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!