Album Review: Accidental Hero – Junkyard Groove

I see a trend with a lot of the Indian bands who are releasing their albums this year, and it’s not a positive one. The albums don’t seem to be thought through, they feel repetitive… it’s almost like complacency that has set in. Unfortunately, Junkyard Groove’s second album ‘Accidental Hero’ seems to be joining the league as well. It’s just more of the same thing. While I simply loved the first outing of the band (a completely different line-up except for front man Ameeth Thomas), the much anticipated second album just feels lazy. 

It’s fairly evident that Ameeth is the only one pulling the strings of the band because there does not seem to be any musical contribution from the remaining band members in finding a new sound. Normally with an all new line-up, one would expect an evolved sound, and hopefully a better sound. But that just does not seem to be the case. Two years in the making, the album lacks the groove of the first album. Older songs like Folk You and It’s OK were always crowd pullers. Accidental Hero has none of that magic. The overall sound is simply the current band mimicking the sound put in place by the old band members. That being said, the only song that I did enjoy was 4 or 5 Things, which had the groove of Junkyard Groove.

While I’m thankful for the free download from the band’s website during the first 24 hours post the release, that’s about all I am thankful for. We all loved JYG from the early days, but I’m not sure how many more new fans they would garner thanks to this album. I’d like to say It’s OK(pun intended) but to me, it’s just not. I’m going with 2 out of 5 stars for this album.

The 10 Best Songs to End a Concert

As a budding guitar player who does the occasional show in his spare time, the one thing I've come to respect is the Holy Grail of every show known as ‘the set list’. A set list can make or break a band's performance. While a band might have great music, it can all be undone by a poorly planned set list. Typical problems such as spending too much time changing tuning between songs, changing instruments, too many long-winding guitar solos followed by an even longer drum solo and an overly poorly laid out puzzle of songs can make the best band lose their audience. 

I’m always of the opinion that the closing song of a set is the most important song of the evening. While that doesn't mean you play whatever you please until the last song, the closing song is that song by which a show is ultimately judged. It is the last chance you have to give people a kick or a high, a last chance to leave them with an emotion they will never experience again. People go home and talk about the concert to their friends and the last memory they will have about the show is that one closing number you put your heart and soul into.

Before I get into a poetic mood about set lists, I've put together a list of what I feel are the best  ten closing songs in my mind. Before you come marching to my house with pitchforks, please note that this is just my personal opinion. Don’t send me email saying stuff like “You don’t know anything… this is mainstream music… ‘Metal Puke’ by ‘Acid Vomit’, a Turkish underground goth metal band is the best way to close a set” (PS: I made the song and band up, I don’t think either exist). Please don’t graffiti ‘Down with Metallica…Long live Mustaine’ on my house. Also please do don’t send the severed head of a bass player by post. 

Anyway, here are the ten best closing songs in no particular order.

10. Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

This song, that starts off slowly with easy to sing along lyrics with the expansive guitar solo at the end that can go on for hours, was the easiest choice for me. Having ended many weekends at the bar with the DJ playing this song, I've always come out wanting to listen to it again.

9. Rock and Roll All Nite by Kiss

Wait, wasn't this the band that said they would never do a disco song? This song by Kiss is especially great when doing smaller venues or even acoustic sets. It’s a song that remains in your head thanks to the extremely easy lyrics. For a good many years, I didn't know any of the other words other than the chorus. It helps if you can do the Gene Simmons tongue thing.

8. Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine

Find me a rock/metal enthusiast who doesn't like to scream ‘F**k you I won’t do what you tell me’. One of the best anti-establishment songs written, this song is bound to get everyone pissed off and high. 

7. Every Breath You Take by The Police

Ending a concert does not always have to be a musically heavy song. An emotionally heavy song is great too. While I've only seen one band do a brilliant cover of this, Sting’s version from the ‘All this time’ is a great sing along and gives a lot of scope to introduce the band to the audience before you walk off stage. 

6. Train Kept A Rollin by The Yardbirds

This is a great song when you have way too many guitar players on stage. It gives a lot of space for generally messing around the fret board. Originally by The Yardbirds, this songs serves a lot of lead guitar players with an avenue to show off.

5. Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

While this song is more apt for a crowd of football supporters whose team just lost, it still makes a great sing along with all the positive reinforcement of ‘getting back up again’. This is probably the one misfit in the list, but still is an awesome song.

4. Hallowed be Thy Name by Iron Maiden

Extensive guitar solos and riffing with Bruce Dickinson hitting those ungodly high notes at the end gives any warm-blooded metal head one hell of a rush. I've seen this live, and it gave me a much better kick than the booze I was having. The intro is also a great piece for people to sing and clap along, before all guitar hell breaks loose.

3. Hey Jude by The Beatles

Probably the most cliched closing song ever with which to end a concert, but it never fails to get an audience singing together. And who doesn't like The Beatles?  

2. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

4 words…. David Gilmour’s guitar solo. Enough said. 

1. Rockin in the Free World by Neil Young

This has always been one of my most favourite songs to end gigs. It works for both acoustic and electric sets. It has all the settings of a great song with ample room for guitar players and drummers to show off solo-skills. It has the most important ‘sing-along’ feature and the general message of how despite everything in the world, we can still keep rocking on. This is sure to get any audience  happy. I fell in love with this song after I heard the Pearl Jam version. Incidentally, they too end a lot of their gigs with this piece.

I'd like to know what you think of this list and look forward to comments on what you feel would make a better closing song. Just want to remind you, no death-threats please. I have enough cholesterol flowing through my arteries to kill me. 

Gig Review: TAAQ @ B-Flat

 The Bangalore boys were back in town after their 55-show tour to wrap up what started out a few weeks ago. Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ) closed their recent extensive tour with a set of 3 night back-to-back performances at B-flat. Considering how long this band has been on the circuit, one always expects a super show. Last night’s gig met all the usual expectations from TAAQ.

Enter Heavy Riff

 While the show did start much later than scheduled thanks to the band’s additional commitment at another place, the set up was quick and they wasted no time in between songs. Being a budding guitar player, I’m always fascinated by the amount of equipment Bruce Lee Mani uses. But they’re all just there to add different colours to his playing. The evening was a blend of some of the old and the new material from the somewhat extensive catalog of TAAQ. This included songs like Someone Like Me, In the Middle, Holy Jose, Hot Day and more. They also played their version of the Nirvana classic In Bloom.

Bruce's Arsenal

Rajeev was immaculate on drums (as always) and did a rather cool drum bit with the song Fly. I recollect seeing the band about a year ago when Leslie Charles was brought on to handle bass responsibilities. While he seemed a little nervous at the start, and at a subsequent show I saw later on, he seems to have settled into his role really well. I do hope he can bring a little more groove to the band on future albums and gigs, not just as a bass player, but as a back up vocalist too.

Rajeev on Drums

The band played some of the songs from their recent Three Wheels Nine Lives album which included If Them Blues, Who Do We Have Sex With and a rather interesting organ (using the guitar) start to Grab Me. The audience was also treated to a fabulous performance of the TAAQ’s classic- Jupiter Café. The one song that did stand out in the evening was Bruce’s solo rendition of The Beatles hit In My Life. Respect man…total respect!

Leslie on Bass

Bruce Lee Mani

Bruce Lee Mani was at his usual best keeping the crowd entertained between songs about jokes of Roland from Poland (you had to be there to get it) and people coming from ‘native’ and going to ‘foreign’. I however don’t understand why he kept reminding us that it was Monday the next day and we had the day job thing to attend.

Playing Jupiter Cafe

The Guiding Star aka the set list

It was a super fun evening with a rather intimate gathering of fewer than 50 people. And B-flat has the sort of stage that if worked correctly by the band, can have everyone grooving. And TAAQ’s experience showed. I look forward to their gig at NH7 Weekender in Bangalore which should be a totally different experience.

Album Review : Paradise Valley – John Mayer

After having a long list of albums I've wanted to review, I chose to start somewhere and am going with John Mayer’s 6^th outing – Paradise Valley. I rather enjoyed the opening song of Wildfire and had a lot of expectations from the rest of the album. Unfortunately, considering the space that John Mayer has created in my books of being an artist who excels with each passing album, I found the album to be a letdown of sorts.

I've heard and reheard the album at least 5 times in the last one week and I just don’t find a single tune that I can remember instantly and want to come back home and learn on the guitar. With songs like Gravity, Vultures, Daughters and more to his credit, I expected a lot more from Mayer on this outing. I honestly don’t understand Mayer’s pet-peeve of having his current girlfriends sing on his albums. It was Taylor Swift on Battle Studies and Katy Perry (on Who you love) on Paradise Valley. I guess it’s one of those things you can get away with if you’re at the level of John Mayer.

Most of the songs felt like what was left over during the song-writing process of Born and Raised. The previous outing of Mayer was a move away from his blues avatar and had a lazy country ‘listen to my life story’ sort of feel to it, and I loved it. Mayer has tried to recreate the same in Paradise Valley, but falls short. The song writing in bits and pieces on a couple of songs was good, most notably on Dear Marie (which I assume is about his first real love), Wildfire and  On the Way Home. Mayer also does an enjoyable cover of J.J Cale’s Call Me the Breeze which is poignant considering J.J Cale passed away recently. Talk about timing.

I’m giving the album 2 out of 5 stars. It’s an easy lazy listen that doesn't really have you eager to want to listen to it again. Paradise Valley offers nothing new to listeners but just might satisfy the appetite of the really-hard-core John Mayer fan. To me, Mayer’s benchmark will continue to be the Continuum album.

Gig Review - Skrat @B-flat B'lore

Skrat’s back in town. Considering that I really love this band, it would be unfair to do another review in such a short span of time because we all know I’m just going to say nice things. 

Skrat at B-Flat B'lore

Nevertheless, just a quickie (not what you are thinking) about last night’s gig at B-Flat in Bengaluru. Great sound, packed house, a lot of people dancing, a few new covers (including ‘Born to be Wild’ which is one of my favourite songs which I've played in the last 3 bands I was in), top class energy. The evening's set list covered a lot of material from the new album (Bring Out the Big Guns) that was interspersed with material from the older album and a few Black Keys, Raconteurs and Johnny Cash covers.

The biggest thing I like about the band is their raw simplicity. No fancy processors or pedal boards. Just comes to show that you don’t need to know about a 1000 chords and scales to make music that moves people.

The last time I saw Skrat play in Bengaluru was at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was a letdown considering the acoustics of HRC needs a lot of work. B-flat was a much better venue in terms of acoustics and a far more intimate venue because the band wasn't standing 8 feet above you where you can’t see the drummer. 

The only downside to the show was that I didn't get a free cd. I hope the Yankee who did get the cd takes it back to his homeland and plays it for people there. Let the world know that India is much more than Bollywood. 

And now a word from our Good Times partner for the evening

(PS: I’m trying to learn a bit of proper photography so the pics are a little off because there is only so much customization I can do with a point-and-shoot camera)

An original approach of covers

While running through random music clips on YouTube earlier last week, I came across the’ Kennedy Honors’ which featured Led Zeppelin and a whole host of artists who covered their songs. While the covers were not particularly memorable, there was this one cover by Heart who did ‘Stairway to Heaven’ which was so moving that all the members of Led Zep had tears in their eyes at the end.  The video is at the end of this post for you watch and bawl along. (I saw the video multiple times and had tears in my eyes because it was just so well done).

At some point later in the week, probably during a mindless corporate meeting, a question struck me. If a band were to go about establishing themselves, what’s the right way to go about doing it? Is it through playing killer covers of other bands or making original music right at the start?

So how does Led Zeppelin come into this?  I take the example of the folks in the band, who are ‘Gods among Gods’ in my book. It is a known fact that they started out going about mastering covers of other early blues artists from across the Atlantic, probably an influence from Page’s early days as a session’s guitar player. And it was this exercise to sound like them that started the Led Zeppelin saga.  An outcome of this was that along the way, they did have a fair share of covers that found their way into their albums. Take a song like ‘Gallows pole’ or ‘Babe I’m gonna leave you’ which are a folk songs (The latter got them into a bit of a legal soup with Anne Bredon who wrote the original). There’s even the song ‘Trampled under foot’ which sounds a lot like Robert Johnsons’ ‘Terraplane Blues’ (which the band acknowledges was the inspiration).  ‘You shook me’ is a known Willie Dixon number (Thankfully credited by the band). The band has been known to put their twist on a lot of blues songs during their live gigs.

All this said, Led Zeppelin still have their own original songs which are classics and immortal. But the question still remains (much like the song) of whether covers are the path to writing great originals or do originals evolve themselves. I listen to a song like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and all I want to do is learn the blues. I take the example of another great guitar player - Eric Clapton who shot to fame with covers such as ‘I shot the Sheriff’ (Bob Marley) and 'Cocaine' (J.J.Cale), but still stands out on all his originals. Even bands like Metallica covered Diamond Head, Motorhead and the early metal bands before coming out with their mind-blowing debut album ‘Kill Em All’.  

Now let’s look at those musicians creating a completely original sound.  The first band that comes to mind for me is Nirvana. Grunge was a completely unknown concept until Nirvana, along with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, broke through from Seattle and gave the world a whole new sound. While I’m not extremely well-versed in rock history, I don’t think there was a sound like Nirvana before Nirvana. Take a band like ‘Rage against the Machine’. I don’t know of any band that dared to take the respective holy houses of rap and metal and put them together and actually have commercial success. I vaguely remember reading of earlier collaborations, but they did not go so well considering I don’t have immediate recall. 

So here are two very distinct approaches to becoming a great band. On the one hand, you've got bands like Led Zeppelin who've tried to emulate blues artists before them and introduced a contemporary sound. And these bands have chosen to blend covers and write mind-blowing original songs. And on the other hand, there are bands like Nirvana who don’t have any known predecessors and yet find themselves being equally revered. So what’s the best route for a band? Start out with mastering covers and blend your feel into them, or start out completely original and uninspired by anything that exists before them.

Being a guitar player who’s struggling to write his own material, I've no answer. I tend to find myself blending bits and pieces from tons of artists I listen to. Hope fully better and more accomplished musicians have an opinion on the matter. Look forward to hearing from you guys.

PS: Here's probably the awesomest cover (yes... I used 'awesomest') of 'Stairway to Heaven'. Much respect to the ladies from Heart

Gig Review : Swarathma at HRC B'lore

This is the sixth time I’m seeing Swarathma live, and it was definitely not the best gig of theirs. The band has sort of templatized (word we use in the corporate circles which means ‘to make a template of’) their shows. So like the plot of most romantic Bollywood movies, you know what to expect. While they did try and change things around a bit this time, by trying new things, it wasn't overly different from their previous gigs. That’s not to say it wasn't a fun evening.

Swarathma at NH7 Weekender B'lore 2012

The band started the evening with Aaj Ki Taaza Fikar which got the crowd grooving along. The band went on to play some of their classics which included Duur Kinara (the collaboration with Shubha Mudgal from the first season of The Dewarists), Ee Bhoomi, Koorane, Sur Mera, Topiwale and their trademark Pyaar Ke Rang where Vasu Dixit mingles with the crowd on the Rajasthani horse.  There was a rather interesting limerick shared by bassist, Jishnu – 'Shaadi ke pehle ladka ladki bane love birds.... Shaadi ke pehle ladka ladki bane love birds... Shaadi ke baad ladka ladki bane angry birds.' (I’m unsure if it was the beer, but that line had me in splits.... which is odd considering I’m not married).

The band did try to change things by going all acoustic on Bolo Kya Hain . During the course of the evening Swarathma introduced the crowd to a few new songs and a new video. The new video for their song Rang Zinda Hain was premiered at the Bangalore show. Not the most memorable video I've seen. I don’t want to be the grouch who trashed the first time effort of the team that put the video together, so I’ll just leave it at that. The band also played their latest collaboration of Naane Daari , which was done with Delhi-based electronic act Dualist Enquiry. While the crowd was going crazy dancing away, I’m yet to cozy up to electronic music. 

The evening closed with a new tapori-esque song of the band called Haste Rahenge which they said would be available on their website for a free download.  Yup, you heard me, free download.( Somewhere a pirate just died). The crowd kept demanding the band play Pyaasi, but the infamous 10 PM witching hour of Bangalore was upon us. An entertaining evening , but not a very memorable one.  Unfortunately, I managed to successfully delete all the pictures of the evening from my camera for which I am giving myself a time-out by standing in the corner.

Here's a older video of theirs to keep you company.

I’m embarrassed (and guilty) too…

Anyone remember MTV in India in the early 90s?  Back in the day when  there was no local flavor to it (and it should have stayed that way) and we got a healthy dose of Michael Jackson, GNR, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi... and that other band called Metallica who ‘good boys and girls do not listen to because heavy metal is music of the devil’.

It was an awesome feeling to finally put the face of Slash to the guitar solo you heard being played off that tape that you picked up from the local music store. Going forth, any time you heard the solo from November Rain, you’d immediately have the scene of Slash walking out in front of a church with his Gibson Les Paul and playing that solo, play in your head.

While all this seemed fine, unknowingly we were slowly being subject to the likes of Apache Indian, No Doubt. As the decade drew to a close, the Indian flavor had set in and the host of Indian VJ’s like Chinnapa, Cyrus, and Maria had taken over our TV sets. Like the slow hit of a good joint, we were being subject to boy bands such as Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, No Mercy (with their famous  ‘Where do you go’ and the hit sequel ‘Please don’t go’….face palm) and MLTR.

That was the story of the average kid in the late 90s who was dependent on MTV for their daily hit of western music because Bollywood was just not cool any more. And in an era before YouTube (and the internet in general), this was the only music we knew. And if anyone from that era tells you that they never listened and sang along to ‘Backstreets back…alright’ is a bare faced liar. Every metal head today and the so-called ‘I’m into the whole underground music’ snob had at some point in time been into a boy band. Don’t believe them if they say otherwise.

I’ll admit it. Despite all the so –called, grunge, blues and metal that I worship vehemently now, I am guilty of owning more than a couple of boy band tapes. I once even danced to a Will Smith song back in school. I was also severely disappointed for not being part of the line-up that danced to the ‘Backstreets Back’ song a few years earlier. In my very first band, I played (and sang) ‘Words’ by Boyzone. (I know it’s actually a BeeGees classic, but everyone knew it for the Boyzone version.) I wanted to learn Spanish because I thought Ricky Martin was cool. I thought a white suit with a velvet red shirt and that silly little hat was ‘a style’.

It’s easy (and convenient) for me to blame it all on puberty and hormones back then. But that won’t change the fact that I’m guilty of holding up the devils horns whenever somebody on TV requested for the Westlife version of ‘Uptown Girl’. I’m also guilty of singing along to Backstreet Boys ‘Quit playing games with my heart’.  While I may have moved on to bigger and better genres of music, there is always this strand of ‘boy band pop music’ in my DNA that will rear its ugly head when I least expect it. Like the other time I carelessly started singing along to Boyzone’s ‘No Matter What’ when I heard the ringtone set by someone in the office floor. Your honour, I’m guilty of having worshipped boy bands. But I plead insanity for I had not yet heard the cure of grunge and blues. The defendant requests that a life time of ‘just-knowing’ what he did will be punishment enough.

PS: Even then I hated N’Sync and don’t comprehend why Timberlake is trying to become an actor

Gig Review: Galeej Gurus U2 Tribute at HRC B'lore

I’m running through a lot of disappointed emotions while writing this review. I have just way too many negative adjectives running through my mind to put down at the moment. But I've got to start somewhere. I've always been very skeptical about bands doing tributes to other artists. And that’s been with good reason because the handful of the tribute shows that I have been to (especially by desi bands) has bombed. The best tribute show  was about 3 years ago when Thermal and a Quarter did a Dire Straits tribute. But alas, going in with much expectation from the otherwise ‘tight on covers’ Galeej Gurus doing their tribute to U2, from last Thursday had me very disappointed.

Thank the lord for an inebriated audience with a terrible ear... or a more forgiving ear for music. The least one would expect when you’re playing to a somewhat full house of U2 fans, you’d at least get the names of the song right. I’m not even going to mention the somewhat slurring of lyrics because the vocalist (Nathan) was reading off his lyric sheets which made the timing go all over the place.(Oh wait, I did mention it).  While the second vocalist (Ananth Menon) took off on ‘when love comes to town’ (which was the only spot-on song of the evening in my opinion) the rest of the songs had me wondering why wasn't I home reading a good book listening to the original band on my laptop.

 The band clearly had not practiced enough. The fading into songs, the extremely low volume on the bass, the leads which did not match the original song and a whole host of other things made it a very unpleasant evening. I was more intrigued by the drunken girl in the next table who wanted to make out with the band’s drummer because she thought he was cute. She did eventually have to be dragged out because she was disappointed that the drummer had a girlfriend, and was too drunk to accept the fact. (Well that escalated quickly). The fact that I choose to write about this and not the band’s performance is an indication of what the evening was like.

Ananth Menon - When Love Comes to town

The biggest disappointing factor was that I've seen Galeej Gurus do covers before. And they've always been very tight with their performances. The timing, the lyrics, the improvised lead guitar are all normally in place. But this show is something that I wish I can forget easily. My friend who had come along has actually seen U2 live...she’s still in a state of shock.

No stars for Galeej Gurus this time.

Gig Review : 22 Years of Parikrama at HRC Blore

I’m normally very annoyed with the sound set up at the Hard Rock Café in Bangalore. When bands play, the sound bounces off the walls making a complete cacophony of drums, vocals and the typical lead guitarist who feels his volume is just not high enough. But clearly, 22 years of experience has its merits in ensuring such annoyances are fixed. And this might have been the difference when Parikrama played in Bangalore. So it’s clear that with a little bit of work, the acoustics of places like HRC can be conquered giving you top class sound.

Bangalore was part of the 5 city tour that Parikrama have been doing to commemorate their 22 years as a band in the Indian music scene. The band played to a packed house at HRC, where for once the tables had been moved aside allowing room for more people to come in. It also ensured the annoying ‘I will sit through a show’ types are not hogging up real-estate from people looking to dance, jump around and headbang to music.

Playing 'Am I Dreaming?'

The band kicked off their tight 90 minute set with ‘Am I dreaming’ which had the loyalist sing along right through. This was followed by their Donington Park classic ‘Vapourize’. And that was enough to get the packed house head banging and dancing. Parikrama even played some new material which they had written over the last few days; the songs ‘And it’s over now’ and ‘Where I lost the song’ were quite catchy and garnered some cheers from the crowd. The songs were not instantly memorable but had a very good Audioslave sort of groove to them.

A full house

The crowd were given a healthy dose of Parikrama classics that included ‘Xerox’,’But it Rained’,’Tears of the Wizard’ and ‘Open Skies’. I rather enjoyed the 2 covers they played, the first being The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riely’, which was recognized by only a handful of folks in the audience who sang along to the chorus. The second explosive cover was Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ which began slowly with a violin intro and just morphed into a very Pantera type heavy groove. The crowd simply went nuts during the song.

Thinking," F**k he's loud..."

 The evening ended with the Parikrama classic ‘Whiskey Blues’ which has always been the song that shows off the bands musical prowess with everyone getting into a solo of some sort. If you thought that a tabla, a violin and a harmonica could never come together and do a killer blues song, you've not seen Parikrama.

Ain't no blues without a harmonica

The string section

Parikrama have always been a fantastic live act to watch, and this evening was not disappointing at all. Also, given the super sound setup at HRC this time around, the gig was probably one of the best gigs at this venue I've seen in quite some time. While the band will charge on, here’s hoping HRC can improve the sound they have for live acts.

Album Review : ‘Big Big Joke Part Two’ by ‘Tough on Tobacco’

It would seem that the gaanja is wearing off on the happy goat (Fans of the band would get this). I was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangalore for the launch of the second album of ‘Tough on Tobacco’ - ‘Big Big Joke (Part Two)’. The album which took 3 years in the making is a big shift from the first album to a more pop-rock sort of feel. Unfortunately, I don’t think the songs would make the play list of fans of the band who might continue to shout out requests for older material and covers from the other avatar’s of the band.(namely Helga’s Fun Castle).

After a first listen, I was not overly eager to go back for seconds which was a bit of a bummer. With a band of this stature, one normally expects that you’d put the album on loop until your mp3 player screams ‘No more’. The riffs are nothing new, nor are they old material that you know you've heard before and love in all its forms. It’s just there. I’m not sure if it’s a case of high expectations considering the likes of people like Sidd Coutto and Jai Row Kavi. It’s a good attempt by band member Gaurav Gupta on the production of the album but that’s the best he could have done given the songs were not particularly memorable.

Sidd and Jai Row feeling 'Happy'

Producer and guitarist - Gaurav Gupta

Pais and Dhar

If I have to be nice and point out the good points of the album, it would probably be the unique album cover. (check promo poster at the start) In terms of the songs, ‘Do what you got to do’ and ‘Big Big Joke’(predominantly thanks to the overly simple chorus) leave somewhat of a mild after taste. I can’t say the same for the rest of the songs on the album. Here’s hoping Big Big Joke Part One is better.

Sidd Coutto worried about Love,love,love

 The gig was a sober gig considering the crowd at HRC chose to sit down and continue with their drinking and eating while the band seemed to have been reduced to some kind of a side act. While Sid Coutto was animated on stage, it was not enough to rile up the crowd and get them off their chairs and dancing. The evening that began on a higher note with ‘Come on down’ and ‘Rock and roll party’ sobered down while the band played material off the new album to very meek responses from the crowd. The evening closed with some of the older material such as ‘Happy’ and ‘Smoke some gaanja’ which had the old fan base grooving for once.

Performing the cult classic SSG (Smoke some Gaanja) by Helga's Fun Castle

Overall, the album gets 2 out of 5 stars for a fair attempt. Given the expectations from a band of that caliber  I was fairly disappointed. Tracks that stand out would be ‘Big Big Joke’ and ‘Do what you want to do’.

Gig Review: ‘Live Banned’ @ Bak Bak Bar, B’lore

I’m not sure if this gig review will be totally unbiased considering  I personally know the vocalist of Live Banned, but I shall try my very best to get into a William Miller ‘You do not make friends with the rock stars’ mode.* But then, is Live Banned really a rock band? I don’t think they are... but they’re still the most fun music act to watch at the end of a long hard week at the office (or where ever you spend most of your time wishing you were off doing something else).

Live Banned have been categorized by a lot of other mainstream media as a parody rock band. And that is probably the best label to give them if you really want to label stuff. And they do give justice to that label (made famous by Weird Al Yankovich) by taking a lot of western guitar riffs from bands like Audioslave, Megadeth,Europe and others and imposing regional film hits from Bollywood, Kollywood and other industries. Not to forget the occasional Aqua or Britney Spears. And it was this combination that eventually drove the crowd at the Bak Bak Bar wild by the end of the gig.

The evening began with their some-what viral original composition ‘Auto-tune’ and slowly moved its way up to mashes of western bands with numbers like ‘Tu cheez badi hain mast mast’(from Mohra) and ‘Rukumani Rukmani’(From Roja) that had the crowd going absolutely crazy by the second half of the gig. The gig started out slowly with a lot of people seeming to be confused as to whether the band was doing Bollywood medleys or Heavy Metal medleys. But a few drinks down, and much coaxing from the lead vocalist, the crowd seemed to have accepted the band. The energy of the band, mainly emanating from the lead vocalist was infectious and had people dancing by the 3^rd song. Besides, thanks to Chris Gayle, the moment the band did their version of 'Gangnam Style' the entire crowd was up and dancing away.

The only (and major) downside to the band’s performance was the original compositions. While they chose to perform songs about a lot of relevant topics such as fake people (we meet those everywhere these days), the excellent police force of Bangalore (Guffaw) and more, the crowd did not seem to connect at all. People chose this moment to step out for a smoke, visit the loo, check Face book on their phones and so on. While this might be the band trying to break out of their mould of being seen as just a fun music act and want to be seen as a more serious music act, they still have a long way to go. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that it’s early days yet.

Live Banned (Picture taken from one of their earlier gigs)

The gig that lasted almost 2 hours ended on a super high with classic Tamil and Telegu film tapanguchi dance songs. If not for the police-imposed deadline of shutting down the city at 11 PM, I’m sure the band would have kept people on their feet and clapping away for another hour at least. 

Another unrelated major grouse I do have with Bak Bak Bar is the terrible acoustics of the place. One would expect that when they evolved from the Manchester United Bar to the present avatar, they would have got an acoustics consultant to work on the place. If they did, they got ripped off. The sound of the drums and the guitars bounce off the wall and furniture and drown out the vocals. It’s been the same story with the other bands like Agam and Thermal and a Quarter (sorry for not doing a review of their ‘Jupiter Cafe’ Anniversary show) where the vocals just seemed to be lost. That might be one of the reasons the crowd seemed lost with Live Banned’s original compositions.

Overall, it was a fun evening. I did go along with a whole bunch of non-rock fans who profoundly thanked me for bringing them to see such a fun band. Full marks to the band for that. The original compositions needs some more work to ensure the lyrics are a little clearer. And Bak Bak Bar really has to do something about the acoustics of the place. 

Folks looking to have a good time by headbanging and doing the tapanguchi should check out Live Banned at their next live gig. I believe it’s happening at High Spirits in Pune. Till then, here’s an original composition from the band called ‘Auto-tune’. In true Live Banned style, people in Pune, please go and "put it".

*PS: Check out the movie ‘Almost Famous’ in case you’re wondering who William Miller is.

A glimpse of Olympus...

First watch this....

While I tried to desperately find some time away from my day job to write about some music, I came across this video last night and found myself keeping it on loop for almost forty five minutes. As a wannabe blues guitarist who couldn't improvise if his life depended on it, this for me was a religious experience of sorts. You've got some of the greatest blues guitar players on one stage, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Jimmie Vaughn, Robert Cray and John Mayer. If I were having a heart attack, that would be heaven for me. Just get B.B.King and Stevie Ray to join in, and I can die a content man.

While more than enough has been said and written about folks, like Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy, the comments here seem to be rather harsh on Mr. ‘Your body is a wonderland’ Mayer. While I’m still getting around to write a piece to talk about how John Mayer went from my ‘this stuff goes with N’sync’ list to ‘you are a Titan’ list, John Mayer is probably one of the few guitar players around whose thorough knowledge of music (and feel free to disagree if you stopped listening to him after ‘Room for Squares’) makes him the one guy whom you know is going to become one of the torch bearers of Blues guitar, if he sticks at it.

What I’m getting to is that this video is perhaps a perfect picture of how the torch of Blues guitar is being passed on. Winters to Buddy Guy, to Clapton and at the bottom of that line is John Mayer. Anyway, enjoy this video. And there’s another one of him messing with the King. And you’ve got to be worth something if B.B King plays with you.

Gig Review : The Shakey Rays @Hard Rock Café B’lore

I happened to stumble upon ‘The Shakey Rays’ at the NH7 Weekender fest in Bangalore in 2012 when I was stage-hopping while waiting for another band to get started. I really enjoyed the sound they had then although I got to listen to only one and a half songs. Based on that, I was quite eager to see the band from Chennai play a full set.

So here they were at the Hard rock Café in Bangalore. Alas I’m going to have to say that I was disappointed by the show. Let me put it this way, there was no show in a manner of speaking. It was a band that walked onto stage, played their music and left. Don’t misunderstand this for them not sounding good. They were quite good in fact, but them being on stage or the DJ playing songs off the console was almost one and the same.

I hope this was only a one-off thing or else The Shakey Rays still have a long way to go in stage presence. Right now, they’re the sort of band that people would probably hear and decide to go grab a smoke, make that phone call, use the rest room. The audience simply did not seem entertained. I've seen more amateur (and worse sounding) bands ensure they get the people up on their feet. People at such venues come to be entertained. No one really cares what you know, but care if they've had a good time. And The Shakey Rays seemed to have missed that lesson. My thoughts were reflected by some folks outside who said, “ They have a nice sound yaaar, par majaa nahin aaaya!”.

That being said I really enjoyed their version of Velvet Underground’s ‘Rock and Roll’ and their Kinks cover of ‘Where have all the good times gone’. I especially enjoyed their smooth jazz version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Under My Skin’, wish I had bootlegged that. Actually reminded me of a more upbeat jazz trumpet version I have heard somewhere. Even the original compositions were upbeat, but were however undone by a lackluster performance.

To sum it up, The Shakey Rays sounded really good, especially on the covers. But the lack of interaction with the audience between songs and during songs seemed to have made the evening a bit of a bore. Here’s to hoping they find some energy from somewhere because we all can hear good music at home, we want to be entertained. I want to bring up a dialogue from the movie Gladiator. As said by Proximo to Maximus, “I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me.”

Good bands sound good, great bands entertain.

Album Review : Skrat – Bring out the Big Guns

About a week ago, I got my hands on the second outing of Chennai-based rock outfit ‘Skrat’, and the one word that summarizes the album is ‘addictive’. From the first song right to the last, Skrat seems to have hit all the right notes and come out with an up-beat energetic album – something perfect to get someone into the groove in the morning.

Thank god for digital media, because if I had a tape (like the ‘good old days’), I’m pretty sure I would have worn out the tape. I've had the album on loop for days now and there are no signs of it going away any time soon. The last time I remember an album blowing my mind was John Mayer’s ‘Continuum’. Elite company in my collection indeed.

The drumming and bass are absolutely tight throughout the album which makes even the non-rock listeners head bob through all the songs. Their biggest credit would come from my mum who walked into the room and sat down to listen for a bit. The lyrics are easy to remember and linger with you long after you’ve done listening to the album.

Some of the songs that stand out are ‘Samurai Badass’, ‘Tin Can Man’ and ‘Smoke a Cigar’. I have taken an odd liking to ‘The Spare Blues’. It’s a simple song that starts with a fabulous line – ‘Love’s just like snooker, so colourful, but all balls’ and you can’t help not laugh your head off at the line. I also need to compliment Shakthishree Gopalan’s vocals on the track ‘In the Rain’ which were perfect and just took the song to a different level.

‘Bring out the Big Guns’ is definitely the best 100 bucks I spent on buying music online. You can buy their music from here on OkListen and listen to the entire album here on Soundcloud.

 I also caught the band when they played at Counter Culture in Bangalore. And they were a superb stage act. Clearly, here are 3 guys who’re not only musicians but are great friends and are very comfortable with each other on stage.  

There were places where the guitar would go out of sync, but the drums and bass were able to adjust immediately and it was barely noticeable. Barring the guitarist answering his phone on two occasions, which I wasn't sure as to whether it was a stage gimmick or just plain annoying, it was a tight stage act which had the crowd up on their feet from the word 'go'.

The band sounds exactly like how they do on the album. I will be following this band keenly. Right now, I'm in total love with the album to a point,  I might need to go to couples therapy if we are to amicably break-up and I start seeing other albums too. I also bought the latest LP from Ska Vengers,  but have not been able to listen to it because all I seem to be doing is listening to Skrat through all my waking hours.

40 years of the Dark Side

It’s been 40 amazing years since this band from England put out this album called ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ – an album that changed a lot in the way psychedelic rock was perceived and announced the arrival of Pink Floyd.

Cover Art - The Dark Side of the Moon

If you've never heard a Pink Floyd song, and if this album happens to be the first thing you hear, you’ll think I’m absolutely crazy to be calling this album a revolution in music. I never thought much of this album the first time I heard it. In fact, I was quite put off from listening to Pink Floyd. Ticking clocks, alarm bells, the sound of loose cash, heartbeats, incessant wailing can be quite annoying. I thought to myself,” These idiots and the producer must have been on weed to put out such a silly album”.

But then, that’s the thing about Pink Floyd. You either love them or hate them. There is no neutral ground. And a lot of the music they make is very situational meaning one has to be at a certain place in one’s life or going through a certain moment to appreciate the kind of music the band made.( I wish I could write ‘makes’ here instead). And that was what happened with regard to ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’.

 I remember coming home rather tired and annoyed about something that day, and I remember having my computer randomly running tunes (the good old days of winamp) and I was just lying down in bed and staring at the ceiling when all of a sudden ‘Breathe’ came on. The slight heartbeat at the beginning, the buildup of tension in the wailing  and suddenly have drop to a simple E minor groove and the light drumming just seemed to have struck some kind of a chord inside me. (Pun intended) And I put ‘Breathe’ on an infinite loop for the rest of the evening and felt better. And it was that song that made me fall in love with the album.

As time went by, one starts to listen to the lyrics of songs like ‘Time’ and ‘Money’ where you find the band have very cleverly called out on the widening gap between the rich and the poor and how both approach the world. The subtlety in lines such as “ And you run and you run to catch up with the sun because it’s shrinking….racing around, to come behind you again” are a clever jab at the working class who spend all their time on work only to end up being a mere statistic. The affluent nature of the rich is clearly brought out in songs like ‘Money’ with lines referring to people with too much money thinking about buying football teams….something that clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City are all too familiar with.

And then you find the song moving into a beautiful, almost dream like nature with ‘Us and Them’ (My second favourite song from the album). And then Pink Floyd’s jab at the political system referring to the entire set up as lunatics controlling the masses through mass media is sheer brilliance. In a manner of speaking, ‘Brain Damage’ was the precedent to bands like ‘Rage against the Machine’ who've based their songs as anti-establishment…. And isn't that what a lot of Rock music is all about?

While ‘The Dark Side of the Moon' would not be the best thing you hear if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan, it still remains to be one of the finest albums in terms of breaking new ground as to how psychedelic rock can be made and how one can speak about how the system just does not work, without having to offend people with rude words and lyrics. ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ showed people how to be anti-establishment and still sound pleasant.

Here's a link to the 'Classic Albums' documentary series focused on 'The Dark Side of the Moon'

Gig Review: Agam at Bak Bak Bar, B'lore

Today, Agam played at the Bak Bak Bar in Bengaluru (The erstwhile Manchester United bar, for those who were wondering where this place was). For the uninitiated, Agam are classified as a ‘Carnatic Rock’ band. Yes, you read that right…. “Carnatic Rock” band (double quotes for effect). The band gets full marks for being able to do a splendid job of merging two diverse musical disciplines… or more like Carnatic music’s discipline with Rock’s so-called-indiscipline.

Agam playing 'Brahma's Dance'

The band kicked off the show with ‘Brahma’s Dance’ and moved on to play a whole bunch of songs from the new album. They did indulge the crowd with some splendid covers, which they skillfully modified to make it their own… the memorable covers were ‘Aaromale’ and ‘Dil Se’. Rahman overdose?!?!?! (Happy there was no ‘Jai Ho’). The crowd went crazy when the band played ‘Boat song’ and ‘Rudra’. Everyone in the house was up on their feet, clapping in perfect time and singing along with the chorus verses in almost perfect pitch. The band clearly has a wide appeal beyond the late 20-early 30’s crowd; evident from some of the maami’s (sorry my fellow Tams, I know not of a better term to use) who were clapping away to the songs. The nearly 1.5 hour set closed with their famous ‘Malhar Jam’, now made famous thanks to Coke Studio. There was a killer percussion solo towards the end of the Malhar Jam that really sealed the deal for everyone present.

Agam covering Rahman's 'Aaromale'

Overall, the show was fabulous barring the terrible lighting on stage. Agam sounded exactly like they do on their new album. The band came on stage, stood rooted to their respective positions and without any theatrics, managed to keep a crowd of 100+ grooving to their sound. Agam are a fine example of how one can blend Indian music with western influences and not sound like the McLaughlin/Zakir Hussian super group “Shakti”.  There were some glimpses of this fusion with ‘Motherjane’ who've failed to impress me after their ‘very different’ debut album.

The super percussion solo on 'Malhar Jam'

Closing remarks – a five star performance by Agam. Folks in other cities should check them out even if you are not into Rock music or Carnatic music. Many who claim to enjoy so-called ‘fusion music’ have not heard anything until they've heard Agam.