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.