Hey Dude... It's Kula Shaker! Psychedelic guitars, numerology, and controversy...

In September 1995 Kula Shaker were joint winners of the In The City contest, along with Placebo. This resulted in a record contract with Columbia Records.

Crispian Mills, the band's frontman, has a strong interest in Indian culture, mysticism, and numerology, which heavily influenced the band's creative process. 

The band name "Kula Shaker" is derived from the name of a ninth-century Indian emperor and holy man, King Kulashekhara, according to Wikipedia. The band's frontman, Crispian Mills, suggested the name as it is considered lucky in Indian culture

Their first single "Tattva" was released in January 1996, but it entered just outside the UK Top 75, at number 86. 

This was followed in April by the band's second single, "Grateful When You're Dead", which this time entered the top UK Top 40, (going in at No. 35). 

The public began to take notice of the band, and they gained more airplay and sudden exposure when the re-released (and re-recorded) "Tattva" went to No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. 

The band's upward climb continued with their third single "Hey Dude", which was kept off the top spot by the Spice Girls.

The band's debut album K, was released next. This became the fastest-selling debut album in Britain since Elastica's debut the previous year. It was eventually certified 2× Platinum by the BPI in January 1997. The album went on to go double platinum, selling over 850,000 copies in the UK and a further 250,000 copies in the United States.

At the start of 1997, the band received four nominations for the BRIT Awards, and they subsequently won the award for the "British Breakthrough Act" at the ceremony in February. In the same month, they released what would turn out to be their biggest hit, a cover of "Hush", famously performed by the British hard-rock band Deep Purple, which again peaked at number 2 in the UK charts.

In the wake of the Hush's release, Crispian Mills made some naive remarks on the traditional mystical properties of Swastikas and was criticised by the British Press. Looking back in 2016, Mills said "We thought we were smarter than we were ... that was the innocence of our youth ploughing into the adult world. He offered an unequivocal condemnation of far-right-wing ideology.

Kula Shaker were sometimes unpopular with critics, some feeling that the band's music lacked depth and originality.  The Observer's Simon Price possibly still fuelled by the swastika controversy, and through the lens of modern life cultural appropriation, went further than this, and described them in 2014 as a "joke band." unfairly I would say.

To me, they demonstrated a big part of the '60s influence on '90s music. Appearing on TFI Friday 4 times between 96 and 99.

The band have since put out a further five albums since K, with another due to be released in the next few months, and has toured multiple times since their reformation in 2004, to fantastic reviews of their stagecraft and showmanship.