INDUS CREED guitarist Mahesh Tinaikar passes away at 63

Mahesh Tinaikar, founding guitarist of Indus Creed, died in Mumbai on Thursday, 15th October, following a heart attack. He was 63.

Tinaikar formed Rock Machine in 1984. The band released their debut Rock ‘n’ Roll Renegade in 1988, followed by The Second Coming in 1990, which featured ‘Pretty Child’. Renamed Indus Creed in the early nineties, the band put out their self-titled album in 1995, with songs like ‘Trapped’ and ‘Sleep’. After the band split in the late nineties, Tinaikar played with Gary Lawyer and formed the acoustic project Whirling Kalapas with Uday Benegal, before Indus Creed reunited in 2010 and released Evolve in 2012. In March this year, the band opened for Def Leppard at Mumbai’s Jio World Garden.

Tributes came in from across the music scene. Vishal Dadlani called him “an inspiring and pioneering musician, and a guy who always stood on the right side of things”, adding that every rock and roller since Rock Machine owed him a debt of gratitude. Farhan Akhtar wrote: “RIP brother.”

Tinaikar also mentored young guitarists at Mumbai’s True School of Music. The funeral was held in Mumbai on Friday.