We received our first paycheck last night and we were too tired to do anything but smile. We were tired, hungry, blown and extremely dazed. There have been times when you really don't know if you've had a good day or not and yesterday was one of those.
To be fairly honest, to ourselves mostly, we're not a college competition band. It is true that in India, most bands are formed to play college fests and competitions. One of the most talented metal bands from Bangalore released an EP recently with a total play length of 14mins. No matter how fucking amazing those 14mins are, it still just proves one point - college fests are culprits for many of the crappy bands out there.
20mins is premature ejaculation in terms or music. 20mins makes happy sound-guys cranky. 20mins on-stage to off-stage is the reason bands make 3minute songs. 20mins is the reason song structures have stagnated over the years and 20mins is the reason for a lot more misery than what's just been mentioned.
But, hey who am I to stop college students from trying in some way to contribute to the music scene. I know how retarded one can feel while pitching the concept of a rock show to a principal who's as old as this country has been free. They don't understand what "Sound-check" is. They don't know who Jimi Hendrix is and of course they don't know what metal is. Electronica is a concept still by far unknown to the average joe, let alone the head of the college. What I do know, is that college-people are suckers for competition. They Like acknowledging and rewarding talented young peoples of the youths for the wonderous works and demonstrations of their skills in the various extra curricular activities.
That is the hard truth. Art, Music, Dance, Acting and even advertising is an Extra-curricular activity.
Yesterday was a tiring day because we attended and performed at a college fest. A competition at that.Yes, we walked the whole 9yards and played those 20mins. We played even though the sound guy couldn't recognize that he was having earthing problems and asked our guitarist to play without his effects pedal. We played the 20mins to a few friends who'd traveled all the way to watch and support us and the judges and the students who'd put all this together and to the cowboy-wannabe who was deep-throating a pen like there was no tomorrow.
When it was done, we were left with half the satisfaction. Although we had what people claimed to be a pretty tight set, we weren't sure if we were up to the standards - standards of the competition, standards of the judges. How the hell do you "standardize" music? No matter how experienced a judge is, he/she can not move beyond their own sensory perception to understand what the band in front of him/her is trying to do and most definitely not in 20mins.
Anyways, these are exactly the things that left us puzzled. Whats even more confusing is that the metal band I mentioned earlier is going to be one of the headlining acts of this year. Last year, they didn't even make it to the finals.
What was kick ass about yesterday though was all the band bonding that happened. People were introduced and new friends made. Drinks were shared and smokes passed around while death metal and psychedelia stood in the same circle with the classic rock boys.
Here's to the hope that we'll get to the finals.
Peace bro!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Half a year and half the glass full
Sometime this week I realized the band was 6 months old. The journey so far has been anything but boring and uneventful. From shabby little acoustic gigs in ungrateful mall coffee shops to our personal hollow victories at the so called big stages that have long lost their charm we have remained happy, high and always optimistic.
The good shows are lot more in number these days and therefore clinging onto our optimism has paid off. Gigs like Clean and green, Jaaga and Kyra have enabled us to find and solidify our sound. The most recent gig, which was held at Legends of Rock, was nothing short of a really good gig.
As usual we showed up for sound check late and had a few technical problems before we started. The staff at LOR were really nice and took care of all our needs. The food and the drinks were great and the band couldn't have been more thankful. Sound check done and we were all set.
We got ready on stage and watched our friends pile up at the tables close to us. They have always been around for our gigs and to be surrounded by them is comforting. The house was packed and everyone had settled in. There is always a certain smell there that makes you feel like your in the 70's. The songs rolled on with the crowd getting more and more into it after every song.
By the time we played the last three songs the crowd had geared up. There were people in the back with their eyes closed and swaying to the music. Our friends, all lined up near the stage, were shouting out our names and poking fun at our stage act. We, as a band, were having a blast.
The gig finally ended and we were approached by 2 guys for our first ever fan photo. We gladly obliged and stood there like a bunch of idiots while they took pictures. The staff gave us a nice big table and enough food to satisfy our appetites. We thanked everyone and headed out home. This had been a very good day. Lets see what the next 6 months has in store.
The good shows are lot more in number these days and therefore clinging onto our optimism has paid off. Gigs like Clean and green, Jaaga and Kyra have enabled us to find and solidify our sound. The most recent gig, which was held at Legends of Rock, was nothing short of a really good gig.
As usual we showed up for sound check late and had a few technical problems before we started. The staff at LOR were really nice and took care of all our needs. The food and the drinks were great and the band couldn't have been more thankful. Sound check done and we were all set.
We got ready on stage and watched our friends pile up at the tables close to us. They have always been around for our gigs and to be surrounded by them is comforting. The house was packed and everyone had settled in. There is always a certain smell there that makes you feel like your in the 70's. The songs rolled on with the crowd getting more and more into it after every song.
By the time we played the last three songs the crowd had geared up. There were people in the back with their eyes closed and swaying to the music. Our friends, all lined up near the stage, were shouting out our names and poking fun at our stage act. We, as a band, were having a blast.
The gig finally ended and we were approached by 2 guys for our first ever fan photo. We gladly obliged and stood there like a bunch of idiots while they took pictures. The staff gave us a nice big table and enough food to satisfy our appetites. We thanked everyone and headed out home. This had been a very good day. Lets see what the next 6 months has in store.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
say "Peace!"
Mr. Bee, a musician who plays for Teddy Boy Kill, recently quoted that "artists, musicians etc., comprise less than 1% of the Indian population." and I agree with him.
Miss Blah, a singer with the band Tempo Tantrick, says "we're all wannabes". I agree with her as well.
Mr. Dasgupta, Bass player for Swarathma, suggests modestly that "you won't be treated as a professional band unless you behave like one". I agree with him as well.
As you can see, my interaction levels with other musicians have increased and it's great to hear these things from experienced musicians. What they all say is true in its own context. There are very few musicians, very few writers and very few artists. This creative population is very small and I still think they should dedicate some of their time to battle with the government for a minority status and ask for reservation, quota's etc. But, they don't seem to be very interested in these things.
By definition, an artist is one who exhibits exceptional skill in the fine arts and usually uses this ability to earn a living.
What we forget is there is a huge population of those trying to master certain skills. The wannabes, the could-bes and the would-bes. This population is definitely not a minority. There're a large number of people who're trying very hard to make their passion into a fortune, because at the end of the day, survival is necessary.
Through bad break-ups, rehab, bar brawls, fiction, lack of an audience and strings that snapped on stage we have realized that a gig needs to be more than just a gig. It needs to be an experience. Something that opens your mind and engulfs your senses and we're not talking about brain-washing.
We started experimentation soon after freedom jam, which i must report to say was not all that great. We lived out a dream and were happy about that but just one and a half songs on stage means we only have one and a half reasons to be happy(as Anand put it). Lack of organization and impatience can really drive people up the wall but that has sort of been the signature trait of Freedom Jam and the likes of it.
Sick of all this, we headed off to a jungle for our first ever Clean&Green gig. An all acoustic jam, out in the jungle. About 40people joined us at this gathering a little outside the city and here's a few photos of it -
We also got a new band member. He was officially induced a few weeks before our show at Kyra. Ashish Sharma is a psyched out guy. He knows no instruments yet and I've never heard him sing. What he is good at is not knowing what he's doing. He's worked with me as a cinematographer on many occasions. He's with us now, full time as a video artist. He does visuals which are projected on us at our live shows. His visuals emote the music. He bring a whole new dimension to the band. The visual experience. We're still in stages of experimentation of this new dimension. We're still trying to make it a live performance as well. But for now this is what we've done -
Thats part one of the song. I'm sure you'll find part two somewhere around there. There's another version of the song on facebook, taken by another mobile camera.
This was a tricky experiment we were doing, think about it; experimenting on a respected platform such as Kyra isn't something every band would do. But, we were rewarded for trying. In this day and age, of speed and internet, people actually took time off to watch the entire 14minute video of really bad quality(resolution of 176x98, i think) and not just that, we were appreciated for it. The music was compared to Radiohead and early Pink Floyd, all of which is very flattering but personally I don't think we've reached that level yet.
We did forget one very crucial element at Kyra. Think I'll keep it a surprise for our next show, all i'd say for now is "think band merchandise".
Kyra established certain things for us. It proved our instinct right. It told us we're heading in the right direction. It told us we need to keep at it whole heartedly. It told us that the visuals work, but need to be refined. It told us the same things every story with a happy ending tells you - its not over yet.
Over the past few months, we've made new friends, we've been called names and we've had cop trouble. But the best part is, that we get a lot of advice. From every direction. We get support and people have told us to keep at it.
I guess thats what professionals do. I guess thats what artists, musicians, writers do best. Keep at it.
Among all this, we mourn the loss of a superwoman. The co-owner of opus and inspiration to thousands; someone we've interacted with very shortly yet loved. Gina, we salute you when we cry out with a thousand other voices and say as you would have, "the show must go on".
peace!
of good beginnings and bad roads
Today, we turn on month old. And that is a lot considering the kind of musicians we know, extremely skilled ones. But, that isn't the problem, more than a good musician you need someone you get along with otherwise as well, someone you can JAM with and thats hard to come across.
But, all that happened a month ago and we played at the Barista in Garuda Mall in Bangalore. It was a show without a drummer, just 3 acoustic guitars and a vocalist. This was a great first gig considering we are heavily influenced by the acoustic guitar. We did our bit and had a good time. We were told that we would be given coffee and some food dor playing the gig and it was quite a sweet deal. We played, we ate, we drank and at the end of it all we were psyched...good psyched.
We heard of the "Rockathon" that's happening in the city and decided to register. We were given 3 slots but ended up playing four. We are supposed to get paid for that and it'll work out soon i guess. We spent the most amount of money on the parking, yes it exceeded our food expenses. The hippie inside us wanted the rockathon to be in some open-air field where we could pitch tents and woodstock would be revived, but then again that's asking too much from the government.
We then at the Bulls-Unplugged gig at Opus, Bangalore. This was a very important mile marker; because we had fun. We had a bunch of friends there in the audience and some unknown people at other tables yet, the place was quite empty but it was still a lot of fun. What came out of the show was a recording from the sound-console, the stuff that's put up on the profile page. It wasn't just a recording it was a mirror that showed us how we sound and what we need to work on. That recording was featured on opus' online radio channel. Allthough it's not the greatest recording, its a first.
Today, we turn a month old. We played at exactly the same barista with one lil' change - 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 vocalist. Thats four people. But our soul wasn't in it. At the very first note we knew this would be the most dead-beat, boring performance and it was. The place had gotten to us. The orange and fake-wood interiors, the plastic people, the "mall-culture" oozing from every corner and the wannabes. It destroyed the zest for music; ut made us sleepy. It was the kind of soul torture you would feel in purgatory. Don't get me wrong here, we were kicked about this show. It was at really short notice but we were really looking forward to it. We'd put in the hours jamming to make it work but the venue was just the biggest turn-off. What made things worse was the organizers left immideatly afterwards and all they gave us was one coffee. One bloody cuppa.
We know how the ladder looks from below and we're trying to climb it the hard way but that is no way to treat a band. When you say we get some food and coffee to play an hour long set, you better live up to it. I agree we weren't upto standards but we still played the best we could. We kept the crowds entertained.
I guess we're expecting too much from the corporate goons that run the world. But, then again the world never gives you what you want and sometimes you don't like what the world gives you. You go to bed wondering what the city of dreams has in store for tomorrow. It's a constant battle and tomorrow the world will forget you.
Peace.
But, all that happened a month ago and we played at the Barista in Garuda Mall in Bangalore. It was a show without a drummer, just 3 acoustic guitars and a vocalist. This was a great first gig considering we are heavily influenced by the acoustic guitar. We did our bit and had a good time. We were told that we would be given coffee and some food dor playing the gig and it was quite a sweet deal. We played, we ate, we drank and at the end of it all we were psyched...good psyched.
We heard of the "Rockathon" that's happening in the city and decided to register. We were given 3 slots but ended up playing four. We are supposed to get paid for that and it'll work out soon i guess. We spent the most amount of money on the parking, yes it exceeded our food expenses. The hippie inside us wanted the rockathon to be in some open-air field where we could pitch tents and woodstock would be revived, but then again that's asking too much from the government.
We then at the Bulls-Unplugged gig at Opus, Bangalore. This was a very important mile marker; because we had fun. We had a bunch of friends there in the audience and some unknown people at other tables yet, the place was quite empty but it was still a lot of fun. What came out of the show was a recording from the sound-console, the stuff that's put up on the profile page. It wasn't just a recording it was a mirror that showed us how we sound and what we need to work on. That recording was featured on opus' online radio channel. Allthough it's not the greatest recording, its a first.
Today, we turn a month old. We played at exactly the same barista with one lil' change - 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 vocalist. Thats four people. But our soul wasn't in it. At the very first note we knew this would be the most dead-beat, boring performance and it was. The place had gotten to us. The orange and fake-wood interiors, the plastic people, the "mall-culture" oozing from every corner and the wannabes. It destroyed the zest for music; ut made us sleepy. It was the kind of soul torture you would feel in purgatory. Don't get me wrong here, we were kicked about this show. It was at really short notice but we were really looking forward to it. We'd put in the hours jamming to make it work but the venue was just the biggest turn-off. What made things worse was the organizers left immideatly afterwards and all they gave us was one coffee. One bloody cuppa.
We know how the ladder looks from below and we're trying to climb it the hard way but that is no way to treat a band. When you say we get some food and coffee to play an hour long set, you better live up to it. I agree we weren't upto standards but we still played the best we could. We kept the crowds entertained.
I guess we're expecting too much from the corporate goons that run the world. But, then again the world never gives you what you want and sometimes you don't like what the world gives you. You go to bed wondering what the city of dreams has in store for tomorrow. It's a constant battle and tomorrow the world will forget you.
Peace.
In pursuit of Beautiful-ish things
The plan has always been quite clear. Get a gig, find your band members, jam (or not) and go play. But, that's what you'd do when you've a band. Of late, we seemed to have a band member less. With Abhinav's doctors cutting down his jam time thanks to tinnitus(his ear condition, constant buzzing, very painful); he dicided to dedicate the little jam time he has to his band, Inner Sanctum. Mucho respect senor.
So with a week left for our unwind show, we headed out to find a shiny new drummer. As luck would have it, we did find one right outside our house. Some guy we randomly knew said he'd started drumming and had a kit about 20mins away. So we went over and jammed. Although the jam was good, he was kinda creepy.
So, we were left less than a week and still no drummer. At this time we got on to facebook and all the wonderful contacts we had on our phones to find a drummer. We got in touch with some random people but with no response. Then there was Aditya. An old friend of mine (Pranav), the guy i'd first gone up on stage with back in school to play "hotel california". So, i called the guy over, introduced him to the band, smoked a coupla' greens and got down to jamming. Neither he nor us have a kit so for that jam he used a wooden board to do percussions on, followed that up with a coupla jam sessions at unwind center before we found heaven.
Heaven to us is a place in Hennur called "the Jam Hut". It is the ideal jam hut. for 200bucks an hour you get a well padded garage with a cut, some huge speakers, an able mixer and Gerry(the owner) lets you smoke, booze and what not. The jam we had that day was without a doubt the best jam we've had. We saw that Adi was having fun so we knew we had our drummer.
Knowing very well that we are a psychedelic experience, we made sure the audience has a similar experience as well. so we set up live visuals to be projected on us while we play. The result you can see on the video that will be up soon.
So, what are we looking for next? more shows, more psychedelic collaborations, more new music and a lot more fun. What we really want to do is involve other types of artist, painters, illustrators, dancers to bring their art-form to our stage and collaborate with us.
And if you're a tree, please just get on stage the next time we play. I just like trees.
So with a week left for our unwind show, we headed out to find a shiny new drummer. As luck would have it, we did find one right outside our house. Some guy we randomly knew said he'd started drumming and had a kit about 20mins away. So we went over and jammed. Although the jam was good, he was kinda creepy.
So, we were left less than a week and still no drummer. At this time we got on to facebook and all the wonderful contacts we had on our phones to find a drummer. We got in touch with some random people but with no response. Then there was Aditya. An old friend of mine (Pranav), the guy i'd first gone up on stage with back in school to play "hotel california". So, i called the guy over, introduced him to the band, smoked a coupla' greens and got down to jamming. Neither he nor us have a kit so for that jam he used a wooden board to do percussions on, followed that up with a coupla jam sessions at unwind center before we found heaven.
Heaven to us is a place in Hennur called "the Jam Hut". It is the ideal jam hut. for 200bucks an hour you get a well padded garage with a cut, some huge speakers, an able mixer and Gerry(the owner) lets you smoke, booze and what not. The jam we had that day was without a doubt the best jam we've had. We saw that Adi was having fun so we knew we had our drummer.
Knowing very well that we are a psychedelic experience, we made sure the audience has a similar experience as well. so we set up live visuals to be projected on us while we play. The result you can see on the video that will be up soon.
So, what are we looking for next? more shows, more psychedelic collaborations, more new music and a lot more fun. What we really want to do is involve other types of artist, painters, illustrators, dancers to bring their art-form to our stage and collaborate with us.
And if you're a tree, please just get on stage the next time we play. I just like trees.
will the big and bad be ugly also?
Fredom Jam cometh!
For those who don't know, freedom jam is Bangalore's little woodstock, or atleast it used to be until the authorities come down on us big time. But, the scene is picking up and all looks good.
Well, almost.
You see, Aditya was sick and in the hospital. All this while the papers went on about the number of deaths due to swine flu. Now, we ll know adi's no pig so we figured he'd l've tough it.
Freedom jam was the place i first saw a BIG stage. I mean, this thing was huge! You had no other purpose there but to look up at bands that came and belted out their tunes! At a small corner at the back of everyones heads was one thing and one thing only - HOW THE FUCK DO I GET UP THERE?!!
That question rang loud in my head, louder than "hmmm...how can i get high now?" and they were both answered by the very people who were up there, on that big stage! They got me high AND told me how to get up there. Now, I won't just tell you what they told me. No, that wouldn't be very ritualistic.
But, I've been in that crowd and I know what it feels like; this sunday I will be up there, hopefully. And when we do play, if these two questions do ring in your head, ask me.
In other news, the organizers were quite pleased about our band but wanted explanation for our genre. They wanted to know if psychedelic rock was just normal rock under the influence of psychedelics and if so would we be carrying any (sigh, take a deep breath, it still not over) and if so would we share it with them.
Talk about a band image.
But, quite a happy bunch they are so it was all a matter of humor. But, weirdly so, I don't have any definition for our genre. Psychedelic rock is classified as music made under the influence of, for the people under the influence of... Not the same in our case. But, hey! of our music is a treat to you while you're under the influence of, have a good trip and peace man!
For those who don't know, freedom jam is Bangalore's little woodstock, or atleast it used to be until the authorities come down on us big time. But, the scene is picking up and all looks good.
Well, almost.
You see, Aditya was sick and in the hospital. All this while the papers went on about the number of deaths due to swine flu. Now, we ll know adi's no pig so we figured he'd l've tough it.
Freedom jam was the place i first saw a BIG stage. I mean, this thing was huge! You had no other purpose there but to look up at bands that came and belted out their tunes! At a small corner at the back of everyones heads was one thing and one thing only - HOW THE FUCK DO I GET UP THERE?!!
That question rang loud in my head, louder than "hmmm...how can i get high now?" and they were both answered by the very people who were up there, on that big stage! They got me high AND told me how to get up there. Now, I won't just tell you what they told me. No, that wouldn't be very ritualistic.
But, I've been in that crowd and I know what it feels like; this sunday I will be up there, hopefully. And when we do play, if these two questions do ring in your head, ask me.
In other news, the organizers were quite pleased about our band but wanted explanation for our genre. They wanted to know if psychedelic rock was just normal rock under the influence of psychedelics and if so would we be carrying any (sigh, take a deep breath, it still not over) and if so would we share it with them.
Talk about a band image.
But, quite a happy bunch they are so it was all a matter of humor. But, weirdly so, I don't have any definition for our genre. Psychedelic rock is classified as music made under the influence of, for the people under the influence of... Not the same in our case. But, hey! of our music is a treat to you while you're under the influence of, have a good trip and peace man!
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