On the second episode of the 2025/26 summer seasonal, Takee sat down with Atlanta-based indie artist Varun Sheel to discuss all things music, and his newly founded project: The Elephant Room.

Varun Sheel is a boston native with rich indian roots, and is also the founder and CEO the Elephant Room. He grew up in a musically rich household, influenced by both Western and Bollywood music. His father, a classical Hindustani vocalist, began teaching Varun the basics of raags, tune maintenance, and breathing techniques at a young age.

Varun’s musical journey took off when he received his first guitar as a child and started learning from YouTube, studying virtuosos like Paul Gilbert and Buckethead. In high school, Varun formed his first band, “Beyond Boundaries,” and later, in college, another band, “Solara.” They released multiple EPs and played local shows, with Varun in a variety of roles such as lead vocalist, songwriter and lead guitarist.

While pursuing a degree in Neuroscience, Varun blended his contemporary style of songwriting with his eastern influences.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, he deepened his craft by integrating Hindustani raags and Bollywood visuals with Western music theory. After years of honing his craft, Varun is now ready to share his latest work, promising to transport listeners with his evocative melodies and storytelling.

Varun has also launched an independent artist accelerator program called ‘the elephant room,’ designed to equip artists with everything they need to build sustainable, label-free music careers. It’s a year-long program based in Atlanta (USA) that combines a K-pop–style skill camp with business and industry training.

Each artist develops and releases a single through the program, and gets $100K invested into marketing that release to kickstart their career.

The first cohort of 6 begins in June, and applications are rolling until spots fill or the deadline hits, but waitlisted artists get early access when applications officially open.

Find out more here:

https://www.theelephantroomgroup.com/