How I found myself @ Princeton and ended up getting inspired to write another BLOG!!!

Its funny, I never expected to be going to Princeton on Friday (the 27th of October) - I kinda dont like socialising much anymore. And going to places like Princeton means you get to meet a whole shit-load of people whom you don't really like or just about know (amongst many many others fucktards over there) - and u have this plastic grin on your face... god, hurts my cheeks so much!!

Anyway, I'd gone to attend the recording session of Cassini's Division after a long hard day @ office. But my luck being what it generally is - they had already finished that day's load. I had no intention of going home - so instead I suggested to the band members, "Why dont we go over to Princeton and check out this up and coming band CAMOFLAUGE?"

So I find myself @ Princeton with John, Rahul and Sookie. Thought it would be a nice evening with the guys... of course initially it kind've started off badly with the management not letting Sookie in becoz he was wearing sandals and John, becoz he was wearing a whatchamacallit... a 3 quarters!!

The guys had supposedly heard CAMOFLAUGE before (I thinked they had judged them @ a rock competition... not too sure about the details)

Not me however - the 1st time I had even heard of this band was when they had posted a snippet in orkut about them playing @ Princeton. And I of course didn't know any of the band members at all. Hell I didnt even know they were a 5 piece band or the kind've music they played.

Anyway, enuff banter - long intro, sorry. The show. Ya... well in a nutshell, CAMOFLAUGE that night were interesting. I wont say they were excellent. I wont say they were horrible. They were interesting. And that is the truth.

In today's rock music scene there are waaaay too many bands that play covers. I dont like cover bands... no wait, let me rephrase that - I HATE COVER BANDS. A rock band in my opinion has no future if they keep on trying to please the crowd with covers. And the worst part of the music scene here is that rock bands are too busy being worried abt the HERE and the NOW, instead of worrying abt how they should develop themsleves musically. And in the process most rock bands end up becoming cover bands... and they also end up playing the same covers again and again. You go to Someplace Else - covers. You go to a rock fest, a different band, but they're playing the same covers too. And you come down to Princeton - the band on stage again dish out the same old stuff.

But I was glad to see that CAMOFLAUGE did NOT fall under that category. If they did I probably would have left after 2 or 3 songs. Thank god for that.

I'll start off with what I liked about them. Their originals. They were very very well composed. Especially "Recycled". And I liked "Slime" as well. They actually rocked far more than the covers they played. Some of the covers really sucked - but the moment they played their originals you could see the glow on their faces. And their instruments actually seemed like they were putty in their hands. If anything else, I believe this band has a future as an original band - I dont know exactly how to categorise their genre - its kind of British alternative (Coldplay Radiohead U2 which I think is their sound. I dont know what the band think personally however - maybe they want to play some other genre of music, who knows! But from what I heard of their originals, the British alternative sound really suited them a lot. I pray that they dont get frustrated and start trying to please the crowd with covers. That would be very sad.

The covers. Hmm. I will be honest here. In today's music scene there are certain classic bands whose songs get played by every Tom, Dick and Harry. I wont mention any names - and unfortunately I did not enjoy my evening when CAMOFLAUGE played those songs. I mean I know that playing a cover note for note is extremely difficult especially if it is a classic rock song. And I laud the efforts of our up and coming bands who try to do so. But frankly, for a purist like me - if u cant emulate the artist whose song you're covering, then what is the point in covering that song at all. It kind of makes it a dumb effort by my standards. And please dont get fooled by the crowd reaction - most of them are para pals and relatives and old school mates anyway. They'd clap if u farted. I'm a neutral here - and I am being as unbiased as possible.

But then again (after all my incessant rambling above) some of the covers were pretty nice as well. Especially U2's Vertigo. CAMOFLAUGE as a band is more fun when they play covers which are by nature lively. I dont think slow ballads are their forte.

Anyway - I couldnt stay for the whole show which was unfortunate, becoz I really wanted to stay back and find what else they had in their repertoire. Well maybe next time. And maybe they'll have more originals to play. That would be awesome.

About the band - well I wont be too harsh after seeing just one show, that wouldnt be fair at all. The drums and keyboards were cool. And the guitars and bass as well actually. The band members are still young so they have loads of time on their hand to polish up their act. The vocals too - not bad, but the vocalist must realise which songs he can and cannot sing. I'd be lying if I said that he was good in all the songs...

Anyway, the bottom line is that CAMOFLAUGE are a good band and they have promise. I dont have any right to dictate the kind of music they play or dictate their approach as a band towards music in general. It definitely would not be fair on them - and anyway, I do confess its more easier to talk the shop than actually getting up on stage and performing.

So all I'd like to say is that it would be wonderful if Camoflauge as a band slowly starts to concentrate on their original act. On more well composed original songs like "Recycled". And on concentrating on one particular genre or 2 and not trying to be a jack of all genres and a master of none. Becoz I saw something in their performance that Friday night which made me feel that this band weren't a pack of jokers trying to kill time in a part-time band or impress the ladies. These guys were here to play music. Period. And I have a feeling they can achieve success with a little bit of luck and application.

I wish the band success in their future endeavours. And I stand by what I say - these guys will surely make it.