Author Archives: Priyanka Shetty

Thermal and a Quarter have never been ones to rest on their laurels. They were the first in India to release a concept album, they released an album on a custom user-license modeled on Creative Commons and then not-so-long-ago launched their most ambitious effort yet – a triple album. They then decided to raise the bar higher. TAAQ played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – the world’s largest arts festival, in 2013. If playing 26 nights back-to-back wasn’t impressive enough, they also won the Spirit of The Fringe award. “Maybe someday, we’ll find plan B in a hit movie” – This is it, TAAQ (2008) It was indeed serendipitous when frontman Bruce Lee Mani sang these…

Mad Orange Fireworks has been around for well over two years now. While theyve been rigorously touring the circuit with their special brand of Orange (their words, not ours) rock, weve been appreciating this four-piece bands unique mix of alternative and pop with a little bit of blues-rock vocals thrown in. See, they really are difficult to categorize! Made up of Michael (vocals and guitar), Ramanan (guitars and vocals), Kaushik (bass and vocals), and Shravan (drums and vocals), the last two years, and quite a few before, have given them a lot of material to put on a full-length album and thats exactly what theyre in the process of doing. The Lifeline Cast is a ten-song album out…

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In light of the recent retraction posted by Hindustan Times about an inaccurate article they had published regarding Masters of Guitar Vol II, WTS spoke to the artists and organizers involved to get a clear idea of what transpired between them. Heres a detailed account: 23rd January – An article titled Guitar Gods to Rock India was published by the Hindustan Times stating that Susmit Sen of Indian Ocean was spearheading an initiative called Masters of Guitar which will feature notable international guitarists Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Pat Metheny and Scott Henderson. Consequently, several newspapers and websites mirrored this information by publishing inaccurate versions of this news without any additional confirmation of their own with…

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WTS: Rex, tell us about your experiences from your childhood and your tryst with music, how did it all begin? Rex: I don’t remember exactly when I started learning, music is a traditional thing for us – it came from my grandfather, to my father and to me – and it keeps on going. I started learning the rudiments of music around the age of 13. My father had a band, Jakes Rosario and his Feet Warmers, and he inducted my brother and me into it at that tender age when we knew nothing about music. He made us play parts in it – my brother was a trumpet player and I was put on…

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WTS:What are the main themes or topics of most of your songs? Sanjeev: We dont have any definite concepts or themes when we make a song. If we like the interview today, tomorrow we may do another song based on this interview. We consciously dont make songs on particular subjects or themes, its like once we jam whatever comes, individually what we think, the sound what idea it gives to each one of us, when we discussover it, if some of us have mutual thoughts about that sound, when we realize that we feel strongly about that subject, thats when we all sit together and take it further. Vasu: We had a song that…

Bhoomi was formed in April 2002 with the intention of playing original music in the cover-infested scene in India. Recognized as one of the best bands from Bangalore, the band is presently in the process of recording their first album. WTS caught up with band members Sujay, Praveen, Tony and Kishan and got them talking about their new album, their experiences on stage and more… WTS: For how long have you been playing together and how has the journey been so far? Tony: Seven years. Sujay and our bass player Praveen are only the original members of Bhoomi, as they started. I’m new, Kishan’s new. 7 years you can call it, 8 years of the band’s…

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The first edition of The Mad Festival was greatly anticipated mainly because it held the promise of bringing Music, Arts and Dance together – each one being a form of expression where the difference lies only in the medium through which ideas, thoughts and feelings are conveyed. A closer look at the festival details revealed that they had an amazing line-up with some of the most accomplished musicians and dancers. The location seemed to be the cherry on top of the cake – Ooty was the perfect destination to head to, to enjoy three days of unadulterated bliss. There was no way we would miss this one. The journey began with high expectations, mixed with…