If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is how I aimed to be part of the rock culture at my college, and what a lousy beginning I had, and how my the first group of people I played with were too pre-occupied with their pretensions, and that sort of stuff, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
However, that is not the way I would like to start this story. This is how Holden C. would, and I would rather be the Howard R. of Hard R.
Still, there is no getting away from the fact that when I came to college with stars in my eyes and rhythm in my fingers, the first time I got together with people to play music, my potential wasn't fully utilized. I mean, sure they played music, but there wasn't enough rock in it.
Or rather, let's be frank, there was nothing that connected those people to rock music. And I tore away from them as soon as I could, looking for kindred souls.
I remembered two people whom I met the day we had our Official Fresher's auditions. There was this long haired dark guy who kept on asking each fresher he met 'Do you listen to rock? Do you listen to western music?' And was getting mostly answers in negative. And there was this other guy wearing specs who was playing a guitar, and the two of them were generally ignoring the auditions, only to pick and point at a few and asking the above question.
I said, 'Yes' or words to that effect and sidled up to them. I introduced myself in the manner that freshers are supposed to, and then waited for him to ask 'So, do you listen to rock?'
I smiled and said "Yes sir, and it was because I heard you were asking everyone around here if they were interested in rock..."
"Yeah yeah," the long haired guy said, "Well I am going to test your knowledge. Identify this song." And then he turned to the guitarist.
The guitarist drew a blank face and whispered "Which song?"
The long haired guy whispered back and said, "Any! Dammit."
And then he played the opening riff of 'Wish you were here.' I quickly told them the song and started to sing the first few bars, they were visible impressed, giving me an idea of the freshers who usually turned up for these auditions.
"Cool, so you listen to Pink Floyd?"
"Yes sir!" I said, and went into the list of my favourite bands, "I also listen to Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pearl Jam, Nir..."
The two of them almost simultaneously raised their hands and asked me to stop, "Fine. It seems you know a thing or two, listen, I will give you a general advice, do not hang with the people conducting these Fachcha auditions. If you want to learn rock music, contact us later."
And then without giving me their names they asked me to leave, as if I was supposed to magically acquire that knowledge. And what was that last remark about me learning from them? I didn't boast about it to them then, but I have learned the Tabla for six years and singing for nine, not to mention that I can play almost any percussion instrument and the flute quite easily.
Of course, one learns to be modest.
I later got to know that the long haired guy was Pablo, vocalist for the third year band, and that the guitarist was Amrit, of the second year.
Then for about a couple of months I was part of the Music Club, and mentally, aesthetically whateveri-cally, I couldn't relate to them. I left them and went in search of people of my year who had similar interests. In the mean time I discovered that I had a flair for drums, and was the happier when I had a couple of drumsticks in my hand than not.
However when it came to forming a band of my own, I became the vocalist, the drummer being a guy who had his own drumkit. I could play better than him even then...still.
I learned that the third year band had a stable line up (guitarist, vocalist, rhythm guitarist, bass player) but had no stable drummer. I eyed the position, but there was no direct interaction, and no common circle between them and me, so I couldn't put forward my proposal to them.
The first half of my first year in college was filled with many events which do not fit into the scope of this story, viz. How Nandit Pathak Joined Broken Tooth. But a turning point came when I bagged the lead role in a play directed by one 'Nani Sachan.' He was a batchmate of the guys from Broken Tooth, and I put forward my case to him.
He asked me, "Do you know they play really heavy rock music?"
I said, "I love hard rock! And I would love to play it!"
"Do you know that they are really hard working?"
"I AM hard working. Though I say it myself."
"Do you know that they practice up to the wee hours of morning?"
"Arrey sir I wake up till the wee hours in the morning. Tell them that I would love to play for them."
Of course I didn't know that Nani was exaggerating in the Hard working department, and when he told me that the band 'thought about it, and would be happy if I joined them as soon as I was free from my theatrical duties' I was very happy.
There was no formal induction ceremony, no welcome with a bottle of beer, one fine day I got a call from Pablo who said, "So I believe you are going to play drums for us?"
I replied in the affirmative, he said he was very pleased with this fact and told me to gear up because there was this rock-fest at Allahabad that required gearing up. I said, "Great, so when do we start practicing? And er...what's the set list?"
"We will start practicing...soon, you see I am actually on my way home, feeling a little home sick and all that. I shall be back in three days time and we would still have more than a week for practicing, why don't you go and meet Alex? He will tell you the set list, and maybe you can start practicing for the music, and I shall...hello? hello?..."
His voice got cut off, because he was on a train. Still, I thought that I could jam with Alex, Adi and PC, and with the music ready it would be easy for the vocalist to fit in.
So that very day I went to Alex's room, and asked him the set list and told him to come for practice. He said that practice was presently out of the question because of two of the band members being A.W.O.L.
"Two? I thought only Pablo bhaiyya has gone home."
"No yaar, Adi too is gone."
Cursing my luck, I started on the way back to the hostel, and was startled to see the apparition of Adi sitting at the tea shop, sipping tea with Nani Sachan. I swerved my back in a 180 degree motion and sped back to Alex's room.
"You said Adi bhaiyya has gone home! I saw him just now sitting at LC!"
"What? Funny, I hadn't seen him for a few days, so I assumed that...never mind. So do we have to practice? I mean today? I am not really in the mood."
"Arre bhaiyya I am greatly in the mood, please come on! Let's practice today."
Alex hummed and hawed for a while, and then said, "Okay, this is the set list. May be we can start by practicing Satisfaction. And then there is One Last Breath, How you remind me, She will be loved...and we are thinking of doing 'Californication.' Would you be able to pull that off?"
I raised myself up to my full height, and then wished that I hadn't, because I was standing in the door frame, and was hit on the north side by wood. And then realizing why I had raised myself to my full height, I said, "Given practice. I can pull off anything, sir I have learnt the Tabla for six years..." and then I proceeded to give him the break-down of drum beats by comparing them with drums.
"Okay, Okay. Go fetch Adi from LC, and I shall meet you at KP."
Adi seemed even more reluctant to practice, and finally when the three of us landed at KP, he kept talking to someone (presumably his girlfriend) on the phone, and sool left us promising to be back in fifteen minutes.
He didn't return.
After a little while Alex said, "Dude, I don't think he is coming back. I guess we should leave it for another day. May be when Pablo comes back, now could you drop me back to my hostel? There was this movie that I have left paused..."
I can safely say that first day 'I' didn't get any Satisfaction!
Tuesday 15 September 2009
Monday 7 September 2009
They Rock, Informally
After my trip to Benares with regard to the performance of Broken Tooth at the Clarks Hotel for some Alumni reunion (where the free booze was highly appreciated by yours truly) I decided that I shall not go another gig invitation by the band unless backed by rock (sic) solid proof that it is something substantial. That's why when Pablo called me up numerous times inviting me to an event in his college called 'The Rock Informals' I was highly apprehensive.
And the pay of being a rock journalist (even though I worked with ***) was meager, I could not afford round trips to there and back again whenever I wished too. So I politely declined the offer and decided to concentrate instead on the Winter fests happening in the colleges of the National Capital Region.
Also, there was the fact that they called the thing 'Rock Informals'. I was afraid I would be treated to some self styled rock music which would not conform to the one thing that good rock music should always conform to, that is being good.
However, Pablo being one of the people who believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and vice versa decided that I was fit to be told about how the event played out. He mailed me his experience and I copy-paste it below in verbatim.
'Hey Nikhil!
You should have been here man! I mean this was the real thing, this was our real gig! I know you are still smarting over what happened at Clarks, but this was way better than that.
I mean to start it off, our college had after a long long time four in house bands, each for every year. And though the fourth year band was a rhythm guitarist and a bass guitarist short, and our band did not have a drummer, and the second year band did not have a vocalist, and the first year band did not have a decent rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist and a drummer, we spilled into each other's groups and completed the experience.
I was the guest vocalist for the second year band and Adi and Alex completed the fourth year guys, as they did in Clarks. Also the second year drummer played the drums for us, on last count the total number of drummers we have had till now have been six.
The sound we got was lousy, because of the apathy (or rather antipathy) of the Administration. We had a budget of about Three thousand, I dare you to organize a rock show within that amount.
We went through with whatever semblance of soundcheck that we could manage, each band played a portion of their songs. I was at the gates when the fourth year band was finishing its sound check, and a couple of girls who had probably strayed to the event inadvertently in the first place left the building, commenting to themselves that it was a 'small show...got over too quickly.'
Then the show began, and unfortunately at this time Johri appeared and said that he was going to have a couple of beers so that he would be at his optimum level for the show. As he exited I hoped that his inebriated state would not be known to the rest of the band, since I had pleaded/ordered/asked/told them to refrain from intoxication for the whole duration of the thingy. Also I wasn't sure whether Johri would be in a state to play after he had had a couple.
Anyway, leaving behind all this tension I sat back with my friends to enjoy the show. The first year band consisted of
1) Nandit-Vocalist
2) Bibhash-Lead guitarist
3) Guy wearing cap-Rhythm Guitarist
4) Shy guy- Bass
5) Vashisht-Drummer
They called themselves 'Black Rust' and I fully expected them to play something loud and heavy, probably inspired by Megadeth or Metallica.
They started their set list by playing 'Time of your life' by Green Day.
To say the least, I was disappointed. I mean if you go and name your band 'Black Rust' and do not have words like murder, death, kill, cruel etc in your songs, then there has been some problem with the nomenclature.
Also, Time of Your Life was essentially a two-piece ensemble, with the rest of the band standing around, and the vocalist and the guitarist participating actively.
Then they kicked into 'Smoke on the water.' And the drummer screwed it, then the rhythm guitarist screwed it even further, and the bass was perhaps not plugged in. Somehow the song ended, and the public wasn't very enthusiastic because they had come to head bang, and till now had found nothing to head bang about.
The organizers (the Fourth year guys) saw this as a difficulty, but had little problem in overcoming it because Bibhash being a quick thinker started playing Naagin, Nandit quickly replaced the drummer. And boy, the boy could play the drums well.
If he ever wants to join Broken Tooth and become our lucky number seven, he would be most welcome. But then he would have to 'want' to, I am not going to ask him. One has ones pride, foolish pride, but still pride.
Any way, with the combined efforts of Bibhash and Nandit, the crowd was on its feet and had rushed to the foot of the stage and had formed into the most essential ingredient of a rock show, the mosh pit.
When they exited the stage and the second year band entered, I raked my mind for something that was missing. There was something that I had forgotten and the site of Amrit and Gaurav on stage was reminding me of it, I let it wait and come to me.
It didn't strike me until Amrit bellowed into the microphone "Pablo Bhaiya!" I had my duties as a guest vocalist.
However once on stage I realized that my duties were limited, Amrit launched into the intro of 'Joker and The Thief' and kept on playing it for a considerable time until the organizers came and prodded him to get on with the show, since there were other bands waiting.
Their tendency of breaking into uninterrupted guitar segments notwithstanding, the band did things on a more organized level. I was handed a printed copy of the lyrics of the songs that I was supposed to sing. In my band we didn't bother with print outs, if I didn't know the lyrics I would improvise.
We played a high tempo version of 'Last Kiss', and it was the first time that I had seen people headbanging on that particular song. I too used a shouting voice instead of a singing one, and then Alex reminded me that I shouldn't get my throat too hoarse for singing.
One of the few tricks that a wannabe rockstar learns from watching too many concert videos apart from crowd diving is turning the microphone to the audience in the more difficult portions of the song. And so in the next song 'She (fucking) hates me' I left all the screaming portions to the crowd.
And that's when the lights went out. Not as a stage gimmick, but because of a power cut. The money that we had barely covered the costs of the sound, we didn't even think of hiring a generator. I mean, it had taken a lot of trouble to put together the event, none of us had thought of Murphy's law.
After over ten minutes of confusion in which over half the audience left the building, Alex too got frustrated and decided that he had had enough. He disappeared. So when the lights came back on I literally couldn't be happier, knowing that the lead guitarist was missing, and we were supposed to be on the stage in around five minutes.
And thus I began my frantic search for Alex while the second year band occupied the stage again, and for a short while there was a repeat of the 'Where is Pablo?' act. I came and said plainly that I wasn't going to sing until Alex appeared. This suited Amrit fine and he started singing himself. Of course I was supposed to sing only one more song for them so I wasn't that sorely missed.
In the meanwhile Alex returned, and the organizers pushed the second year band off the stage. There was precious little time left and they didn't want another power outage to jeopardize their chances of performing. Aided by alcohol the second yearites were persistent on staying put, but since I too had a vested interest in seeing them off-stage with gentle nudge of word and hand they were guided away.
They sulked in the shadows, but that was all they could do.
In emptying the stage we had forgotten that Johri too would be gone. And so when The Compleat Broken Tooth were present, we found out that there was a drummer missing. Not one to look back in anger or otherwise, I almost started introducing the song when Adi poked me with his bass and pointed out the drumkit.
When Sharma (Chief Cinematographer) and others helped fish out Johri, we saw that he was so tanked that a hand waved in front of his eyes made no effect. Cursing him and our luck we started our set list which was
1) One Last Breath - Creed
2) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
3) Patience - Guns and Roses
And it was with a pleasant surprise that a tanked out Johri was as good as a Johri who had taken a vow of abstinence. He did not seem to have much idea of what was going on still he played well. One Last Breath had no glitches and Satisfaction too was great.
And then Johri left because the next track was patience, and their rose in front of me a mountain of a guy. He started singing Patience along with me, and I got scared that if I sing something wrong I he would get on stage and beat the hell out of me.
As soon as I reached the 'Oooooooo I need you' part, the lights (this time on cue) decided to go out and take a walk.
The fourth year guys sunk low in depression as our audience halved again, demonstrating the scientific phenomenon of 'Half Life' in real time. Thus when the lights came back on we had only a few hard core rock fans, most of them very drunk, but all of them very supportive. The fourth year band played an impressive set list
1) Coming back to life
2) Comfortably Numb
3) Keep on rocking in the free world
4) Turn the page
and finished off with a decent rendition of Hey You by PF.
You should have been there, I think it's the best gig we have ever had, and after seeing this guy Nandit play the drums I believe if he joins us we would have no further problems in that department.
Next month we go to Allahabad, it would be great if you could come along.
Regards
Pablo
Vocalist
Broken Tooth
And the pay of being a rock journalist (even though I worked with ***) was meager, I could not afford round trips to there and back again whenever I wished too. So I politely declined the offer and decided to concentrate instead on the Winter fests happening in the colleges of the National Capital Region.
Also, there was the fact that they called the thing 'Rock Informals'. I was afraid I would be treated to some self styled rock music which would not conform to the one thing that good rock music should always conform to, that is being good.
However, Pablo being one of the people who believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and vice versa decided that I was fit to be told about how the event played out. He mailed me his experience and I copy-paste it below in verbatim.
'Hey Nikhil!
You should have been here man! I mean this was the real thing, this was our real gig! I know you are still smarting over what happened at Clarks, but this was way better than that.
I mean to start it off, our college had after a long long time four in house bands, each for every year. And though the fourth year band was a rhythm guitarist and a bass guitarist short, and our band did not have a drummer, and the second year band did not have a vocalist, and the first year band did not have a decent rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist and a drummer, we spilled into each other's groups and completed the experience.
I was the guest vocalist for the second year band and Adi and Alex completed the fourth year guys, as they did in Clarks. Also the second year drummer played the drums for us, on last count the total number of drummers we have had till now have been six.
The sound we got was lousy, because of the apathy (or rather antipathy) of the Administration. We had a budget of about Three thousand, I dare you to organize a rock show within that amount.
We went through with whatever semblance of soundcheck that we could manage, each band played a portion of their songs. I was at the gates when the fourth year band was finishing its sound check, and a couple of girls who had probably strayed to the event inadvertently in the first place left the building, commenting to themselves that it was a 'small show...got over too quickly.'
Then the show began, and unfortunately at this time Johri appeared and said that he was going to have a couple of beers so that he would be at his optimum level for the show. As he exited I hoped that his inebriated state would not be known to the rest of the band, since I had pleaded/ordered/asked/told them to refrain from intoxication for the whole duration of the thingy. Also I wasn't sure whether Johri would be in a state to play after he had had a couple.
Anyway, leaving behind all this tension I sat back with my friends to enjoy the show. The first year band consisted of
1) Nandit-Vocalist
2) Bibhash-Lead guitarist
3) Guy wearing cap-Rhythm Guitarist
4) Shy guy- Bass
5) Vashisht-Drummer
They called themselves 'Black Rust' and I fully expected them to play something loud and heavy, probably inspired by Megadeth or Metallica.
They started their set list by playing 'Time of your life' by Green Day.
To say the least, I was disappointed. I mean if you go and name your band 'Black Rust' and do not have words like murder, death, kill, cruel etc in your songs, then there has been some problem with the nomenclature.
Also, Time of Your Life was essentially a two-piece ensemble, with the rest of the band standing around, and the vocalist and the guitarist participating actively.
Then they kicked into 'Smoke on the water.' And the drummer screwed it, then the rhythm guitarist screwed it even further, and the bass was perhaps not plugged in. Somehow the song ended, and the public wasn't very enthusiastic because they had come to head bang, and till now had found nothing to head bang about.
The organizers (the Fourth year guys) saw this as a difficulty, but had little problem in overcoming it because Bibhash being a quick thinker started playing Naagin, Nandit quickly replaced the drummer. And boy, the boy could play the drums well.
If he ever wants to join Broken Tooth and become our lucky number seven, he would be most welcome. But then he would have to 'want' to, I am not going to ask him. One has ones pride, foolish pride, but still pride.
Any way, with the combined efforts of Bibhash and Nandit, the crowd was on its feet and had rushed to the foot of the stage and had formed into the most essential ingredient of a rock show, the mosh pit.
When they exited the stage and the second year band entered, I raked my mind for something that was missing. There was something that I had forgotten and the site of Amrit and Gaurav on stage was reminding me of it, I let it wait and come to me.
It didn't strike me until Amrit bellowed into the microphone "Pablo Bhaiya!" I had my duties as a guest vocalist.
However once on stage I realized that my duties were limited, Amrit launched into the intro of 'Joker and The Thief' and kept on playing it for a considerable time until the organizers came and prodded him to get on with the show, since there were other bands waiting.
Their tendency of breaking into uninterrupted guitar segments notwithstanding, the band did things on a more organized level. I was handed a printed copy of the lyrics of the songs that I was supposed to sing. In my band we didn't bother with print outs, if I didn't know the lyrics I would improvise.
We played a high tempo version of 'Last Kiss', and it was the first time that I had seen people headbanging on that particular song. I too used a shouting voice instead of a singing one, and then Alex reminded me that I shouldn't get my throat too hoarse for singing.
One of the few tricks that a wannabe rockstar learns from watching too many concert videos apart from crowd diving is turning the microphone to the audience in the more difficult portions of the song. And so in the next song 'She (fucking) hates me' I left all the screaming portions to the crowd.
And that's when the lights went out. Not as a stage gimmick, but because of a power cut. The money that we had barely covered the costs of the sound, we didn't even think of hiring a generator. I mean, it had taken a lot of trouble to put together the event, none of us had thought of Murphy's law.
After over ten minutes of confusion in which over half the audience left the building, Alex too got frustrated and decided that he had had enough. He disappeared. So when the lights came back on I literally couldn't be happier, knowing that the lead guitarist was missing, and we were supposed to be on the stage in around five minutes.
And thus I began my frantic search for Alex while the second year band occupied the stage again, and for a short while there was a repeat of the 'Where is Pablo?' act. I came and said plainly that I wasn't going to sing until Alex appeared. This suited Amrit fine and he started singing himself. Of course I was supposed to sing only one more song for them so I wasn't that sorely missed.
In the meanwhile Alex returned, and the organizers pushed the second year band off the stage. There was precious little time left and they didn't want another power outage to jeopardize their chances of performing. Aided by alcohol the second yearites were persistent on staying put, but since I too had a vested interest in seeing them off-stage with gentle nudge of word and hand they were guided away.
They sulked in the shadows, but that was all they could do.
In emptying the stage we had forgotten that Johri too would be gone. And so when The Compleat Broken Tooth were present, we found out that there was a drummer missing. Not one to look back in anger or otherwise, I almost started introducing the song when Adi poked me with his bass and pointed out the drumkit.
When Sharma (Chief Cinematographer) and others helped fish out Johri, we saw that he was so tanked that a hand waved in front of his eyes made no effect. Cursing him and our luck we started our set list which was
1) One Last Breath - Creed
2) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
3) Patience - Guns and Roses
And it was with a pleasant surprise that a tanked out Johri was as good as a Johri who had taken a vow of abstinence. He did not seem to have much idea of what was going on still he played well. One Last Breath had no glitches and Satisfaction too was great.
And then Johri left because the next track was patience, and their rose in front of me a mountain of a guy. He started singing Patience along with me, and I got scared that if I sing something wrong I he would get on stage and beat the hell out of me.
As soon as I reached the 'Oooooooo I need you' part, the lights (this time on cue) decided to go out and take a walk.
The fourth year guys sunk low in depression as our audience halved again, demonstrating the scientific phenomenon of 'Half Life' in real time. Thus when the lights came back on we had only a few hard core rock fans, most of them very drunk, but all of them very supportive. The fourth year band played an impressive set list
1) Coming back to life
2) Comfortably Numb
3) Keep on rocking in the free world
4) Turn the page
and finished off with a decent rendition of Hey You by PF.
You should have been there, I think it's the best gig we have ever had, and after seeing this guy Nandit play the drums I believe if he joins us we would have no further problems in that department.
Next month we go to Allahabad, it would be great if you could come along.
Regards
Pablo
Vocalist
Broken Tooth
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