Dr. D. Y. Patil Dental College: Fahrenheit ’10 – Jan 23rd, 2010 – our experience

During our trip to the venue, through heavy traffic on a warm Saturday afternoon, our drummer Sidd Coutto (ex-Zero/HFC, ToT) was reminiscing about the fact that he had won his first competition at DY Patil College a few years back. Apparently, once he had had to play drums without drumsticks (yes, with bare hands). He went on to mention various anecdotes from the numerous times he had performed there. It was encouraging for the rest of us because it was the first time that all of us apart from Sidd were about to perform at DY Patil, and more generally in Navi Mumbai.

We were taken care of very well by our hosts (special thanks to Shruti Shanbhag and the team) after our arrival. The entire process of soundchecking was marred by some technical snags related primarily to the monitoring situation. But the sound consultant Carl Alfonso (Elektra events) and our friend Geo (sound engineer) did their best to provide use with decent stage sound.

We started out with “Jaisalmer Express” as an experiment; usually, it what we end the show with. Despite a low turn out, the crowd seemed to enjoy the first half of the show – especially, the appreciation that we got for “Chandramukhi” and “Savita Bhabhi” was remarkable! The second half was rather lukewarm as the audience seemed to looking forward to the “Battle of the DJs” event which was scheduled immediately afterward.

It’s ironic that a few uncivilized (drunk) members in the audience assaulted one of the DJs and halted the “battle” almost before it started. Police and security had to intervene to restore sanity to the proceedings, which unfortunately ended on a rather dull note.

However, we enjoyed ourselves on stage – for the first time in humane temperatures – with our new line-up that includes Sidd (drums) and Rohan (Utpat) on percussions/tabla. We would like to thank the entire team of Fahrenheit ’10 for their excellent co-operation and care. We also would like to thank Aditya Jha and Kaniskha (our manager) for the necessary communications which made this gig happen! Also, thanks to Carl and Geo for the sound!

All in all, a wonderful experience. We look forward to performing there again. Here are some band photos that we took before and after the gig!

Our set-list for the night

1. Jaisalmer Express
2. Mumbhai (Bombay Boys cover)
3. Nahin Accha
4. Yeh Hasin Vaadiyan (Roja/AR Rahman cover)
5. Chandramukhi
6. Savita Bhabhi
7. Pehla Nasha – Pal (QSQT cover/KK cover)
8. Rasili
9. Yaar Bina (Junoon Cover)
10. School
11. Madhushaala
12. Sayonee (Junoon cover)
13. Apsara

Happy New Decade - update

The new year has arrived and has been done and dusted, and we are well aware how late we are to welcome it! We didn't want to create any hoopla because there wasn't anything substantial to write about - not until two days before the decade renewed itself, that is!

Yes, on the 29th of January, we got confirmation of our performance at the New Year's Bash organized by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir as part of their efforts to make the coming decade a booming one for snow tourism. We flew to Srinagar, rode up the snowy slopes of the Himalayas, and performed in a make-shift tent on top of a hill at Gulmarg at a temperature of -10°C! This event was attended by a crowd of over 300 locals and, needless to say, we froze our asses off!

It was truly remarkable that we survived. We honestly thought we wouldn't make it back, and would end up as frozen specimens of humanity that would be discovered many millennia into the future. Fortunately, we arrived safely back in Mumbai. The smoky haze and mugginess of our beloved city felt like heaven when we touched down.

The trip taught us a lesson and we seemed to have turned a corner- quite a big one at that. There is newfound optimism and structure to our plans for the future, not the least due to the fact that we have Sidd Coutto (TOT, ex-Zero/HFC) who has agreed to play drums with us on a regular basis, and Rohan Utpat, who will be playing percussion/tabla with us regularly. Furthermore, to manage our events, we have found an extremely efficient and talented group of people in Promo Sapiens, with whom we are currently in the final stages of negotiations.

I hope these changes will herald a bright future for us during this year, and hopefully for the entire decade. I would like to raise a toast on this occasion! Here's to YOU GUYS for supporting and appreciating our efforts as you have been wonderfully doing until now, and to US (SHOR) for hopefully providing you with more music that you will enjoy, be proud of, and easily relate to!

Cheers! Happy New Year!

(A picture from Gulmarg - From L to R - Sidd Coutto, Rohan Utpat, KK, Robin, JD, Joy, Kanishka (Promo Sapiens)

KK (Krishna)

The Daddy's WindSong Wednesdays experience

A couple of weeks back, during one of the musical social events in the 'burbs, we ran into to a friend, an uber-talented individual (that's the easy way to put it - to find out more, check him out with the links given below) who was playing with his rather sprightly band called Ankur Tewari and the Ghalat family. We were a tad late (vide infra) and had missed his performance.

Later on in the evening, we were catching up and talking about gigs amongst other things, he mentioned about the upcoming gig at this new destination of live music - the Il Terrazzo Bar del Italia - right at the Juhu Chowpatty. Ankur's band were playing there and he invited us over to jam with him and his band.

We took that offer up - we didn't want to miss the band another time, with a little bit of indecision I admit, and found ourselves walking up the wooden steps at the venue sans two of our members, sadly due to other commitments. A three piece Shor Bazaar (JD, Rob and yours truly)) would be like the real thing without the zing, or so we thought. It feels nice to have been proven wrong so decisively, especially so by a wonderful and zestful audience!

We opened for Ankur's band with a three song set. The crowd went yowling and yapping and we were left wondering if they were enamored by us or were simply under the influence. After the set, we were thrilled and honored to see people come up and say so many kind, wonderful things about us and our music. It felt really good playing to a discerning, intelligent audience, appreciative of original music.

They were big-hearted enough, and of course with all the ethanol acting as a supreme neural lubricant, to demand an encore peformance and we found ourselves on the stage for the second time in the eveing, after Ankur & the Ghalat Family and Sridhar/Thayil - the lyrical/jazz duo of musician from Bangalore, winded up their sets. We managed to pull off another self-perceived scrawny set of three songs which were received with even louder cries of bewilderment and unhindered fervor. Believe me, it felt good and we did have a lot of fun.

We take this opportunity to thank

• The artists that we got to perform with
  
  
  
  • Ankur Tewari and the Ghalat family – Ankur Tewari, Sidd Coutto, Pozy Dhar and Johan Pais – for inviting us to perform and performing a heart-warming set of original stuff – wonderful!
    
  • Sridhar/Thayil - the lyrical/jazz duo from Banaglore for their delightful performance and
    
  • Anouskha Manchand for her wonderful rendition of broken-hearts-club stories
  
  
• Daddy (Sameer Malhotra) from Daddy's WindSong Wednesdays (he's really not that old!) - for bringing up one of the most promising destinations for original, live music in the city
  
• Il Terrazzo Bar del Italia - a wonderful destination for fans of Juhu Chowpatty
  
• Daddy and Gaurav Kapoor for the wonderful introductions and wisecracks
  
• The wonderful crowd who were appreciative and kind to howl and roar for us and the other bands and made us feel special.

And to two of us who lost out on this remarkable experience – Sumit and Joy, we missed you!