Kula Shaker
The band are known for their interest in traditional Indian music, culture, and mysticism, with a number of their most famous songs, including "Tattva" and "Govinda", featuring lyrics written in Sanskrit. The name Kula Shaker was itself inspired by King Kulasekhara, an Indian emperor from the 8th century. In addition, many of the band's songs feature traditional Indian instruments, such as the sitar, tamboura, and tabla, juxtaposed with guitar-heavy, Western rock instrumentation. Despite achieving commercial success, Kula Shaker were unpopular with many critics, with "The Observer"'s Simon Price describing them in 2014 as a "joke band".
Kula Shaker
Noel Gallagher was an early champion of the band, inviting them to support at Oasis' historic Knebworth concerts, but from the outset of their career, Kula Shaker polarised UK media opinion. This arguably stemmed from age old British preconceptions about class and race. Not only were they white youngsters singing about Krishna in Sanskrit, they were seen as coming from privileged middle class backgrounds. Speaking in an interview in 2016, Mills says "When I was in private schools, they called me 'common', and when I was in state schools they called me 'posh'. It made me very cynical about all these labels." At the height of Britpop, and 'lager culture', music publications like "Melody Maker", "Select", and "NME" often focused on the class angle and ridiculed Kula's fascination with Indian culture. Mills commented in 2016: "The musical styles on "K" are mainstream now. [In 1996] people didn't know how to understand it or where to place it, so all that was left to do was deride it."