn’t try too hard.

Frontman Suryakant Sawhney is propped against a sun-bleached wall in London, lazily pulling on a cigarette. Rohit Gupta rolls one with the same unhurried ease. Drummer Karan Singh dials in mid-drive, arm slung over the wheel.

No matching backdrops, curated vinyl or over-explained answers—they’re just a band at ease with who they are and the music they make. It’s the same energy that runs through their music: sprawling, genre-agnostic, occasionally chaotic and label-defiant.

Peter Cat Recording Co. doesn’t care if you “get it.” Maybe that’s exactly why so many do. “We’re just reflecting the kind of Indians we’ve always been,” says Sawhney. “Maybe it feels fresh because it’s shown in a way people aren’t used to.”

That sincerity—the sense of a band painting from their own palette rather than an imposed idea of ‘Indianness’—has become Peter Cat’s unlikely passport to the world. Now touring the US, with Europe and the UK next, they’re playing sold-out shows not because they’re selling a digestible version of “Indianness,” but precisely because they’re not.

“Does anyone want to be boxed in? I don’t know,” Sawhney muses, as Gupta laughs. “Every artist detests being labelled. They want to be told, ‘Wow, you’re unlike anything.’” It’s why the band—including bassist Dhruv and Kartik (who plays the trumpet along with many other instruments)—avoids slapping a genre onto their work. Every project, every song, is a fresh beginning. “It’s a process of constant reinvention,” Sawhney says. “You want to stay interested, keep learning. You finish one project, then start the next.”

Officially born in 2009, when Sawhney returned to India from the US with a handful of demos and a head full of purpose, the band built their universe brick by brick: rooftop gigs in Hauz Khas, self released music, word-of-mouth buzz. Their debut album Sinema didn’t sound like anything else then part cabaret, part gypsy swing, part jazz, stitched together by a strange, hypnotic cohesion.

It wasn’t until 2019’s 'Bismillah' that something shifted. Suddenly, there were reviews in Pitchfork, shows in Paris and New York. By the time 'BETA' dropped in 2024—a sprawling, retrofuturist fever dream recorded across three continents—they weren’t a secret anymore.

“At crucial points, the universe threw us a bone. Someone reaching out, someone believing in us when we needed it,” Sawhney states. They say they’re still learning, still students of the game. That humility, it’s not for show. It’s what keeps Peter Cat from hardening into a brand, what keeps them hungry. It’s why the music feels worn-in, like something that’s lived.

Being in a band for over 14 years is no small feat—especially when egos, creative differences and real life get involved. For Peter Cat, it’s taken a mix of shared vision, tolerance and plain luck. “It’s like doing business with someone or being in a relationship,” Singh says. “You have your ups and downs, but if you’re committed, you find a way to stick around.”

That’s seen them through exhausting tours (77 shows across continents in 2024), nights of doubt and the daily grind of creation. While they love being on the road, their heart lies in the studio. “Performance is about reproducing what you’ve already made. Creating feels new every time,” Gupta explains.

More tours are coming. More shows. Maybe a live album. Maybe another sudden sonic pivot. But don’t expect a five-year plan or a genre map—that’s not how Peter Cat Recording Co. moves. They’re not trying to be cool. They just are. A band that went from playing to 30 people in basements to whispering to the world in a language it didn’t know it needed. The best part? They still don’t care if you ever get it.

To read more stories from Esquire India's May-June 2025 issue, pick up a copy of the magazine from your nearest newspaper stand or bookstore. Or click here to subscribe to the magazine.