Highway 69 (band)

They also had a major achievement in their early years by winning the Wheels competition organized by TATA Steel in Jamshedpur.

The band also performed at Detox, which was an initiative by the Government of Jharkhand to promote the local rock & metal music culture.

With Dheeraj, the band went on to participate at i-Rock of Jinks-Pranav at NIFFT Ranchi, Thundermarch at NIT Silchar and Avalanche of Srijan at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.

The band was already familiar with the playing style of John as they had shared the stage in various competitions and music festivals across India.

John is quite popular amongst the audience and other fellow musicians because of his aggressive style of drumming along with going shirtless when performing on-stage.

During the span of 2015–2018, the band went to participate in festivals across India of which they won the competitions like Fuego - KIIT Fest of KIIT Bhubaneswar, Blizzard of Rock - Chaos of IIM Ahmedabad, Distortion - Culfest of NIT Jamshedpur, Rocktaves - Oasis of BITS Pilani,[4] Searock of Waves (festival) at BITS Pilani - Goa Campus, Till Deaf Do We Part of Pearl (cultural festival) at BITS Pilani - Hyderabad Campus, Resonance of Festember at NIT Trichy,[5] Synchronicity of Antaragni at IIT Kanpur, Decibelz of Xpressions at XIM Bhubaneswar and Thundermarch of Incandescene at NIT Silchar.

With Nikhil, the band did a couple of shows with participation in the competition held at NIT Trichy, Tamil Nadu and a music master class by Highway 69 at Chakradharpur, Jharkhand.

Also in the same year, the band was shortlisted for the first time in the Eastern-leg of Wacken Metal Battle organized by Bangalore Open Air alongside Astitiva (now Existence), Reciprocal from Ranchi and Chronic Xorn from Kolkata but due to the unavailability of their bassist; they did not go for the competition.

Apart from taking part in competitions, they headlined in music festivals of Jamshedpur, Ranchi and Kolkata which eventually helped them gain the pace of a popular upcoming metal band in their own state.

[15] Despite their decision of 2018, which meant to not take part in any competitions, the band went to register for Wacken Metal Battle which is organized by Bangalore Open Air.

It is India's only dedicated heavy metal open-air music festival which takes place yearly in Bangalore in collaboration with Wacken Open Air.

So they once again gave a try by participating in the competition in 2020 and were shortlisted for the Eastern India-leg of Wacken Metal Battle alongside other West Bengal-based bands.

Late 2018 to early 2019, the band went for recording their debut EP in a studio based in their hometown Ranchi but were not impressed with the output.

Timeline The debut EP release by the band, consisting of three songs namely Disturbed, Hope and Don't Be The Prisoners Of The Past.

Highway 69 after doing their first show together as a band at Utthaan fest of BIT Mesra (Deoghar campus) in October 2012. (From left: Binit Barla, Tarang Kerketta, Alvin Rozario and Dheeraj Edward.)
Highway 69 performing at Rockolesseum of Unmaad, the cultural festival of IIM Bangalore
Tarang Kerketta performing at Pepsi MTV Indies - Ranchi Rocks: Chapter 1, in 2015
John receiving the Best Drummer award from Uday Benegal of Indus Creed at Hornbill International Rock Contest in 2017.
A group photo with the audience after completing the show at Jalpaiguri in 2019.