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