tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73057622024-03-07T16:49:55.860-08:00Musings Of A Manic Manipuri MetalheadThis blog was formerly known as "Instantaneous Insanity" but I did a name change as my posts aren't instantaneous anymore. They're probably still insane though. Well maybe.
My primary objective here is to rant 'n rave about the Kolkata rock music scene, a boring and controversial topic for most people.
So happy reading! (if long boring dissertations on Kolkata's rock music scene is your thing! Yawn!)
\m/Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-16219458231677481882012-03-25T01:03:00.000-07:002012-03-25T01:03:56.424-07:00THE PIT v.6 – DREAD REVOLUTION<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:RelyOnVML/> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There are 2 rules on planet Earth that the cycle of life can never break:</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 41.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RULE 1</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: Anything which begins will eventually come to an end</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 41.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RULE 2</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: What goes around, comes around</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">The above definitely holds true in Kolkata’s western popular music circuit. The previous decade had seen a surge in the number of rock and alternative bands from Kolkata making a mark on both the local and national circuit. Bands like <b>Cassini’s Division</b>, <b>The Supersonics</b>, <b>Span</b>, <b>Five Little Indians</b>, <b>Skinny Alley</b> and <b>Pink Noize</b> were names well respected in the Indian Rock scene and their fan-following crossed the limits of the West Bengal border. </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This was a time too when heavy metal started raising it’s voice in Kolkata – and riding the wave of this new public acceptance for music that was “underground” and “different”, heavy metal musicians/bands started coming out into the open. And although they never quite managed to get an adequate share of the goodies on offer by the head honchos of the Kolkata rock music scene (i.e. pub owners, event managers, record labels, etc.), yet the heavy metal musician somehow managed to survive and improve his/her quality of life. Kolkata’s very own “</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">THE PIT</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">” – a group of local bred metal aficionados comprising of musicians, students and yuppies – were instrumental in helping the local metal band to fight it out with bands/musicians of other genres to get a share of the proverbial “pie”. Of course this genre of music being what it is, heavy metal across the country (and even internationally) has always needed to carve out its own path for survival, not being overly dependent upon the mainstream rules and norms.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In these last few years it had been extremely heartening to see the rapid development of bands from the city. Bands like <b>Chronic Xorn</b> and <b>Yonsample</b> were going national with well-received EPs, and young musicians from school/college were eager to translate their love for metal into music of their own – the growth of metal in the city had never been more promising.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Providing a performance platform to young musicians is essential for their development, and apart from <b>THE PIT</b>, many other new independent entities too were doing the same for these young heavy metal bands. There were Open Mic sessions too that were eager to host musicians across all genres – and each such Open Mic would see the “birth” of a minimum of 2-3 new local metal bands.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Metal in Kolkata was indeed “happening” by the look of things. </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And then, suddenly, we saw change. </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Or maybe it wasn’t that sudden after all – the signs were there. The demise of the alternative band. The hibernation (for lack of a better phrase) of some of the top bands of the city. Young bands with huge promise (<b>Gravy Theory</b>, <b>Safire</b>, <b>Weaponshop</b> and <b>The Cynical Recess</b> are names that come to mind) suddenly deciding to just stop being in a band or went into long spells of inactivity… all these happened at more-or-less the same time. Was it coincidence? Was it due to external socio-economic causes that were uncontrollable factors?</span></h1><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Well, while this might be a most interesting topic for debate, we will leave it for later.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What IS true and undeniable, though, is that with the advent of RULE 1 (mentioned above) for alternative music, the “band” concept in Kolkata took a beating. From their ashes, RULE 2 went into motion – a mini revival started to take place where musicians started to go solo or play in groups of 2-3: the singer-songwriter (ala Bob Dyanesque mode). </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This trend has gotten even stronger and the number of solo amateur artistes in the city has increased exponentially. Jazz, blues, latin and fusion bands/musicians have also benefited from the “no-show” of rock/alternative bands these days. And so, if variety is your watch-word then Kolkata is it’s epicenter</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">The above however has also had a direct impact on the availability of opportunities (or lack of them) for the city’s rock/alternative bands. Gig opportunities at established venues in the city have slowly started to dry up for them. And this has hurt, in a big way, the heavy metal band too, both young and established. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2011 started off brightly for the Kolkata metal lover and musician. But as the year plodded along it slowly became evident that “progress” had come to almost a grinding halt. A lack of paid gigs for established bands and a lack of a platform to perform for the young bands, etc. were most evident as 2011 plodded along </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It is during these most trying times that <b>THE PIT</b> had decided to come together and host the 6<sup>th</sup> version of their annual event – and try and pull the socks up for the metal scene in general.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">People wrongly assume that with fame and name, comes a proportional financial inflow. This concept does not apply to <b>The Pit</b>, which has always been about promotion of heavy metal as a genre in Kolkata and most definitely NOT about financial gains. However, despite having organized 5 successful metal events, this group was finding it difficult to go to the next level – i.e. go national. And to complicate matters even further, rising costs, the search for a new venue within their budget and a lack of funds were challenges that were leaving The Pit crew with sleepless nights.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It is unfortunate that <b>The Pit v.6</b> did not achieve their main objective of spreading their wings into the national metal circuit – however a new venue, aka a new home was eventually found @ the esteemed <b>Uttam Mancha</b>. The Pit crew would like to go on record by thanking them for their co-operation.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And so for a day, the 29<sup>th</sup> of February 2012, Kolkata’s annual metal convention (OR Kolkata’s yearly get-together for all lovers of metal) was held yet again, for the 6<sup>th</sup> time: </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">THE PIT v.6 – DREAD REVOLUTION</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The line-up this time had a bit of new and old for the 750+ strong crowd. Apart from the big 3 of Kolkata: </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">EVIL CONSCIENCE</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">YONSAMPLE</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">CHRONIC XORN</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and Kolkata’s leading metal upstarts </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">WHAT ESCAPES ME</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, there were 3 new bands making their debut appearance @ Kolkata’s showcase metal event: metal-core act </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">AGE OF CHAOS</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, melodic death metalers </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">DISTORTED THOUGHT PATTERN</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, and Kolkata’s only female fronted metal band </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">CREMATORY ART</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And so to the event – with the event falling bang within the school/college exam season, the organizers had to delay the start by an extra hour to allow examinees (band member and music lover both) ample time to arrive at the venue. But the wait was worth it as the enthusiastic crowd went into over-drive when local metal-core act <b>Age Of Chaos</b> officially kicked off <b>THE PIT v.6 – Dread Revolution</b> – and thus started 7 straight hours of non-stop metal mayhem.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Age Of Chaos</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> have been playing the local college circuit for the past couple of years but it is only recently that they have blossomed into a band ready to take on the rest of the country. With their originals like “<b>Third World Messiah</b>” and “<b>Ammunition</b>” already well-known, the crowd warmed up to them very easily indeed. Local critics consider them to be the most improved metal act in the city today – and definitely a taste of their musicianship and original compositions cannot refute this critique. A band for the future, provided a few of their members can survive the ordeal of campus recruitment and job related city-relocation in a few months time.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Distorted Thought Pattern</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> started out as a school band of South Point High School – but over the years they have evolved into a melodic death metal outfit! That shows you how Darwin’s Theory of Evolution applies to heavy metal as well! Anyway, they were the 2<sup>nd</sup> band to rule the stage and their set-list soon had the crowd headbanging most enthusiastically. <b>Distorted Thought Pattern</b> (or DTP for short) is another band very active in the local college circuit – and apart from their very entertaining originals, the band is well-respected for their no-nonsense approach to their gigs and their music. And it was no different with their debut performance at <b>THE PIT v.6</b> where they delivered a competent and highly charged 45 minutes of metal mayhem, and their originals “<b>In Disguise</b>”, “<b>Dystopia</b>”, “<b>Astral Architecture</b>” and “<b>Into Oblivion</b>” left the crowd asking for more.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Act 3 was </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What Escapes Me</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> – easily one of the best acts in Kolkata today. Despite the band lately not being very active in the gig circuit, their popularity had not diminished a bit as was evident from the huge roar of approval for the band’s performance – especially when they played their originals “<b>Pseudo Showcase</b>”, “<b>Maze Of Mutual Apocalypse</b>” and the most excellent “<b>Section 66 Part 5</b>”. <b>What Escapes Me</b> is indeed a band to look out for, and big hopes rest upon their not-so-broad shoulders for the future of Kolkata metal.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The last of the 3 new bands to make their debut @ <b>The Pit</b> was </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Crematory Art</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> – although this band has been around for less than a year, it has done well at the college circuit. Plus having a female vocalist/front-woman does seem to have piqued the curiosity of metalheads, both local and on the national scene. And honestly enough the hype is justified on all fronts. Their original “<b>Outcast</b>” has already reached the heights of popularity due to it’s continuous runs on the band’s Reverbnation site. And their short set-list which also included compositions like “<b>Illusion</b>” and “<b>Loop of Void Bliss</b>” did not disappoint the masses of metal-heads present at the arena.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b>Crematory Art</b>, apart from creating <b>PIT</b> history by having the privilege of being the 1<sup>st</sup> featured band to have a female member, are also probably only 1 of the handful of bands currently active in the national metal circuit to have a female front-woman… At the top of my head Delhi’s <b>Hypnotic Sunday</b> and Mumbai’s <b>Chronic Phobia</b> come to mind, but I can’t recollect any other similar band. Anyway, it was great to have featured <b>Crematory Art</b>, and hopefully this will open the flood-gates for other bands with female members featuring at <b>THE PIT</b> in future editions.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Evil Conscience</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is, without a doubt, one of the heaviest bands in the Kolkata circuit – if not the heaviest. And just as they have done during the last 5 <b>PITs</b>, this time too they pulverized the crowd into submission with their brutal compositions, which included “<b>Mammoth Rivalry</b>”, “<b>Your God Is Burning</b>” and “<b>Grim Shutdown</b>”. <b>Evil Conscience</b> is one of the founder member bands of <b>THE PIT</b> and it has been a solid rock amidst all the changes taking place in the local scene. This band definitely deserves a lot more recognition than they currently have received and hopefully in 2012 they will be able to get rid of their current under-dog tag. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Enough has been written about </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yonsample</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and their current achievements. This band has created waves in the national scene and is currently one of the flag bearers for Kolkata metal. Like most of their recent shows, their 1 hour slot @ <b>The Pit</b> was the stuff of dreams for the crowd. Their set-list was packed with songs from their critically acclaimed EP “<b>Paraphernalia</b>” including “<b>Passage</b>”, “<b>Reincarnation</b>”, “<b>Chaos Theory</b>” and “<b>Breaking Through</b>”, the former easily being one of the most popular numbers in the Kolkata metal circuit. “<b>Breaking Through</b>” never fails to get the crowd into a mass singing frenzy, and their performance of this song that day was no exception. Also performed were some of their newer compositions, “<b>Espial Abyys Afloat</b>” and “<b>Sundered Vicinity</b>” and the crowd lapped these compositions up eagerly.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b>Yonsample</b>, btw, will soon be performing in the North-East. So if you haven’t caught them live before then do so @ the inaugural run of the <b>Imphal Metal Convention</b>, where they will be performing as a guest band with Nagaland’s <b>Azure Delusion</b> and other stalwarts of the Manipur metal scene like <b>Sandrembee</b>, <b>Cleave</b>, <b>Dead Mobsters</b>, <b>Chem.Weed.FM</b> and the mighty <b>POSTMARK</b>.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fresh from their conquest of <b>NIT Silchar</b> @ <b>THUNDERMARCH 2012</b>, </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chronic Xorn</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> rushed back home to Kolkata 2 days later, ready to rumble <b>THE PIT v.6</b>. And rumble they did – the closing act for this edition of the event, <b>Chronic Xorn</b> (another of <b>THE PIT</b> founding member bands) kept the crowd panting for more with each song they performed. Playing numbers from their popular EP “<b>Death.Destruction.Sermon</b>” and also playing tracks from their soon to be released debut album “<b>From Mercy</b>”, <b>Chronic Xorn</b> kept the venue packed even after the crowd had experienced 6 straight hours of metal. “<b>Necropolis</b>”, “<b>My Little Obsession</b>”, “<b>Bleeding</b>” and the anthemic “<b>Death.Destruction.Sermon</b>” were a few of their ditties dished out that evening in their almost hour-long set-list.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b>Chronic Xorn</b> are currently the most active metal band in the Kolkata circuit – and apart from regular performances within the state it is great to see them spreading their music to other parts of the country, and especially in the East. Watch out for them playing in the North-East in the future, at a city near you!</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And with <b>Chronic Xorn</b> ending their performance, so too, did the curtains come down upon the 6<sup>th</sup> version of <b>The Pit</b>. It was a PIT that was organized in the most trying of conditions and circumstances. There were moments when The Pit crew had come close to scrapping the event altogether. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel however, and so too for <b>The Pit</b>, things eventually did fall into place. This gives <b>The Pit</b> hope that the situation will improve for metal-heads in this city in the not-too-distant future. And that is all that we need now – hope, support and a bit of belief.</span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We look forward to your belief, support and hope @ <b>The Pit v.7</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></h1></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-58457510756698401372012-02-19T09:26:00.000-08:002012-02-19T09:32:14.014-08:00SUMMER STORM II featuring OPETH<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SETLIST:</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Devil's Orchard (HERITAGE)<br />
I Feel the Dark (HERITAGE)<br />
Face of Melinda (STILL LIFE)<br />
Credence (MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE)<br />
Slither (HERITAGE)<br />
To Rid the Disease (DAMNATION)<br />
Folklore (HERITAGE)<br />
Heir Apparent (WATERSHED)<br />
The Baying Of The Hounds (GHOST REVERIES)<br />
The Drapery Falls (BLACKWATER PARK)<br />
Deliverance (DELIVERANCE)</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><br />
</h1><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">METALLICA’s tour of India last year was supposed to be the high-point of heavy metal in India. And looking back at the event, well it probably was – 3 days of drama and emotional atyachar… cancellation of the 1<sup>st</sup> leg @ Delhi… cancellation rumors spreading like wild-fire about the Bangalore gig… Rock In India, Bangalore finally getting the green signal… the biggest turnout ever for any metal event organized in this country with people pouring in from all over the country (and even abroad) into Bangalore… a massive ocean of black-tee shirts enveloping the Palace Grounds… the non-stop rain... The Gods of Metal finally playing their 1<sup>st</sup> ever gig on Indian soil… a kick-ass and unforgettable performance… after-show head-aches with people losing their bags and getting electrocuted by live wires while leaving the event premises… the non-stop traffic snarls and confusion all round.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In one word Metallica was total CHAOS. The gig was fun but everything else associated with it was NOT. ROCK IN INDIA 2011 was easily the worst organized rock festival in Indian history.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3 months gone, and I find myself back in Bangalore, with my bag of mixed memories, to attend SUMMER STORM II – which, funnily enough, is being held during the fag end of the winter months! But then again, February in Bangalore isn’t particularly winterish, and the day-time temperatures certainly do feel like summer! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The weather isn’t the only difference I notice this time in Bangalore. Back in October, every 3<sup>rd</sup> person on the street was sporting a METALLICA tee. Yes obviously SUMMER STORM II headliners OPETH aren’t as popular or as mainstream as METALLICA, but they are definitely one of the best metal bands around, and certainly one of the top-draws from Scandinavia. The usual haunts @ MG Road, Brigade Road and Korumangala seemed practically deserted in comparison to that October week-end – Bangalore was the picture of a peaceful week-end with a typical week-end crowd hustling and bustling along, and not a single sign could I see that gave me even a hint that Bangalore was about to play host to yet another top-notch metal event. It was quite an unnerving feeling, and I had to pinch myself a couple of times to remind that I wasn’t locked up in a Phantom Zone… OPETH would indeed be up on the SUMMER STORM II stage in a couple of hours.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And so on to the venue. And again I delve into another round of comparisons, since I was constantly reminded of my experiences back in October… and unlike in October our band of merry men from Kolkata had no problem finding a parking space for our hired cab. No mad rush of people @ Palace Grounds… no ocean of black tees, just a sea – and a calm tranquil sea at that. No pushing-and-shoving at the ticket counter while collecting my pre-paid passes (the guy at the counter was quite polite actually!). And finally, no gigantic snake of a queue at the entry gates.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes yes, SUMMER STORM II is NOT an event on the scale of ROCK IN INDIA 2011, I know that. But my point is that the non-chaos and non-confusion at the venue was such a welcome change, it almost felt like I was attending a picnic! It took me totally by surprise. OVERTURE INDIA, the organizers of SUMMER STORM, you guys deserve a prize – attending metal gigs this well organized makes it worth spending all that dough flying down from Kolkata and parking myself in Bangalore on such regular basis!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In keeping with the smoothness of things @ SUMMER STORM II actually started ON TIME at approximately 4 PM – another huge welcome change. The 1st band up on stage was local thrash metal outfit THEORIZED. This was my 1st time seeing them live, and they did not disappoint. The band played a couple of songs from their debut EP “FALSE HOPE OF TYRANNY” – “DARK INCARNATION” and “RAISE THE DEAD”, as well as a bunch of new originals. THEORIZED was impressive indeed, a good selection for an opening act.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Another Bangalore band, progressive metal act ECCENTRIC PENDULUM was up next. One of my favorite Indian metal bands in the current national circuit, ECCENTRIC PENDULUM lost no time in chugging out numbers from their critically acclaimed debut album “WINDING THE OPTICS”. Although they seemed to be playing sans a guitarist, the band was in full form and wowed the crowd with their thrashy riffs accentuated by catchy progressions and melodies. The crowd loved them, and it was good fun seeing them live again after more than a year.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So with the Indian band slots done and dusted, SUMMER STORM II (unlike in the previous LAMB OF GOD version) had something new for the crowd – 2 international acts on their “opening band” roster, the 1st one being NOTHNEGAL from the sunny island nation of Maldives.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">WHAT??? Maldives??? A metal band from the Maldives???<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes I kid you not. And that too, a band with a very impressive line-up that included keyboardist MARKO SNECK (current member of KALMAH) and drummer KEVIN TALLEY (ex-DYING FETUS, ex-CHIMAIRA and current drummer for SIX FEET UNDER and DAATH).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NOTHNEGAL’s performance was interesting. Not ever having heard of the band before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. They played a decent set-list of originals which I am assuming were from their album “DECADENCE”. Their melodic death sound did have quite a few admirers in the crowd, but for the most part this was when we could see people checking out merchandise at the stalls and filling their tummies with refreshments.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To be fair, NOTHNEGAL weren’t bad at all. And I particularly enjoyed the synth sections in their originals. And definitely if I had to choose between a BIFFY CLYRO and a NOTHNEGAL, I would choose the latter any day!<br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2nd international “opening” act was Germany’s celtic metal band SUIDAKRA. And they had the Bangalore crowd’s full attention the very minute they opened proceedings with a bagpipe solo. SUIDAKRA gave a gem of a performance and captivated the audience with their highly infectious, energetic and upbeat folk and celtic metal originals covering most of their albums, including “WARTUNES”, “DOWTH2059” and “The IXTH LEGION”. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And so to main attraction for the evening.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Slightly past 8 PM, MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT and co. stormed the stages of SUMMER STORM II and started proceedings with 2 tracks back-to-back from their latest album ”HERITAGE” – “THE DEVIL'S ORCHARD” and “I FEEL THE DARK”. And so began another metal journey at the Palace Grounds.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The biggest fear of the crowd was that OPETH would play a set-list comprising totally of songs from “HERITAGE”. But to the delight of everyone present, MIKAEL promised that they would be covering songs from their previous offerings as well – and with this promise they jumped into the mesmerizing intro of “FACE OF MELINDA” from the album “STILL LIFE”. This was followed by the brilliant “CREDENCE” from the “MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE” album. “TO RID THE DISEASE” from the album “DAMNATION” was the next song on offer, and the haunting melodic mood created by their newest member, keyboardist JOAKIM SVALBERG totally bowled over the crowd.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We were having the time of their life for sure, and so too was OPETH. And if the music was not enough, MIKAEL had the crowd in splits with his stand-up comedian avatar – constantly rollicking bassist MARTIN MENDEZ about one thing or the other. And in-between songs whenever he noticed a lack of energy amongst the crowd, he would encourage them to shout “F**k You, Mikael!” back at him. Entertainment to the core!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The songs were coming in thick and fast now – another 2 songs from “HERITAGE” – “SLITHER” and “FOLKLORE” were dished out to the crowd. But once done, MIKAEL promptly announced that the 2nd half of their set-list would consist of their heavier tunes from their death metal days. The crowd’s huge roar of approval was enough for them to launch into “HEIR APPARENT” from “WATERSHED”. For those restless kids up front, their prayers were finally answered and it was time for them to go into a moshing frenzy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The next song played was “THE BAYING OF THE HOUNDS” from their ever-popular album “GHOST REVERIES”, and the head-banging was well and truly on!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The one OPETH album that gets me going the most is “BLACKWATER PARK” – and I was well and truly in 7th heaven when the next song performed by the band was from this very album – “THE DRAPERY FALLS”. And it looked like my feelings were shared by most of the crowd, seeing as The Palace Grounds erupted into a huge sing-along during the performance of this song – this was definitely one of the high-point of the entire concert. <br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All good things must come to an end – and so with the encore “DELIVERANCE” (from the album of the same name) OPETH brought the curtains down on a most wonderful performance. The song was indeed a fitting finale to a set-list that did not disappoint the OPETH faithful who were extremely delighted that the band covered songs from almost all their albums. And so with the outro of “DELIVERANCE” fading in the background, SUMMER STORM II came to an end. It was an event that lived up to most everyone’s expectations – and there were very few grousers who left the venue that evening. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On a personal note, seeing OPETH live allowed me to tick another item from my bucket-list. If international bands of such caliber continue to keep on visiting our country with such frequency, then I should be done with my bucket-list pretty soon me thinks!</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 391.5pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From an event management point of view the organizers were spot-on, and apart from a few sound glitches, SUMMER STORM II, for me, was easily one of the most enjoyable concert-going experiences I have had these past few years. Which leaves me to end this review in a most clichéd manner: “Here’s looking forward to SUMMER STORM III!” – clichéd or not, if OVERTURE INDIA continues to organize similar such metal events then DNA and ROCK IN INDIA would be a thing of the past. Something I wouldn’t mind at all.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-85409554285405110002012-02-19T04:37:00.000-08:002012-02-19T04:43:49.040-08:00DOWN HAUS II featuring PARKWAY DRIVE - OR - How In Hell Did they PULL THIS OFF???<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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<h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">SETLIST:</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Samsara</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Unrest</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Boneyards</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Idols and Anchors</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sleepwalker</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Karma</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dead Man’s Chest</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Deliver Me</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gimme A D</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Sirens’ Song</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Home Is For The Heartless</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Romance Is Dead</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Carrion (Encore)</span></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"> </h1><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The D.I.Y. event is king in the current rock/metal music circuit in Kolkata.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">In a city where most live-music venues scream “Wolf” at the mere sight of an enthusiastic crowd of head-bangers – and where event management groups and big name sponsors will have NOTHING to do with the local metal scene, most young musicians and music lovers in Kolkata have been forced to take things into their own hands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The recent success of <b>THE PIT</b> (a “<b>DO IT YOURSELF</b>” group of local metal musicians/aficionados who have successfully managed to provide a platform for Kolkata metal in these past few years), has inspired many of the younger breed to stand up and to do their own thing. And so Kolkata in 2011 has seen a huge wave of similar such D.I.Y. groups cropping up in and around the city trying to emulate the success of <b>THE</b> <b>PIT</b>. On a positive note, 2011 has probably been the busiest year ever for the young-upcoming/underground band, who in the past would have seldom had the opportunity to perform in front of an appreciative/musically like-minded crowd. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And there is of course the negative side to all this – where a sense of over-kill has slowly started to set in. And with the action coming in fast and furious, these D.I.Y. groups are trying to pull off every trick in the book to pip each other's event. The average D.I.Y. event in the city is becoming more mega and more ambitious, but the lack of event management know-how and experience is leading to most of them turning into a damp squib. And of course, without the required financial backing which all these groups lack quite a few of their dream events have remained just that – <b>DREAMS</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Amongst all this hotch-potch however the efforts of <b>DOWN HAUS</b> are extremely note-worthy. After successfully organizing <b>DOWN HAUS I</b>, a small-scale metal event in the suburbs of north Kolkata, team <b>DOWN HAUS</b> decided to take the next version of this event NOT just to the next level – but 5 levels ABOVE the next level. And so was planted the seeds for “<b>DOWN HAUS II - HAUS VON EXTREMISTEN</b>” – an event which would be headlined by none other than <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> – yes those metal-core giants from Down Under. The declared supporting acts were just as impressive, enough to blow the brains out of any metal-head in the country: <b>BHAYANAK MAUT</b>, <b>SCRIBE</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ZYGNEMA</b> and Kolkata’s very own <b>CHRONIC XORN</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And this is where I take a philosophical look at how things started to unfold in the City Of Joy after this “little” announcement…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">I have never been much of a believer in Karma and in the “Supreme Being” concept, where someone is remote-controlling your life, trying to make you go left when your intention is to turn right – or forcing you to eat a bowl of salad when a bucket of KFC is lying on the dining table before your very eyes. And yet a string of events that transpired during the 3 weeks of <b>DOWN HAUS</b> chaos have shaken my beliefs to the very core. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">“<b>DOWN HAUS II - HAUS VON EXTREMISTEN</b>” was an event that NEVER EVER should have happened. Any sane logical person familiar with the current metal scene in Kolkata would have told you so. (Note my emphasis on sane and logical). And yet, somehow, shit happened. Somewhere something clicked, and things fell into unison. And we NON-Karma believers were forced to eat humble-pie that fateful day.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">DOWN HAUS</span></b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">’s declaration completely knocked the wind out of everyone across the nation. A huge wave of disbelief swept across the metal-community of the country. The skeptics and non-believers were in a majority even within the City Of Joy. And who could blame them? An announcement of this degree being made just 3 weeks before the actual event… who wouldn’t think it was a hoax?<br />
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And as expected, despite all the hype and hoo-ha that went on for an entire week, Kolkata’s most ambitious metal event over-night turned into just that – a big-metal hoax. With just 2 weeks to go all the so-called sponsors for this macho mega event seemingly backed out – something that is a common occurrence in this city. The State Government may have changed hands after so many dog years, but the mind of the money-man has not. And no supreme being could make him do otherwise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">So with no “PLAN B” in place, <b>DOWN HAUS II</b> could go in only one direction – DOWN.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Or so it seemed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And so Kolkata’s most ambitious metal event over-night turned into a big-metal hoax. All of us “sane” and “logical” people went back to our “sane” and “logical” lives with that “all-knowing” gleam in our eyes. “We Told You So” was our staple comment for the next 5 days. And we all lived happily ever after.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Or so you’d think.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">It is said that an animal is most dangerous when it is injured and cornered. And this was the case with <b>DOWN HAUS</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">A dejected, frustrated <b>DOWN HAUS</b> had no intention of being the laughing stock of the Kolkata metal circuit. With no sponsors in tow – and I mean NO sponsors – the core committee of <b>DOWN HAUS</b> took, what in my opinion was, the most stupid and easily the gutsiest decision ever taken in the Kolkata music community. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><br />
And this was: to go ahead with <b>DOWN HAUS II</b> (to hell with those lousy sponsors) and still bring <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> to our shores!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">PARKWAY DRIVE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"> had already confirmed their flight tickets and had completed all their VISA formalities, so <b>DOWN HAUS</b> was well and truly on the point of no return and they could not back down!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Now let’s sit back and contemplate for a minute – anyone who has organized even a small-scale event knows the hassles one encounters to get things done right. Venue, sound, lights, printing banners/flyers/tickets, event promotion, guest band transportation/hospitality, etc. etc. etc. In fact all of this can be summed up in 1 word. Money. You need money, whatever the scale of the event might be, to ensure that your event is arranged perfectly. Without money your event is a dud.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Money was something that <b>DOWN HAUS</b> had none of. But with just 2 weeks away before the biggest metal event this side of the Bay Of Bengal, <b>DOWN HAUS</b> could not turn back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">In a nutshell (and to make things a lot less tedious for the reader) <b>DOWN HAUS</b> somehow did manage to get the money required (or at least the bulk of it) to arrange the event in question. And it was a miracle that they managed to do so.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">DOWN HAUS II</span></b><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"> being totally self-sponsored, a huge proportion of the funds had to be borrowed from family members, friends, girl-friends and well-wishers – also, dough collected for years and carefully stashed away for the purpose of purchasing expensive cameras, musical equipments and various other items had to be dug out and put into the event fund. Dreams nourished for months, nay years, went up in smoke all for the purpose of organizing an event which was now just a week away. The many obstacles that needed to be overcome were somehow tackled at every step of the way. And that included the famous West Bengal bureaucratic red-tape, normally the proverbial spanner-in-the-works when things are needed to be done efficiently and quickly. But anyway, miracles do seem to happen – and with the organizers successfully overcoming a last minute heart-attack when the event very nearly got canned @ the 11<sup>th</sup>, <b>DOWN HAUS II</b> was ready to go DOWN UNDER.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The supporting band roster for the new <b>DOWN HAUS II </b>had been toned down considerably to give it a more local flavor – <b>WHAT ESCAPES ME</b>, <b>CHRONIC XORN</b> and <b>YONSAMPLE</b> were brought in as opening acts. A very wise decision, not only in terms of cost – but also because the metal bands of the city rarely get the opportunity to share the stage with renowned bands (international OR national). So it would have been a crime to deprive them of this chance. All opening acts had been requested before-hand to play short set-lists – and needless to say, they all were co-operative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">There was an estimated 500+ turn-out for Kolkata’s biggest D.I.Y. international metal fest – an extremely poor response from the Kolkata metal circuit. A huge surprise too, considering that the exam season had just concluded and that the winter holidays had already commenced. It was however interesting to see that a small percentage of the crowd were actually non-Kolkatans… there was a splattering of metal-heads from Bhubaneshwar, Darjeeling, Pune, Delhi and even Bangalore! A pleasant surprise indeed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Due to the long duration taken for the sound-setup, the event started an hour late @ 6 PM. The crowd had started swelling up in front of the venue, Nazrul Manch, since 12 noon. And this delay had made them all the more restless. So when the gates finally opened @ 5:00 PM, a huge swarm of black tees poured into the venue.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The opening act was <b>WHAT ESCAPES ME</b> and as the venue started to reverberate with the intro of their 1<sup>st</sup> song (a cover, the popular Killswitch Engage number “<b>End Of Heartache</b>”), the Kolkata crowd burst into a huge roar! <b>DOWN HAUS II</b> had begun – and the city metal-heads went into a head-banging frenzy during the entire <b>WHAT ESCAPES ME</b> set-list which also included originals like “<b>Pseudo Showcase</b>” and the ever popular “<b>Section 66 Part 5</b>”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The next band up on stage was <b>CHRONIC XORN</b> and with a short bone-crunching set-list that included songs like “<b>Bleeding</b>”, “<b>Necropolis</b>” and the anthemic “<b>Death.Destruction.Sermon</b>” the audience lost no time in getting into the pit – the music was intense and so was the action during the moshing, with bodies flying around all over. The security had a tough time keeping everyone under control.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The final opening act was Kolkata giants <b>YONSAMPLE</b> – the band had made a conscious decision of remaining under-ground for the better part of 2011, so their rare forays in the live concert arena nowadays bring about a huge level expectation from the Kolkata crowd. And needless to say the band lived up to this expectation – the performance of songs like “<b>Passage</b>” and “<b>Reincarnation</b>” from their critically acclaimed EP “<b>Paraphernalia</b>” had the crowd eating out of their hands, quite literally. And the highlight of their set was when the entire arena lent their voice to their ever-popular original “<b>Breaking Through</b>”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">But where was <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> all this while?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Well the band had arrived in Kolkata at approximately around noon time, and their excitement at being in the city was totally evident from the expression on their faces. They lost no time in mingling with the few of us who were at the venue, once they had reached – and the number of photos and videos they snapped gave people the impression that they were more the excited tourist than metal band out here to play the final leg of their very successful <b>SOUTH-EAST ASIAN</b> tour. Some of the members even ran off to the play-ground nearby to involve themselves in an impromptu cricket match with a few very bemused locals! And during their sound-check (handled by the <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b>’s road-crew), the band-members took off to Central Kolkata to get a 1<sup>st</sup>-hand experience of Kolkata’s traffic and crazy “market places”. The members were extremely friendly and down-to-earth, and this was evident from their total willingness to interact with hordes of crazy fans eager for photos, autographs and signed band tee-shirts. In fact the Kolkata response, meager though it was (compared to previous international events held across the nation), was something that blew them away… “We were expecting a crowd of 50, but this is just huge!” was what the band members kept on repeating to the organizers, already grinning like hyenas.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And so, with the lights dimmed all across and as the gentle strains of “<b>SAMSARA</b>” echoed across the venue, <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> stormed on stage – and delivered a performance of such high jaw-breaking intensity that Kolkata could only sit and stare back in a mouth-gaping stupor. Their set-list clocked slightly over an hour, and pre-dominantly featured songs from their latest album “<b>DEEP BLUE</b>” – “<b>UNREST</b>”, “<b>SLEEPWALKER</b>”, “<b>HOME IS FOR THE HEARTLESS</b>”, “<b>KARMA</b>” and my personal favorite “<b>DELIVER ME</b>”. Other numbers played were “<b>THE SIRENS’ SONG</b>”, ”<b>IDOLS AND ANCHORS</b>”, “<b>BONEYARDS</b>” and “<b>DEAD MAN’s CHEST</b>“ (from the album “<b>HORIZONS</b>”) and “<b>SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM</b>”, “<b>GIMME A D</b>” and “<b>ROMANCE IS DEAD</b>" (from their album “<b>KILLING WITH A SMILE</b>”).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The stage presence of the band was monster, and their energy levels were unbelievable. They were a joy to watch on stage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">The Kinetic Theory describes a large number of small particles all of which are in constant, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randomness" title="Randomness">random</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_%28physics%29" title="Motion (physics)">motion</a>, constantly colliding with each other and with the walls of their container – and the principals of this theory totally reflected the band’s performance on stage. There was not a single minute where the band stood still, constantly running and jumping around the stage, both during and in-between songs. The head-banging across the venue was relentless and <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> even encouraged the crowd to come up on stage and join them in head-banging to their songs, causing much anxiety to the organizers and the designated security crew. But after a point it sort of became pointless. No amount of warnings or threats could deter the crowd from going bonkers. And <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> would have it no other way. From start ‘till finish the band kept the tempo of the entire gig constant and calls for slower songs like “<b>CARRION</b>” were brushed aside by the vocalist <b>Winston McCall</b>… “Oh no that’s a slow song, we don’t wanna slow the tempo, let’s play something faster!” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And so they did. And with each song <b>PWD</b>’s energy levels seemed to soar even higher. The band members did this curious mix of head-banging and dancing on stage, which was a delight to watch (if you weren’t too busy head-banging away to kingdom come or diving head-first into the PIT, that is). It was neither brutal or “metchul” – but just a beautiful expression of how much the band loved their music and how much it meant to them to be performing on Indian shores. They loved it when the crowd sang back the chorus bits for “<b>KARMA</b>”, “<b>SLEEPWALKER</b>” and “<b>HOME IS FOR THE HEARTLESS</b>” and so finally when it came for encore time, the band did the unthinkable – and something which I have never-ever witnessed in all my years of international gig attending… just before the encore “<b>CARRION</b>” was performed, <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> called upon the entire Kolkata crowd to come up on stage and sing the song along with them! And without a moment’s hesitation, approximately 200 odd people crammed up on stage with the band – leaving the remaining couple of 100s on the periphery of the stage, staring in utter bemusement at this crazy turn of events! The next 3-1/2 minutes were like a dream, leaving me completely dumb-struck as to how the band managed to perform amidst the constant pushing, shoving and head-banging going on stage. Not an inch of space available to move, but the musicians performed with aplomb – and the crowning glory of this encore performance was when the crowd picked up guitarist <b>Luke Kilpatrick</b> and made him crowd-surf the entire breadth of the stage, with him picking his guitar all the while. <br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">And so ended <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b>’s last gig on their <b>SOUTH-EAST ASIA tour 2011</b> – bringing down the curtains, as well, for <b>DOWN HAUS II</b>. An event which should never have taken place and certainly an event model which no organizer should try to duplicate in the future.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";">Whether <b>DOWN HAUS II</b> has managed to create a niche for itself in the national circuit and whether <b>DOWN HAUS</b>, as a whole, has managed to bring to focus the Kolkata metal circuit to the rest of the nation is highly debatable. It also brings into question the misguided directionless enthusiasm of the average Kolkata D.I.Y. group, where organizing music events seem to be LESS about promoting the local music scene and MORE about trying to win brownie points on the “visions of grandeur” department. Definitely this event has left far more questions unanswered than answered – but this is a topic best left for another time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif";"><br />
Whatever be the case, there is no denying the fact that for the average Kolkata metal-head in attendance that fateful evening, watching <b>PARKWAY DRIVE</b> perform in their city was akin to being a part of the metal festivities @ say, a Palace Grounds. For that one evening, this was their Summer Storm, their Deccan Rock. And for that one evening, Kolkata had attained metal Nirvana.</span></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-77412979968126144242011-05-02T23:04:00.000-07:002011-05-02T23:04:11.430-07:00THE PIT v.5 - RISING FISTS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Kolkata, the City Of Joy. A city that takes pride in being a major cultural hub of India. A city known for it’s great writers, poets, artists, musicians and film personalities – people like Rabindranath Tagore. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Satyajit Ray. Yonsample. Chronic Xorn. Evil Conscience. What?????</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, as hard as it may seem Kolkata isn’t just about award-winning literature and art-house films and about jazz and classic rock. Heavy metal has slowly but surely made an entry into the local music scene as well, and by the look of things, has every intention of staying. And why not? In these last 2 years the number of heavy metal listeners and metal converts has increased by leaps and bounds – the number of gigs held by out-station bands (from other parts of the country) has doubled – in fact, most band competitions in Kolkata these days are being swept by promising new local metal acts. A sign of the times. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course all of the above would not have been possible if it weren’t for the popularity and awareness drive started by THE PIT, a group of local metal bands and metal music lovers who have, for the past few years, been working their socks off to make Kolkata a better place for heavy metal. The journey is still nowhere near it’s final destination, but the fruits of their hard-work is there for all to see – more bands trying their hand at this genre and a steady increase in the metal-listening masses. The previous 4 PITs held in the last 2 years have been instrumental in allowing both young and experienced bands to showcase their music to the metal-loving community of the city. And this string of metal music fests also helped to bring the metal community under one roof – kind of like a metal-heads get-together party.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The last PIT had been held on the 20<sup>th</sup> of October, 2010, with a turnout of 850 crazy metalheads. But this time the PIT committee was aiming for an even larger audience, something in the region of 1000-1200. And rightly so since tickets were selling like hotcakes the moment the date for the “PIT v.5 – Rising Fists” was announced. The PIT working committee had even managed to get hold of sponsors for the event – LIZARD SKIN TATTOOS and VIBRATIONS: THE MUSIC STORE – a 1<sup>st</sup> for any sort of heavy metal event in the city. There was a huge buzz around town and this even spread to other neighboring regions in West Bengal and other parts of the country. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The PIT v.5 – THE RISING FISTS. The theme for this PIT, “Rising Fists” emphasized on how us local metal-heads would not bow down and be controlled by the rest of the city’s music circuit just because our musical genre of choice was not on top of the popularity charts. In fact “Rising Fists” was a call to all metal-heads to protest and fight for their rights to listen to metal, and to stand together as one with raised fists. Did we sound like revolutionaries? You bet we did! But it was also very obvious that this protest would only be a success if the city’s metal brethren responded to our call to arms – to come and be a part of THE PIT v.5 – RISING FISTS.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And on the 19<sup>th</sup> of April 2011, we were not disappointed. The metal community of Kolkata heard our call to arms and they responded in droves! The scheduled start time for the PIT v.5 was 12 noon, but by 10 AM the venue, Tapan Theatre, was surrounded by excited, expectant and enthusiastic metal-heads. And a quiet neighbourhood in the Chetla area of South Kolkata had turned into a massive sea of black-tee wearing metal maniacs!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A word about the bands – this PIT had 8 bands on the roster and the line-up was a combination of both young and experienced. 2 bands, DARK RITUALZ and BURNOUT SYNDROME, had been selected through a rigorous audition round, while 2 Kolkata veterans, SINFUL OATH and NOYZE AKADEMI, were making come-backs @ the PIT with new line-ups. Also in the list of performers was WHAT ESCAPES ME, the young pretenders to the Kolkata metal throne. And to top it off were the current 3 heavyweights of the city’s metal scene: EVIL CONSCIENCE, CHRONIC XORN and YONSAMPLE. The crowd certainly had a lot to look forward to.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So when the gates were finally opened (after an hour’s delay – the inevitable last minute goof-ups!), the crowd swarmed in like flies. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">DARK RITUALZ was the opening band for PIT v.5. The crowd was still settling down when they went up on stage but this did not deter the young band, as they belted out a set-list which comprised of 4 originals and 2 Lamb Of God covers. For most people in the crowd, this was their 1st taste of DARK RITUALZ’ brand of music, and they certainly were not disappointed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The comeback kids NOYZE AKADEMI were the next band on stage. This band was one of the founding members of the PIT committee and they had had a short but successful stint before their initial break-up, their RSJ pub-rock performance 3 years back being a definitive highlight. This new avatar of the band had only one original member left, plus there were rumours about the band experimenting with a new death-core sound. Well all questions were answered and emphatically so. NOYZE AKADEMI blew the crowd away with their short power-packed stint on stage – 4 OCs and 1 cover (Impending Doom) – the crowd did not know what had hit them! The moshing had truly started by now and even an impromptu wall-of-death followed suit. And so was time for the 3rd band to perform…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">BURNOUT SYNDROME! This band, although fairly new, were playing their 2nd PIT (having also featured at PIT v.4) – the crowd knew them and so they had no problem warming up to the band, especially after the performance of their set-list which included a mix of originals and covers by bands like Threat Signal and Veil Of Maya. The performance of their OC “Tormented Psychopath” was the stand-out in their set-list. It was also interesting to see that the OCs of BURNOUT SYNDROME had a distinct djent texture to them, and it looks like they are gradually making a shift from their metal-core roots, an interesting approach indeed! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The day’s second band on the comeback trail, SINFUL OATH, was the PIT’s 4th band on stage. Although being regulars at each PIT version, SINFUL OATH had been inactive in the Kolkata metal circuit for a very long time. A string of line-up changes had led to the band introducing a practically new and unknown line-up apart from 2 previous members. And although their set-list was short (comprising of 4 covers and 1 instrumental), a bout of nerves did take a toll on the newer members. But they did manage to recover their poise and delivered a solid performance, much to appreciation of the audience. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Half of the bands on the list had played their part for the PIT – but the 2nd half had much more to offer because it was time for the city’s heavyweights to get into action. And even now the crowd was still pouring in, with a steady stream of school/college/office goers arriving at the venue after a long day of drudgery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">EVIL CONSCIENCE was band number #5 and they rammed the crowd into a brutal submission with their set-list of originals and metal covers. The band played a total of 7 songs – 4 originals and 3 covers, and the brutality of their musical assault left the crowd feeling like they had been smashed with a sledgehammer. Especially so, when they played their popular original “Your God Is Burning”. The moshpit by this time had become a war-zone, which suited the band just fine. EVIL CONSCIENCE’s performance left the crowd drained and drenched in sweat and blood and but the audience had absolutely no time for respite! Because following this deadly assault were…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">CHRONIC XORN! After the very successful release of their EP “Death.Destruction.Sermon”, the popularity of this Kolkata band had increased by leaps and bounds, which was evident from the amount of cheering and sing-a-longs to their songs. The metal-heads in the front row were now indulging themselves in a hefty bout of stage diving and crowd-surfing, and the band loved it! Each song performed by CHRONIC XORN was met by a huge round of applause and their vocalist literally had the crowd eating out of his hands! For the record, CHRONIC XORN performed all the songs from their EP as well as a new single “Bleeding” and a re-worked version of an older single “Valentine Of Nightmares”. And as always, the band ended their set with a Lamb Of God cover (on public demand!) – “Black Label”, which got the crowd wild!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PIT v.5 was fast approaching it’s end – but not before YONSAMPLE got their chance to blast the crowd! The current darlings of the Indian metal scene, YONSAMPLE has been getting rave reviews for their newly released debut EP “Paraphernalia”. The band kept it simple by performing their entire EP for the head-banging audience, which did not disappoint them at all! And when Yonsample performed their crowd favourite “Breaking Through”, 1000+ voices broke into song, singing each and every line of chorus, much to the amazement and also to the immense satisfaction of the band. It was a breath-taking moment indeed and one of the highlights of the entire PIT v.5.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Closing out PIT v.5 was WHAT ESCAPES ME, a young band which had been sweeping, left and right, 1st prize at most college band competitions this season in the eastern region of the country, including top honours at the IIT Kharagpur fest. Unfortunately due to time constraints and due to the un-cooperative venue management, their set-list had to be cut short to just 3 songs – 2 originals and a cover – which was extremely disappointing for both band and metal-head alike. But for all those who were witnessing WHAT ESCAPES ME for the first time, they did get a taste of their sound and also a listen to their most popular OC, “Section 66 Part 5” – a song which has already become a metal anthem in the Kolkata circuit in these last few months.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And so the curtains fell on another PIT - another glorious day of metal in the City Of Joy had come to an end, leaving everyone in attendance totally wasted, completely exhausted BUT extremely happy. Rightly so too, because the crowd response was beyond belief – and what a response it was! At last count there were approximately 1500 metal-lovers in attendance, not only from Kolkata, but from other parts of West Bengal. In fact metal-heads as far off as Chennai and Sri Lanka had come down to be a part of the PIT. Totally unprecedented in the short history of Kolkata metal!</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I guess this is a positive sign and proof that the Kolkata metal scene is alive and kicking, and that the metal-heads of the city are willing to stand up and be heard. The future of metal in Kolkata indeed seems to be bright, all thanks to the success of the PIT. But there is a lot more to be done and scope for improvement is always there. So people, look out for THE PIT v.6 – and for an even better and more brutal show of hands from the Kolkata metal community!</span><br />
</div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-77260400999744947042010-09-30T05:51:00.000-07:002010-09-30T05:51:50.501-07:00What Is Wrong With The Kolkata Rock Music Circuit? Chapter:2 - The Way We WereLets go back some years... no not 1 or 2 years. Not even 5.<br />
How about when I was still a school student? Like way back in the 1980s. When rock music was something only the "elite" few ever listened to. When only a handful of students from English medium schools and colleges would get initiated to. When English music was all about the melody and less about the genre. Unlike today.<br />
<br />
Rock music. No not metal. Not punk. Not blues. Just "rock" - music that encompassed any type of popular English music form. Pink Floyd, Bob Dyan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, Dire Straits... classic rock to the core. But back in those days THIS just wasn't classic rock. It was the ONLY form of rock music available.<br />
Back then you couldn't just do a search for a particular torrent and download the latest album of some obscure artist. Things were different back then. Hell, there wasn't even anything called a torrent back in those days. Downloading? In the 80s that would have almost sounded like something being done in a sci-fi flick.<br />
So ok, maybe you could just walk into the nearest Planet M or Music World shop and get wowed by the collection of CDs on display... wait wait wait. Walk into "PLANET M"??? Walk into "MUSIC WORLD"??? Latest ALBUM??? CDs??? What the hell am I talking about!!!<br />
Back then we didn't have CDs!!! We only had dinky cassettes and we listened to music on dinky cassette players. No CD players, no MP3 players and most certainly no I-PODS!!! Yes kid, you probably wouldn't have survived back then in the good 'ol 80s without these goodies that you obviously take for granted in the 21st century.<br />
And nope we didn't have mp3s or the INTERNET. The latest albums were not available @ music stores because there WERE NO MUSIC STORES! Liberalization was still a distant dream. An album that was, say for example, released in 1981 in the USA would only reach our shores 2-3 years later. And these would be available only through HMV. On cassettes.<br />
Back then there weren't any other recording companies around that were willing to deal with English popular music so this was as good as it got.<br />
Yes, you might not like him, but you me and everyone around town have a lot of thanking to do to Dr. Manmohan Singh. He brought in liberalization to this country when he was the finance minister in the cabinet of then Congress Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. Yes, the guy involved in the Bofors scandal. And the Babri Masjid scandal. A scandalous dude no doubt - but at least he got Manmohan Singh to change the direction this country was taking.<br />
<br />
So anyway, whatever we see now - the good stuff, that is, is post liberalization INDIA. I was born and brought up in the era just before that. In the 1970 and the 1980s. When rock music and pop music were things that you listened to if you were a part of the "in" crowd. Almost like a mini caste system - whether you were a fan of this music or not allowed you to be classified as "English-cultured" or mainstream desi. Funny no? Nowadays everyone is exposed to English music in some form or the other. Hell, yesterday I saw an auto rickshaw driver wearing a "BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE" tee :D metalcore fan is he? Sorry I didn't ask I was too busy laughing. <br />
Anyway as I mentioned above, the latest music was hardly available back then - not at shops, not on the TV, not on the radio, not anywhere. We didn't have cable TV or TATA SKY or whatever. No Channel [V] or VH1 - MTV had just been given birth to in the USA anyway, so it was a long long way away from our shores.<br />
If you had an aunt living in England or a brother working somewhere in the USA, maybe, just maybe she or he might bring you the latest blah blah blah played by blah blah blah. A big maybe. And not all of us were so lucky. You did get pirated cassettes galore here and there. And they'd probably play for a week before falling into ashes <br />
No FM Radio in India back then. MW radio was just All India Radio in a nutshell - and they would have the odd English popular music program with the same old songs played again and again and again, week after week after week. The same old songs listened to by us music lovers from all walks of life and from varying age groups. There was nothing else available anyway so what could you do?<br />
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Which brings me to the topic of bands. In order to have a live music scene you need bands to perform "live". No?<br />
And there were bands certainly. College bands. Established bands (Shiva was one of the noteworthy ones). Trincas was no more a viable music venue - The days of the swinging sixties (and prior maybe) where Usha Uthup and Carlton Kitto and Lou Majaw and all those stalwarts would be gigging @ Trincas were long long gone. Someplace Else? Hahahaha! Non-existent for at least another 10-15 more years.<br />
Basically there were 2 categories of bands - the English music playing bands which would only play classic rock because the musicians here were ONLY familiar with such artistes. And nothing strange with that - that was the only kind of music they had been listening to. Also, the people who came in to listen to them play ONLY listened to that stuff as well. Classic rock and pop. That was the music you played if you were in an English band.<br />
Category 2 was if you were in a Bangla band - something new and trendy in the college circuit. A different story altogether. The concept of Bangla bands was a growing one, and it later blew up into a totally new sub-culture in Kolkata (and other parts of West Bengal). But we shall leave this topic for later. But suffice to say, if you were a musician and interested in rock music then you (a) followed the majority and played in a band that performed classic rock covers and popular contemporary English mainstream songs. OR (b) you rebelled and joined a bangla band which would play folk, folk rock or classic rock - whatever took your fancy.<br />
<br />
Such bands would play the odd gig @ college fests or @ college band competitions but that was about it - you would most likely see them playing @ your college canteen in all honesty. A few bands at the top did go on to record albums... but all this later later later :D<br />
<br />
So yes, back to the classic rock bands. Bands like Shiva - they would play the odd gig @ The Open Air Theatre (now called Nazrul Manch), sometimes be the headliners @ college fests like Xavotsav... but more than likely you would see them playing @ the clubs. The hang-out for the "elite" - the "English-cultured" of our society. Shiva, Fifth Dimension, Rila 'O Brien (nee Banerjee, and yet to marry Sumeeth Ramachandran - you know the story. If not ask an old-timer.). They'd wow the crowd with a "Hey You" or a "Comfortably Numb" or a "Jumping Jack Flash" or a "Sultans Of The Swing". And they crowd would go wild. A few would dance. Most would sing along to the chorus. And the band would be in 7th heaven.<br />
So the next time they were up on stage the same old routine - play the tried and tested covers. And watch the crowd go wild.<br />
As easy as pie. And you got instant fame as well. Plus the girl too. (Yes sexist I know, but the scene was and still is kind of male-centric even today).<br />
Bands turned into live jukeboxes. Yes, they probably did play some of the covers really well, but at the end of the day, they were just that, covers. And so bands were just that, live jukeboxes.<br />
New bands that came into the scene didn't have any role-models BUT these jukebox heroes. And so all new bands wanting to play in English did nothing BUT covers. And thus did get born the culture of the Calcutta cover band. This culture had it's hey days in the 1990s and was still going strong even as recent as 2000 - 2005.Young bands thought aping was the next big thing. Never did they even try to break the trend - and hey, why would they? Because playing covers WAS the trend.<br />
And this, while the rest of the major music hubs in India were already well into the concept of playing their "OWN" music. Original music. Such a culture shock even within the same country.<br />
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Kolkata was well and truly in a 70s and 80s time-warp post-2000. And no one even thought this was a strange thing.<br />
No wonder we are lagging behind the other cities. Someone once wrote, "What India thinks tomorrow, Bengal thinks today"... or something like that.<br />
Well this certainly wasn't applicable for rock music.<br />
<br />
Luckily things have started to change. A kid fresh out of school and into the music scene TODAY would be really surprised how much the scene has changed in just a couple of years. <br />
<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><!--Session data--><input id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" type="hidden" /><div id="refHTML"></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-51107851585330879662010-09-09T04:45:00.000-07:002010-09-21T21:52:10.122-07:00What Is Wrong With The Kolkata Rock Music Circuit? Chapter:1 - The IntroThat is the question...<br />
I've thought about it long and hard. I've had long discussions with musicians about it. I've spoken to music lovers in the city.<br />
<br />
Everyone seems to know what the answer is. Or conversely, no one seems to know what the problem is. Most kids don't even realise that there is a problem. Which is such an irony - because it is these very issues and problems that result in their bands breaking up a year or 2 after getting formed. Sometimes they don't even last 2 months. And things remain the same, until a new set of kids come along and follow in the foot-steps of their predecessors. Sort of like the blind leading the blind.<br />
<br />
I have a theory. Or theories actually. And I'd like to share them here. Yes, probably no one is going to read what I have to vomit out anyway, which is a good thing actually, because my intention here is to be direct and caustic. I am probably gonna step on a few toes here and there, and diss a few bands and musicians in the process - something which I am not very excited about, but I want to be as brutally honest as possible. I don't really hate anyone in the scene, contrary to popular belief. I mean, in order to hate someone you need to know that person... and I hardly know anyone from the circuit in the truest sense.<br />
<br />
Another thing which I hope people understand is that my point of view is totally an unbiased one... yes baby, you better believe it! I am not a musician after all. I'm a listener. A music fan. I am a part of the audience who is standing in front of the stage while the performers do their thing. I am the person who is there attending YOUR show. I am the guy who is at the music store buying YOUR album. And as much as I need YOUR music to keep me sane and happy, YOU need me to come to YOUR gigs to cheer after every song YOU perform just to boost YOUR ego. YOU need ME to go to the store to buy YOUR album, YOUR band tee-shirt, YOUR band poster, etc etc etc. We have a 100% symbiotic relationship going on here - so please remember that. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. It's the way the world is.<br />
<br />
So this is me the listener, standing in the audience, listening to some band... its just me and the music. Nothing else. It's not about the drummer who I hang out with once a week at the local pub. It's not about the sexy hot babe standing in front of me who's phone number I managed to get in exchange for promising to introduce her to the vocalist. It's not about the guitarist who nicked my chemistry notes before exam time during our college days.<br />
It's not about that at all.<br />
It's just about the music. Only the music.<br />
<br />
Sometimes musicians are so deep into their ego-trip that they lose a sense of reality. I find this very funny. Silly actually. I hate this pseudo ego attitude thing that musicians seem to go through. And I haven't met a single musician that wasn't affected in some way and to some degree. Sickening really. Take pride in your body of work, but don't make it turn you into a bloated carcass.<br />
<br />
Similarly, there is this section of society who need to pass a comment on everything that moves, sings, dances and farts. They can't get a good night's sleep if they do otherwise. You can't miss these parasites, gigs seem to attract them like light-bulbs do to a moth - the guy/gal who knows everything about music inside out. The moron who will analyze to death each chord/beat he/she hears. That member of the audience who feels he/she needs to be heard even more than the vocalist singing on stage.<br />
A poison in the circuit. Every city has a few. So does Kolkata.<br />
<br />
I never understood how their brains work - if you don't like a particular band then you don't - it's cool. Who said you have to like every damn musician in this city? But why do you have to be at their show then? Does your being present provide the performer divine strength? Does the band's ratings improve with you in attendance? I mean, what is it???<br />
<br />
Whoo! <br />
<br />
Before I begin the serious stuff, I'd like to reiterate a few things here.<br />
<br />
As the title of this blog states, I'm here to toss around a few theories - some good, some bad, some ugly. I am not here to sing the praises of certain venues like Someplace Else or to list down the achievements (in chronological order) of Cassini's Division. This here blog is not an attempt to convert everyone into becoming a metalhead like me either.<br />
Also, I am not going to rant and rave about the negatives of classic rock and why singing covers are so uncool.<br />
<br />
<br />
No. None of the above.<br />
<br />
I have been attending gigs and checking out bands of different genres in Kolkata for more than 10 years now. Times have changed certainly, bands have come and gone. Some have done pretty well for themselves while others have just vanished like your shit being flushed down the toilet. Musical styles have changed. Times have changed.<br />
And yet, despite all the changes that have taken place it is very apparent that me, the listener and you, the musician have remained stuck in some kind of weird limbo. And like I mentioned at the start, sometimes it's like we don't even realise that we are in a motionless maze. You've seen the Matrix Trilogy? You've seen Inception? Yes? Well that is exactly what we all are in - in this dream-world where apparently things look perfect. And yet we are just one second away from waking up and seeing that everything around us is just a dream and that life is total crap. And yes we haven't even moved a single inch from where we had started.<br />
<br />
I'm sure that if you were as jobless as I was, you'd come to the same logical conclusions that I am about to propagate. You'd have to. It's all about fitting together all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle... the pieces are all there right in front of us. You just need the patience and the time. Ya, being jobless like me does help as well, to be honest.<br />
<br />
Some of the pieces for us to look at:<br />
** The live music scene in Kolkata pre 2000 AD<br />
<br />
** Classic rock and it's popularity<br />
** The emergence of a parallel Bangla rock scene<br />
** The young generation and the Indian education system<br />
** Indian society vs. the "School Of Rock"<br />
** Why do we fear Heavy Metal?<br />
** Torrents, downloads, Planet M and Music World<br />
** The internet<br />
** Bollywood is not the enemy<br />
<br />
... there are probably a few more pieces I will be listing but right now this is what shall get me started. If anyone is reading all this, well I hope you stick around. Feel free to agree/disagree with me as you please.<br />
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<div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><!--Session data--><input id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" type="hidden" /><div id="refHTML"></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-86848649683897891502010-09-07T10:19:00.000-07:002010-09-12T21:36:42.549-07:00Why Do We Blog Anyway?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8coO8FqLJutxuuQ3tvnHnBsufKDcIEkAfmPQsvK7xs7iJcb8FVW_InwIi-80hkJnlBRockihmXRSTM-pHGg0MjVJ5YowQkw1CPbC6ecbXlmqI4T7MrrA4amkF51cF57PLVQWCA/s1600/comp_11.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8coO8FqLJutxuuQ3tvnHnBsufKDcIEkAfmPQsvK7xs7iJcb8FVW_InwIi-80hkJnlBRockihmXRSTM-pHGg0MjVJ5YowQkw1CPbC6ecbXlmqI4T7MrrA4amkF51cF57PLVQWCA/s320/comp_11.gif" /></a></div>Been a long time since I blogged. More than a year.<br />
<br />
And a lot has happened since my last piece on Aila and Sector-V.<br />
<br />
Apart from the proverbial "I'm a year older" (which is a given), quite a few things have occurred this past year and they have been rather interesting "things". Well most of them at least... and most of these "most of them" have been positive "things". Of course there have been the few negatives as well. And there are the few unsettled-still-not-done-and-dusted issues that have merrily rolled over from the previous year to the current one.<br />
<br />
No, I'm not here to compile a list of my achievements and failures since my last blog-time. I'm not that kind of a person actually. What's mine is mine and not for everyone to know. My list would probably bore the death out of the casual reader anyway.<br />
<br />
But it is funny how some people I know have converted their blogs into a daily diary of sorts. And they have no qualms about vomiting out in detail stuff regarding their love life and even their sex life. It makes for interesting reading to be honest, and hey, it's not my duty to say what's right and what's wrong to them. It's their choice - freedom of expression using whatever medium they so desire.<br />
<br />
There is this one blog which has left me totally totally fixated, almost to the point of obsession. A young woman who's name is Radha - she's an air-hostess flying with Singapore Airlines. And yes, she's Manipuri, just like me.<br />
I don't know her personally. She most likely graduated from Bangalore - and we had exchanged scraps a few times on Orkut during her stay there. She had this really interesting profile, this apparently excellent taste in music (rock obviously), and she was hot and very attractive. So being the weirdo male that I am, I scrapped her. And she scrapped back... we exchanged the odd scrap for 2-3 weeks. Then she probably got bored of me.<br />
And that was that :)<br />
<br />
Well, I thought so at least...<br />
<br />
For some reason (call it the Curious George syndrome), I happened to re-visit her profile. I guess to check out her photos again (ya ya I know!), but my luck, she'd deleted all of them from her Orkut album.<br />
But she did have this link to her blog. And I decided to check it out, since, as you all are well aware of, I am a blogger too (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this shit).<br />
<br />
And what I read from her blog was nothing short of edgy, gripping and gut-wrenching. Not to sound over-dramatic, but it has left me a changed person. <br />
<br />
For most of you who aren't aware, Manipur is a small teeny weeny state situated in the North-East of India. It's kind've locked between Myanmar and other hilly states like Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. The capital city of Imphal is predominantly a Hindu belt. And when I say Hindu belt, I mean hard-core Hinduistic! Liberal, open-minded house-holds (to my knowledge) are few and far between. Especially so since most families are of the Hindu Undivided Joint Family type - so that would mean 2-3 families (maybe more) living together with a typical patriarchical figure-head acting as moral/local guardian for everyone residing under the same roof. The young generation doing their "thing" is looked down upon by the elders of society. And the young generation, in my opinion, reach a point where, when they do manage to leave Imphal and break the shackles of society, automatically get afflicted by this "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" syndrome - and this leaves them undergoing a sudden transformation in lifestyle and beliefs. Principles and values and other moral lessons that had been shoved into their brains seem to get lost or they undergo a complete re-working after their so-called-freedom is attained.<br />
<br />
Am I rambling?<br />
<br />
No I am not. But let me elucidate some more...<br />
<br />
For me, having been born in the USA and then having spent most of my "educated" life in this big bad city Kolkata, the rules and regulations of life in Manipur were never an issue for me. I've lived my life colorfully, the way any city-bred guy would live. I've done things which I would never blog about, I have gone to extremes on many an occasion, and there are certain incidents in my past that I certainly do not look back upon with pride. I obviously cannot run away from my past or my present. So hiding is no solution. But learning from my past is. And this I try to do, sometimes with success, sometimes not so successfully - but yes, I try. Of course each day brings about a new challenge. And we do new things, meet new people, have new experiences - so all I've seen, all I've done, all I've experienced, all I've learnt has hopefully made me a more mature and wiser person. And liberal too. Modern, open-minded and liberal.<br />
You see a kid doping on the side-walk. You see a woman puking out her lungs after a drink too many. You see a young teenage girl smoking like there's no tomorrow. You see an old man making out with a college kid... you know, stuff which society frowns down upon. My folks would have a fit if they saw some of the things that I'd seen. Most of my relatives in Manipur would have passed out from shock for sure. Hell, getting a tattoo is like a big deal to them.<br />
<br />
And that is normal, ain't it? Because these people haven't come across such scenes in their lives. And they do not know how to handle incidents like these - the normal reaction would probably be to look the other way and ignore, pretend you hadn't seen anything. And of course you also start to dig deep inside your mind, looking for past references to lessons that would give you direction and help allow you to handle such scenes. Chances are though (if you are in their shoes) you won't find any such references. So you start to invent labels. Labels for each person involved in each act that you find is a violation of your principles and values.<br />
Values are important. If you don't have any, you couldn't classify yourself as a human being. We all have them, as do rapists, murderers, dictators, anarchists, everyone (even though their value system pretty much has no resemblance to ours, you can bet on that). Values are what guide you through your daily life till the day you die.<br />
<br />
So yes, I've seen stuff, done stuff, blah blah blah. I've had the opportunity to edit and modify my "value" system on a few occasions. So when I see a kid doping or a young woman smoking or whatever, I don't freak out. I do have the sensibility and intelligence to understand what is going on around me. And I don't need labels to make things easier for me. What is happening around me doesn't always need to be black or white, because there is enough gray in this society of ours to provide me with suitable explanations to all the things that we get to see and experience in our society.<br />
Does that make me an open-minded, mature, liberal person?<br />
You betcha it does.<br />
<br />
But sometimes you come across people, or in this case, a person (and a virtual person at that!) who's life experiences and life-style totally baffle you. Blows your mind away. Hits you like a sledgehammer. And then you start to understand why the older generation freaks out when they see things that they don't relate too. Yes you suddenly find yourself in their shoes as well. You start frantically searching for references inside your brain and you find nothing. Suddenly simple equations which you thought you knew blind-folded don't seem to make sense anymore. And you then start to question the liberal open-mindedness that you seemed to be so proud of.<br />
<br />
I do not know Radha. Scrapping a person a few times does not amount to "knowing" a person. I have never met Radha. And I probably never will. She is a complete zero in my life. And yet everytime I read her blog I can't help but feel for her. It's like I want to look her straight in the eye and tell her to get a grip on her life! To push her off this self-destructive road that she seems to be treading. To just shout, "WAKE UP WOMAN!!!"<br />
<br />
I spoke of young adults breathing a fresh air of life once they leave their home Imphal behind - and how they change into something that they were so not what they were - well, this young woman takes the proverbial piece of cake. Probably nothing in her wildest dreams would have allowed her to know how her life path would take the course that it is currently on. <br />
<br />
I think myself to be open-minded, liberal... and yet what this Manipuri "leishabi" has experienced and done, I'd probably need a ladder to reach her level. And the worst part? Reading her blogs you can feel her pain, her awareness that what she is doing is wrong and totally "NOT" what she would have been doing if she was back home in Imphal. And it's like she's trapped in this vicious cycle - not knowing how to break free from it... and sadly, it doesn't seem like she wants to break free from it either.<br />
<br />
My whole point in writing all this probably got drowned somewhere after the 1st few paragraphs. But let me go back a bit before I end my long "come-back"<br />
Like I was saying, many things have happened in this period since my last blog. And as I said, I am not the kind of person to list them all down here in my blog site. But there are people who consider a blogspot to be just that... a place where they can vent their feelings and emotions, for lack of any other mechanism to do so... a place where things can be safely said, since such things cannot be expressed publicly or explicitly for fear of repercussions... or just a place where the blogger sends out a silent cry for help - silent, since he or she knows that no one is going to respond to their cry.<br />
<br />
But whatever, I am back. I like to blog and hopefully I shall continue to do so at regular intervals.<br />
<br />
And I shall also continue to follow Radha's blog and feel her pain from a distance. A pain that is sure to increase with each passing day in her life.<br />
I hope she proves me wrong and I wish her the best<br />
<br />
Her blogspot, if you are interested:<br />
<b><a href="http://fierycrotch.blogspot.com/">http://fierycrotch.blogspot.com</a></b><br />
<b>Wreck Of The Day</b><br />
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<div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden" /><!--Session data--><input id="jsProxy" onclick="jsCall();" type="hidden" /><div id="refHTML"></div>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-22094548952574332742009-06-10T07:24:00.000-07:002009-06-10T09:00:33.979-07:00Cyclone AILA and Sector-V<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyULH3jv1SlVGMRgcfJv4OVF6-mG3k3vY1xTv3yk5f1LNShvkLA1mca1WxjKturUJBmjXOta3icB7lhzB2L5Hw5OiRpGRitYnBua41fMVGEHu2fwKKT57HTVoeyZRj_NOix2G6nQ/s1600-h/IMG_2783.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyULH3jv1SlVGMRgcfJv4OVF6-mG3k3vY1xTv3yk5f1LNShvkLA1mca1WxjKturUJBmjXOta3icB7lhzB2L5Hw5OiRpGRitYnBua41fMVGEHu2fwKKT57HTVoeyZRj_NOix2G6nQ/s320/IMG_2783.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345726507043285762" border="0" /></a>A very boring title for my blog - I suppose it could have been a lot more grandiose to give you an idea just how bad the devastation caused by AILA was. But I guess you can read all about the destruction and havoc that occurred on the 25th of May 2009 almost anywhere on the net (complete with statistics and 1st hand eye witness reports etc. etc.)<br /><br />Me, I just wanna show you what it all looked like in Sector-V (or at least in my section of Sector-V - the Block EP and GP area) AFTER Aila was so gracious enough to leave us for the northern parts of West Bengal (via Howrah et al).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlWy2qvCLztsgqdKD5zW3COQbLhR5ZqrzkqYq6pmxTQH3eYwqrINKxl9u8tvXp2Y7FBrdPJleFY6rgLR_TM_CdJK3fqm7jtAkRuWEaxbayireMDXDyuOHHE1bFcjGnBsVyzjATg/s1600-h/IMG_2778.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlWy2qvCLztsgqdKD5zW3COQbLhR5ZqrzkqYq6pmxTQH3eYwqrINKxl9u8tvXp2Y7FBrdPJleFY6rgLR_TM_CdJK3fqm7jtAkRuWEaxbayireMDXDyuOHHE1bFcjGnBsVyzjATg/s320/IMG_2778.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345723486486138258" border="0" /></a>It's so funny, the 24th (The previous day) was a Sunday and it was like raining the entire day - and here I was thinking "OK, the Monsoon's here - and now it's gonna be hell getting to work, what with the flooding and all). I had even gone out to watch Monsters Vs. Aliens in the afternoon with my cousin bro Bumba and sis-in-law Debina in the rain, not even realising that the next day was going to be Kaos in Kolkata :)<br /><br />I woke up on Monday (after spending most of Sunday night watching the final day of this season's English Premier League) - late as usual I might add... I didn't read the papers - I didn't watch the news - I basically had NO idea what was just about to hit us.<br /><br />Big mistake. Big big mistake.<br /><br />It wasn't even very cloudy going to work. Very windy yes, but no rain - just a drizzle while on the bus (if I remember correctly). And I'm inside office early as usual. 9:25 AM.<br /><br />Cut to 11:00 AM - raining like hell outside and AILA has broken loose.<br /><br />By 11:30 AM gossip/news from everyone everywhere (tough filtering and sifting through the facts when they all hit you in the face at the same time) and I am hearing about this cyclone and how there's been a city-wide warning about how people should be inside their homes and should not be venturing out.<br /><br />12 noon - the entire office knows about AILA now. People have basically stopped working and <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8hKOHjpKBux1LsQrP93c-T_siJ-XrvMfUE8qucb96agR1Sr2gOISrENH8lH8yQa_d7JNHDz-PFWzoCJPxKboMD9-3RcK8skEt7Oxz9WbJPJr_KSE-mMg6VnKNXxN0NguIuDo-3A/s1600-h/26052009481.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8hKOHjpKBux1LsQrP93c-T_siJ-XrvMfUE8qucb96agR1Sr2gOISrENH8lH8yQa_d7JNHDz-PFWzoCJPxKboMD9-3RcK8skEt7Oxz9WbJPJr_KSE-mMg6VnKNXxN0NguIuDo-3A/s320/26052009481.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345728332883648754" border="0" /></a>everyone is surfing weather reports on the net or listening to FM radio for details. It's actually very funny seeing everyone like this. And the drama king that I am, I can't help but NOT make jokes about how we have to build ships to reach home or how we should ration our lunches because we probably WILL NOT be reaching home at all :)<br /><br />Anyway, 1:00 PM and it is pouring and the wind is howling. Every so often I open the window and boy, is that wind blowing! And I can see people flying, I mean it - literally being dragged by the wind outside. Poor souls. Lotsa pretty women too running after their umbrellas. Brollies are no use in this weather at all.<br /><br />Phone home a few times - Mom is worred. Phone Baba, he's at work but thank god he's aware of the situation. He wants to send the car to pick me up - and I refuse, because I can see that the usual stretch in front of the Omega Building + Megatherm + Infinity Building + RDB Boulevard is already flooded big time.<br /><br />At 2:00 PM during the roughest part of the storm, I convince Shrewam to take out his car and to<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7oFyKiY7MqVUzxAtQ_icFb5fTRb9MNmJbh-8yKtzTTvNVL6aeSFZSE6aYq3x9v0VGTSUu_lEWCuxFwZrD0uKPGPxBpNwF2fEbkyM-rsNK4SpyRsqCYfDeEMUPtTW-fSqaw2tfA/s1600-h/IMG_2774.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7oFyKiY7MqVUzxAtQ_icFb5fTRb9MNmJbh-8yKtzTTvNVL6aeSFZSE6aYq3x9v0VGTSUu_lEWCuxFwZrD0uKPGPxBpNwF2fEbkyM-rsNK4SpyRsqCYfDeEMUPtTW-fSqaw2tfA/s320/IMG_2774.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345724144547116450" border="0" /></a> brave the journey. We reach as far as the underground parking area of the RDB Boulevard, but Samit and the parking attendant discourage him from venturing out. And it is pretty bad (although Bina and Anup did just leave 15 minutes prior) - the road in front of the Systron Building and the RDB Boulevard looks like a war-zone - trees uprooted, and an electric pole lying in the middle of the road. Things looks very very bad.<br /><br />Anyway, am back at office but not for long.<br /><br />3:00 PM - the rain has stopped finally (for how long, I have no idea!) and I have finally convinced a few of the Venturi idiots to leave with me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tHaIC4FnN7PpWbPL0qiqHE7E2dBrHEV_DPtprFKt_GnUyHqhHwAvdldcqK6r1qtCdixtUwq2tm2hz6Y7JVJGZRhHWPOLhsIYJvcYOKrLqwhk37hZnaIAMkAW8BBm_YKo5U21yQ/s1600-h/IMG_2776.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tHaIC4FnN7PpWbPL0qiqHE7E2dBrHEV_DPtprFKt_GnUyHqhHwAvdldcqK6r1qtCdixtUwq2tm2hz6Y7JVJGZRhHWPOLhsIYJvcYOKrLqwhk37hZnaIAMkAW8BBm_YKo5U21yQ/s320/IMG_2776.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345725806889064738" border="0" /></a>3:30 PM - most people have decided to make a dash for home now, because the MET office says that this is just the lull before the storm. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there's gonna be any space in any of the cars. So me Arindam, Manasi and Sanjay decide to leg it 'till we get a taxi. In the rain (yes it's started to rain again). No other option.<br /><br />We walk 'till Nicco Park - I graciously refuse a lift from Debayan/Debdipto. Manasi has to take off her heels and walk barefoot after a point in time. And it's totally madness now in Sector-V - like the exodus of the Jews... or maybe like during the partition when people were shifting sides to India/Pakistan/Bangladesh. (was that excessive)<br />There are people walking EVERYWHERE. Hardly any buses (which are packed like sardines anyway). No TAXIS. All private cars are full to the brim. Uprooted trees on the road (well 2 to be precise) and a portion of the Nicco Park wall broken down. And people. Everywhere. Just walking. Actually, this reminds me of the video of the REM song "Everybody Hurts" - see it to know what I mean.<br /><br />Plan A - walk till Nicco Park and we'd be sure to get a cab.<br />Plan A - zilch.<br /><br />Plan B - walk till Chingrighata and we'd be sure to get a cab there.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYoD78U1ZgTmhKIurx7qA74RMuQNslWpGbH8OYcmXoZ5xgsMx7Yl7phgy-gB8p7tS6e_bfNl1qi1QlO3mDEgBh9ZHPVkbxQ-ii-AWf5dni_qn8gqI2fjmp5ijvVuFTSKlJQ5HFA/s1600-h/26052009482.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYoD78U1ZgTmhKIurx7qA74RMuQNslWpGbH8OYcmXoZ5xgsMx7Yl7phgy-gB8p7tS6e_bfNl1qi1QlO3mDEgBh9ZHPVkbxQ-ii-AWf5dni_qn8gqI2fjmp5ijvVuFTSKlJQ5HFA/s320/26052009482.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345728342015881186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We dumped Plan B. And opted for Plan C instead.<br /><br />When we reached Nicco Park, not only did we see NO taxis, we saw another ocean of humanity standing in the middle of the road! And there was this funny scene we saw where this female stops a Skypak courier van and makes the driver give her a lift... and suddenly a whole bunch of desperate software nerds jump on to the van and whoosh! Taxi service for the desperate!<br /><br />So going down to Chingrighata would have actually ended up being a disaster and thank god we didn't do so. Arindam and me then decide on Plan C which is to get inside the heart of Salt Lake (via Ishita Dasgupta's bridge - well it's not HER bridge, but I like to say so just to make things more identifiable for everyone concerned).<br />This of course means more walking. In the rain. It's past 4 PM already.<br /><br />We walk and we get wet. And we generally enjoy the wind et al. And we walk some more.<br />Until we are finally on the Beleghata connector at the EZCC bus-stand.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnv1YxJeVL4f2GFZKOf4JOv2KF3nmFyzLXWCn9uQ-nSdTRjMJ5Fsfyr4ojPK6qljdpFUCT91tNRRX3DBJ0RinqBBTV4vVP3HQBPNA1-ortajO18C7kN6XbOWfwUWB60oQMbvFWlA/s1600-h/IMG_2780.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnv1YxJeVL4f2GFZKOf4JOv2KF3nmFyzLXWCn9uQ-nSdTRjMJ5Fsfyr4ojPK6qljdpFUCT91tNRRX3DBJ0RinqBBTV4vVP3HQBPNA1-ortajO18C7kN6XbOWfwUWB60oQMbvFWlA/s320/IMG_2780.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345729018872563618" border="0" /></a>So now more decisions -<br />Plan D: do we stay here and try and haul a cab.<br />OR<br />Plan E: do we walk down to the AMRI hospital (you always get cabs from hospital areas!)<br />OR<br />Plan F: do we walk down to Hotel Hyatt (you always get cabs from 5-star deluxe hotel areas!)<br />Decisions decisions.<br /><br />Anyway, we finally opt for Plan D - and we literally hijack a passing cab and force the cab-driver to take us down South (that is South Kolkata). And on the way (once we are on the EM Bypass) we are witness to the carnage that has taken place prior to our departure from Sector-V.<br /><br />The EM Bypass is a mess - trees uprooted everywhere, people walking and walking and walking, signboards torn to shreds (and in some cases blown away), adjacent neighbourhoods under water. People walking and walking. Oh btw did I mention the people? :)) Some guys were actually standing in the middle of the road trying to forcefuly stop cars to get a free ride. It was pretty brutal where-ever I looked. And all this in the rain too.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACE9KVwV37RSGnjA8rFvo2J2qWspmM2AZDyjUIKJdXOxqlcIvbxZqxiVSmawasf_SqYS8W_KCtuRpi3yapJIALzttOsJq6z9M_KzpW-9YyAn7xWp3DYAj23U7zTPOfK3BtoiCEw/s1600-h/IMG_2775.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACE9KVwV37RSGnjA8rFvo2J2qWspmM2AZDyjUIKJdXOxqlcIvbxZqxiVSmawasf_SqYS8W_KCtuRpi3yapJIALzttOsJq6z9M_KzpW-9YyAn7xWp3DYAj23U7zTPOfK3BtoiCEw/s320/IMG_2775.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345729042561323202" border="0" /></a>Anyway I reached home @ approx. 5 PM. No power. But we were the lucky ones. The power failure which had started in the afternoon was back to normal before 6 PM. For most parts of Kolkata however, things were very very different. Unfortunately. I won't go into the gory details. But I will say this - if Kolkata is hit by a bigger cyclone than AILA in the future then we are so so screwed. The Disaster Management of our city failed BIG TIME. In fact I seriously doubt we even have a working Disaster Management team for our city. The chaos caused by AIULA should never have happened and the mess should have been cleaned up within hours. Sadly things are still screwed up in some parts of the city almost 3 weeks after this disaster.<br /><br />The 26th of May 2009. Tuesday.<br />I am back to work @ Sector-V. And from the snaps posted all around you can get an idea of what I saw all around me that day (and the next day as well).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirtwHdMLbWWRZubnjllsYZ8pOe7Ti1s0NZadPZsVwnXEbXT3lmGbMYHVrEIGkzRGKaUR3nWNOZqcXygGDQWLBJQkNcw_hxIeIeSdZNtOCCO6QSL46ej-0Oy34wIcXRk3cEzeRbA/s1600-h/IMG_2781.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirtwHdMLbWWRZubnjllsYZ8pOe7Ti1s0NZadPZsVwnXEbXT3lmGbMYHVrEIGkzRGKaUR3nWNOZqcXygGDQWLBJQkNcw_hxIeIeSdZNtOCCO6QSL46ej-0Oy34wIcXRk3cEzeRbA/s320/IMG_2781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345726501009214146" border="0" /></a>For the record - it took whoever was in charge 2 freaking DAYS to clear up the 2 uprooted electric poles. The general mess was cleaned up in approx. 24 hours - but even that is too long considering that Kolkata's Sector-V is supposed to be the HUB of West Bengal's INFORMATION and TECHNOLOGY industry.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAkVXAjDnZjAN_adOdqtRYOK5eFDN7KCYJcUSdcJ0wPt573IfwwAYLj_Y3yi7C-SWyysy6V3Hyvr53Mp5YbmbMgxWuBvf2a3og41mzqwg-imQkGozTUrx79t2VPIsHvBbLjH2rg/s1600-h/26052009483.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAkVXAjDnZjAN_adOdqtRYOK5eFDN7KCYJcUSdcJ0wPt573IfwwAYLj_Y3yi7C-SWyysy6V3Hyvr53Mp5YbmbMgxWuBvf2a3og41mzqwg-imQkGozTUrx79t2VPIsHvBbLjH2rg/s320/26052009483.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345725018120270530" border="0" /></a>Anyway enjoy the snaps that have been pasted randomly (courtesy monsieurs Shantanu K. Roy and Arindam Banerjee - and moi). These were snapped on the 26th and 27th of May.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RKmpS2fp4XVqOgmNLVsq-ucqCuxHDnZEF_YsNBZvJUkgRKA0rNYfn9jZXFSYZwkO2eleHbIubz8rksK-KWuPPfAThHUTHscgOMzXge1UQVDM74hE0si7bmp94uMSIOaPbMueoA/s1600-h/IMG_2782.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8RKmpS2fp4XVqOgmNLVsq-ucqCuxHDnZEF_YsNBZvJUkgRKA0rNYfn9jZXFSYZwkO2eleHbIubz8rksK-KWuPPfAThHUTHscgOMzXge1UQVDM74hE0si7bmp94uMSIOaPbMueoA/s320/IMG_2782.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345726506202156482" border="0" /></a>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-65535122289565053352009-04-29T10:15:00.000-07:002009-04-29T11:28:12.053-07:00Scientists think I am highly depressed, am contemplating suicide, drink and drive AND indulge in unprotected sex !!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbb7RuQst3mt1c7Nt3f9FzcTaLdXQN20nRbgZCXr3cvbmFZPtVkAf4Y4iw5dDb_VlGFSOR2xi6beBGzxSoY5uz0Z1aAdxXlLUUYtvf3E6MMymsHpBgUr7pOA2RiMMtDxlbKSPOZg/s1600-h/ndw0023l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbb7RuQst3mt1c7Nt3f9FzcTaLdXQN20nRbgZCXr3cvbmFZPtVkAf4Y4iw5dDb_VlGFSOR2xi6beBGzxSoY5uz0Z1aAdxXlLUUYtvf3E6MMymsHpBgUr7pOA2RiMMtDxlbKSPOZg/s320/ndw0023l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330175291723809986" border="0" /></a><br />I have this habit of saving/collecting articles I find on the internet, that I "might" find interesting OR which I might possibly think have a "Collector's Value", if you know what I mean.<br /><br />The funny thing is, most of the time these saved html files remain lying on my PC for months and months (sometimes years!) - and I eventually end up clearing everything out when I want to free up hard-disk space.<br /><br />Anyway, the above cycle... was busy deleting old old files when I came across this beauty, and boy, I just had to post it here in my blog!!!<br /><br />And yup - for those of you who don't know (and I find that extremely WEIRD) , although I listen to most forms of music, the genre that I love the most is HEAVY METAL!<br /><br />Alright - enough yapping, you may proceed to the reading room :)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxV_qkwez_8LuHZX2MdR0QC9nnySsXRHJ9LeSgJYWGh34u-mXwXunR0s2ZRLZuRJ5genPia3WQ3rcca2yRIVVzTtm2NpxVcepfb-HvQ42afpkRxFmyTGlfs_EXObCKcTkZ5nwPZg/s1600-h/wda0941l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxV_qkwez_8LuHZX2MdR0QC9nnySsXRHJ9LeSgJYWGh34u-mXwXunR0s2ZRLZuRJ5genPia3WQ3rcca2yRIVVzTtm2NpxVcepfb-HvQ42afpkRxFmyTGlfs_EXObCKcTkZ5nwPZg/s320/wda0941l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330180291460245858" border="0" /></a><h3 class="smller">Kids' choice of music may reveal suicidal tendencies</h3>Tue, Aug 5 2008<br />Doctors can determine whether a teenager is at the risk of developing a mental illness or committing suicide just by asking him or her what type of music they prefer, according to a new study.<br />Published in Australasian Psychiatry journal, the study showed that teens who listen to pop music are more likely to be struggling with their sexuality, while those who prefer rap or heavy metal could be having unprotected sex and drink-driving.<br />Teens who favour jazz are usually misfits and loners.<br />The authors of the study say that these observations go to suggest that teens' musical tastes may serve as a diagnostic indicator in mental health assessments.<br />"There is no evidence to suggest that the type of music you listen to will cause you to commit suicide, but those who are vulnerable and at risk of committing suicide may be listening to certain types of music," smh.com.au quoted the author of the study, Felicity Baker, as saying.<br />She said that an Australian study of year 10 students had shown significant associations between heavy metal music and suicide ideation, depression, delinquency and drug-taking, while an American study had also shown that young adults who regularly listened to heavy metal had a higher preoccupation with suicide and higher levels of depression than their peers.<br />She further said that deliberate self-harm and attempted suicide was also linked with children who listened to trance, techno, heavy metal, and medieval music as part of the goth subculture.<br />Teens who attended dance parties were much more likely than their peers to be taking drugs, she added.<br />Dr. Baker also revealed that some genres of rap music, like French rap, were linked to more deviant behaviours including theft, violence and drug use, while teens listening to hip-hop were usually less troublesome.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIjGAKltzSaSKu9ELRV6gjXzd3um7dZzo-gB8QczOY2v2eHi3S-lz9Dm4hYthrJVMGJaKozlbL4sZ1L6m4stX4SCmvIJT98RMUJE0nHLiDf2uRdBpvlOB14lKuCKQhWW3YhcoVw/s1600-h/sha0076l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIjGAKltzSaSKu9ELRV6gjXzd3um7dZzo-gB8QczOY2v2eHi3S-lz9Dm4hYthrJVMGJaKozlbL4sZ1L6m4stX4SCmvIJT98RMUJE0nHLiDf2uRdBpvlOB14lKuCKQhWW3YhcoVw/s320/sha0076l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330180716963520130" border="0" /></a>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-53779089857496338412009-04-22T10:54:00.000-07:002009-04-22T11:24:49.086-07:00THE PIT v.2.0 - 18th April 2009<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzwUnoAuxpe7yXKsZ61VwNtCfL8vyNh3paDno7ofNf42YFAafupdtyRUBIGT9CfHiRw503IS_cFgWOXZo_ViNXlP25ZFZpWdnJEBbEoLm-j-680l9pMvbGu5R1CK7VAsk1F4QOw/s1600-h/IMG_2724.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzwUnoAuxpe7yXKsZ61VwNtCfL8vyNh3paDno7ofNf42YFAafupdtyRUBIGT9CfHiRw503IS_cFgWOXZo_ViNXlP25ZFZpWdnJEBbEoLm-j-680l9pMvbGu5R1CK7VAsk1F4QOw/s320/IMG_2724.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327581825325230210" border="0" /></a>And so to the biggest event of April 2009 – bigger than the National Assembly Elections… THE PIT v.2!<br />I doubt whether any review would do justice to the actual event. It is far easier to review band competitions or one-off gigs, because you can actually get away with being critical of a particular band or a musician.<br /><br />But events like The Pit are far bigger than just one musician or a single band – to me, this is more than just about the music. This is more than just about a horde of metal-heads congregating at some metal shrine and headbanging like lunatics… No, The Pit is a concept, a message from the heavy metal loving fraternity of Kolkata to the rest of the metal loving maniacs of our country. So to insult (or to be overtly critical) of any musician performing @ The Pit would be an insult to The Pit itself.<br /><br />Anyway, for all those who were NOT present, The Pit v.2 was not just a success, it was a MAMMOTH SUCCESS! This entire metal slug-fest was so well organized that it left me totally flabbergasted.<br />Me being the perennial pessimist, I was expecting pit-falls and goof-ups at every corner – but no, apart from the 1 hour delayed start, I was left totally disappointed!<br />I couldn’t lay my finger on anything.<br />The concept – A+<br /><br />The venue – A<br />Granted, it is definitely not the classiest theatre in town. And ok, the toilets stank and the dearth of ACs (April 18th – 40.8° centigrade – one of the hottest days in 10 years!) was a killer – but regardless, the compactness of Tapan Theatre just felt so right that I couldn’t think of any better venue to hold such an event! (an outdoor gig in this weather would have led to all of us dying of sun-stroke anyways!). Plus, this joint being in South Kolkata… what more could I ask for? Heh! I hope all such events are held in South Kolkata! Heh!<br /><br />The sound – A<br />Again, no complaints. The sound was very clear to even a deaf person like me. No boom, no feedback, no reverb and all that trash which makes listening to music torture. What more could one ask for?<br /><br />The music – A++<br />Like I said, it would be totally unfair to criticize any of the bands – it wasn’t just about the music after all, The Pit was around to make a bold statement.<br />In any case (and this is the good thing) none of the bands did anything for me to be critical about. Am I being diplomatic? No absolutely not. I enjoyed the performance of all the bands. Maybe I was too caught up in the entire wave of metal enthusiasm to be too bothered to listen to every note and line of the songs being played as intently as I might at any other concert. Who know! But whatever, I loved the music dished out by all 8 bands that day. And this, despite my having some reservations initially before the event started.<br /><br />Amongst the 8 bands, one band I had never ever heard before (live or online) – and there were at least 3 bands who were playing for the 1st time with new members (and supposedly very little practice as well!) – yes, you know which bands I am talking about.<br />So yup, I wasn’t very sure how good the music would be – but looking back I have to honestly say that all the bands (new line-ups, old line-ups) all gave solid performances.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFeTzS0hrGUSFBPE0KrFDNLR-M_CscxyoxKVAh_JGV9GdpW3ossGIfgoNenWdZ3B_jv_w9jd8kToQhO1wO-7gxrwc3YP7AG5gvkI1dtgR6XjuSpiQT3NtwU1hT6SeStVKRzNfUA/s1600-h/IMG_2647.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFeTzS0hrGUSFBPE0KrFDNLR-M_CscxyoxKVAh_JGV9GdpW3ossGIfgoNenWdZ3B_jv_w9jd8kToQhO1wO-7gxrwc3YP7AG5gvkI1dtgR6XjuSpiQT3NtwU1hT6SeStVKRzNfUA/s320/IMG_2647.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327581714977813682" border="0" /></a>The crowd – A+<br />A Saturday was always a great date for such an event, especially for an office-goer like me. (I still regret having to miss the 1st edition of The Pit). Anyway, I expected a pretty decent crowd on the 18th.<br />But what I saw that day was far beyond my expectations – this was like the biggest assembly of metal freaks ever. And there was this particular time, just after the Flash Flood gig, when the entire crowd seemed to pour out of Tapan Theatre… the neighbourhood then looked like a sea of black tees. It was really an awesome sight! I’m sure the “para” folk were scared stiff seeing so many menacing freakos in their area.<br />Yes, I know – a major chunk of the crowd consisted of wannabes and pseudos. Girl-friends of metal-heads, friends and relatives of musicians, curious “para” folk… all these sections of the society contributed to the numbers – still, the response to The Pit v.2 was absolutely heartening and bodes well for the future IF such events can attract such huge numbers. (Hey stuck-up event management people, wake up! Even metal shows draw great crowds in Kolkata!)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqQtMq4zMecfkJn-7Kz8jweluTiYPKkBPmObbi2xEKzgqtl0x9aFl1RwHl3Qmga9BnaiZ9NBYXK1gIzLAJQEAaIAJHi2UbPVO1g1alH_KVmZuBaOzR9B12PSoOI-h2Z63cBRQnA/s1600-h/IMG_2600IH.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqQtMq4zMecfkJn-7Kz8jweluTiYPKkBPmObbi2xEKzgqtl0x9aFl1RwHl3Qmga9BnaiZ9NBYXK1gIzLAJQEAaIAJHi2UbPVO1g1alH_KVmZuBaOzR9B12PSoOI-h2Z63cBRQnA/s320/IMG_2600IH.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327581535672990994" border="0" /></a>Being a DEATH tribute band is no easy task and so my hats off to the 4 members of In Human. For a 1st time listener I can only say that they were brilliant and I kick myself for not having heard them before in the past. They did a splendid job getting the event started.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkstjOhrCluy5FupsInfTtZ095bVoOksgfvm9ShKrX8TmkUU5EDe-SAHIl9aqQIsaodeJBdywLptaUIvhdSco1YQLiqTAe5No_NT_qY-NMvQPtVpYj10hrpGHlqeLIAXgZzQEa4w/s1600-h/IMG_2613DB.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkstjOhrCluy5FupsInfTtZ095bVoOksgfvm9ShKrX8TmkUU5EDe-SAHIl9aqQIsaodeJBdywLptaUIvhdSco1YQLiqTAe5No_NT_qY-NMvQPtVpYj10hrpGHlqeLIAXgZzQEa4w/s320/IMG_2613DB.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327581129599421586" border="0" /></a>The same goes for DIOT B. I had only ever seen them play half a set (@ Bethune College!) which is a crying shame. Anyway, here they were and they just let rip. 30 minutes of deadly music. The crowd was fully utilizing the space available for moshing activities.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIV0EM-djcQ4FO7-7WWBVXchDE4DO0fz8JBHf2tV7iqRIoQ57Hil4fKcDfB6nBz21HQdGbmy8QrJiznR3m9BZikQdkn18yWWo_tMNMsyPmZsc_E18ZR_yRStSYySF_fdOY0FdIIw/s1600-h/IMG_2646FF.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIV0EM-djcQ4FO7-7WWBVXchDE4DO0fz8JBHf2tV7iqRIoQ57Hil4fKcDfB6nBz21HQdGbmy8QrJiznR3m9BZikQdkn18yWWo_tMNMsyPmZsc_E18ZR_yRStSYySF_fdOY0FdIIw/s320/IMG_2646FF.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327580917606712674" border="0" /></a>A special mention goes out to Flash Flood. I don’t want to rank any band, but if you had to give out prizes then they were probably the winners of PIT 2. And Leeyong is such an insane muthafucka – he is the living embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a classic case of a person having 2 sides, a 2 Face - who could imagine such a docile well-mannered kid going so bloody crazy when you give him a guitar and put him on stage?<br />Flash Flood was brilliant – maybe instead of leaving, Diwash and Leeyong should stick around. I know I am trying to be politically correct and I shouldn’t be saying such stuff, but ya, that’s what I feel right now.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_HK4R6fIsXxYP3h6Ye5yx2RMwBxCVZ9FGqY1_oLT2CJjUGjk208oMRXN1HIq_LTtoLHtLytguvFDejBaF1OrFSc4dO7v6HT6dRXT7J_cV5wIB2pv3eg3wI5Zxdv4DZ-fTqGATEQ/s1600-h/IMG_2649CX.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_HK4R6fIsXxYP3h6Ye5yx2RMwBxCVZ9FGqY1_oLT2CJjUGjk208oMRXN1HIq_LTtoLHtLytguvFDejBaF1OrFSc4dO7v6HT6dRXT7J_cV5wIB2pv3eg3wI5Zxdv4DZ-fTqGATEQ/s320/IMG_2649CX.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327580716942225202" border="0" /></a>Chronic Xorn? What can I say – another great gig and more bad luck as usual! Playing to a crowd that had just survived Flash Flood’s assault was tough enough… but the massive power failure during their set was the icing of the cake. Anyway it was good to see Anindya playing with the gang.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWcy2_nVpVsjo9nFZH2lxXetQb7wM0OLi6ORbw5nQdXugmEQHmmQHKya-IuGY-CIzvrprQDQ4m7SPvjo0JTILJDJQjAUDWLkk-nlKEdTgx7tjqMKSTfA8284O3Xhdq8WoWkFZ-rA/s1600-h/IMG_2681SO.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWcy2_nVpVsjo9nFZH2lxXetQb7wM0OLi6ORbw5nQdXugmEQHmmQHKya-IuGY-CIzvrprQDQ4m7SPvjo0JTILJDJQjAUDWLkk-nlKEdTgx7tjqMKSTfA8284O3Xhdq8WoWkFZ-rA/s320/IMG_2681SO.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327580524186329522" border="0" /></a>Sinful Oath is another crazy band that I just love to watch. Maybe the thinnest band around too – from what I saw after seeing their topless performance. The most improved band in the circuit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKD3D-bDUGjumFirY6y8ffVi6hTDHZ7I6GcTXAvqDl2y1CNdgZd5fMnBA2BOB-TrJznaipceNDJISeBqI5R9v0IdeXvxtxycrUS4b6nrXsUV8xd-xqw2SimPxasyw8cw8idzCpQ/s1600-h/IMG_2710CI.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKD3D-bDUGjumFirY6y8ffVi6hTDHZ7I6GcTXAvqDl2y1CNdgZd5fMnBA2BOB-TrJznaipceNDJISeBqI5R9v0IdeXvxtxycrUS4b6nrXsUV8xd-xqw2SimPxasyw8cw8idzCpQ/s320/IMG_2710CI.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327580233612534306" border="0" /></a>To me, this was my best gig I have seen Cicatrixx play. They performed far beyond my expectations. Regardless of the bassist change I found this to be their most mature gig to date, even better than what I saw @ the Karunamoyee Kings Of Rock competition. Good going.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7crfHL5eFOIO5rTKuQxX_E0CkMX-S0pjVcg_SI0UCp-u3pDvY1aN8-BEOt32BmLVDpUOhed1mAXOGjkn38fiQqziv4AQOMPCZclJkg8KgNXbJDyv6Yy-BuY6ta7XQ50-0wufVQ/s1600-h/IMG_2734CATW.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7crfHL5eFOIO5rTKuQxX_E0CkMX-S0pjVcg_SI0UCp-u3pDvY1aN8-BEOt32BmLVDpUOhed1mAXOGjkn38fiQqziv4AQOMPCZclJkg8KgNXbJDyv6Yy-BuY6ta7XQ50-0wufVQ/s320/IMG_2734CATW.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327579187227906514" border="0" /></a>Crystal And The Witches with a new guitarist. And the young chap did a great job. So that obviously helped the band to put up a good show. No hiccups, loads of energy, great choice of covers, and Leeyong going crazy as ever. Plus Diwash is a great front-man, no doubt about that.<br />I’m not very happy that Arthur is missing and I sincerely hope things can be patched up and that CATW return to being what they were + the new guitarist. No problem in being a 5 member band after all. Anyway, their band dynamics are not for me to handle. I will always support this band regardless of them being a 4 member band or a 5 member band.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCg9d1SxgCZYxr3qQGH2Eb9J1wsA_eMnSqjFKONaM0RXTQ901E2hChm93DM_xbCQYXihv8MzCOfh9VjAhtqBZDL5aHFplikoaOZoctXUzBrZUWFyqSpRVj6cSNZU1MuNHy0kALIw/s1600-h/IMG_2752NA.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCg9d1SxgCZYxr3qQGH2Eb9J1wsA_eMnSqjFKONaM0RXTQ901E2hChm93DM_xbCQYXihv8MzCOfh9VjAhtqBZDL5aHFplikoaOZoctXUzBrZUWFyqSpRVj6cSNZU1MuNHy0kALIw/s320/IMG_2752NA.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327578893248973778" border="0" /></a>Lastly, Noyze Akademi – also with a new bassist, but a talented one at that. This was just my 2nd NA gig and yup, I enjoyed this one far more than my 1st one (@ the Scholastic Beats final). I think removing the DJ was a good idea. Nothing against him, he’s a nice chap – but the sound of NA is far more solid because of this line-up change. There aren’t too many hard-core nu-metal acts in India so Noyze Akademi has loads of space to make a name in this genre.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFSnTkW3TT2H_FSkPxA5OSX0zPay065_5lOr2c1JvlLrZTPCWa-y8zOL9i7O5id4A7U8cHE87w5s8rLi3ieC5luHgnWhUSn1Vo9rBLocnczx-Pud6NSM7t58LULZOxHpRwBkwkA/s1600-h/IMG_2764.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFSnTkW3TT2H_FSkPxA5OSX0zPay065_5lOr2c1JvlLrZTPCWa-y8zOL9i7O5id4A7U8cHE87w5s8rLi3ieC5luHgnWhUSn1Vo9rBLocnczx-Pud6NSM7t58LULZOxHpRwBkwkA/s320/IMG_2764.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327578086700376546" border="0" /></a>So that was that, The Pit v.2 done and dusted. Special mention must be made about the massive power cut which lasted for what, 2-3 hours? It almost killed the event. And the heat, well that was even worse.<br />But nothing seemed daunting enough to the Pit organizing committee. And so the show went on and we all had a great time… and now everyone is dying for the next Pit to happen. And I am sure the rest of India are sitting up and taking notice of our “little” community here as well – I can guarantee that those “big daddies” from Mumbai and Delhi will be dying to be a part of The Pit v.3 whenever it happens next. Managing team, be prepared for a flood of requests from these bands!<br /><br />\m/Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-55029581276385005352009-01-22T08:40:00.000-08:002009-01-22T09:02:30.753-08:00A musical diary - non-stop gigging at my age!Haven't blogged in ages - laziness is one of the main reasons why. Anyway, I thought I'd re-blog again and what better a topic than music - and it's been a very very busy week-end in January:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">15th of January</span><br />The 1st Crystal & The Witches gig that I missed in Kolkata - blame my office commitments! (I was to follow up this miss with another one – on the 21st of January to be precise... midnight gigs during a week-day are NOW a strict no-no for me!)<br /><br />But whatever, from the reports I got, it was a wild night @ Princeton and the show had to end after just an hour after the inevitable moshing led to the speakers falling on top of Diwash’s processor (or some shit like that – don’t remember the exact details actually, the info being all 2nd hand!)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">16th of January (day)</span><br />A total drain-out for me.<br /><br />I have been helping out Safire for the last couple of months (not as a manager, more as a “big-brother” advisor), and I promised to bunk half a day at work to help them out at their prelims @ Campus Rock Idols 2009. But it turned out to be more than just half a day!<br /><br />The prelims were to start at 8 AM, but as always me and the band didn’t reach the Ultadanga venue before 10 AM (the delay being mainly due to procuring of valid documents like birth certificates and college IDs and college permissions etc. etc. – a huge pain in the ass if you ask me). Anyway, the prelims were excellent fun and the number of bands participating was staggering. Only 8 were to be selected. <br /><br />Cutting to the chase – WEAPON SHOP and GRAVY THEORY were brilliant. 2 of the best young bands in Kolkata for sure. The goth metallers DREAM DIABOLIC were out of this world, and metal at this level has rarely been heard in Kolkata, especially at the college level. A band to look out for in the future.<br /><br />SAFIRE with a new drummer were silky smooth, which took me by surprise because I had apprehensions about how they would fare. But they nailed the prelims.<br /><br />SINFUL OATH was very good too, though loose in patches. Deeptaroop on drums did a very good job. A melodic death metal band, they have been very consistent throughout the college competition circuit this year. A band to check out, if they can stick it together.<br /><br />As were GLASS ONION, always a pleasure to listen to them. Not many young bands play the kind of music they do, which definitely makes them a unique act.<br /><br />And THE CYNICAL RECESS – with possibly one of the best vocalists in the entire Kolkata rock circuit, Abhishek Gurung. Most people say they get goose-bumps when they hear him sing – and while that certainly does not happen to me, I will concede that vocal-wise he would give even most established singers a good run for their money.<br /><br />I would be happy to say that out of the 8, I kind of managed to predict 7 correctly (the ones above). The 8th band however was a complete surprise – ALBATROSS. I didn’t quite like them very much, no disrespect to any of the band members. I think they are a talented bunch of musicians, and their vocalist was impressive indeed (reminded me of Dani Filth!) but I thought there were better bands on the day.<br /><br />Bands which were very good but did not qualify – PENNY DROPS BANDS, KREMATORY and CHRONIC XORN deserve a special mention. PENNY DROPS being a punk/emo band, they had a very fresh sound and I thought that would work in their favour – unfortunately it didn’t. I could not understand the judges take on this, and I would love to know why THE PENNY DROPS BAND missed out.<br /><br />Being predominantly a metal lover, it was appalling to see the judges putting their fingers in their ears when any of the metal bands play. I wonder how they were allowed to be judges if their musical tolerance level was so low.<br /><br />CHRONIC XORN in my opinion was probably one of the tightest bands that performed @ the prelims. Unfortunately, being a brutal death metal band, the judges could NOT tolerate anything that they dished out. Very sad, since this band was a Zonal finalist @ CRI 2008 – and their NOT making the final 8 was indeed a big surprise. You might not like their music but no one can say they are a bad band – and a very tight one too. Their drummer Tamaghna (along with Deeptaroop and DIOT B’s Niloy) form a triumvirate of Metal Bashers. It’s good fun watching them play.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">16th of January (night)</span><br />The action wasn’t over – one of Kolkata’s most talented young bands was performing @ La Dolce Vita – HOOF HOOEY.<br /><br />Performers at the Calcutta Rock Festival (2007) and bagging a 3rd place at last year’s Time Youth festival (their high points) - this band has broken up and reunited and gone on a break so many times that I have lost count. But it finally looks like they are getting their act together. And I was looking forward to their 1st full-length gig, albeit a pub gig.<br /><br />And they did not disappoint.<br /><br />In one word the HOOF was awesome. Playing their punk and emo driven originals (and a few covers thrown in for good measure), HOOF HOOEY systematically decimated the small gathering that had turned up. And the best part was listening to them deconstruct 2 major pop super-hits and have them played in “HOOF HOOEY” style: SHANIA TWAIN’s “You’re The One I Want” and CELINE DION’s “My Heart Will Go On” – the band totally massacred these 2 songs and churned them out brand new. It was awesome to hear them do that!<br /><br />If you want to check out some good clean music, then HOOF HOOEY is a band to look out for. I believe they will be playing off and on @ LDV, so watch out for their shows.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">17th of January</span><br />The CRI Regional finals followed by the CRI Eastern Zonal Finals – and in between performances by SKINNY ALLEY and F.L.I.<br /><br />Lets go straight to the CRI Regionals 1st.<br /><br />GLASS ONION were the 1st band up – and being the 1st band up is always a disadvantage, trying to get the sound balanced properly et al. I am no musician but common-sense tells me that all the subsequent bands get to learn from the goof-ups of the 1st band and that helps them to smooth out any rough edges during their slots. So GLASS ONION was the sacrificial lamb here – despite a pretty good 15 minutes, and vocalist Piu did a great job.<br /><br />GRAVY THEORY faced sound problems too – but I found them to be very tight and thoroughly enjoyed their performance. In fact I was predicting them as one of the top 3 finalists. Their original “Wait and Watch” was superb – btw these guys were playing with a temp bassist: Rohit from the band PSEUDONYM, and he had just 3 rehearsals, or so I believe, to pick up the Gravy songs.<br /><br />ALBATROSS were nice but I wasn’t expecting them to go very far because the competition was tough.<br /><br />SINFUL OATH totally mucked up their slot with an average performance. But being metal, they got the crowd going full-on. They could have done a lot better though. Anyway, sometimes you have a bad day.<br /><br />WEAPON SHOP nailed it with their originals – "Burnout" is a very good song, a very CREED-like composition. Their guitarist Adil, bassist Sowmya and vocalist Ishan had a very good day.<br /><br />SAFIRE blew me away – my kids were awesome on stage despite their pre-show hiccups. I kind of knew they would be up there if not within the top 3 itself. Their original “Song For You” sounded excellent that day.<br /><br />DREAM DIABOLIC got the crowd going the moment their set started – and they had the best stage act as well.<br /><br />THE CYNICAL RECESS was good – but there too many glitches with the sound towards the initial phase of their slot, which didn’t help the band at all.<br /><br />Anyway, the results were not very surprising – DREAM DIABOLIC, WEAPON SHOP and SAFIRE in that order.<br /><br />Many felt THE CYNICAL RECESS and/or GRAVY THEORY were the unlucky ones, and yes I would think so too – but the level of competition was so tight this time that it was probably a fair result all around. Anyway, people will have their opinions.<br /><br />In between there was a massively entertaining gig by SKINNY ALLEY and I must say, this was probably the best SKINNY ALLEY show I have attended – well the one I have enjoyed the most, at least. Their rendition of Welcome To The Machine (Pink Floyd) in their own SKINNY style was absolutely brilliant – and hardly what a Pink Floyd purist would have enjoyed listening to - but who gives a damn!<br /><br />The Zonal Finals were a lukewarm affair – more metal this time around (the 3 Shillong finalists were all heavy bands): DIGITAL SUICIDE, NATIVE RULZ and MELODRAMA.<br /><br />The Kolkata bands actually did very bad INCLUDING SAFIRE. It was probably the worst I have seen them perform - but with a new drummer, they would have managed to have only gone so far. Getting to the Zonals was an achievement in itself. Anyway, they were no good in the Zonals, but this is nothing to get disheartened about. These kids do know they can do better so I look forward to seeing them with a bit more polish and flair next time.<br /><br />WEAPON SHOP and DREAM DIABOLIC all looked tired on stage – as did SAFIRE. Playing on Friday and twice on Saturday must have taken a toll on them because they looked anything BUT fresh. I think DREAM DIABOLIC was pretty good in the Zonals, but it did look like they were going through the motions – there wasn’t much feel in their stage act. And the same could be said of WEAPON SHOP, although the band did seem happy with their performance.<br /><br />Of the North-Eastern bands, NATIVE RULZ would have probably won the best hair-style prize (drummer and vocalist looked like they were sporting Mohawks) but they played very monotonous thrash metal. Not very interesting.<br /><br />DIGITAL SUICIDE did well – I can’t however remember anything of their slot. They played tight and their tunes sounded nice, but that’s about it. Anyway, to make a long story short they came in 2nd from the East Zone. I would believe that they pipped DREAM DIABOLIC to the 2nd slot – I was rooting for the latter, and I thought they’d be amongst the rank-holders, which was eventually not to be.<br /><br />The best band (no questions asked) was MELODRAMA – they were excellent. Tight metal-core originals and a good stage act. And they played one cover: ARCH ENEMY’s “Dead Eyes See No Future” – it was a total earth shatterer, that one. Great young band, good potential – hope they manage to strike it big @ the CRI finals in Hyderabad.<br /><br />The last guest performance was by FIVE LITTLE INDIANS (F.L.I.) with their new bassist Panku (LAKKHICHHARA/URBAN REFLECTIONS... but you knew that already!)<br /><br />By the time the band got up on stage most of the crowd had left – it was late by the standard of most youngsters. They unfortunately missed a pretty good show.<br /><br />This was my 2nd FLI gig – the 1st one @ Someplace Else during the Pubrock Fest was memorable more for non-musical reasons – most people (me included) were attending out of the curiosity factor – getting to see 5 well-known musicians from the Kolkata circuit isn’t an everyday affair after all.<br /><br />But on Saturday it was all about the music – freed of the obvious “pub” restrictions, the FLI went ahead and churned out a tight and excellent performance. At SPE the original I liked the most was ”Go”, but after listening to them this time around I’d have to do a toss-up between “Survive” and “Screaming At The Sun”. “Prodigy” was another excellent original. The contrasting vocal styles of Neel and Sayok on their songs worked for me – it was fun listening to them singing in tandem.<br /><br />FLI don’t play very often – and they obviously prefer outdoor venues to pubs, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them @ Princeton or even LDV (or SPE, but not @ midnight please!) – cheers to the band.<br /><br />So that was the 17th of January! Whew! What a long day.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">18th of January</span> <br />Still not over yet.<br /><br />Sunday 6 PM @ Someplace Else – GRAVY THEORY: one of my favourite young bands from the city.<br /><br />It was probably their 1st proper gig ever ('till date it’s just been 10-15 minute college competition slots and 1 half-an-hour slot @ LDV during the memorable Halloween party)<br /><br />These kids didn’t disappoint. This Sunday evening was like Diwali re-visited, an explosive performance.<br /><br />Keeping their CRI disappointment on the back-burner, the Gravy guys went ahead and dished out original after cracking original – and by the time the show ended most of us were sweating! Special mention must be made of the following compositions: “One Man Dead”, “Wait And Watch”, “Read Me My Rights” and my all all-time favourite Gravy tune: “This Is My Disaster, Not Your’s” – wonderful song that!<br /><br />And amongst the covers, well how could I NOT mention their kick-ass ZERO cover – PSP anyone?<br /><br />Add to that their signature Popeye theme tune and a mish-mosh of GNR’s “Sweet Child Of Mine and BLINK 182’s “All The Small Things”… and there you have it – Gravy served fresh and hot!<br /><br />ZERO from Mumbai, THEM CLONES from Delhi… it won’t be very long before GRAVY THEORY from Kolkata are put in the same bracket as these great bands. They have the potential – I just hope they have the luck and drive to sustain them on their journey, because, ladies and gentlemen, GRAVY THEORY is a very good band.<br /><br />So that's done – my musical diary from the 15th to the 18th of January - anymore gigs to attend and I'd turn into a zombie. Music listening can be pretty tiring!Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-69904575852509451902007-12-13T02:34:00.000-08:002007-12-13T05:33:54.821-08:00The Many Faces of Cassini's DivisionI thought I'd write a review of some CD shows today, since its been a task long overdue. I mean, I haven't actually written a show review for the band ever since they left Someplace Else - and there have been some really dynamite shows in these past 6 months:<br /><br />A> Their 2nd ever show @ Princeton (and their 1st one after the SPE exodus)<br />B> The show @ the Carmel High School fest which was something new for the band - playing in front of a mammoth crowd of school kids and some stern nuns/sisters/teachers.<br />C> The show @ Princeton where they made their HMV announcement.<br />D> The show @ the Statesman "VIBES" fest at Nazrul Manch.<br />E> The jugal-bandi with Lou Majaw for the opening show of the Sharktooth Music festival.<br /><br />... Hmmm! I'm clearly lagging behind in terms of reviews and I don't think I'd be able to do justice to all these great gigs by just compiling one khichdi of a blog. And it wouldn't be fair for either the band or the fans. And it definitely would not do justice to any of the shows, each one being stand-out kick-ass gigs in their own respect. <br />Each gig had their own unique flavour and environment and for those of us lucky enough to attend them it was a cool experience seeing CD at their finest outside the confines of Someplace Else - a venue where most of us hard-core fans had gotten so used to seeing Cassini's perform. Almost so it was like CD had become a piece of Sunday furniture @ the Park. <br /><br />The last show @ SPE was indeed a mile-stone and a turning point for not just the band but also for its fans, including your's truly... Sundays had become more than just about Cassini's Division. Sundays @ SPE had become (for the last 3 years) a week-end full-scale adda session for the regulars. A day when groupies and friends and lovers would all get together and enjoy a fun-filled 2-3 hours of booze, chit-chat, make-out sessions and music. <br /><br />And unfortunately if we all take an honest look back at the those good 'ol days, Sundays had become less about music and more about fun. <br /><br />Music is fun without a doubt - but when I look back I kinda realise that the band needed a change - needed new challenges. The music was and still is primarily the same, and the old-school CD fans like me never seemed to get tired of hearing the same songs being played day-in and day-out: "Stay", "Drown", "Only For A While", "Rumble", "Higher", "Caesar", "Voivoid", "Satyr9, "Glowworm", "Urban Phenomenon".<br />We'd occasionally hear a new song or an "OLD" song which had not been played for centuries. But the crowd never seemed to get tired of listening to the usual list of Sunday originals and covers. <br />Sometimes I think back and wonder - were most of the kids really listening? Or was CD just something in the back-ground for them while they were busy guzzling beer and eyeing the pretty females/ hunky males? I don't know.<br /><br />Anyway, things came to an end at this venue - for the good. Playing the same stuff to the same faces at the same place is nothing short of killing.<br /><br />Princeton came along - as did other shows. New venues, new faces, and newer music.<br /><br />And during this phase the number of new songs that have been churned out by the band has been pretty phenomenal. And its good to see the crowd enjoying them as well... though for quite a few of the old school the change in sound has been quite a new experience. I would believe that most of them are used to seeing and experiencing a certain kind of CD sound and suddenly seeing a change in direction has knocked their socks off. More so because its not like they're seeing a CD show every Sunday anymore... it's almost like once in 1 month for them. For some its like once in 2 months... maybe longer. I guess its like coming home after being away for months and months, and then seeing that your favourite chair has been given away to your maid-servant. Something like that.<br /><br />But the wonderful thing about all this change is the fact that CD is living up to it's name. And they are doing precisely what they have set out to do. <strong>Think about it</strong>.<br /><br />For the past 5-6 years Cassini's Division has always tried to stand out amongst the mundane cover bands that this city has been churning out like a noodle factory. When they initially started out they were playing covers by bands like R.E.M., Nirvana and other prominent alternative/modern rock bands of the day. And NO Pink Floyd or The Doors.<br /><br />And just when the city crowd started getting a hang of them, the band starts pouring out a string of originals. Something unprecedented at that time. <br />(Well ok, We had Skinny Alley doing it prior to them - but they are established musicians - the CD gang back then were a bunch of brash ciggie puffing tough talking dreamers still yet to make a huge name for themselves in the circuit).<br /><br />It was around about this time that I made my entrance in the CD army. And this change in "scenery" totally bowled me over. Forget the fact that I am a metal-headed freak - the fact that I was getting to experience something so new in the city made me want to dance with joy. And hey I do love alternative/modern rock too for your kind information :))<br /><br />Well ok - that done. So what next? A trip to JRO Chennai and it seems that another change was in the offing. I can't pinpoint the exact date or time, but suddenly I find the CD sound becoming more heavier and gothic and boy did I love it. Fine tuning your existing body of work is always important, and this was doubly so in the case of the CDs originals. In a scene devoid of bands that played anything remotely heavy, CD were like an oasis in the desert for me. And there was this one particular show (I remember it like yesterday) - their old 9 PM Sunday slot... where I was fortunate to be amongst the crowd for the debut of their only <strong>SYSTEM OF A DOWN</strong> cover "<strong>AERIALS</strong>"<br /><br />True, nowadays heavy metal has made a revival in the city with bands such as Atmahatya, Crystal and The Witches and The Hobos in the forefront. And true even bands like Insomnia play a pretty darn heavy set during their normal gigs.<br />But back in those days it was so much different. <br />There were no bands playing heavy music, much less alternative or heavy metal. There were only classic rock cover bands. Everywhere you looked. And then some more.<br /><br />So I loved it, the new sound. Someplace Else hated it. So did the hoity toity SPE regulars as well. And it was during this time that the battle between the fans of CD and the fans of the cover bands (almost seemed like us VERSUS the rest of the world) raged at its heaviest. Those were electric days. Every day seemed to bring up a new fight and a controversy. <br /><br />And it was during this time where I managed to differentiate between the posers, the sycophants and the real CD soldiers. <br />Don't misunderstand me - everyone, even Osama Bin Laden is welcome to a CD show and we want everyone to enjoy the band's music - the more the merrier. But during those days it was plain to see who the back-stabbers were and who the music lovers were. Addendum: I don't see those assholes at the CD shows anymore. A blessing in disguise.<br /><br />Time went by in a flash. And then came the day when CD bid adieu to Someplace Else. Things had unfortunately staled a bit for a certain period. New songs were written but they have apparently been kept on the back-burner for the time being. The band did appear to make attempts to integrate some new sound and style to their repertoire - but when you're playing week-after-week at the same venue to the same old faces I guess implementing that change is a tad difficult.<br />And so we see songs like "The Forest", "The End Of The World", "The Mind's Eye", "View From A Window", (and a song about Hollywood/Bollywood too? I don't quite remember the song name), blah blah blah, being played for some gigs - but I guess they slowly were phased out because amidst all these experiments the band came up with something which blew the crowd away:<br /><br />"The Story Of My Life"<br /><br />And yes, rap and rock have been fused together by CD in the past but somehow it was this song that got everything in place at one shot!<br /><br />Anyway, the current chapter in CD's life has shown us that the band is back again to its changing ways. New songs that reflect the current direction in which the band would like to go. A sound that has gone down tremendously well with a load of new listeners, most of whom are "middle of the road" - NOT very genre conscious or genre loyal. And its fun seeing this evolution happen. <br />Funny though, one of my favourites amongst the newer originals is "Falling" - sigh, I guess some people don't change that easily! :))<br /><br />Well like I said - change has always been a constant for Cassini's Division - and for me its like seeing a new face of the band at regular intervals. A real treat, since you never know what to expect, especially with their huge hoard of new originals. But no one in their right mind can also say that Cassini's has discarded their old sound. Its still there for all of us to sample. A mix of the new and old - new faces in the crowd and the good 'ol soldiers from the SPE days. Its like this very surreal ambience at their gigs. An absolute delight.<br /><br />If you really want to know what I mean, then check out the crowd at their next show... well, lets hope there is a show soon. Thats the one piss-off for me. I don't get to see the guys perform on a more regular basis! But if that isn't change, then I don't know what is! :)Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-37514739389287646502007-11-17T01:10:00.000-08:002008-12-09T01:21:19.974-08:00The Chronicles Of Cassini's - The Oriya Complex<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7U11pwL15Cv3r2cOz5LKbJBX6u4VT2drb2dAX5wT4W1wbNcSCrhh9SNC54V5_BupH9zNArnh-8HWRqgC9_cWEIy17ospipZIIxG14k7O2QfJdbVbl4MNVa917KnnLvshq84n-g/s1600-h/n798235262_1622927_6201.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7U11pwL15Cv3r2cOz5LKbJBX6u4VT2drb2dAX5wT4W1wbNcSCrhh9SNC54V5_BupH9zNArnh-8HWRqgC9_cWEIy17ospipZIIxG14k7O2QfJdbVbl4MNVa917KnnLvshq84n-g/s320/n798235262_1622927_6201.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133787082275005970" /></a><br /><br /><br />The date: <strong>4th November, 2007</strong><br />The venue: <strong>Xaviers Institute Of Management (XIM), Bhubaneshwar</strong><br />The players: <strong>Cassini's Division, PJ, Amit Goel, your's truly </strong>- PJ and Amit are rookies on this tour, for me this would be my 3rd trip.<br />The event: <strong>XPRESSIONS 2007</strong><br /><br /><strong>THE XIM TOUR DIARY</strong><br /><br /><strong>6:30 AM</strong><br />I hear my Mom screaming in my ear - having a human alarm clock around is by far the most convenient device to get you out of bed. <br />The previous day has been a tiring one: Cassini's Division live @ Nazrul Manch for the "STATESMAN VIBES" fest. So I'm still kind've pooped even though I had an early beddy-bye last night.<br /><br /><strong>6:35 AM</strong><br />I give a wake-up call to both Ludo and the Goel. And I'm off to the loo to do some, umm, stuff!<br /><br /><strong>7:15 AM</strong><br />In a taxi - off to pick up Ludo from his place.<br /><br /><strong>7:30 AM</strong><br />In Ludo's complex. Help him load his drum stuff and we're off again... this time to Abhudaya (no not to pick up John) - to get some medicine for Ludo from his aunt. The big guy has been having fever for the past few days. He even played last evening's gig after a heavy dose of medicine. And today morning he doesnt look pretty good either.<br />Anyway we take a round past Ruby, much to Amit Goel's amazement whom we dont pick up on the way!<br /><br /><strong>7:50 AM </strong><br />We finally leave Abhudaya and reach the bus-stop. We pick up a groggy eyed ciggie puffing Amit Goel - who looks suspiciously at us for "NOT" having picked him up the 1st time.<br /><br /><strong>8:15 AM </strong><br />Somewhere near Ultadanga... Ludo is yelling at the taxi-driver for driving his vehicle like a, like a, like a... well you couldn't even describe this as driving. Our luck - this guy must be the slowest driver in the world!<br /><br /><strong>8:40 AM</strong><br />We finally reach the airport. We spot John, Sookie, Rahul and PJ sitting outside with a pile of luggage stacked on a couple of trolleys. A fast smoke and we enter the terminus for departure.<br /><br /><strong>8:45 AM</strong><br />The usual formalities - get your luggage ex-rayed, get your boarding passes, blah blah blah. We spot a few Deccan off-duty air-hostesses. Hmm, maybe they're gonna be on our flight? :) heh heh! Well ya right, if wishes were horses!<br /><br /><strong>8:55 AM</strong><br />In we go for the security check - our flight is supposed to take-off at 9:15 AM. But hey, did I mention it's a Deccan Airlines flight??? <br />Anyway, we all finish off with the frisking and man-handling. Sookie gets held up because the security think his guitar gadget is some kind of mysterious device - no doubt to be used to kill all the passengers on board. Anyway, with some friendly explanations and persuasion Sookie and John get that part cleared up.<br /><br /><strong>9:10 AM</strong><br />We meet Chandan (an old SPE hand and a CD fan as well) and his friend Mou at the airport... coincidentally he is going to Bhubaneshwar too on work, and he promises to make it to XIM for the show tonight.<br /><br /><strong>9:15 AM</strong><br />Time of departure... but just our luck - no one seems to be announcing for boarding. So the inevitable delay. We wait for the call. And wait. And wait.<br /><br /><strong>9:45 AM</strong><br />We're still waiting.<br /><br /><strong>10:00 AM</strong><br />Yup - we're still waiting.<br /><br /><strong>10:05 AM</strong><br />We decide to have coffee... and just as we're sipping - the boarding call is announced! <br /><br /><strong>10:15 AM</strong> <br />We're up on the plane - and the gruesome sevensome that we are, we've been allocated last row seats just near the loo! So its Rahul, PJ and me at one end. And Ludo, Sookie and John on the other. Amit Goel sits in front of me and he promptly falls asleep.<br /><br /><strong>10:35 AM</strong><br />We take off. <br />I hate travelling - so I'm busy listening to music on my I-Pod. And I feel kinda nauseous as usual. Flights always make me feel nasuseous. Anyway!!!<br /><br /><strong>11:00 AM</strong><br />Almost there I reckon - John suddenly asks if I wanna go to Konarak after the show. I can't make out if he's joking or serious. So I take the middle path and smile at him geekily. <br />PJ sitting beside me is busy listening to music as well, and he's having a ball headbanging and playing the air-guitar.<br />Sookie borrows my I-Pod and listens to some of my shit.<br />John is looking at the view outside - and so is Rahul too at the other end (in between flipping through the flight magazine).<br />Ludo is half asleep and staring blankly at the ceiling.<br />Amit is still sleeping.<br />I stare at the air-hostess for a bit (Kumud, ya that was her name!)<br /><br /><strong>11:20 AM</strong><br />We land at Bhuibaneshwar. Thank god! I hate flights.<br /><br /><strong>11:40 AM</strong><br />We get our stuff and stack them up on a few trolleys - and out we stroll into the Bhubaneshwar sunshine!<br />Nice little airport and not very crowded as well... we start looking for our pick-up but don't see anything remotely resembling one. Ludo, John and Sookie start to make the calls. We sit and puff outside. <br /><br /><strong>12:00 NOON</strong><br />Amit decides its time to be a camera man. So he promptly starts snapping away - I kinda get all inspired and take out my camera too. We click for a bit and then we get tired of clicking! :))<br />We're still waiting for conveyance btw! <br /><br /><strong>12:10 PM</strong><br />Me and Sookie go to the nearby airport canteen and buy smokes and some snacks. Everyone seems to be hungry here. John, Rahul, PJ and Ludo join us while Amit is left to guard the luggage. After a while I go and relieve him of his guard duty. And he's off for some grub.<br /><br /><strong>12:15 PM</strong><br />The car finally arrives - its just one car. So we need another vehicle. The guy in charge calls up a taxi and we start piling in our stuff. John is in charge of this and its kind've almost an art deciding which stuff goes in first and what gets stacked on top of what!<br /><br /><strong>12:20 PM</strong><br />Me and Goel and Sookie are in one car with our XIM guide. We drive through Bhubaneshwar and its a pretty sight! A planned city with lots of greenery. A very nice drive indeed. In between we stop at an SBI ATM for Sookie. Anyway in no time we're at the XIM campus and the sight is awesome! Huge and green and with banners all around. A cool, clean environment.<br /><br /><strong>12:25 PM</strong><br />We're at the XIM guest house now. And by God, by golly! What a cool guest house - a typical international standard type guest house you would find at most top Management institutes (we stayed at a similar one when we had gone to the XLRI show). All of us are very impressed and happy too. The fest co-ordinator top honcho Avishek comes to meet us on his bike and apologises profusely for the car pick-up fuck-up. But it's cool - he isn't to blame for flight delays anyway!<br /><br /><strong>12:30 PM</strong><br />We're in one of the 2 guest rooms allocated to us. But since we are 7 people in our entourage Avishek promises to get us 2 more rooms. :)<br /><br /><strong>1:10 PM</strong><br />Avishek comes back with a big box full of Bisleri water bottles, Pepsi bottles and kingfisher beer!!! Amazing!!! And also an assorted set of cigarette packs which PJ and John and Amit distribute amongst themselves. I don't drink beer so he promises me a bottle of whiskey... whoo hoo - where am I? Is this heaven? Better service than a 5-star hotel!<br />Avishek takes our leave for the time being but informs us that he will provide us with anything (I mean just anything) we need! And that lunch would be available for us at the mess room down the hall.<br />We plan out for a 4:30 PM sound-check for the drums - the guys wish to do the remaining sound check just before the show.<br /><br />Just FYI - the itinerary for the evening: a fashion show from 7 PM to 9 PM. And the band gets up on stage and blasts away after the fashion hungama till 11 PM approx. All is cool - and everything looks to be extremely well organised. So no chaap. We relax and enjoy our AC rooms and the drinks!<br /><br /><strong>1:50 PM</strong><br />Lunch time down at the mess hall. A buffet with chicken and roti and veggies shit. Damn good food. After my "maggi dinner" experience at the XLRI show, I intentionally eat a bit too much so that I dont feel hungry at night. <br />Amit pretends to be the CD manager/spokesperson and hooks up with Avishek and the JAL manager (JAL were the guest band the previous evening). I leave him and occupy our room. <br /><br />Another FYI:<br /><strong>room I</strong>: Sukanti and Rahul<br /><strong>room II</strong>: Jboi and PJ<br /><strong>room III</strong>: A feverish Ludo (his fever seems to go up and down like a yo-yo)<br /><strong>room IV</strong>: Me and the ever increasing crazy Goel. Oh, btw its his birthday as well today so he's in an absolute "<strong>surreal-freaked-out-this-is-my-last-day-on-planet-earth</strong>" mood! :) Lord help us!<br /><br /><strong>2:20 PM</strong><br />Whew! I'm all fresh and chilled out after a quick shower and change of clothes. The AC is on, the TV is on and me and the Goel are busy watching... "BHAGAM BHAAG" :)) - and the Goel also flips channel to the occasional Punjabi bhangra song. He's getting all excited now. Lordy lord!<br /><br /><strong>4:30 PM</strong><br />We get up and check out the others. Seems like they are getting ready to go to the show area and start with the drum sound-check. They also decide to take their other stuff as well - maybe jam a bit after the sound check is done. We get ready too. The proceedings for this evening are about to begin!<br /><br /><strong>4:50 PM</strong><br />Ok so we all take some of the kit/apparatus in hand and walk over to the stage which is in this HUGE field. And the stage looks pretty good too - very wide and there's a "T" shape ramp in front, no doubt meant for the cat-walkers. But that's ok - Rahul and Sookie can walk down the "T" and kick-ass with the crowd. <br />Umm, one problem though - no drum around! So we wait and the guys make the usual bout of phones. Ludo is pissed off. And his pissiness makes him feel all hot too, as he promptly takes off his jacket.<br /><br /><strong>5:20 PM</strong><br />Me and Jboi and Sookie and Rahul are fed up waiting so we go to the campus cheap shop canteen (whatever its called) for some coffee and some egg-bhujia (for Rahul). There's a Madhuri Dixit film going on and I spend some time staring at her jhatka-matka routine. Anyway. The weather is really cool here. Announcements are blazing all over the place about events being held and sundry. Its total fest time going on over here.<br /><br /><strong>5:45 PM</strong><br />We're back at the stage area. The drum is finally there and being set up with Ludo's help. Amit is again busy mingling with students curious about the band. PJ is getting himself acquainted with the sound knobs. I take out my camera and start clicking... it's my turn to be camera man.<br /><br /><strong>6:30 PM</strong><br />The band and the sound unit spend a considerable time getting everything all ready - the drum sound-check has just begun and its taking some time to get it right. But one thing for sure - the acoustics are excellent. Crystal clear at most points considering the fact that its an open area. <br /><br /><strong>7:00 PM</strong><br />Drums are done - Sookie and PJ are trying to get things right here and doing pretty well. The local sound guy is taking a back seat becoz the 2 of them seem to be handling things between themselves pretty smoothly.<br />In the background there are loads of announcements going on for the fashion show and stuff. And the emcees of that event are actually tearing their hair out becoz of the delay in our sound-check wrap-up... no fault of ours - the drum should have been on stage @ 4:45 PM!!!<br /><br /><strong>7:15 PM</strong><br />We're done with Ludo and Rahul's guitars and Jboi's bass is almost done. Amit is around trying to pacify a visibly nervous Avishek who is getting apprehensive about tonite's CD show. He's not very sure if we're gonna be able to pull it off and that the crowd won't ejoy themselves... plus he's getting worried about the long time being taken for the sound-check. Which is quite funny - because it actually hasn't taken too long, everything has been handled with clockwork precision. <br />Oh, now Jboi's check is done - and now it's Sookie's turn!<br /><br /><strong>7:25 PM</strong><br />We're done with Sookie and PJ is now taking care of Rahul's vocals and the over-all sound. The guys try out a few songs - Satyr9, The Story Of My Life, Fallen et al.<br /><br /><strong>7:40 PM</strong><br />It's a wrap! The band are visibly pleased - the sound sounds really good, and we have no complaints with the equipment and acoustics. The lights - well, I can see a sea of bugs near all the lights everywhere and I expect the band to be swallowing a few creepies during the show.<br />We walk back and I'm pleasantly suprised when one of the organisers catches up with me and gives me a bottle of whiskey. :)<br /><br /><strong>8:00 PM</strong><br />Back inside John and PJ's room. Me and Amit pour ourselves a drink. John makes PJ pull his finger for some SPIELBERG style sound-effects - (Yeeeuuugggh!) and the bugger goes into the loo for a quick shower.<br />Ludo phones us after a bit asking me if I've seen his jacket. Nyet from my end, and from Amit's end as well... the 1st casualty of war! Jacket overboard!<br /><br /><strong>8:20 PM</strong><br />We're still in Jboi's room chilling out and I'm TOPLESS when along comes a pretty woman asking for Ludo. No time for me to cover up my indecent exposure...<br />An excerpt from the weird conversation between the 2 of us:<br /><br /><strong>WOMAN</strong>: May I come? <strong>[the door is wide open and she's actually already inside]</strong><br /><br /><strong>ME</strong>: Yes please do come in but only after you let me wear my tee-shirt <strong>[I'm standing TOPLESS with my paunch sticking out like the Indian peninsula, with a glass of whiskey in my left hand, and a cig in my right!]</strong><br /><br /><strong>WOMAN</strong>: Umm, ok - umm, I'm looking for Ludo. <strong>[she stares at me and looks all embarrassed and actually takes a few steps backwards out of the room!]</strong><br /><br /><strong>ME</strong>: oh ya sure, Ludo's in the next room I think - sleeping or in the loo!!! <strong>[and I'm waving my tee-shirt like a flag indicating "which" direction she should go!]</strong><br /><br /><strong>WOMAN</strong>: Thank you! <strong>[Takes another look at me which makes me think I'm diseased and in the nude... and runs away!]</strong><br /><br /><br /><strong>8:40 PM</strong><br />We go back to our room and get ready for tonight. Amit gleefully takes out his SLAYER tee. And I take out my standard MEGADETH tee. We go back to the other rooms. John and Rahul and PJ are busy applying gel to their hair... Amit joins in on the gel fun. Ludo I notice is in the mess hall having a quick snack. He really looks down and out.<br /><br /><strong>9:00 PM</strong><br />John, Sookster and Rahul quickly convene in "room I" to chalk up a set-list, and I join them while sipping a final peg of whiskey. Everyone is happy with the song list that Jboi jots down.<br /><br /><strong>9:10 PM</strong><br />One of the organiser's come down to inform us that it's almost show time. Me and Amit walk down the few metres to the venue. And the rest take the car with the gear stacked behind.<br /><br /><strong>9:20 PM</strong><br />We're still waiting near the stage - the fashion show cum dance hungama is going on still with some local singer singing BEEDI JALAI LEH and other stuff. The crowd seems to love it though. I have a head-ache already. Chandan and his pal Mou finally arrive and they have a gift for us - a bottle of TEACHERS! Shit! What is wrong with the world??? Everyone is being so nice to me today :) <br /><br /><strong>9:40 PM</strong><br />I'm standing behind PJ at the sound console. Amit, Chandan and Mou are there too. The band is on stage finally and are tuning up. <br /><br />Its time to rock 'n roll.<br /><br /><strong>9:45 PM</strong><br />Show begins - the lights flash on Rahul and he starts singing "Drown". The crowd are genuinely excited to see a proper rock band playing in Bhubaneshwar. Anyway, the set-list is attacked by CD with vigour - "Imitation Of Life", "The Sky Is Falling", "Only For A While", "Vindicated"... and then the gut-crunching "Stay"! <br />The crowd don't know much about Cassini's Division so the usual yell for METALLICA and IRON MAIDEN and PANTERA and LINKIN PARK go around. Someone asks for MARILYN MANSON and Rahul is glad to oblige him with "Sweet Dreams".<br />The show is more or less going according to their set-list and it's all cool.<br />One hitch - Sookie's guitar feedback. But taken care of. Ludo seems to be ok as of now.<br /><br /><strong>10:30 PM</strong><br />The crowd suddenly vanishes after an announcement about the campus gates shutting... Chandan and Mou reluctantly leave. The crowd also minimises by half. And its a sorry sight. But Amit Goel takes the role of one-man cheer leader and gets the remaining genuine rock lovers channelised. And what better way to do this than with the help of "The Story Of My Life". <br />By now I'm on stage trying to do what the Red Bantoo would normally do for the guys, i.e. snap around from various angles. And I kind of plant myself on stage like a prop!<br /><br /><strong>10:40 PM</strong><br />The party is getting a whole lot heavier with "Ceasar", "Voivoid", "SATYR9" and "Kryptonite" being churned out. <br />In the meantime Ludo's getting all uncomfy with the lights around him - and John has to make an emergency announcement: <strong>"Please turn off the lights behind Ludo becoz his butt is on fire"</strong><br /><br /><strong>11:10 PM</strong><br />CD show no signs of stopping - and the crowd magically re-appears. Maybe some of the students had come back after dinner. Anyway, the band dishes out one song after the other - "Lithium", "Fallen", "Smooth Criminal", "Rumble", "Higher", "Glowworm"... <br />I'm loving it on stage and the crowd are too. Amit is screaming like a maniac from up front and PJ is doing a great job twiddling away with the knobs.<br /><br /><strong>11:30 PM</strong><br />Time to close the party - Rahul does a dramatic entry for "Like It Like This" and then proceeds to sing "Urban Phenomenon". The band also gives in to the requests for RADIOHEAD by playing "Creep". And the final encore is "The Story Of My Life" once again by popular demand. <br />The band is totally wasted now. John is lying flat on the stage sweating buckets. And Ludo walks up sheepishly to the crowd saying sorry, but he has a fever. But in a nutshell - even after more than 2 hours the crowd wanted more and needed to soak in CD... an amazing show. Almost near perfect for the band and I see Avishek grinning from ear-to-ear now.<br /><br /><strong>12:10 AM</strong><br />We're back at the guest house with a few students who have fallen in love with the band. We bring out the beers and smokes and whiskey and take it easy. Everyone is a happy chappy.<br /><br /><strong>12:30 AM</strong><br />Time for a late dinner - me, Sookie, Amit and PJ march off to the mess hall. And it's great to be able to sample some good food here. <br /><br /><strong>12:50 AM</strong><br />Back in John's room - we chat with the XIM guys and they tell us to join them at the whole night party that has just commenced. They all seem to look forward to it becoz its the final event after a 3 day long fest and it's just for them - in fact the event is aptly named "Just Like That" or JLT. Most of us politely decline (we have an 8 AM flight to catch anyway) but Amit seems interested.<br /><br /><strong>2:30 AM</strong><br />Most of the guys seem pooped and Ludo is already in bed. The beers are out and I'm not in the mood for anymore whiskey. Neither is Amit it seems - in fact he tells me he'd prefer a drink with ice instead! <br />Sookie proposes a one final cup of coffee - so we all march out of the guest house.<br />The JLT party is in full swing now. And we walk past it eyeing the crowd. And the crowd eyes us as well. Amit starts to do a few steps on the way.<br /><br /><strong>2:40 AM</strong> <br />Avishek and Amit take a bike ride to get some cig packs for the guys and we sit on the benches enjoying our coffee. After a while the 2 "A"s are back and we decide to head back to the guest house. The 2 cars to take us to the airport are gonna be in by 6:15 AM and we plan to push off by 6:30 AM.<br /><br /><strong>2:55 AM</strong><br />We walk past the JLT venue and the party seems to be in full swing - and right on cue the DJ starts playing a bhangra number. Amit looks all hypnotized now and is definitely in some voodoo trance. I ask the him whether he wants to stay back and party or go with us to the guest house. He opts for the former and Rahul decides to give him company for 15 minutes (the time it would take to finish a small drink) - before we depart Amit says that he'll be back within an hour and makes me promise that I won't lock the door.<br /><br /><strong>3:15 AM</strong><br />I turn on the TV and watch some football... but its late and I'm tired - plus I have to be at work as well. So I decide to take a snooze.<br /><br /><strong>4:00 AM</strong><br />I wake up - the bed beside me is empty.<br /><br /><strong>5:00 AM</strong><br />I wake up again - and the bed beside me is still empty.<br /><br /><strong>6:00 AM</strong><br />Final wake up call. The bed beside me is still empty.<br />I decide to get up and take a shower. Might as well feel fresh before work... and suddenly I hear 2 voices singing in the distance - one of them is distinctly Amit Goel's!<br /><br /><strong>6:05 AM</strong><br />In walks Amit in a dishevelled and umm, non-normal state shall we say? And there is a young management student with him (I learn that his name is Imon). Amit is smiling at me like a toothpaste model and he looks in no shape to travel. He's talking at the top of his voice and he informs he that he's never had so much fun in his life - and that he's never met so many Punjabis outside of Punjab at one single place!!! I'm annoyed and I leave him with his singing partner and enter the bathroom.<br /><br /><strong>6:15 AM</strong><br />I'm trying to crap (yes crap - shit - whatever), but nothing is coming out because Amit and his pal are singing at the top of their voices like loonies. The sound is enough to knock the stuffings out of a rogue elephant. I hear John's voice calling me... but hell, how can you hear what he's saying when you have Bianca Castafiore and Daler Mehendi singing like there's no tomorrow in our room?<br /><br /><strong>6:30 AM</strong><br />I'm ready and packed. Amit isn't however. He's lying on his bed and it looks like he's down for the count. I tell the guys and they all seem worried. The logical thing to do is to leave him behind - but then again, we can't do it without his consent.<br /><br /><strong>6:40 AM</strong><br />We manage to get Amit out of his bed and bring him to the parking lot. John and Sookie have finished stacking their gear on the 2 vehicles reserved for us. A groggy-eyed Avishek is here to see us off. I make a smelly Amit change his tee-shirt. And we're ready to leave!<br />But suddenly Amit gets off the car and says he can't make this trip! I get down too and tell the guys in the other car. <br />In hind-sight a wise decision since I doubt Amit would have been allowed to board the plane anyway.<br /><br />So we leave XIM sans a member short - a quirky way to end a glorious trip! The rest of the trip is uneventful - the Deccan flight was on time. Chandan and Mou are heading back home to Kolkata on the same flight as us. Sookie is as usual stopped at the security check. I feel sick on the flight as usual and listen to my ipod as usual to keep me from feeling pukey. And checking out the air-hostess "Anupama" helps me feel less pukey as well... <br /><br />And we all reach home in one piece feeling absolutely on top of the world - the band for conquering the hearts of everyone @ XIM, and me for enjoying the best tour ever with CD. Looking forward to the next one... and I'm sure Amit is too :)<br /><br /><br /><strong>EPILOGUE:</strong><br />Amit arrived back in Kolkata by the Kingfisher evening flight! :)Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-41225304992886139622007-11-17T00:36:00.000-08:002007-11-17T00:46:48.909-08:00NIGHTMARE ABBEY - umm ermm aaaahhh :|The date:<strong> 27th July 2007</strong><br />The venue:<strong> The Princeton Club</strong><br /><br />Uh, are any of the band members of Nightmare Abbey or their fans going to kill me if I say that I wasnt too impressed with their performance?<br /><br />Let me be very honest here - coming down from sector-V after work to Princeton just to catch a new band isnt something I do everyday. I think you'd agree with me that its waaaay too energy sapping to do that on a regular basis.<br /><br />But I did that for Nightmare Abbey - and all on the assumption that they would be what they said they would be - A.K.A. - a gothic rock band. Gothic... that is the key word here.<br /><br />So to sum up everything in one sentence - Nightmare Abbey were "NOT" gothic rock by a long shot. And although musically the band were really nice to listen to, well I kinda felt cheated. Becoz this wasnt the music I had expected them to play.<br /><br />Yes yes yes, I know the usual arguments - NA are a young band, they were playing maybe their 1st gig in front of a big crowd at a spacious venue (unlike the Planet M shows which must have been cramped, especially the one @ City Centre). And yes, when you are a young band starting off initially you want to win the crowd over and play them stuff that they know and can sing along to. Its very natural for a band to play its "safe" when they are new. <br /><br />And I am sure there are a 100 other reasons that the band were "anything" but "GOTHIC" - well I've heard them all... been there done that.<br /><br />Actually it wasnt just me NOT BEING IMPRESSED - i was very very sad as well. Here is a band that is obviously very talented. And who looked like rockers to the core... and what do they do? Play us stuff which any other band in this city plays - so where is the difference between Nightmare Abbey, and say a Hip Pocket or any of the host of other "classic rock" bands that play @ Princeton? Or the college/school bands that play a similar type of set-list @ the fests? Ya, some band play the Doors better than other bands and some play Floyd and so on and so forth - but at the end of the day, they are all bands catering to the same genre of music.<br /><br />I mean what makes Nightmare Abbey different from all these other bands? Apart from hair length that is...<br />Nothing much is my final assumption. And that is very very sad.<br /><br />I know most of the crowd their Rolling Stones and Joan Baez and Janis Joplin covers etc etc etc, but what I liked the most was their original - the "Eclipse" (umm forgot the name) - ya I was the guy who yelled out asking what the song name was... and I will also say that the Nightwish cover was done excellently. Evanescence sounded good too.<br />When these guys actually played the gothic stuff they did sound pretty good. <br /><br />In my final analysis I will say this - all the band members - drums, bass, keyboards, guitar and vocals - all of them are super talented. And while they lacked a bit of togetherness when playing (and didnt seem to gel in bits and pieces during some of the songs performed), yet as a whole I would say that Nightmare Abbey have the makings of a decent band.<br /><br />BUT IT WOULD DEFINITELY HELP IF:<br />1. NA tries to find a formula that makes them stand out amongst the crowd. Enhance their uniqueness or else there are good chances of them drowning in the sea of bands that seem to crop up on a daily basis.<br /><br />2. Stick to being more of a gothic rock band and less of a classic rock band - becoz from whatever little "goth" they played yday, the band sounded good. But if they arent going to go the goth rock way, then maybe a change in their line of PR would be required - and that would also require a change in their band name too. I mean, with a name like Nightmare Abbey its very obvious that most people would think the genre of music being played was on the heavier side - and not Janis Joplinesque!<br /><br />3. Add in more originals if possible. It is a MYTH that the crowd nowadays only like listening to covers and not originals. They definitely shouldn't be afraid to belt the crowd with their own "sound".<br /> <br />Anyway, this HUGE write-up of mine isnt by any means an attempt to offend Nightmare Abbey.<br /><br />Far from it.<br /><br />I had heard good stuff about these guys and that is why I came down to check them out. I'm just a lover of good music and I was hoping that Nightmare Abbey would provide me with the same.<br /><br />YES, the music was fairly decent - no doubt about that, but NO it wasnt what I had come to Princeton for. <br /><br />So overall, a pleasant evening spent listening to a talented young band - but, unfortunately I went home with not a single stand-out moment etched in my memory.<br /><br />I do look forward to something more special at their next gig and I do hope to see more of their GOTH element - all the best to Nightmare Abbey for the future.Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-45817125281022812852007-11-15T12:22:00.000-08:002007-11-15T12:23:48.304-08:00The best young band in KolkataAfter seeing this band for 3 whole shows... <br />After checking out most (if not all) of the young rock bands in the city - some of whom left me absolutely flabbergasted (why do these kids bother to play anyway?)...<br /><br />The last man standing. Without a doubt - CRYSTAL AND THE WITCHES. <br />They are the real McCoy.<br /><br />A short intro - this is a young band with roots in the North East. The vocalist/lead guitarist Diwash Rai, and the bass guitarist Tenzing Louden Bhutia are from Sikkim. The drummer Shubhro Ganguly is originally from Assam. And I dont know where their keyboard Arthur Gomes is originally from <br />They play metal (more of the old school stuff) - they are heavy, they are very good musicians and extremely tight, they have excellent stage presence and they can certainly get the crowd going. This band hasn't been on the scene for too long but their fan following is enormous (as per Kolkata standards) - most of their shows consist of a huge number of rock/metal lovers from St. Xaviers (since I believe 2 of the band members are currently students there) and also a gigantic number of young ppl from the North East... a conglomeration of mongoloid music lovers (that wud include me as well I guess) who would headbang any metal lover to shame. The energy both on and off stage is absolutely intense... and if you are a genuine lover of music attending their show is an absolute treat. Granted, you may not be a fan of the heavy metal genre, but just watching these young men perform on stage is an awesome fun-filled experience. Try them out - I recommend this band 1000%.<br /><br />The lead singer/guitarist Diwash was a former member of the top Sikkim band STILL WATERS (if you know anything about the current Indian rock scene then you must have heard of them) - and his experience with that band certainly shines through during the gig. Clean vocals, screeching, growling - he does it all. And also an excellent impersonation of Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH) as well, as was evident in the Megadeth cover that they play - SWEATING BULLETS<br /> <br />The keyboardist Arthur does an excellent job of providing rhythm and balance to the metal sound that this band performs. And he gets the crowd all charged up when the guys start out with their opening track - a NIGHTWISH cover (Crimson Tide)... yes Nightwish, you read right - now when have you ever heard Nightwish being played @ SPE??? <br /><br />Tenzing on the bass is fantastic - a very talented bassist. And its not just about his playing. You can see that he's having fun on stage especially when he's dancing around with his guitar. With the kinda space constraints on stage @ SPE, its a miracle he doesnt trip while doing so Awesome young musician.<br /><br />Subhro - an absolute monster on the drummer. The most unassuming drummer you would ever find. And the most improved as well I must say. The 1st time I saw him perform I wasnt very impressed. But not anymore. Kolkata has its fair share of good drummers in the circuit... and pretty soon he's going to be joining that club. <br /><br />Are this band all about covers btw?? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!<br />Hell, I wouldnt be raving about them if they were just a cover band. Crystal And The Witches have an excellent repertoire of originals - originals that have won them accolades in quite a few rock contestants in the college circuit. And they are also the current East Zone "Campus Rock Idols" champions, just to let you know.<br /><br />Holes, Resurrection, Black Roses, M.I.U. are some of their compositions (I might have some of these names wrong btw) amongst many others. Originals that are mainly heavy (old school thrash oriented) - but which also consist of power ballads. Megadeth is a major influence as is evident from some of their compositions... the resemblance is sometimes a bit too uncanny - but hey, no complaints, they are good quality originals I give you that. In fact I believe they have enough compositions to fill up an entire show. And some songs like M.I.U. are major crowd pullers.<br /> <br />And oh ya, Crystal & The Witches play a fair share of covers as well:<br /><br />Megadeth (Sweating Bullets), Metallica (For Whom The Bell Tolls), Iron Maiden (Dream Of Mirrors), Nightwish (Crimson Tide), AC/DC (TNT), Deep Purple (Perfect Strangers), etc. etc.<br /><br />Does anyone see a nice pattern here? No?<br />Well, so you wanna listen to Metallica eh? But they dont play "Enter Sandman" - its old school Metallica for you. You want Deep Purple? Well thank god they dont play "Highway Star" or the tremendously over-played "Smoke On The Water"!<br />And how many people would expect an Iron Maiden cover from one of their lesser known albums "Brave New World"?<br /><br />If anything else their covers set-list shows how intelligent this band is. The songs they cover arent your run-of-the-mill, a million-times-over-played songs, which is extremely refreshing to say the least. And they also dont always do a cover note-for-note - they add a little extra to make the song a bit more interesting.<br /><br />For example - take their cover of Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" - during the middle of the song Diwash suddenly does a little guitar solo of the popular Bollywood tune "Tujheh Dekhah Toh" from the film "Dilwaleh Dulhania Leh Jayengeh" - the innovation is positively brilliant. And total fun.<br /><br />Another interesting cover is Leo Sawyer's "Love You More Than I Can Say" - a sudden break in the tempo in their gig from the ferocious headbangers that constitutes 90% of their set-list.<br /><br />During the show one of the many headbanging amigos out there happened to mention to me, that after CASSINI's DIVISION, Crystal & The Witches were the only band that had managed to get the crowd @ SPE going. <br /><br />And despite my well-known bias and preferences I am inclined to agree with him. <br />Not too many bands have managed to do that in recent times.<br /><br />Hate them or love them - you would be a moron to ignore Crystal & The Witches. <br />Yes you might hate heavy metal but if you are broad-minded then please check out their live gigs - you will not leave disappointed.Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-50745006745859433482007-11-15T12:16:00.000-08:002007-11-15T12:21:22.363-08:00Camouflage revisitedThe 1st time I saw these kids perform (sometime last year) I was moved to write a blog on them and my experience.<br /><br />After much water has flown under the Ganges (read: after seeing them perform hither and tither AND after losing their band leader/keyboardist to the yuppie-corporate world) Camouflage finally get their lucky break and are invited to play @ Someplace Else.<br /><br /><strong>The 9th of September, 2007</strong><br /><br />The band has improved a lot since when I last saw them perform @ Princeton. The quality of their originals are above average - "Recycled", "Hysterical Blindness" and "Slide" sounded really tight and I enjoyed listening to them. "Revolution", "Hang On" and the other new song (Imposition? or was it Disposition?) sounded nice but the songs mentioned before them are what should take them to greater heights.<br /><br />As mentioned previously, I could see "U2" written all over their songs - this band seems to be a major influence to Camouflage - as are Coldplay, Oasis and other Brit-pop alternative bands. And that isnt necessarily a bad thing, btw, just an observation.<br /><br />I do think Avik's keyboards add a lot more depth to the band's sound, so its a pity he hasnt been around to perform @ SPE. But the other band-members have improved a helluva lot and overall the Camouflage sound is a lot more tighter - guitars/bass/drums. <br /><br />Negatives:<br />1> The vocals still dont do much for me - and that is the band's weak point. The vocalist does sing with a lot of passion and emotion, but he lacks the killer punch in his delivery.<br /><br />2> It was very obvious that the band was a bundle of nerves - understandable becoz it is after all SPE. But they need to project more confidence on stage. Sunday evenings (post CASSINI's DIVISION) arent what they used to be @ SPE and its generally not so crowded. I would think that is a blessing in disguise for the band - being this nervous and playing in front of a prime time SPE crowd (@ 9:30 PM) would have been the death for the them. <br />So a band which has played @ the CRI finals and @ Princeton shouldnt be that nervous. They are a good band after all and have the experience of playing in front of big crowds.<br /><br />3> The covers sounded cool, but as I've said before, Camouflage sound a lot more convincing when they play originals. Bands like Hip Pocket/Krosswindz have made it big by only doing covers and I certainly hope Camouflage DOES NOT take that route. This band's future lies in their creativityPrasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-11448534017652628432007-11-15T12:13:00.001-08:002007-11-15T12:15:16.202-08:00Boomerang @ SPE boomeranged us allThe Date: <strong>The 5th of September, 2007</strong><br />The Venue: <strong>Someplace Else</strong> (oh no, not again!!!)<br /><br /><br />India vs. England, 6th One Day international... everyone was glued to their TV screens on the 5th of September that evening... everyone. Including 80% of the clientele @ SPE as well.<br /><br />Losers!!!<br /><br />It isnt very often that we get to see good out-station bands performing @ Kolkata. Last month was an exception becoz of the RSJ sponsored Pub Rock fest - but as a whole, its pretty much dry out here in this city... the same old classic rock blues based bands. The same old shitty college bands playing covers that their grandpa wud sing to their grandma in college. Blah blah blah.<br /><br />So along comes a young band from Mizoram - Boomerang - they featured on this year's GIR compilation and have been gigging heavily in Delhi (opening for Them Clones and the like)... and you'd expect at least some semblence of a crowd @ SPE to catch them.<br /><br />But why am I cribbing? I should have known better - the crowd was practically non-existent... maybe becoz of the cricket match, but I primarily I would believe, becoz the quality of music listeners and music lovers has started going down the drain in this city. People arent as open to new sounds or new bands as they used to be say 5-10 years back. <br /><br />Music to them is all abt being part of the in-crowd... abt showing off their latest jhatka when "Megadeth" is playing in the back-ground... abt screaming for DJ Austin to play "BRYAN ADAMS and SUMMER OF '69"... of getting all orgasmic when Hip Pocket plays "WHERE WERE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU". This is what music is to most ppl in this city these days.<br /><br />I think Boomerang got a good taste of that - dont know if they'd wanna perform here anymore, which is a pity - because they are a very talented band and if they stick it around and polish up their act, then they will go places.<br /><br />So what did they play?<br />It was a set comprising of both originals and covers - a 50-50 divide. They started off with the original "Kingdom Of Pain" and followed it up with "Rhythm Of Revolution". Other originals they played were "Circle", "Ash", "Who Do You Wanna Be" and "Home"... hmm. A few others too whose names I dont remember.<br /><br />Yup they played covers as well - heavy versions of "Get Back" and "Come Together", and loads and loads of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. In fact it was almost like they were on a mission to promote RATM @ SPE... RATM's very own PR guys from Mizoram!<br /><br />But who's complaining? Killing In The Name, Wake Up (the vocalist forgot the lines to the song and I had to sing them for him), Bulls On Parade, Bomb Track, Guerilla Radio, Take The Power Back, etc etc etc... man the RATM covers just kept on coming!<br /><br />So after all that - how were they as a band? <br />Boomerang are a pretty young band and they'd whip ass of most college bands and junior bands in the Kolkata SPE/PRINCETON circuit - english/bangla both. They were that good and tight. <br /><br />They have a good vocalist who can actually sing and with passion too. The rhythm section wasnt outstanding but they did their job pretty well. Hopefully they'll get a lot more tighter thru the years. The guitarist was good - but I saw him mess up quite a few of the RATM covers. Especially "Killing In The Name"... Kolkata's INSOMNIA do a far better job on this song than they did - but yup, the guitarist gets a thumbs up from me inspite of all that.<br /><br />Their originals. A band which is heavily influenced by RATM wud obviously sound a lot like them. One of their songs sounded almost a ditto copy of "Bulls On Parade". But songs like "Circle", "Ash", Rhythm Of A Revolution" and "Kingdom Of Pain" were just mind-blowingly awesome. A+ quality originals. "Home" on the other hand didnt do anything for me since it flitted in and out too much between heavy and rock and blues... "Who Do You Wanna Be" which featured on this year's GIR compilation was one of their few non-heavy originals.<br /><br />So a good young band which is capable of composing quality originals and also playing some decent covers... hopefully these guys will make it big in the future. They certainly have mass appeal - something that most of the junior bands in this city lack. <br /><br />The only problem they might have is that they dont seem to have decided on what exactly their sound might be - altho it does seem pretty likely that the rap-core style of RATM is what they are going to be adopting as their key sound. Still, a band that is comfortable playing both a heavy sound as well as a bluesy one does have some planning to do.<br /><br />Very unfortunate abt the crowd - consisted mainly of us north-easterners and the band members from "Cassini's Division", "Crystal And The Witches" and "Hoof Hooey". As mentioned earlier most everyone else was busy watching India narrowily beat England - and it was a downright shame becoz ppl did miss a very good band... I hate SPE on such days - you could hardly call it the mecca of music in East India on days like these. <br /><br />Anyway, I sincerely hope that BOOMERANG boomerangs back to Kolkata in the near future - most of you "ROCK" lovers have no idea what you missed.Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-20128306079745960032007-11-15T12:09:00.000-08:002007-11-15T12:11:49.376-08:00Half Step Down - Pub Rock Fest 2007 (SPE)The Date: <strong>The 10th of August, 2007</strong><br />The Venue: <strong>Someplace Else</strong> (yawn!!!)<br /><br />I really liked Half Step Down. They had a sound which isn't something you get to hear very regularly in Kolkata. So it was interesting going through their set-list.<br /><br />HSD has been labelled by many as a blues rock band... but I'm not too sure of that definition. In fact the stuff they played was so varied last night, that I would actually have some difficultly in labeling them one. Some people would call this being versatile - others wud call it being too "middle of the road" or "putting ur hand in too many baskets".... and it was maybe becoz of the latter that at least 60 % of the crowd that turned up @ last Friday did NOT enjoy HSD's brand of music. Unfotunately most of the crowd were either expecting something vey blues/classic oriented OR something that was downright loud and heavy AKA the Them Clones. And it was obvious from the comments after the show that most of the attendees had still not gotten over their THEM CLONES hang-over. "They arent as good Them Clones"... was something which I heard throughout the evening. And it sounded kinda lame, the fact being that TC and HSD play completely different genres of rock.<br /><br />The sound was horrible as well - for a show as big as this, it should have been one of the 1st things that the organisers should have handled. But the moment I saw the guy behind the console "Sidhu", I knew the band weren't gonna sound right. This guy is supposedly one of the most "in-demand" sound guys in the delhi rock scene, and he took care of sound @ most of the shows at last year's Pub Rock Fest in delhi... I had attended last year's inaugural show @ the Fashion Bar, "Climax" - Cassini's Division were playing with Them Clones that night. And this gentleman royally screwed up the sound for both bands... it's extremely depressing when you come to see 2 of your favourite bands and you cant hear a friggin' sound from the guitars or the vocals. Both Rahul and Prithwish for the respective bands sounded like they were whispering at times.<br /> <br />But anyway, back to the music that night - despite the average sound and a barrage from a very hostile section of the crowd, the band coolly went about with business. <br /><br />They opened up with an original, "Girl Not Guitar" (which can be found on the "Stupiditties" compilation of the top non-metal bands of India in 2006-2007) - a very decent composition indeed.<br /><br />The show was interspersed with nice fluid originals and some up-tempo covers as well. Led Zeppelin "No Quarter", Red Hot Chilli Peppers "Torture Me", Pink Floyd<br />"Have A Cigar" and Stone Temple Pilots "Plush" were some of the notable songs that were covered. <br /><br />The highlight was the performance of their original "Overture To Outer Space" which featured on this year's GIR compilation. A very haunting and melodic original with large dollops of the keyboard in it. I got a great kick hearing this song live.<br /><br />Special mention must be made of the keyboardist and the drummer - they both added a zippiness to the sound which sometimes kind of faltered at places.<br /><br />Overall a very decent debut for Half Step Down. They played their stuff well, the covers were well performed and their originals didnt put me to sleep - and "Overture To Outer Space" was a stand-out.<br /><br />But maybe that was the problem - for the average listener there werent too many standout songs in the set-list they played... nothing which maybe struck them as "all right, that was a cool song"... a tune that irritatingly persists inside your head and does not go away and which leaves you humming the whole day... moments and songs like these were few and far between that night. AND crowd involvement was also at a minimum during the show as well. So I guess it was this that kind've alienated the general population.<br /><br />But personally I would think that Half Step Down are a band that grows on to you (like the way some films or albums do)... you might not like them @ one sitting, but maybe after a few shows that irritating feeling just might grab you and nip you hard on yur ass. Maybe. It worked for me!Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-38847504924085278472007-11-15T11:43:00.000-08:002008-12-09T01:21:20.354-08:00The end? Not quite...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8-9i7QUsi7hyphenhyphenJVLAWlIsQpbV4HqhE5M00J3b7zhAFcL95nGS1nv5h_FaTjK4a5bxlIB-IQ0VvEcK7WWUYtorXqIHez_tkoQtfMEIghyphenhyphenLNfTLhyOXQtSiZRFEN5aR7XoQILYhcw/s1600-h/IMG_1529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8-9i7QUsi7hyphenhyphenJVLAWlIsQpbV4HqhE5M00J3b7zhAFcL95nGS1nv5h_FaTjK4a5bxlIB-IQ0VvEcK7WWUYtorXqIHez_tkoQtfMEIghyphenhyphenLNfTLhyOXQtSiZRFEN5aR7XoQILYhcw/s320/IMG_1529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133158294767904258" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIJzeOjOoz2zegcboUYkvIhKda_d-_gjgskzp7tzvAzXAV0PrhQcCbcRv5CJLq4CGNJbnbSIqR2F0MeWBrrOxAqV2KGeZpU5TOkdRHVCqhWCbtMIu9TKJUgKpTW4DUtAJ10CO_w/s1600-h/IMG_1526.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIJzeOjOoz2zegcboUYkvIhKda_d-_gjgskzp7tzvAzXAV0PrhQcCbcRv5CJLq4CGNJbnbSIqR2F0MeWBrrOxAqV2KGeZpU5TOkdRHVCqhWCbtMIu9TKJUgKpTW4DUtAJ10CO_w/s320/IMG_1526.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133157500198954482" /></a><br /><br />I was one of the few people who knew about Cassini's Division and Someplace Else getting divorced before the official announcement, so I had time to let all of this sink in.<br /><br />That I am disappointed is an under-statement. <br /><br />I have been an SPE regular for many a year and I have seen all the bands here perform. I have also seen the crowds SPE has been drawing over the years. And I guess some things wont ever change. <br /><br />SPE - Kolkata will always be a classic rock and blues hub, where people celebrate the technical excellence of musicians covering songs. Where people will have a few pegs and keep on asking a band to play The Doors or the Beatles or "WHERE WERE YOU" by Floyd... sheesh. They cant even get the name of songs right.<br /><br />It was a very brave thing for SPE and Gautam Singh to get a band like Cassini's Division to play regularly in such an evironment - CD had just managed to get a foot hold in the industry then, and asking them to play @ SPE was almost like throwing them to a pack of hungry wolves.<br /><br />But history will have recorded the fact that they were more than succesful there after a few initial hiccups. They managed to shock the puritans @ SPE and gave all the established bands a good run for their money - and actually outshining most of them.<br /><br />Listening to them - personally it opened my eyes to the trials and tribulations of being in a rock band, and trying to do something new. It made me believe that Kolkata finally had a bunch of musicians to be proud about, who were willing to show to the rest of the city that you could play your own songs and NOT cover FLOYD and still be able to produce good quality music. And draw huge crowds as well.<br /><br />I guess its no secret that I am CD freak to the core - i am proud to be one. And I'm also glad that i am not the only one here. The Sunday ALTER JAMS brought in scores of us freaks and we moshed and headbanged for 2 hours and had the times of our lives. I'm glad no one from the Friday crowd ever came in, we'd have probably mass murdered them all and strung up their body parts in front of the stage. <br /><br />But anyway this current SPE chapter is over for CD and I am sure the PARK management must be heaving a HUGE sigh of relief:<br /><br />- no more headbanging or moshing or jumping down from the speakers<br />- no more breaking of beer bottles during crazy headbanging frenzies <br />- no more screaming and behaving aggressively with ppl inside SPE during the shows<br />- no more crowding outside in the lobby of Park Hotel after shows and having huge addas <br />... gosh its no wonder the ppl there are heaving a huge sigh of relief.<br /><br />Well, the Alter Jams were started for a reason, and it did work out splendidly - i wud know, i missed only 5 shows on sunday evening in these last 2-3 years. But I guess SPE is going to have to close down this concept... i dont see any band even being able to garner 5 % of the crowd that CD did... they set a standard which is going to be hard to beat. Even Hip Pocket wudnt be successful - so exit CD virtually means the exit of 400 odd fans from the scene there. The numbers might not be huge in terms of paying clientele i guess, so no wonder SPE cares whether CD stay or leave. Well that's my impression anyway.<br /><br />Anyway, the bottom line is this: CD were the best thing to have happened to SPE in recent times. It was a rocky alliance no doubt but i am sure something cud have been done to salvage this marriage... and its disappointing to see the end come like this.<br /><br />SPE will always be the place to be as far as music goes in Kolkata, of that there is no doubt - and I will always be there for good or for worse... but I know for sure that my evenings there wont be the same again. <br /><br />And SPE hasnt managed to address or acknowledge the fact that music is much more than classic rock, bidding adieu to CD kinda added fuel to my theory. Ah well - rejoice Hip Pocket fans and lovers of classic rock - SPE is exclusively yours again... and its back to my i-pod for me with my collection of metal and alternative... <br /><br />And now for the show - the final ALTER JAM show @ SPE:<br /><br />The Date: <strong>The 22nd of July</strong><br />The Venue: <strong>Someplace Else</strong> (where else?)<br /><br />Awesome show, maybe their best show ever @ SPE - and fuck all of you who think otherwise.<br /><br />I will spare you my running commentary on the incident filled gig that occured this evening... if you missed their last official show @ SPE then you are a big loser. A big big LOSER.<br /><br />And its not about being a CD freak or having a love for heavy music... if you are a lover of good quality original music then you should have been here. Yes you were a big loser - no doubt about that!<br /><br />Dare I say (at the cost of sounding repetitive) that this is SPE's loss, big time - the kinda crowd that came in today for the show... well I'll be suprised if the Pub Rock gigs @ SPE even manage to get in that many ppl... <br /><br />Ah well. Post here if you want to share your thought on today's gig. I'm at a loss for words right now (even tho I have been rambling above )... new songs, head banging galore, violent moshing, fights with bouncers, fans getting injured, me jumping off the speaker for one last time, the crowd singing so loudly that rahul stood and looked at all of us like a happy father would do when his child does well at an exam, screaming and shouting and mass hysteria... we had it all and much more.<br /><br />Sad? You bet - its an end of an era @ SPE - but happy too, for the band... and happy that I got to see one of the best ever shows that SPE has hosted. And I would know... I've seen them all. <br /><br />Last but not the least - a small tribute to the crowd - die-hard CD fans and music lovers every last one of them. A dedicated group of people who will never let CD walk alone...Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-17804047920170860982007-11-15T11:23:00.000-08:002007-11-15T11:37:13.658-08:00Them Clones galore...I'm currently sifting through a backlog of music reviews that I should have published on my blog ages ago... <br /><br />Anyway, some stuff I wrote after 2 Them Clones gigs - <br /><br /><br />The Date: <strong>The 16th of April, 2007</strong><br />The Venue: <strong>Someplace Else</strong><br /><br />Well truth be told Them Clones were disappointed with the turn-out - and most of the ppl who turned up I guess werent expecting such an assault on their ears. Uninformed people I should add. People who had probably come strolling in for their staple diet of pink floyd!<br /><br />They should have been fore-warned - 2 years back when THEM CLONES last played @ SPE, they decimated the place... it was a full bodied full frontal assault. And I still consider that performance to be the best ever show I've seen @ SOMEPLACE ELSE. It was mind-fucking brilliant.<br /><br />But anyway yday most of the crowd were busy being wussies behind. Good for them - if they had come up front we'd have crushed them during the final fucking mosh during LIMP BIZKIT's "TAKE A LOOK AROUND" - ya we had a mosh pit yday and it felt freaking awesome. I even roughed up some stupid asshole who kept on shouting for Judas Priest... scared the shit outta him, pushing him square across the room. <br /><br />Yday's show was good but it was the most tame and mellow Them Clones set I've ever heard - they played too many non-noize songs, but with the kinda crowd that turned up I guess there wasnt anythng else for them to do.<br /><br />They did play stuff from their usual set list like "Sindrome", "My Life", "Zephyretta", "Ignite And Walk Away", "The Bomb Song" (my favourite TC song) - and the usual list of covers like U2's "Vertigo" and "(Pride) In The Name Of Love", Coldplay's "Yellow", RATM's "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" and "Killing In The Name Of" (which sparked off a headbanging frenzy)... and other originals too like "Awaken", "Find My Way", "In The Name Of God"... <br />oh and how could I forget the Disturbed cover "Stupify"? That was excellent fun headbanging to.<br /><br />Anyway, great gig, I headbanged like mad and jumped like crazy - and me and Abhishek "The Snake" Majumdar and the Hoof gang moshed around (no I didnt break my glasses this time) - the moshing was pretty violent, but we took full advantage of the free entry - no security situation @ SPE ... so much so that you could see lines of worry and concern on the faces of the SPE staff <br /><br />sorry Gautam :))<br />_____________________________________________________________________________________<br /><br /><br />The Date: <strong>The 4th of August 2007</strong><br />The Venue: <strong>Someplace Else</strong><br />The Event: <strong>Pub Rock Fest 2007 - Day 2</strong><br />The Bands: <strong>THE SUPERSONICS</strong> and <strong>THEM CLONES</strong><br /><br />1. The Supersonics kicked big ass last night. My love for this band increases 100 fold after each show of there's I watch. Their originals are some of the best in the rock circuit. Ya i know - lotsa ppl dont like them becoz they play a genre which is neither CLASSIC ROCK nor out-right HEAVY... bu they still manage to carry their stuff off with aplomb despite this fact. Very commendable - I have nothing but total respect for these guys doing what they do in Kolkata's sick music environment.<br /><br />2. Mumshi as usual tore a string - which is something very normal during a Supersonics show. In fact he tore 2 strings - one each on both his usual and back-up guitar! Thats a record for him for sure.<br /><br />3. But where Mumshi goes, Rohan is sure to follow... and so he kept him company by tearing 2 strings as well!<br /><br />4. The crowd had however mainly come for Them Clones - it was packed to the brim. And for once I wish there could have been entry charges. The crowd was 50% @ SPE for the music and 50% were fuckin posers. Had to pick a few fights just to keep hold of our positions (front row) <br /><br />5. Them Clones - what can I say? I love this band. I have never missed a show of their's in Kolkata. And I wasnt abt to miss this one. The show? It was a loud, pumped-up, full of energy show and the crowd went wild. Luckily there wasnt any moshing for once, but the headbanging was non-stop. It was a pre-dominantly originals set-list with songs like "Ignite And Walk Away", "Find My Way", "Zephyretta", "Sindrome", "My Life", "Follow The Prophet", "Awaken", "In The Name Of God", "Push", "Round", "Zoopertrip", "Wait For Me" and the ever excellent "THE BOMB SONG".<br /><br />6. Ya they played a few covers too - U2, Coldplay, Rage Against The Machine and Pearl Jam.<br /><br />7. This was maybe their best show in Kolkata out of the 5 they've played here. And if u missed it my condolences - more than likely u missed it becoz u cudnt enter due to the 100s of shitty ass-hole pseudo music lovers who were taking up unnecessary space inside.<br /><br />Great night!Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-90115357685138966972007-11-15T11:19:00.001-08:002008-12-09T01:21:20.552-08:00How I broke my glasses @ SPE (at a Cassini's show)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDXa-I_qsAJ3-IEhWdXM3D7ONKt03x5X0asakRBrbuQJUoGlNaA-JQ9OoYEhAeKMCqP_w9nGFL898fyqAZ65lvRhwBThhgTG7HIa05EGmlGxx9PdcdoUReHx80Q3Yn_-pH1v68g/s1600-h/IMG_1524.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDXa-I_qsAJ3-IEhWdXM3D7ONKt03x5X0asakRBrbuQJUoGlNaA-JQ9OoYEhAeKMCqP_w9nGFL898fyqAZ65lvRhwBThhgTG7HIa05EGmlGxx9PdcdoUReHx80Q3Yn_-pH1v68g/s320/IMG_1524.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133149563099391458" /></a><br />15th April 2007,<br />Someplace Else<br />A Cassini's Division show (which other show do you get so much action?)<br /><br />It was an awesome show - just A.W.E.S.O.M.E.<br /><br />We had it all - excellent originals, cool renditions of covers, and moments of sheer headbanging madness...<br /><br />And I also managed to get Nepo up on the speakers with me and we did some serious jumping shit - it almost feels like bunjee jumping. <br /><br />The best moment of the show - the part where we picked up Nepo and made him BODY-SURF during GLOWWORM - a 1st @ SPE... and this shit only happens @ a Cassini's Division show (good going Aveek, Ayan, Micky and some guy who's name I dont know who pitched a hand during the body-surfing incident - and good going ME ... did I leave anyone's name out here?)<br /><br />And that is where I broke my glasses - got kicked in the face and pop, they fell on the floor and cracked. Anyway, luckily I cud reach home safely with one eye like a one-eyed samurai jack! <br /><br />Oh and the screaming was major - courtesy Shaapla - she let loose a sonic boom in my ear as well, I almost went deaf for a second.<br /><br />And birthday dedications galore - to Nobby, Mumshi (of the supersonics) and mister salsa Hitesh who's back in town... Kryptonite for him!<br /><br />The crowd went wild - the momentum picked up slowly but surely here... its days like these that make me proud to be a hard-core Cassini's Division fan... no other band in Kolkata can turn a crowd of music lovers into a crazy bunch of maniacs!Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-4996348598915759952007-06-29T07:43:00.000-07:002007-06-29T08:32:54.688-07:00Happiness... I am drenched in happinessJune 2007<br /><br />A month I will never ever forget 'till the day I turn blue in the face and stop breathing.<br /><br />The 18th of June<br />The birth of Emil Siddhartha Lehene, the latest addition to our family (well not to my clan, but WHATEVER!!!) - my little sister's and my karate kid chomping brother-in-law's son. Damn is he cute, can't wait for the day I get to teach him headbanging :)<br /><br /><br />The 29th of June<br />A day which tops even the birth-date of my own nephew. And I doubt there are too many incidents out there which could top that... but this one did - by a mile almost.<br /><br />A day when my father and mother finally freed themselves from a box full of shackles and mental torment. <br />A day when crazy samurai me for a moment stopped being crazy, to soak in all the happiness pouring out of my soul. <br /><br />...After 4 years of sheer hell and agony, after 4 years of struggle and running from post to pillar, after 4 years of seeing my father fighting a lone battle against corrupt, cynical and sarcastic government officials (inefficient clerks, sick police officers and haughty IAS officers in high places in our beauracratic circle) - I/we finally got what we had deserved by right. <br /><br />On the 29th of June 2007, I (Prasanna Singh) was handed over a certificate by the Ministry Of Home Affairs, the Government Of India - a certificate that will forever change my life... a green piece of paper certifying that I was a CITIZEN of INDIA and that the afore-mentioned fact had been registered as well (from the 4th of June 2007 to be precise).<br /><br /><br />Back-track to the past:<br />** I was born in Dallas, Texas, The United States Of America<br /><br />** I WAS an American citizen and I WAS a US passport holder - something even more precious than a "GREEN CARD"... something which a lot of morons out there are dying to get hold of. Morons all of you, whoever you are.<br /><br />** If I was still living in the USA then things might have been different. But I've been living in India since Decemeber 1981 (which was when my family and I re-located to this country) - from class III onwards... and I've never felt anything BUT an Indian, inpsite of my past history.<br /><br />** I am not the epitome of the perfect Hindu son, which you get to read about in the Ramayana (aka Rama) or in the Mahabharata (aka the Pandavas) - but I care for my folks a helluva lot, and somehow I dont have it in my system to relocate to so called "greener pastures", be it the U.S.A. or even to other Indian cities. My folks need me as much as I needed them when I was young. So I had always planned to stay back for them. Hence the decision to opt for Indian citizenship. Maybe if I was a more ambitious soul I might have flown the coop, but I'm not - and I dont give a shit either. This is me, and I am happy this way - I like myself the way I am. Some women might call this "the mommy's boy syndrome". I call it being there for your folks both mentally and physically, the way they did when you used to pee in your diapers when you were a kid.<br /><br />** Some things never change - getting through this shit was one of the most difficult battles my family had to fight. We didnt know an iota about the laws regarding Indian nationality and we were given bad advice and led down the wrong path for almost a year. And it took us nearly another year just to get things back on the right track. We were lucky to get out of this beauracratic red-tape maze... some people never manage to and die trying. <br /><br />** This would never-ever have worked out if it werent for my father. He's turning 71 in July and he's not getting any younger obviously... in these last 4 years he's fought a battle against arthritis (mild, thank god), losing one of his kidneys totally, not being able to walk due to artery blockages in both his thighs, and a by-pass surgery (his 2nd after almost 30 years)... he's not the witty happy soul that he once was and he's become slow in the head too. Plus his eyesight is failing him. <br />And yet he plowed on - he fought single-handedly against the shit that was thrown to him by the West Bengal and Indian governments. He persevered. For me. <br /><br />If you havent spoken to your parents - I mean, had a meaningful conversation - with them in a long time, then do it. Now.<br />If you think of leaving your folks to fend for themselves when they start turning old and grey, then think twice.<br />There is no one, but no one, on this planet who will love you more than your parents - not your best friend, not your boy-friend or girl-friend, not your husband or wife, not your dog, not the broad you banged and whom you think loves you... None of them.<br />Its your folks that do - no one else. Remember that.<br /><br /><br />After 4 years of struggle and uncertainty we finally won. Truth be told, I kind of feel numb, like in a dream - I guess it hasnt sunk in yet. But I look at my parents and I see them smiling and their eyes shining brightly... and I cant but feel ecstatic - not for me, but more for them. I know both of them will be sleeping peacefully tonight after a very very long time.<br /><br />I am happy - a new chapter is being written in my life now... and it is a chapter that shall be drenched in happiness.Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-1162562442930383172006-11-03T05:08:00.000-08:002006-11-03T06:00:46.523-08:00How 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!!<br /><br />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?"<br /><br />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!!<br /><br />The guys had supposedly heard CAMOFLAUGE before (I thinked they had judged them @ a rock competition... not too sure about the details) <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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... <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />I wish the band success in their future endeavours. And I stand by what I say - these guys will surely make it.Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-1160305142722028772006-10-08T03:26:00.000-07:002006-10-08T03:59:02.756-07:00Insomnia - PROLOY'er SOMOY'e... and what do I think about their album?I don’t enjoy listening to bangla rock as a rule.<br /><br />Maybe its becoz I aint a Bengali. Maybe its becoz I like listening to rock in its purest form – A.K.A., when it’s sung in English.<br /><br />Having said that, I have heard most of the popular Bengali bands around. Some of them sing the odd song that I enjoy listening to, but on the whole – well, I really can’t stand them. Barring LOKKHICHHARA and the old original KROSSWINDZ line up that is.<br /><br />So when INSOMNIA came out with their album I wasn’t peeing my pants wet with excitement. Their 1st album was in English and I was really hoping that this one would have been composed in English as well.<br />But yes, I was extremely happy for them though, becoz I know a few of the band members and I wanted to lend them my support by buying their album – its Rs. 99/- bucks after all. Very cheap (cheaper than the stuff I drink @ SOMEPLACE ELSE generally!!!)<br />They could have sung their album in Bhojpuri for all I care, and I would have still bought the album!<br /><br />Souvik had sent me a sample of <b>Adharm’er Shaar</b> some months back, yes it wasn't like I had nothing to look forward too - the song was very alternative and nu-metalish, almost a RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE clone. Which was a surprise becoz having seen INSOMNIA and CRYSTAL GRASS (the INSOMNIA off-shoot @ SPE) perform live here and there, I kinda had the impression that their influences were mainly PINK FLOYD and classic and prog rock, with sprinklings of modern rock here and there.<br /><br />So to the album <b>PROLOY’er SOMOY’e</b><br /><br /><b>Question:</b> Did I like it?<br /><b>Answer:</b> You bet I did! Liked it would be an under-statement – I loved it!<br /><br />From whatever little comments I’ve read about this album from the fans online, INSOMNIA’s new baby is supposed to revolutionized the modern Bengali rock music sound... well, I don’t know about that, since as I mentioned before, I ain’t no expert in this genre.<br /><br />But personally any album that has managed to stay put in my CD player over a week is a good album by my standards. And that has been the case with <b>PROLOY’er SOMOY’e</b>! For the 1st time in my existence on this planet i have not only listened to a bengali rock album not ionce, not twice - but non-stop for the past 1 week. And I still see no signs of getting tired of it.<br /><br />The songs. Okay. Well for fans of nu-metal, modern rock and alternative music, this album has something for you. All of the songs on this album have elements of these genres. And it’s worthwhile to note that these songs provide a variety which kind of keeps the pace of the album very even. None of the songs sound the same - so for the fickle-minded music listener, I doubt that you’ll get bogged down after listening to a few songs.<br /><br />The songs can easily be divided into 2 categories – the heavy and the not-so-heavy.<br /><b>The Heavy:</b> Proloy’er Somoy’e, Aartonaad, Poth'e Ghaat'e Nekreh Kaateh, Odhorm’er Shaar.<br /><b>The Not-So-Heavy:</b> Shunyo, Nishhaash, Haat Dhoreh, Akaash Chowaa, Opekhha.<br /><br /><b>The Heavy</b> – The funny thing is that I could actually pin-point specifically the influences for most of the songs. For instance:<br /><br /><b>Proloy’er Somoy’e:</b> The opening bars were so P.O.D. – in fact the guitar intro had <b>Youth Of The Nation</b> written all over it. A really good song, becoz once the initial P.O.D. phase gets over the band ups the ante and takes the song into overdrive. An excellent track to kick off the album with. And my 2nd best favourite amongst the 9.<br /><br /><b>Aartonaad:</b> In this case it was AUDIOSLAVE’s “Cochise” and a bit of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, which is not suprising since AUDIOSLAVE after all is an off-shoot of RATM. A good heavy feel to this song as well. The AUDIOSLAVE sound kind of persisted a bit too long for my liking but once again the heaviness of the song made for really good listening. The layers on this song – very structured indeed I must say. And it was an absolute delight to hear BODHI’s guitar-playing here. <br /><br /><b>Odhorm’er Shaar:</b> Okay, it took me some time to identify the main influence for this song, but I am positive it is RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’s <b>Born Of A Broken Man</b>. Actually this song had the most nu-metal influences amongst all the heavy tracks. It was almost like I was listening to RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE in Bengali (without the rapping part though). <br />And not suprising since INSOMNIA after all do mention in their album that it is a tribute to RATM.<br />The last song of the album and an awesome way to close it. Very raw and heavy feel. Nice guitar solo in the middle of the song as well.<br /> <br /><b>Poth’e Ghat’e Nekreh Kaateh:</b> I’m stumped – can’t actually say what specifically influenced this song. But whatever, another very loud bone-crunching ditty – and that’s all I really care about here. Supposedly about call centers. Ah well, one listen to this is sure to induce insomnia amongst all those call center employees who have to stay up the entire night working. Rocking song. <br />But if I may say so – it was probably the most mainstream amongst the 4 heavy songs in this album. Which is my way of saying that it is a good song but the other 3 (mentioned above) had that extra element of <b>heaviness</b> which made them so much more interesting. But regardless, a good song nevertheless.<br /><br />I have to mention that NINNAI did a very good job with the vocals. He definitely has the vocal range to carry off a heavy song, and it was a pleasure to hear him growling and screeching as would do any good metal singer. If INSOMNIA do wish to compose an entirely heavy album in the future, then they have a vocalist to deliver them the goods for sure.<br /> <br /><b>The Not-So-Heavy</b> – Well the rest of the songs weren’t bone-crunching heavy, and as I mentioned previously, the remaining 5 tunes were a mix of modern rock, power ballads and a bit of British alternative. A mixed bag if you will.<br />The 1st time I heard the album I was surprised that there were any slow songs at all, becoz I initially was under the impression that the entire album would be of the ear-shattering variety. But after a few listens, no complaints. I actually like the feel of the album better this way.<br /><br /><b>Shunyo:</b> I could be mistaken, but I did feel a bit of the COLDPLAY influence here. And a bit of BETTER THAN EZRA (an American alternative group – if you’ve heard their song <b>Closer</b> then you’ll know what I’m talking about!) The song’s opening was very cool. I liked it. Nothing very flashy or anything but it had a nice earthy feel to it. A nice ballad – should go down very well with the romantically inclined. On the whole, a very neat and uncomplicated song.<br /><br /><b>Nishhaash:</b> Oh man, off the top of my head – COLLECTIVE SOUL? The intro was classic COLLECTIVE SOUL. Again, another nice ballsy ballad type of song, but as do most of the songs on this album, a very different feel altogether. <br /><br /><b>Haat Dhoreh:</b> I never really thought SOUVIK’s vocals would do a good job with the slow songs. Both here and in <b>Shunyo</b>, the feeling he provides to these song over-all were just amazing to listen to. Again, as I mentioned above – another slow song, and the music and vocals blend together beautifully to lend it this very emotional feel – the ladies should love this song for sure.<br /><br /><b>Akaash Chowaa:</b> AUDIOSLAVE again? Maybe I’m wrong – but the intro did sound so. Very touching song – the entire mood had this depressing feel about it which was really cool. In fact at times I thought I could hear a bit of NIRVANA’s <b>Lithium</b> swimming through my head. I mean, not the tune, the feel of the song... There, I said it – this song is the parallel of <b>Lithium</b> in this style of music. What? You don’t agree? Well listen to it a few more times and tell me what you feel then.<br /><br /><b>Opekhha:</b> I wonder. I never expected this song to be my favourite amongst all the songs on this album. Under normal circumstances it should have been one of the 4 heavy songs. But no, <b>Opekhha</b> wins the crown after hours of continuous listening. COLDPLAY influence? You bet my ass yes. The closing section of the song has similarities to <b>Yellow</b>. <br />The song overall? Awesome. Absolutely brilliant. You could actually feel DODO’s angst while the song flowed. The angst and passion and frustration. All rolled into one and out it came like a river. The only song in the album where I personally feel that the vocals actually overshadowed the other instruments – and that is saying a lot, becoz in the remaining 8 songs the symbiotic nature between vocals and instrumentation took the album through a nice smooth road.<br />So my hats off to DODO here – the vocals bowled me over.<br /><br /><br />Whew! That was long.<br />So at the end of it all I have to say that <b>Proloy’er Somoy’e</b> is an above average album without a doubt. A new sound you said? Well however new it might be to the general bangla rock loving masses, to me it was very mainstream and accessible. If INSOMNIA succeed in popularizing this new sound then that makes it worth waiting (for your’s truly) for their next album.<br /><br />But here is where I ask my 1st question to the band: With the myriad influences that are so evident on this album, what direction does INSMONIA take in the future? Although it was fun listening to a mix-and-match of heavy and not-so-heavy songs, it would be nice to see the band sticking to one specific genre and a few influences. Sounding like RATM in one song and then like COLDPLAY in the next may not be a very wise thing to do for future projects, esepcially when you want to establish your band as a front-runner in a particular genre of rock. Of course so much of this will be determined by album sales and fan reactions. SO I guess its too early to maybe decide about that. <br /><br />Anyway, instead of rambling away I’ll just say that the band members have done themselves proud – the sound overall was extremely pleasing – the drums, keyboards, guitars, vocals all round were very tight and slick. Even the album production quality was a notch above what I’ve generally seen around for Indian bands. Seriously – I have the HELGA's FUN CASTLE album with me… but <b>Proloy’er Somoy’e</b> was way above the former's album production standard.<br /><br />Ratings: 8 (out of 10)Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7305762.post-1158757355592314202006-09-20T04:30:00.000-07:002007-11-19T07:11:12.546-08:00I Dont Dope You DopeWhen I was a kid in college people my age did grass and hash and so on and so forth. Kids back then needed to do that shit becoz:<br /><a> <a>It supposedly made them cool.</a></a><br /><strong>It was the in-thing to do before coming to a rock-show.</strong><br /><c><c> It was - to them - the ultimate way to appreciate music.<br /><br />Ya. Right.<br /><br />Its 2006. I'm 32 years old. I'm single. I'm a full-time yuppie going thru my everyday 9-to5 grind - my parents arent getting any younger, so I juggle my free-time between them, my friends, rock shows and the odd date. (yuss I love women - just for the record) . Life is pretty good for me. No, I'll re-phrase that - life is great!<br /><br />Rock show. Yes, I still enjoy attending rock shows. I love music. I dont seem to have mellowed with age as far as music is concerned - I kinda have gone into more extreme, more aggressive forms of music. Most of my friends who were into rock music have shifted to classical music or jazz. One pal has even started listening (and appreciating) Cliff Richards these days... ho hum!<br /><br />Anyway, whatever. The kids these days though have no qualms listening to death metal bands or nu-metal bands or punk bands. Which is why I seem to be interacting these days with college kids (more than 10 years my junior).<br />But am I complaining tho? HELL NO. What has age got to do with music? If you like it you listen - plain and simple. And if you want to headbang with the 18 year old 1st year student from St. Xaviers, well cool. Go ahead. Whats the big deal? Provided of course your body allows you - I ain't as supple and fit as I was 10 years back, no denying that.<br /><br />And its all good fun... times have changed but its great to see the music flowing.<br />Sigh.<br /><br />And with changing times, you would think that kids nowadays would be more innovative in the things they do... and you would certainly hope that do NOT end up aping the stuff kids were doing during my college days.<br />But no - no change there - you go to a rock show and you see these kids all high on dope. THey come all doped up before the show. Then they leave in between the show to roll up a quick joint or 2. And of course after the show they are nowhere around - they are busy again somewhere getting busy with their "G".<br />Its so stupid. And if you ask them why they do it - well the answers havent changed much actually from my college days:<br /><a> It supposedly made them cool. <br /><strong>It was the in-thing to do before coming to a rock-show. </strong> <br /><c> It was - to them - the ultimate way to appreciate music. </a> <br /> <br />I have never smoked a joint in my life. Never. Never Ever. I dont need aritficial stimulants to get me high during a show - the music is good enough to get me orgasmic, thank you very much. And that includes booze, nicotine, sexy women and of course dope. Whether I booze or like women is a different issue altogether. The fact is I do not have to indulge in them to mke me appreciate a song, or to (as most kids tell me) "FEEL" the music. Its all assinine bull to me. If you really like music you dont need these to get you into some kinda orgasmic stupor.<br /><br />And some of them are really really good kids - I love them a lot. And they respect me too - I dont know, my age doesnt really bother them. I guess I'm like some kinda older brother to them whom they can both talk to and headbang with. <br />So obviously it pains me when I see them getting into these mindless head trips. "Oh grass is harmless and Oh grass isnt really a drug"... bull-shit. If it werent a drug then why would you be sent to jail if you lit up publicly? Why would you have to hide in dark corners to roll a joint? Hypocrisy in your face!!<br /><br />I dont know what this blog is about - am I angry about kids that I like and care about doing dope these days? Maybe.<br />Or maybe what I am trying to say is that, ahem, I am this real cool dude - and I dont have to roll up joints to increase my manliness or my cool factor. Maybe thass what I'm trying to say here.<br /><br />Anyway - just enjoy the music is my message. And you dont need to be a cow to do that.<br /><br /><a></a>Prasannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00114294637803400257noreply@blogger.com0