Tag Archives: Pearl Jam

Dischordian at Blue Frog, Mumbai

Let there be booze! was the welcome that the boisterous four-piece band gave us months ago, with their debut album The Feni Farm Riot. Mumbais prominent acoustic outfit Dischordian was all set to charm us again into euphoric melancholy with their songs at Blue Frog. The band has had a rather positive response for its debut album and is known to be quite the entertaining live act. Also to add to the evening, as a lead up to the gig, Dischordian had recently announced a competition, inviting friends and fans to go ahead and video-record a version of any of their songs and theyd pick a winner to open for them at this gig! This unique exercise introduced us to Dinkar Dwivedi.

Dinkar is a solo musician from Hyderabad who played two original compositions and a cover, topping off his short set with his own rendition of Dischordians song Lover. He didnt get much attention as people were busy chatting away and swigging their beers.

After a short break, the lights went out and we could hear soft strumming on an acoustic guitar accompanied by Garreths whiskey vocals. Soon enough, the melodica joined in and their set was on its way. People who were lingering outside the venue until now, started trickling in and there was sudden flurry of activity with the waiters running about taking orders and the bartenders mixing drinks as the band continued to do a fine job, mesmerizing the audience and taking them to what seemed like musical paradise.

Agnelo was in his element as he played the trumpet with gusto and simultaneously played percussion! Dischordian soon broke into The Old Whore which saw the whole crowd gathered at Blue Frog singing along. Howard and Nigel seemed to be lost in their music and although there were a few bum notes on the guitar and vocals, they covered it up brilliantly thanks to their years of experience in playing live music.

Garreths way of using the slide guitar was extraordinary. The band threw in two surprise covers: Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and Light Years by Pearl Jam. The Pearl Jam song was dedicated to a veritable legend of Indian Rock journalism, Amit Saigal, and recent deaths that were close to the band. The song itself was in keeping with Dischordians knack of picking relatively unknown or not so popular songs and delivering beautiful versions of them.

The band pulled a coup of sorts by suddenly inviting Dinkar back on stage for his winning version of Lover. This was interesting as the song was improvised according to Dinkars style and we could see a lighter and more joyful rendition of the song. This time, however, it sounded a lot better as the backing instruments and vocals made their impact. On the downside, Nigels sax sounded a tad off in between every two songs and he constantly had complaints about the volume from the P.A.

Overall, Dischordians set was wholesome, enjoyable, refreshing and gave all of us at The Blue Frog, a dose of that sweet musical medicine. However, based on their track record, the bands interaction with the crowd seemed slightly lacking. The sound could have been tighter or, should I say, the band could maybe next time not take their drinking so seriously!

Nonetheless, if you love Dischordian, this was definitely a gig worth catching because they played the best of their originals and a few magnificent covers.

Anand Kamath

Journalist, Musician, Photographer, TV Show Enthusiast.

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Dischordian at The Bflat Bar, Bangalore

Touted as being one of the most promising bands over the last year, their debut album was looked forward to by many as tangible means to solidify their reputation of being a cut above the rest. Dischordian is an unmistakeably Goan-sounding acoustic folk outfit with elements of jazz; they can speed it up with as much ease as they tone it down. Lead singer Garreth D’Mello has a powerhouse voice that can have songs sounding rustic and comforting, while being equally capable of helming growl-styled songs like ‘Your Right Heel’, which anyone could tell is written from a place of unfiltered rage (justified, since it’s about the Mangalore pub attacks). They also have a very specific talent: making lyrically melancholic songs come out sounding uplifting!

So, backstory dealt with, the day of the gig arrived and I was glad that it was at The Bflat Bar. For all intents and purposes, The Bflat Bar is probably the best venue for the sort of music that the band plays. The perfect spacing and the proximity to the band are perfect for an acoustic set with a little fun thrown in at the end.

A little after 9 o’clock, Garreth walked onstage without much ado and the aimless chatter petered off into the comforting sound of his expert plucking. Starting off on a mellow note (leading the audience into a somewhat false sense of security, considering the mayhem toward the end of the show), ‘One of These Days’ is a song about yearning that conveys the emotion perfectly without falling prey to becoming a prolonged whine. A few bars into the song and the ever-smiling Nigel is up onstage, jumping into things with his melodica. Next up is ‘Stone’ which is a personal favorite of mine. There’s too much feeling in this song to let it go by without special mention! The throaty guitar and restless lyric are particularly endearing.

“What was warm once is cold to the touch,

And the past is a flimsy old crutch”

Guitarist Howard Pereira pussyfooted his way onto stage shortly after the first chorus and Aggie (Agnelo Picardo) walked on last, to add his trumpet to the fray. After some light cajoling to buy the album between songs, they’re off into ‘Baby, Maybe’ – an upbeat ditty with close to nonsense lyric and the best introduction of the set – “This is a song about drinking, so you’ll probably like it.” The clarinet and guitar sounded a bit jarring right down the middle but they recovered with ease.

Nigel surprised me by shifting to the clarinet for the song (but I was soon to get accustomed to this since he ran through several instruments during the course of the gig) as did Aggie who hopped across to lightly assault the drum kit during a later song. You realize that these aren’t just boys with their musical sounding toys; they’re as serious about their music as they are talented exponents of it.

The eagerly-awaited free Feni shots were finally brought up when the band requested people to come up, glasses in tow. There was much hesitation and bribery (a free CD) until someone finally complied and the band got into another song. The band dispatched songs from their album like ‘November’, ‘Must Drink’ and ‘Curtain Call’ – a sombre song with heavy saxophone influences and lyrics that surprise you with their ferocity, and ‘Lover’ for which Garreth flipped his guitar over to play slide and a tambourine appeared suddenly in Nigel’s able grip.

In retrospect, these songs were the perfect lead-up to ‘The Old Whore’, their most popular song. It’s one of those songs that isn’t particularly upbeat but has a crowd crowing with enthusiasm from the word go, with its macabre lyric and catchy chorus. The song was sung several times over (by the band and the audience), with band members grinning ear to ear at our enthusiasm to sing the words “for the old whore” over and over (and over) again.

George from Lounge Piranha was the surprise guest artist and along with the band, did a cover of LP’s ‘Handhold’, which was enjoyable. At the behest of our screaming “Another!” and “Encore” and the more direct “Don’t stop!”, they also covered “Let It Be” and Garreth grinningly sang the naughtiest version of La Bamba I have ever heard!

There was yet another attempt at The Old Whore before they wrapped up the show with a very cool cover of Hunters and Collectors’ ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, made popular by Pearl Jam.

A rip-roaring success, the gig had just the right amount of everything and I hope Dischordian decides to hit the Bangalore circuit harder the next time they come around!

HIGHLIGHTS:

Howard’s “I may be able to change this water into more Feni since I’ve been told I look like Jesus” joke.

Aggie’s notes stand disintegrating at a glance.

Nigel’s two-gulp downing of an audience-sponsored shot.

La Bamba!

Sharanya Nair

Sharanya is a 'writer' and an 'editor'. You know the type. She loves her music too much to share.

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Chimera at Hard Rock Cafe, Bangalore

Sometimes being a little late for a concert isn’t such a bad thing. On Thursday, October 6th, I walked into Hard Rock Café a few minutes into ‘Even Flow‘ and it was like being taken bodily out of Bangalore’s sticky traffic and being hurled into a musical blitz. Possessing the stage was Chimera – these guys have come a long way since their college days in Manipal, winning the Economic Times Rock Challenge in 2010, and after a brilliant stint in Bangalore this was to be their farewell act.

No politics, no teen angst, no agenda…this concert was about looking forward, and ‘Even Flow’ by Pearl Jam (with its swaggering, irresistible momentum) made for a great start to the evening. It was followed up with Audioslave’s ‘Show Me How To Live’, and it was with this song that Ankit Basu, the bowler-hat-wearing lead guitarist, made his presence felt as the man to watch on stage. Lead vocalist Sandeep Ravula sure had the strong supple voice for the songs, and he was quite a live wire on stage!

The diversity in the band members’ musical tastes was evident in their repertoire, which seemed to have something for everyone. The next songs were ‘Rise Today’ by Alter Bridge and ‘Megalomaniac’ by Incubus. The audience was totally won over by this time, and friends were already shouting requests for their favourites. The band played some originals starting with ‘Don’t Give a Damn’. Catchy, upbeat and neatly structured, the song was a winner. The others like ‘Two’ (“so named because every band’s got a song called One”) and ‘Hear My Voice’ emphasized the versatility of bassist Anuj Gupta and drummer Hari Anil Kumar.

And just when you’d least expect it, came ‘Bulls on Parade’ by Rage Against the Machine with a cool distortion duet by rhythm guitarist Ashish Sopori and Ankit, followed by ‘Rooster’ by Alice in Chains. It was pretty amazing to see the kind of personal rapport that the band had built with their audience, which definitely made the concert all the more special. And this was particularly evident in the last two songs – ‘Black’ by Pearl Jam followed by the song to end all songs – ‘Freebird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The audience became completely involved – singing along, waving lighters in the air and cheering themselves hoarse during the superb guitar solo, ending the concert with a pyrotechnical flourish.

The band members say ‘Chimera’ was named after the mythical fire-breathing monster made up of diverse animals, to reflect the variety of musical styles brought together in the band. But Chimera also means a wild fleeting dream. And for this band that has seen so much success in so little time, but must disband all too soon, both meanings seem appropriate.

Rupayan Basu

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