Home Again

Well,
Five years living on my own. Now im back. Living with folks. Yes, it is taking time to settle down. But the fact that its difficult is good. IS one of the reasons why i left my comfort zone back there. So yeah one step at a time.

Its great to see how everyones moved on. I thought half my day will be spent in stiching up the great divide. But it is'nt bad. Its recovering. Anyway its the mind which is in a divide. Imagine god looking down at all of our heads with our mind in divides. bzzzzzz! A week back someone put it in a term- 'contradiction ' thats what we are. I think that word is quite underrated.

Its weird how 'I' have changed over these years. How i need beer when its hot. To be alone when under pressure. Play my guitar for a living. Its weird but its all good if you ask me. Except on connotation with which i refer to my future.

Thats the only thing im weary about. Im lucky to be bothered about it if you ask me. It freaks the living daylights out of me sometime. Feels good after the feeling exits. Cuz that fear kinda settles down and remains with me. Its becomes a part of me. Subconscious is what they would call it. Pah these complicated words are like chord names. Who gives a damn.

It was sad to leave some things behind. My little red bike was the worst. Six years and it was my only means to everything. To get to the things i love. Beer, My beautiful girl, Music, and what not. To use it till the last moment was my tribute. HA! I know credit goes to the oh so comfortable house that we stayed in and the millions of absolutely crazy things that have taken place there. Houses are like that. Silent observers. I have tried to observe my walls and other things many times. Just cant beat em at it.

As of now life goes on as it is.

Avial

I had written this long back when i was still under the high of watching this band perform. Here it is:
NADA NADA
Well, all those musician and self proclaimed institutionalised gods of the Indian independent scene can do just that-take a hike. I really do not know what it was yesterday. I have seen so many bands play on stage, and very few have been able to blow my head of with their sound. Avial was not one of those few bands. It was far ahead of those bands. I have heard their demos on myspace etc but kinda had that Indian musician intution that this was not gonna be as good. That all our hopes would be slashed and put down. That the band would suck. I think i saw four songs by Avial that day and, despite the vocalist having left the band and the turntablist filling in, a drummer who we were hearing for the first time as the drums on the recording are all programmed; these guys were just effortlessly amazing. Someone told me that they have bee ONLY working on this project since the last 5-6 years. I think thats nothing if you can produce work like this at the end of the day. Now, back in Bangalore, the cd plays atleast twice a day in my home and every time i listen to it in a kinda of a dilemma between pride and awe just because of the fact that its an Indian production.
Congrats and thanks guys.
dont stop.

Blues For The Common Man

This is the last song is wrote for the band. We played it once. The first and the last time. 

' Its an early wake up

  Twelve in the noon

  I look around i gotta heat my brew I've had

  Enough of this kinda life

  I've gotta start something new.

  Yeah i'm the wasted kind

  Well thats the common view '

' No time for lovin'  There's no

  Room for 2

  My time ain't comin'

  Any time soon I got

  JUST what i want

  And she knows its true

  Im the wasted kind, 

  Thats the common view '

Everyone takes turns to solo. And then head to double time in blues kinda like the SRV tunes.

 ' Take it slow.

   Take it slow.

   Comeon Take it slow.

   TAKE IT SLOW!!!!!

  Just one phone call 

  It takes thats all

  To take me back into the wretched 

  NEED....i dont like speed

  Take it slow

  Yes im the wasted kind.

  Thats the common view '

Thank you guys. For playing my stuff.

The End

FUCK! I cant believe its been more than 6 months since i wrote. I have been writing though here and there.....few songs, memories and thoughts. Anyway, now i have the time. Just read my last post and its been just too long. Worked on 6 WSR jingles after that plus the usual AV stuff plus also finalised on many other projects. Sent in my music applications as well. Which was quite a load off. Now i need to work on my next audition. Damn.....where's my guitar. Well, Its been quite disappointing lately with the band not being around to jam. Its a jam band after all. So we got this big gig last weekend and i realised that should be it. For me especially it was a very easy and a very difficult decision. The band had a potentially unmatched sound. You might take me for a childish enthusiast but thats what it was. Because of this sound, i was forced to write for this format and hence i wrote some god songs....all of which we played for this last gig. Almost all. Writing those songs and finally sitting down to play jam them wit the band was an awesome feeling. But i think only i felt it. Everyone seemed into it. But maybe i was a fool. Maybe they did not see it coming. MAYBE! JUSt maybe. I was too cool. HAHA. Anyhow i took it upon myself to call it off and i think its right. I cant live in this fake realty of a perfect band which is not there. Good times. Fabulous times. Crazy times. But its times like these we learn to live again. Hey, isn't that a line from a Dave Grohl song? Sheesh how original. Where s my guitar god? Cuz i see a reunion coming.

Return To Forever

Finally. I have the time and the patience to write my blog. PHEW. Where do i start. Its been three months since my last post. Seems like a lifetime. So many things have been happening. Unni left Bangalore and hence the band. I cleared FTII written exam which i wrote before my previous post and NOW they have given out the dates for the second round. I might be applying to Berkelee. SHILPA HAD A BABY BOY!!!!!!! How could i forget that with all my end of day prayers for her etched in my head. Chandy's much awaited peice-BROOD is finally finished and recorded. Working on its mix nowadays. Had a very deep heart to heart talk with many close friends and i love them and am greatful to them for have been patient enough to give me their time. Speaking of which. Its that time when everyone seems to be leaving. I am quite packed and booked with work nowadays, but there are moments when i sit and think to myself that there is noone to go and eat with. Ankit and Raghav have left to the US. So has Cheti. Phoebu has started her hectic course in Mangalore and Akshay leaves to Manipal soon. Aunty Pauline left sometime back and Chandy's departure is also close. Very few people left here to look upto. Only my Aunty is there. Anyhow people come and go and in the long run if only i could interchange my important thoughts with the people....it might make more sense. I feel. Not that the people are not important. I am not playing the guitar at all and am ashamed whenever i think about it so i just dont. Which is bad again. God? Where Are You? Waiting.....

My band in Bombay

Ceasars Palace, my immensely talented jam band from Bangalore did three gigs in Bombay recently. It was big, no huge, for us. Cuz we're just about one and a half years old, and we were called there by the organisers. Hats off to Kishan Balaji Maharaj for doing his smooth talk and getting the gigs. Anyhow. The train journey was majorly uneventful except for the ahem....a eunuch who came and felt my thigh nicely...and i was wearing shorts....ya so...that was it. Anyhow.
We got there and split to out staying locales. Me and Unni were at this amazing guest house which was organised courtesy Uttara, Aunty, and Uncle. Words are not enough to thank this family and how much they love our band. I wonder why. Unnamed feelings. So. It was crazily humid and beer was required every moment. We got their on the day of the performance at Hard Rock Cafe. Me and Unni had to get their after having couple of beers and picking up instruments from Furtado's and Co.(feat. Demonstealer.thanks so much man). Still we find that the rest of the band is late. HRC is a fantastic place and it took a few moments for the feeling to sink in. So while me and unni looked around, stargazing, the manager came up and said-'Boys, the firang is here, from hardrock international, so do your soundcheck soon'. Hehe. I got down to setting my rig up. Took some time because the sound was quite fabulous and we aint used to that. Boys reached very late and by six thirty we were done with the check. Pretty satisfactory. Hats of to the sound guys at bombay. We need to learn how to behave from you guys. Afterwards we hogged on some awesome helpings of awesome free food and one drink each. We were on stage by 93opm and we started off with Wolchod to keep with our funk/soul tag. Crowd took some time to warm up, but by the middle of the set, courtesy some nice playing, a guitar vocal rendition of jeremy, and a drum solo, the crowd seemed to like us. That was the only sad part. They like only covers. I mean bombay out of all the places. Anyway we gave em some Deep Purple, Hendrix, Roadhouse BLues and some other shit to keep em happy. I would say it was a decent show considering its our first time in bombay we got a good response. Happiness. As we clinked our glasses together after the show it was already around one thirty. Demonstealer, Rahul and the boys were there to support us at it felt great. Thanks a lot guys. A certain ahem...manager was missing. Anyway. Put our content heads down for the day at 2 pm. Woke up pretty late the next day and immediately left to colaba to guzzle some beer at Leopold's cafe. Then woke around to the gateway and then rushed back to the guest house cuz it was too hot and we needed to get dressed for the gig. The boys were getting the stuff from furtados today. Late again. Very late. Anyway the gig was a casual unplugged drunk gig where us and the crowd everyone had fun. The place sucked quite a bit, not to my taste. Anyway the show was good, kishan and unni were drunk. Fun. Got back even later this day. The next day was JazzByTheBay, A place all of us have heard about, a place out of which we were expecting a lot. But it was the worst. I dont think anyone goes to jazz anymore. Cuz it was full of floating crowd which kept coming in an out. Plus they had a stupid clause that any band that plays MUST play three hours no matter what. Doesnt work. Anyway. The sound was best here and so was the crowd response but sadly people had lot os things to do so they kept shuffling in and out. Nevertheless it was nice cuz we were really tight. There were some later arguments over drinks etc. Who cares. Never playing there again i guess. They dont know how to respect bands sadly. Nevertheless it was a good fun trip being the first out station trip of the band. From jazz to the airport and back. Bangalore. We love you.