To avid readers of this blog and to those of you who know me well, I probably come across as a guy who doesn’t particularly enjoy Indian pop. Well you wouldn’t be too far from the truth, but on an innocent question from a very good friend I dwelled into the world of Indian pop music and lo and behold I actually ended up missing it.

Now before you go ahead and read assuming there is a catch of some sort, there isn’t, I truly miss it. You see Indian pop is, sadly dead. Think about it, when is the last time you saw a song on TV or heard it on radio that wasn’t associated with a movie of some sort. Gone are the days when we saw Shaan, Lucky Ali and the likes belting out rather wonderful songs with actual music videos associated with them. Gone are bands like Strings, Silk Route etc who gave us some lovely music.

That to me feels wrong, I’m of the opinion that the process of creating music should be, for all rights and purposes, free. And that can never TRULY be the case with a song from a movie. You see movie songs are requests, a request for something that can fit into the perspective of the movie, a request that needs to conform to what the director or the producer wants. Something that gets the public interested and that’s it. This is completely different from an artist sitting around with a guitar or a piano humming something and thinking to himself that he might have something on his hands. The artist in that case is free to say what he or she wants to say through that song. These days “music” channels such as MTV and Channel V only play reality shows or some other load of crap most of the time, and half or less, “a teaser”, of a song from a movie the other times.

This in a country with some great Indian pop/rock talent out there, what do those do? They play college competitions, clubs, pubs and the lucky ones get recognised and tour in parts of the world like Swarathma and the Raghu Dixit Project, the rest either move into some music related work or just fade away into obscurity. There is no other way to put it but that is WRONG, and for that I feel bad.

We need a music channel that plays music, and not just the crap the bollywood brigade doles out. We need our bands to be recognised and played all over, signed and touring by recording labels that are not just happy having them playing some clubs but put some money behind them and have them sell concerts and albums. What the hell makes Swarathma and the likes any less good than that doctored bubble factory stuff the US roles out in droves? Heck I feel bad even making that comparison (watch Pyasi and you’ll understand what I mean).

So it was that on one innocent question that i reminisced and this post came to be. What will come from it? Probably nothing but what needs to be said, needs to be said. For now I take solace in the fact that the music existed in the first place. And thank God or Google (hmm same thing?) for Youtube.

 

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Someone once said the best things in life are free, but lets face it, the guy who said that was either high or just plain didn’t have the money. In todays world you rarely get to find rare gems for free. Which is why I consider myself quite lucky to have stumbled upon one of the most interesting new bands I’ve heard, or seen in Bangalore, at a free concert.

First and foremost I need to give credit where its due, Alliance Francaise organised a series of concerts over five days for free, for their Fete de la Musique, that I had the pleasure of attending. Among the names where the usual headline acts of Thermal and Quarter and Galeej Gurus etc and a whole load of other bands, many of which I’d never heard about. Among the new bands (well new in my book anyway) were The Bicycle Days, a band claiming to be rock group thats, psychedelic, alternative, electronica, “psychobabble” among other things, now if that’s not a confused bunch I don’t know what is.

But then again the lack of a label gives them the freedom to be, well, anything they want to be, and oh boy do they do that well. The band consists of Shreyas on the drums, Rahul on guitar, Paul on Bass, Karthik Basker on vocals and rhythm guitars and Nikhil on Samples. To the uninitiated to simply put it Nikhil is the guy who does the bulk of the effects for the band, everything from whooping echoes to the haunting vocals are all handled by his trusty mixer and Mac. But a good effect is impossible without good raw product going into it, and I’m glad to say the raw product in itself is worthy of standing on its own.

Shreyas was great on the drums, and with all the madness going on around him, without a good beat to keep everything in the same dimension their songs could’ve easily fallen apart. Rahul on guitar is on some level Tool influenced, those riffs were all too reminiscent of the great Adam Jones. Paul on bass was one of the stand outs of the night for me, his precise, elaborate bass lines had the whole crowd in a daze. Then we come to the front man, Karthik Basker, Karthik was a junior of mine from college, he was a friend of a friend, always seemed a little lost in his own world. To be honest when the show started off I had my doubts about him as a front man for a band. But between his flashy “look-at-me” t-shirt, calling the crowd perverts and downright collapsing on stage he makes a great front man; wacky, unpredictable and at the end of the day downright good. His haunting vocals fit perfectly with the mood of the songs and combined with the dark echoes and effects from Nikhil, created long lasting impressions.

The lighting, which now seems like a forgotten art, was also very well done, they were dark and moody keeping in tone with the kind of music that was being played. But unfortunately the acoustics of the auditorium had some room for improvement, to say the least. And in a band where effects and the likes are so focused on, you need a place with good acoustics. The show at Alliance was good, but to me it merely acted as a taster, like a trailer for good movie. It just made me want to go back and hear what those songs actually sound like in the studio.

To any one whose a fan of music that’s a bit out of left field, like that of Porcupine tree etc, I say try The Bicycle Days. Circles is a personal favorite of mine, and TBD if you ever do end up reading this, I NEED that song in my iPod tell me how I can make it happen.

It is truly refreshing to see a band that’s not just playing just classic rock or metal, these ears were aching to here something different. And The Bicycle Days have more than fulfilled that thirst and given me the hope that there might be more like them out there. I hope they continue to make great music, cause this is a band with immense potential and I’d hate to see that go to waste. Keep up the good work guys.

You can find The Bicycle Days on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/thebicycledays
And you can find their music at http://soundcloud.com/the-bicycle-days

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A tribute to a place, that I am to this day, completely enchanted with, Gokarna. I hope I do it justice...

 

 

A silent haze covers me,
Passing sand tickle my feet,
The sea sings me a lullaby,
As my mind roams free.
A silent rain keeps me company,
Along with friends equally carefree.
Our bonds lay severed in the hills behind,
At long last making us free.
I look at this life like never before;
Life it seems is easier lived vicariously.
Memories play out like vivid stories,
The future like an unfinished book
Unsure but expectant.
Paradise I found on a deserted shore,
But have since been left wanting.
Forever yearning that isolation 
In a world all to social. . . . .

 

Now to a majority reading this, poetry might come as a surprise but I used to write a long time ago. And this was as good a reason as any to return to the habit. All comments and critiques are welcome.

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Fusion, the name implies the bringing together of two components to bring forth something entirely new. In music too, for the most part, the word has a similar formulaic meaning, no matter how "innovative" and "improvised" fusion music gets, in its core the formula remains the same. Take a contemporary and popular form of music and mix it with a rather classical and less mainstream form of music. The unfortunate thing is that the reaction to Fusion also has a rather typical formula associated with it, the contemporary fans tend to like it, but not enough to buy an actual album, and the classical folk more often than not tend to dislike it, but keep it in wraps as, at the end of the day, it’s an opportunity for them to reach out to a new audience.

The problem in my book is the lack of identity to the final piece of music that comes out of fusion. The goal for most fusion artists seems to be the actual mixing of the two or more art forms involved rather than the music itself, in doing so, unfortunately the music tends to lose any semblance of form and personality. The thing is, great points exist in both forms of music, but they exist because of they have an identity associated with it. An identity that is defined by the set of rules and quirks that define the form of music and fusion usually tends to break these rules. And while that might be the "cool" thing do the final outcome also suffers from the same short comings, it'll be "cool" to some people for a while,  but nothing that will truly last in the memory.

I have heard two truly great fusion albums though, one of which is "Symphony & Metallica" (better known as S&M) by Michael Kaman and Metallica and the other is Electric Ganesha Land by Prasanna (better knows as Guitar Prasanna) and the thing that sets both of these albums apart from nearly everything else out there is their sense of purpose. Both those albums have a clear picture in mind on what they are trying to achieve. And by having this sense of direction both the forms of music are involved, intermingling rather than clashing with each other and the one that dominates is the one that the song demands, rather than the artist associated.

Michael Kaman was one of the all time greatest composers in my book, and not just because he was a part of what I consider as one of the greatest live shows ever conducted. He introduced the element of classical western music to a wide variety of musical genres, working with great artists from the likes of Pink Floyd to Queen. But the live album with Metallica and the San Francisco Orchestra, for me, takes the cake; and it’s also one of my favorite albums of all time. You see Metallica's songs are a lot of things they are loud, they are brash, the are angry, they are full of power and Kaman didn't try to change any of that, he in fact accepted that and sought to seek what he could provide to enhance that. All he was focused on was enhancing the experience, increasing the grandeur of the songs, providing a gorgeous canvas as a base for Metallica's music. And the effect is nothing less than profound, the songs are beyond great, they are truly epic. It's the difference between reading an action packed book to watching an accurate reproduction made by Quentin Tarentino. And it is this sense of vision and purpose that makes this such a great album, Kaman wasn't concerned about combining classical music and metal, all he was concerned with was using the tools he had at his disposal to bring a new element to Metal and Metallica.

The same applies to Guitar Prasanna, I had the pleasure of seeing him perform live with Victor Wooten where he performed many of his songs and it was after that, that I went back and heard some of his works. And I must say that his homage to classical Carnatic music is phenomenal. His form of fusion is different, he isn't trying to blindly combine jazz or blues with Carnatic, but its a case of paying reverence to an art form he loves with the instrument that he knows best. And that in itself brings such a new element to the music, while still keeping it true to the rules of the original art form. He does sometimes combine Carnatic with funky jazz but only when the music beckons it, in the middle of solo's etc. His mastery is at such a level that he actually gives full Carnatic classical concerts armed with his trusty electric. By bringing such a new sound to traditional classical music he introduces the beauty of the six stringed instrument to the classical folk and introduces the wide range and smoothness of Carnatic to the western. Its this kind of music that feels like an exquisite creation from a master chef rather than like a Indian version of Chinese dish.

I really hope that some day Fusion gets its well deserved place in main stream music, because it's a genre that has such supreme potential. It can provide such a new perspective to existing music and provide for such novel experiences. I mean where else can an electric guitar fan hear its tone being used in such an achingly beautiful way (Bowling for peace by Prasanna, highly recommended in this context) and where else can a metal fan be exposed to the sheer power of full scale orchestra on full tilt? Now riddle me that.

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In spite of being a big fan of music in general and also of Metal, I’m usually a bit apprehensive when people suggest Metal bands that I “must” listen to. This apprehension is primarily due to the very thin blurred line between the kind of Metal I like and the kind I don’t. Metallica has long been my staple hallmark in metal, they mixed the aggression and chaos of metal with harmony and melody almost seamlessly, it also helps that most of their songs are usually pure energy. There are other great metal bands out there, but Metallica has held the mantle of the best in my book and nothing anyone suggested so far has come close, not Pantera, not Maiden, not Megadeth. Don’t get me wrong they’re all great bands but I’m just not into 'em. Add to that the fact that most bands coming out of college these days are so obsessed with HEAVY Metal and Death Metal, that they just seem to lose all semblance of music and even the smallest amount of growling in a song drives me up the wall.

So sadly it was with the same disregard that I treated a friends* suggestion of the band Tool that he said I absolutely must listen to. That was until one one rather fateful day that he actually made me listen to the song Lateralus by Tool, I was, to say the least, hooked. It had everything I looked for in music; power, emotion, beautiful bridges and melodies, it was mind blowing. So the next day I went to another friend of mine in office** whose a huge Tool fan asking for Tool’s discography in search of other gems like Lateralus, little did I know what I was in store for.

Tool is one of those bands that comes along only once in a few decades that make music of such exceptional quality that its genuinely hard to appreciate them till you are truly LISTENING to their music, and nothing else. Its a band that is composed of such exceptional talent, that there isn’t a weak link in there. The singer Maynard James Keenan modulates his voice so well to truly express his words, exactly how it should be expressed. Speaking of the words, his lyrics are inspiring, not sad, not morose or angry or anything, it's just what the song needs to be. He has a clear message that he wants to express in his work and that shines through really well (the lyrics of the song Lateralus is something I really recommend reading). The guitarist Adam Jones’ tone is exceptional and the clinical precision of his guitaring in such complex time signatures is truly amazing. Speaking of time signatures, wiki Tool and you will see they also belong to a genre all their own called “Math Rock”, they mix such complex time signatures so well that it blends together seamlessly and doesn’t at all seem enforced, each instrument in some songs play in different time signatures. Which brings me to, for me, the strongest unit in the band – Justin Chancellor on the Bass and Danny Carrey on the Drums, the thing with time signatures is you need great Bass and Drums to hold it all together and my God do they go far beyond just holding it together. Justin on the Bass is so exceptional with the mastery of his instrument and its effects that at times I have a hard time figuring out if its him or Adam Jones I’m hearing. Danny Carrey on the other hand is plain mad; he uses such a wide variety of percussion instruments that his setup in itself is a site to behold. Everything from digital drumpads to Tabla’s are present in his setup and if you listen to just his drumming you would find it hard to imagine that just one man is doing all that.

But the greatest thing about the band is that inspite of consisting of such great talents none of them stick out in a song, it’s the song overall that stands out. All the instruments, including the voice, gels so well with everything revolving around them that they act as one single piece, one unit. And I think if even one of them were to be replaced the whole thing would fall apart.

Then comes my favorite fact about this band, they don’t just make songs they make Albums, and I have long stressed my affections to Albums as a whole. In my opinion art in all its forms are means of expressing a thought or an emotion, and songs have the wonderful ability to do that and capture a persons attention for the entire 3 minutes that they are with that song. Now when you have the chance to do that over the period of over an hour or more, why wouldn’t you make use of that. The structure of the songs, the order of the songs, the build up to the songs are all such important tools in doing that. A song can capture your attention but an over all album can convey meaning and emotion and seem more complete as a package. A song should always remain a piece of the jigsaw that is a part of a bigger picture, a piece that makes sense on its own but feels so much better blended into the overall picture. Tool does this exceptionally well, their albums are fantastically structured and all of them sound unique, you can pick a song at random and almost tell which album it came from. Many other bands also place a signature sound on their albums and songs , but that’s usually just the bands signature sound, Tool takes that a step further and gives the album itself its own signature sound. While you can listen to Tool songs independently they just have so much more effect when heard as part of the complete album. And once you finish that album head to toe buried deep in it, you get that sense of awe and satisfaction, like the one you get when you finish a fantastic book. That sense of how fantastic it was and that it was sad that it had to end, but at the end of the day you know it had to end.

But through all their good points there is one rather minor downside of Tool. While they do make fantastic albums and music, their albums come through only once in a while. A Tool fan has to wait a fair few years before getting a fresh album from Tool. But at the end of the day when the music that comes out of this wait is of such exceptional quality it is easily forgivable. The sad part of truly great things are that they are also scarce.

A friend*** of mine said that Tool is like the Led Zeppelin of this generation where they have that same sense of greatness and mystery and where each member is just so talented. And that comment really struck a chord with me, it was summed up quite well, Led Zepplin is not a band that everyone gets, it’s quite an acquired taste. But the thing with them is they aren’t out to please crowds or anything, they are out to say what they want to say in the best way that they can say it. They needn’t be popular, they are not just brilliant, they are so much more, they are. . . Influential.

Credit where credits due:

* Mahesh for recommending and introducing me to Tool.

** Swarit for giving me the entire discography, it is now a prized possession.

*** Vikas Rao Pejavar for the Led Zep comment, well said my friend.

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Living in a country where "new music" is produced every single week with the release of each new movie, it is more than easy to forget the true music of our beloved country lying hidden behind all this fluff (to put it incredibly lightly). What am I on about? No not the Indian Rock band scene, I'm actually talking about Indian classical music. Now I shall wait a bit while you adjust your jaw back in place as its no doubt fallen to the floor, but yes I do enjoy classical music, more importantly I have tremendous amounts of respect for Indian classical music. I especially enjoy the instrumental music that it has to offer, not that I'm undermining the vocalists in any way but its just the way I'm wired, I always tend to focus on instruments rather than vocals.

I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful concert by the great Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia at NCBS, organised by the very admirable organization that is SPIC MACAY. It was a small affair at the quaint open air theatre at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and the setting was to put it simply, beautiful. But I'm actually not here to talk about the concert at all (which was great by the way) but rather to talk about Indian Classical music itself.

I have had the great opporunity to learn about the intricacy's of western music thanks to the good folks at Nathaniel School of Music and that I must say has really helped me appreciate Indian classical music much more. You see music albeit an art has its fair share of rules. These rules, as I see it, are primarily meant to make the music more discernible to the average listener. The big jumps in notes, the placement of some notes over the others are all meant to make music more accessible to everybody.

Indian classical music on the other hand actually has a completely different set of rules, which are more focused on making music more grand, complex and intricate. But you see complexity and intricacy are great words but they do make the music harder to appreciate. Because you have to concentrate, pay attention to the minor changes in notes, the little vibrations and the like. And in this age of shorter and shorter attention spans its sad to see Indian classical music suffer. Which is why I appreciate organizations like SPIC MACAY who are trying to instill some of that attention back in us.

But to those of us who do pay attention, such kind of music does present a very rare quality which isn't seen often enough in music today. . . . Potency. The power to emote and move and to force those vibrations through your body is incredible in such music. Only this has the capability to move you to tears or instill awe in someone by the sheer level of complexity involved. In comparison you could say it is like fine wine, it is an acquired taste, it may not be for everyone but for those who get it is quite simply brilliant.

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia was asked by members of the audience what his song was about and he simply replied that it was a prayer. It is a musical submission to God who he said, we might have missed it but, was in the audience. That to me is quite reassuring because in this age of remixes and Hip-Hop, to hear such genius, may be only God is worthy.

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Simple everyday pleasures amplified to such an extent that they cease to be mere everyday pleasures and morph into rare experiences that you'd want to hold onto forever. That is what I describe as resonance, not in its scientific sense, but rather, it is a word I've given to this little fantastic thing that happens with music and me sometimes. And before the question creeps into your heads I'll answer it myself, this NOT under the influence of drugs of any sort.

You see in my opinion your body, or mind to be more specific, wants, and I mean really WANTS to hear a specific sound or a specific type of song and if you happen to get that sound it resonates through your entire body and begins a chain reaction where nearly every song that comes along after that sounds great. All the notes are amplified and you can feel each change in note and tone, to the extent that it gives you goosebumps. And you can't help but swoon your head to the music, or head bang or air drum or air guitar frantically in search of an outlet for all that energy coursing through you. And on days like that parting with the earphones becomes the hardest thing you'd do all day. Unfortunately like all great things in life there is a catch, figuring out what that song is that your mind wants to hear is tricky. Contrary to the belief in your head right now, it isn't always your favorite song or that song stuck in your head through the day.

To find the kind of song that sparks off resonance has long been my aim and after a long time I've come to the conclusion that it is a great song that you like, a lot or even a little, maybe even only some parts in the song perhaps, but its that song that you like and you haven't heard in a while. So its kind of like the feeling of seeing a great friend after years purely out of the blue, the feeling of happiness is insurmountable. The same is the case with the mind, once it hears the song that it hasn't heard in a while a feeling of jubilation takes over, as if your mind is remembering all the good parts of the song, just like you remember all the fond memories of the old friend.This too is purely in theory at this point but after lot of speculation, I think thats about as close to the reason as I can get. That being said there usually is a host of songs that you like and haven't listened to in a while so knowing this doesn't necessarily make it any easier to start the process.

Many of you might read this and question as to, what the difference is, between this and just listening to a playlist of songs that you really like? And the answer is quite simple when listening to a bunch of songs you really like often, the process tends to end at the point where you hear it. You hear it, you like it, your brain acknowledges the fact that you like it and thats it. But in the case of resonance thats merely the start, you start to remember the great parts of the song, anticipate it and feel it in a much deeper level. Which is why I love it so much and that feeling is the reason that its always the thing I'm searching for the second I whip out my beloved iPod Touch.

It is at about this point in the blog that I'm sure many of you are thinking to yourself that I am a teensy bit cuckoo in the head (especially for using the phrase "teensy bit cuckoo in the head" :D ), but let me explain as to why I wrote this post in the first place. You see I am quite convinced about this Resonance phenomenon, I have experienced it too many times for me to ignore it. This post then is a mere plea to the many who read this (... ok handful who read this) to ask whether they have ever felt the same. Maybe they have and have given it a different name, or may be reading this you might remember a time where you REALLY enjoyed your music and asked yourself as to, what made that day so special? So this post is essentially me just sharing my experience of this phenomenon, asking people if they've ever felt the same about their music (I should really stop referring to it as a phenomenon, sounds like I've been abducted by aliens or something). At the end of the day it's because this is the ideal place for me to even try to explain this thing cause as the name states, its Music 'n Mayhem.

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It's been a while but I'm back, sadly work and other obligations have kept me from attending too many other concerts in the city, I also sadly missed the Dire Straits tribute in Hard Rock and a bunch of little Christmas shows. But I did have the unique opportunity to attend a rather interesting event called the Music Mechanics a while back and I felt its about time I wrote about it. This was an idea thought up the people over at the Nathaniel School of Music to bring all things music together under one roof on one single day for one grand event.

Music Mechanics was a set of workshops that brought together all aspects of music from making it, to playing it live, to selling it all in one big event. To add to it the workshops were conducted by some of the best in the industry. The likes of Bruce Lee Mani, Jason Zachariah, Rajeev Rajgopalan from Thermal and a Quarter, Gaurav Vaz from Raghu Dixit Project, theater personality Anmol Velani, Naveen Thomas of Galeej Gurus and Ryan Colaco of Kryptos fame to name a few all shared their expertise at various workshops at the event.

It was a great to have these guys who you usually only see playing on stage sit in front of you talking about their music and their journeys sharing their little exercises and tips and tricks that helped them to get to where they are today. Most of which were actually really useful. The best of them all in my book was surprisingly enough Music Biz by Gaurav Vaz, the presentation was nice, funny and presented some unique perspectives on the industry and how to sell your music and your band. The other highlights were obviously Bruce Lee Mani's classes, Naveen Thomas also presented some really good guitar exercises and theater maestro Anmol Velani's session on stage and band persona was also really fascinating.

To those of you who are curious the various workshops at the event were

1. Groovy Kids – Fun music workshop for kids under 5 - 12 years
2. Speed King – A session on shred guitars with Naveen Thomas
3. Leave no Tone Untu(r)ned! – Bruce Lee Mani on getting the guitar to sound right
4. Exercise to Improvise – Improvisation concepts and exercises by Bruce Lee Mani
5. Blaze in Keys – Jason Zachariah on performance keyboard techniques
6. Music.biz – All about the business of music by Gaurav Vaz
7. The DnB Coalition – Prakash and Rajeev demonstrate how to lock and groove
8. Vox – Techniques to improve your vocal skills with Lillian Zachariah
9. In the movies – Explore the role of music in movies with Nazarius Manoharan
10. The Showman – Learn to present yourself with confidence and poise on stage
11. Digital Music School – Music technology and production in a nutshell with Jason Zachariah
12. Beat – Roots – Rudiments of drumming with Ryan Colaco
13. Song Writing – the acoustic way – Get a peek into the mind of the composers.

All in all fun day and one that shouldn't be missed were it ever to return. Kudos to the folks at Nathaniel School of Music for organizing it, hope to have more such events in the future.

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"Ah yet another weekend, yet another gig".. longing for the day I can actually pull that one off but for now, it'll have to be, "Yet another weekend and yet another gig to cover". And this past week I was at the Absolut Launch Party at Kyra with the band Mood Logic, who were called upon quite literally to set the mood at this rock themed event.

The concert which was supposed to start at 730 in true Rock fashion started fashionably late at around 10 after the band members had their fill of food and alcohol and after giving their fair share of interviews for the event, ah such is the life of a band. Speaking of band members the band Mood Logic consists of an ever playful Timmy on lead vocals, a wily Naveen Thomas on lead guitar, Britto providing solid rhythm guitar, a very energetic Wilfred Demoz on the drums, Bryan providing the platform with the bass and a person I have already complimented enough Jason on the Keys.

I was there early, or un-fashionably on time, at 730 and had a chance to hear the band sound check and I must be honest I had a few concerns regarding Kyra's acoustics. But once the first note was hit I must say all those premonitions were laid to waste. Yes the acoustics of the theater weren't that great but a great band, sounding really tight, playing high tempo classic rock numbers, will make you over look that and get you dancing or head banging in seconds.

For this night, Mood Logic played classic rock covers that ranged from Pink Floyd to Deep Purple to Maroon 5. The set list included hits like "Rock you like a Hurricane", "This Love", the Beatles classic "Come Together", a very jammy "Roadhouse Blues", Deep Purple's "Burn", "Another Brick in the Wall" etc. Timmy was completely playing to the crowd getting the crowd involved as and when possible, to the extent that during their rendition Pink Floyd's Wall rather than playing to the crowd, he instead played in the crowd getting into the mix to get people more involved. Naveen Thomas dug into his usual bag of tricks and provided some really sweet sounding solo's mixed in with a few tricks and quirks like playing from either side of the neck etc. Britto was also really on the money providing rhythm guitar and really came to the fore in what I consider the bands high point of the night with Burn by Deep Purple. He hit that riff with pin point accuracy and really made the song jump. In a live performance the little things are what make the difference between good and great and in this case it was solid backing vocals from both Bryan on the bass and Jason on the keys. On songs like Burn backing vocals play a major part and can cause a song to fall apart when not done well but that wasn't the case this time and they also filed in during the start when the crowd was only slowly "getting into the mood". Jason showed his prowess on songs like Roadhouse Blues where he performed a solo and in also in some keys centric songs like Final Countdown. It wouldn't be right if I left out the drums with Wilfred in all this, but I'll simply state the fact that a band can never sound great with just an average drummer, and Wilfred was anything but average.

High points sadly can't exist without there being relative lows and that came about when the band went into romance mode for "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi. But then again a band must play to its crowd and I'm sure all those with wives, girlfriends or significant others wouldn't consider that too much of a low. But the band from then on steered clear of anything else low tempo and just concentrated on keeping the energy sky high. They ended the night with a special encore request (by the organizers) of surprisingly, Queen's "Crazy little thing called Love". And Jason threw in a little Mario (the game) jingle right at the end just for kicks, to sign things off.

All things considered, its hard to go wrong with a mix of private concert, free Absolut and great music and this night was no different. For a music lover this was another great night in the book, or in this case the Blog. Until next time adios.

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There are but a few near perfect places in Bangalore, and in my opinion the Hard Rock Cafe Bangalore has always been one of them. Nestled in quite literally the heart of the city on St Marks Road, on the MG road intersection it's placed in a quaint yet lavish stone Cottage (formerly the St Marks Barista), with its high wooden roof and smoky feel (just the feel theres no smoking allowed inside) it really is the perfect location for the world famous chain. On top of that, like all Hard Rock Cafe's around the world, it's laden with priceless rock memorabilia including Eric Clapton's guitar, The Doors drum, a great picture of Metal legends Black Sabbath, Dave Grohl's guitar and the list goes on and on, coupled with a playlist of the genres best numbers and the place is almost perfect. Add to that the food and drinks served in humongous quantities in true Americana fashion, and it becomes a must visit to all Bangaloreans or visitors to Bangalore with even a faint inclination towards Rock. It truly is a little piece of Rock heaven in our own Bangalore.

You might have noticed that I mentioned the place was "almost" perfect and there is a good reason for that, you see all Hard Rock Cafe's around the world are known for their live music where local bands have the opportunity to come to the fore in truly legendary surroundings and that was the missing piece of this master piece. For a long while they didn't have live bands playing at Hard Rock and started doing gigs at the place a little while ago. Most of these concerts have always one way or the other eluded me. Until Now.

And so it came to be that with an over expectant heart I went to see Thermal And A Quarter (TAAQ) playing live at Hard Rock. TAAQ to me, from even what little I had heard of them before the concert, has always been in my book one of the best bands ever to be produced by this city and possibly even this country. Their classic rock numbers heavily influenced by supremely contagious blues guitar, with stand out vocals from the bands lead Bruce Lee Mani and the never-a step-out-of-place drumming from Rajeev and the peppy bass lines from the ever smiling Rzhude (Rudy), have always been great catchy funky numbers that never fail to put a wistful smile on your face. And for this concert at HRC they were joined by the uber talented Jason Zachariah on the keys.

The stage at the HRC is another thing that adds to the allure of the place, its placed right on top of the bar, the place is almost made with live music in mind and thats always a good thing. So with these long list of expectation I went to see TAAQ play live and lets get one thing straight right off the bat it was amazing. The vibe at the place was spot on the crowd was amazing, the music was sublime. TAAQ played a bunch of their own compositions and a couple of covers the highlight of which in my book was a funky version of Hey Jude a crowd pleaser like that is always good to have in the set list. Bruce (aka the Guitar Doctor) was inspirational, his bluesy style play and smooth vocals are hard not to love. Rajeev was performing pretty much from the background as behind a huge drum kit and on the back of the stage, on top of the bar you kind of have to crane your neck to see him. But he really was on the money with some great drumming. As far as Rudy goes well if a smile is contagious he probably infected the whole crowd, it never left his face as he kept putting out those beautiful bass lines. TAAQ's songs are rather guitar centric so Jason was just providing support for the most part but when his number was called up he doled out his impeccable signature style keys solo that we've all come to expect of him.During the break the waiters at Hard Rock also surprised us with a sudden performance of the Village People's legendary song YMCA. I'm not that big a fan of the song but when performed (seemingly) impromptu and on a bar top its hard to dislike.

Sadly soon after their little intermission work beckoned me to leave and cut the fabulous night a wee bit shorter than i would've liked. But that was the only small downside to what was a fabulous night which will not soon, if ever, be forgotten. If anyone from TAAQ, or Jason, actually ends up reading this, great show guys, you rule.

P.S: Haven't got the pics of the Gig yet will put em up as soon as I get them.

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