A long silence since the 1st of October, maybe I was too lazy to post, maybe I just didn't get time, I could make a dozen excuses and still not be done.
Truth is, there was no real point when I was inspired to sit down and post, it was always, this , that or the other interfering with or deterring me from writing. I wrote a new song or two, which turned out to be pretty interesting if I do say so myself, but writing, summarizing, letting go and just typing didn't happen. Maybe there was just no comfort zone happening anywhere.
Here I am, about 4 months later, back in Chesapeake, Virginia, where the writing started. Its a cold evening, by Mumbai standards at any rate, about 3 degrees outside, Some John Coltrane playing in the back ground, and this start has somewhat of a start to an old narrative for a Noir film. No, I am NOT Humphrey Bogart (though i do love Casablanca)
October was about getting the album done, the tracking, the production bringing it all together, and moving toward the crowd-funding campaign as well. It panned out in a very interesting way, topsy turvy and crazy as it happens. The vocal tracking at Aslam's did happen, with a random classic rock emergency filler gig at the Blue Frog after day 1 of tracking. India didn't make it to the quarter finals of the 20-20 world cup so the Frog needed an emergency act. They called me , I refused, they called Adrian, and he called Kenny(Rebello), Vinay Lobo and myself. With that kind of pressure, I couldn't say no. In hindsight, i didn"t regret it one bit, and it was quite the blast, and a good test of abilities, stamina and skill (doing my best to make it sound like an obstacle course).
We tracked Michael on the Great White Tele finally, and wrapped it up with some really nice takes and parts that did finally come through.
The great Gandhi was out of town and we got a call from Jayesh asking us to play Live from the Console, for the 4th of 5th time. This time, we couldn't really say no. So we asked Luis and JJ of Something Relevant to fill in and help us out. That week with rehearsal and the one day of acoustic guitar tracking and the backing vocals at Aslam's studio again were pretty much a complete blur. Between soundcheck and the gig I suddenly started spiking with about a 103 degree fever. I slept it off , picked up my brandy and headed to the gig. My only thoughts were - whatever you do, sing and play spot-on. Apparently I managed ok, because I don't really remember that night, except for a video or two that the Console crew took. It was a good gig.
Spook then played a gig with Yohan from the Family Cheese on drums, and Anis, Mike, Kenny and I FINALLY playing together on stage, at the High Spirits. A good, tight, lively and fun gig with some good responses. Hopefully Yohan will be around for a while with us.
I did this Tribute to the Bond themes night at the Frog, worked with some brilliant musicians, Kaizad Gherda, Deb Saha, Kenny on guitar, Chirayu on bass, Crehyl Pereira , Apeksha Dandekar, Roshni Baptist, and Rachel Verghese with Thomson Andrews guesting on 'We have all the time in the world'. All of us were suited, booted, the ladies in dressed, in keeping with the Shaken, not Stirred theme. The Blue Frog was transformed into a casino of sorts, where they gave away free plastic chips and people gambled and won booze. Innovative. It was quite a brilliant and really well received night.
I played a couple of early sets with Vaibhav and Kaizad. Then did one more random classic rock night with Adrian , Kenny and this time Zohran Miranda, because VInay was touring abroad. Another fun night.
Spook were asked to play a filler set at Sulafest 2013, which was kind of stupif logically and logistically , so I went alone to do a filler set after Caesar's Palace. Kenny stayed and played The Way and Morning Coffee with me. Both were really well received , and Vivienne , who played after me, was quite impressed. So apart from the audience reaction, that pretty much put me on a high. I played two more sets at the tasting room there, one on day 1 , the other on day 2. Though both were cover sets, the response was pretty mad. 2 days, hanging with the boys, good fun, and with the Blue Frog crew taking good care of us, it was a really really memorable experience.
The first mixes of the Lyrical Cynic have started coming in, things are looking up.
Things have been a little slow with Hellwind, though we did jam a little, and hopefully while I'm away the first recordings for the singles we're going to be releasing will start.
Sailing season did begin, have put in some random sails, good fun, a few races here and there. We sailed the Lightning Cup to Mandwa and back, Xerxes and I, with Randhir Behl on day 1, and the Cavala owner's son on day 2, in Barracuda. Downwind, we were surprisingly quick, but 500 metres from Mandwa, the wind died completely, and we won on the line by a few metres putting us pretty much 4th or 5th in the Lightnings. The next day, upwind, we were so blazing fast, that we had a 17 minute lead and ended up taking the upwind leg as well as the overall and making up for the previous day's lost time. Looking forward to sailing some more when I'm back.
I think I've pretty much been travelling up and down to Southern India and back, and i've totally and completely loved every single bit of it.
We did our December Bangalore road trip. Fuzz, Kenny, Anurag and I. Drove down there in the Dezire. 2 days there, and Anu and I continued down to Kerala to Unni's ancestral house for his wedding. My first trip to Kerala included a 600 year old ancestral house which was completely mindblowing, a Kathakali performance, sitting in the middle of a river at sunset, buy and drinking rum from a village booze store, the experience was truly unique, a Mohiniyatam performance, Guruvayoor temple, sacred elephants, beef fry from a little store, Chavakkad beach, which was absolutely mindblowing and a load of greenery and peace all around us. Met two more of the boys from Christ college, Aswin and Sid. We ate like pigs for those few days. Drove back up to Bangalore and chilled out there for a few days, before Anurag went to Goa to play the Console-Goa edition with Basrur, and I drove back alone to Pune for a couple of days to hang with the Kavdikar clan who were down from the UK.
Spent New Year's eve with Shrihari, Mukta, Sneha, Puneet, and some other people in Chembur.. Single malt scotch and cigars ; what can say? I'm classy that way. (Again, Wily E. Coyote expression.
January was interesting I guess. A few months of exploring, talk, and research coming together, figuring out what I want to do. The parents asked me to take one last shot at the conversion. So I booked and ended up back here at Horizon in Virginia. I start flying tomorrow, and that's the fun part. I was pretty unwilling to come here, because doing this again and not seeing any positive result has taken its toll on my head and finances enough times by now, but I guess when they insist, there's not much you can do. i guess I'll tell you more about where this life is headed when I do find out.
Amidst all this confusion (mine at any rate, DEFINITELY not his) Tek got married to Maya in November. Probably not the most sober week that I've spent, it was fun, including one memory lost night post the sangeet at the Blue Frog, during which I was apparently quite entertaining. As Fuzz said, ' You know those songs, where you'll probably find Akshay standing in one corner saying what the fuck? This is probably the first, last and only time I'll see him dancing to those with such true joy' . Yes, not exactly my finest moments.
Tanmay and Ashaita got married after dating for 7 years or something. The universe is taking its pound of flesh (disclaimer - this does not mean that I'm not happy for you married couples, but while death has its own definitions - I'm just too young to die :P . Besides, I'm also humane enough not to put anyone through that kind of torture. To top it off, I'm happier this way. ) An ex of mine also did get married in the last week of December, the first few lucky guesses as to who it was will be rewarded with deep internal joy , that you actually know about my life (this being stated in the context that its nothing great).
MUKTA GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!! 2 INSANE days in Mysore!!! at the Royal Orchid hotels. Really brilliant, fun, and alcohol consuming days. It was memorable, and fun. REally Really happy for her. I was nice to her for the entire duration. Abhijit is cool, fits in to our insane family perfectly, and his family seems equally whacked. And of course, there's nothing like South Indian coffee and women . (Yes, i'm passing objectifying comments, deal with it)
We shot a crazy, mad episode of home makeover stuff for Mikhil's Colaba place with NDTV. was pretty good fun. The episode aired and it turned out to be ridiculously funny. Sharon Pinto, the producer, SOMEHOW managed to edit out all the innuendo I poured on to the show and still keep it really really funny. DAMMIT!!!!!!
Things to look forward to :
1.Incessant dreams of me carpet bombing the DGCA , or then invading them with molotov cocktails, and keeping the bastards alive so they regret it all.
2.Flying in Chesapeake
3.Flying the DA-42, which looks like a mechanical mosquito, in a sense. It also has a control stick that is between your legs, so I'm going to feel all Top Gun for a bit (ok perverts, you can get past the stick between the legs part now - I know, rich coming from me)
4.The album release and more playing gigs and pissed off post-grunge music with Spook
5.Tracking with Hellwind
6,7,8 - All those things that I'm pretty sure I have to look forward to, but right now can't be bothered to think on and list, I chronicle my life way too much anyway.
Its been good summarizing my life in the last 4 months, which has been pretty whirlwind like. I'm sure I missed some stuff out. I also made it sound like a report, to some one, or something. Trust me, its not, its for my old age, which when I reach and think upon my misspent youth (which for some reason seems to continue almost till I'm 30 - not that I see it as a bad thing), I can look bad and read all these things, which are secretly clues to the unmentionable things I have done all along. Hidden all along the way in these blog posts are secret clues that refer to reasonably bad things. (cheshire cat grin, yes, you know which one I'm referring to).
So, I'm going to once again promise to try and post more often so I don't need to summarize and make stuff sound like a report, and boringly long. Maybe introduce some amount of humour, which seems to come out nice and dry when I'm writing as opposed to when I'm on stage.
Until then,
The Beast
Truth is, there was no real point when I was inspired to sit down and post, it was always, this , that or the other interfering with or deterring me from writing. I wrote a new song or two, which turned out to be pretty interesting if I do say so myself, but writing, summarizing, letting go and just typing didn't happen. Maybe there was just no comfort zone happening anywhere.
Here I am, about 4 months later, back in Chesapeake, Virginia, where the writing started. Its a cold evening, by Mumbai standards at any rate, about 3 degrees outside, Some John Coltrane playing in the back ground, and this start has somewhat of a start to an old narrative for a Noir film. No, I am NOT Humphrey Bogart (though i do love Casablanca)
October was about getting the album done, the tracking, the production bringing it all together, and moving toward the crowd-funding campaign as well. It panned out in a very interesting way, topsy turvy and crazy as it happens. The vocal tracking at Aslam's did happen, with a random classic rock emergency filler gig at the Blue Frog after day 1 of tracking. India didn't make it to the quarter finals of the 20-20 world cup so the Frog needed an emergency act. They called me , I refused, they called Adrian, and he called Kenny(Rebello), Vinay Lobo and myself. With that kind of pressure, I couldn't say no. In hindsight, i didn"t regret it one bit, and it was quite the blast, and a good test of abilities, stamina and skill (doing my best to make it sound like an obstacle course).
We tracked Michael on the Great White Tele finally, and wrapped it up with some really nice takes and parts that did finally come through.
The great Gandhi was out of town and we got a call from Jayesh asking us to play Live from the Console, for the 4th of 5th time. This time, we couldn't really say no. So we asked Luis and JJ of Something Relevant to fill in and help us out. That week with rehearsal and the one day of acoustic guitar tracking and the backing vocals at Aslam's studio again were pretty much a complete blur. Between soundcheck and the gig I suddenly started spiking with about a 103 degree fever. I slept it off , picked up my brandy and headed to the gig. My only thoughts were - whatever you do, sing and play spot-on. Apparently I managed ok, because I don't really remember that night, except for a video or two that the Console crew took. It was a good gig.
Spook then played a gig with Yohan from the Family Cheese on drums, and Anis, Mike, Kenny and I FINALLY playing together on stage, at the High Spirits. A good, tight, lively and fun gig with some good responses. Hopefully Yohan will be around for a while with us.
I did this Tribute to the Bond themes night at the Frog, worked with some brilliant musicians, Kaizad Gherda, Deb Saha, Kenny on guitar, Chirayu on bass, Crehyl Pereira , Apeksha Dandekar, Roshni Baptist, and Rachel Verghese with Thomson Andrews guesting on 'We have all the time in the world'. All of us were suited, booted, the ladies in dressed, in keeping with the Shaken, not Stirred theme. The Blue Frog was transformed into a casino of sorts, where they gave away free plastic chips and people gambled and won booze. Innovative. It was quite a brilliant and really well received night.
I played a couple of early sets with Vaibhav and Kaizad. Then did one more random classic rock night with Adrian , Kenny and this time Zohran Miranda, because VInay was touring abroad. Another fun night.
Spook were asked to play a filler set at Sulafest 2013, which was kind of stupif logically and logistically , so I went alone to do a filler set after Caesar's Palace. Kenny stayed and played The Way and Morning Coffee with me. Both were really well received , and Vivienne , who played after me, was quite impressed. So apart from the audience reaction, that pretty much put me on a high. I played two more sets at the tasting room there, one on day 1 , the other on day 2. Though both were cover sets, the response was pretty mad. 2 days, hanging with the boys, good fun, and with the Blue Frog crew taking good care of us, it was a really really memorable experience.
The first mixes of the Lyrical Cynic have started coming in, things are looking up.
Things have been a little slow with Hellwind, though we did jam a little, and hopefully while I'm away the first recordings for the singles we're going to be releasing will start.
Sailing season did begin, have put in some random sails, good fun, a few races here and there. We sailed the Lightning Cup to Mandwa and back, Xerxes and I, with Randhir Behl on day 1, and the Cavala owner's son on day 2, in Barracuda. Downwind, we were surprisingly quick, but 500 metres from Mandwa, the wind died completely, and we won on the line by a few metres putting us pretty much 4th or 5th in the Lightnings. The next day, upwind, we were so blazing fast, that we had a 17 minute lead and ended up taking the upwind leg as well as the overall and making up for the previous day's lost time. Looking forward to sailing some more when I'm back.
I think I've pretty much been travelling up and down to Southern India and back, and i've totally and completely loved every single bit of it.
We did our December Bangalore road trip. Fuzz, Kenny, Anurag and I. Drove down there in the Dezire. 2 days there, and Anu and I continued down to Kerala to Unni's ancestral house for his wedding. My first trip to Kerala included a 600 year old ancestral house which was completely mindblowing, a Kathakali performance, sitting in the middle of a river at sunset, buy and drinking rum from a village booze store, the experience was truly unique, a Mohiniyatam performance, Guruvayoor temple, sacred elephants, beef fry from a little store, Chavakkad beach, which was absolutely mindblowing and a load of greenery and peace all around us. Met two more of the boys from Christ college, Aswin and Sid. We ate like pigs for those few days. Drove back up to Bangalore and chilled out there for a few days, before Anurag went to Goa to play the Console-Goa edition with Basrur, and I drove back alone to Pune for a couple of days to hang with the Kavdikar clan who were down from the UK.
Spent New Year's eve with Shrihari, Mukta, Sneha, Puneet, and some other people in Chembur.. Single malt scotch and cigars ; what can say? I'm classy that way. (Again, Wily E. Coyote expression.
January was interesting I guess. A few months of exploring, talk, and research coming together, figuring out what I want to do. The parents asked me to take one last shot at the conversion. So I booked and ended up back here at Horizon in Virginia. I start flying tomorrow, and that's the fun part. I was pretty unwilling to come here, because doing this again and not seeing any positive result has taken its toll on my head and finances enough times by now, but I guess when they insist, there's not much you can do. i guess I'll tell you more about where this life is headed when I do find out.
Amidst all this confusion (mine at any rate, DEFINITELY not his) Tek got married to Maya in November. Probably not the most sober week that I've spent, it was fun, including one memory lost night post the sangeet at the Blue Frog, during which I was apparently quite entertaining. As Fuzz said, ' You know those songs, where you'll probably find Akshay standing in one corner saying what the fuck? This is probably the first, last and only time I'll see him dancing to those with such true joy' . Yes, not exactly my finest moments.
Tanmay and Ashaita got married after dating for 7 years or something. The universe is taking its pound of flesh (disclaimer - this does not mean that I'm not happy for you married couples, but while death has its own definitions - I'm just too young to die :P . Besides, I'm also humane enough not to put anyone through that kind of torture. To top it off, I'm happier this way. ) An ex of mine also did get married in the last week of December, the first few lucky guesses as to who it was will be rewarded with deep internal joy , that you actually know about my life (this being stated in the context that its nothing great).
MUKTA GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!! 2 INSANE days in Mysore!!! at the Royal Orchid hotels. Really brilliant, fun, and alcohol consuming days. It was memorable, and fun. REally Really happy for her. I was nice to her for the entire duration. Abhijit is cool, fits in to our insane family perfectly, and his family seems equally whacked. And of course, there's nothing like South Indian coffee and women . (Yes, i'm passing objectifying comments, deal with it)
We shot a crazy, mad episode of home makeover stuff for Mikhil's Colaba place with NDTV. was pretty good fun. The episode aired and it turned out to be ridiculously funny. Sharon Pinto, the producer, SOMEHOW managed to edit out all the innuendo I poured on to the show and still keep it really really funny. DAMMIT!!!!!!
Things to look forward to :
1.Incessant dreams of me carpet bombing the DGCA , or then invading them with molotov cocktails, and keeping the bastards alive so they regret it all.
2.Flying in Chesapeake
3.Flying the DA-42, which looks like a mechanical mosquito, in a sense. It also has a control stick that is between your legs, so I'm going to feel all Top Gun for a bit (ok perverts, you can get past the stick between the legs part now - I know, rich coming from me)
4.The album release and more playing gigs and pissed off post-grunge music with Spook
5.Tracking with Hellwind
6,7,8 - All those things that I'm pretty sure I have to look forward to, but right now can't be bothered to think on and list, I chronicle my life way too much anyway.
Its been good summarizing my life in the last 4 months, which has been pretty whirlwind like. I'm sure I missed some stuff out. I also made it sound like a report, to some one, or something. Trust me, its not, its for my old age, which when I reach and think upon my misspent youth (which for some reason seems to continue almost till I'm 30 - not that I see it as a bad thing), I can look bad and read all these things, which are secretly clues to the unmentionable things I have done all along. Hidden all along the way in these blog posts are secret clues that refer to reasonably bad things. (cheshire cat grin, yes, you know which one I'm referring to).
So, I'm going to once again promise to try and post more often so I don't need to summarize and make stuff sound like a report, and boringly long. Maybe introduce some amount of humour, which seems to come out nice and dry when I'm writing as opposed to when I'm on stage.
Until then,
The Beast
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