Independence Rock XXII Finals - Day 2

If you are looking for Day 1 content, kindly click here

First of all a huge round of applause to Farhad Wadia for his never ending support to Indian Rock year after year and also to event organizers E18 for the wonderful show. I found the sound to be much better than the Iron Maiden concert in Bangalore

Reviewer: Jugal
Media: Sukamal

Dream Out Loud
The band that started the second day was Dream Out Loud. The band exhubed great energy on stage, and working on an all original set is not very easy with the rock prudes from Bombay yet they managed to get people jumping. Also the first band of the day has always been received with a strange sorta skepticism by most people. Their guitarist had people raving and he also did the tongue trick :D


Them Clones
Next up were the band that I was waiting to watch ever since I had seen them perform at Mosh Mania two years back: Them Clones. This is one of the only hands that has a no frills attitude. You don't see long hair, you don't see naked bassists and drummers, you don't see a vocalist sporting a beard or jumping around. Of course a similar attitude was shown by the Bangalore band Caesar's Palace on Day 1 as well but that I hadn't discovered till that day. Even the Them Clones vocalist could pass for the boy next door who had ended up in the wrong lane because he had come to watch a movie at Fun Republic. But the man commands the crowds, I've seen it before and I saw it again. Their guitarist again, no real frills, enjoys playing, his composure is calm even in the craziest of Morello solos. Yet, the band radiate energy. Was a great experience as they went on to do a great set which blended both their originals and their trademark famous covers: Disturbed's Stupify, RATM's Killing in the name of. Though my favourite's alwas gonna be their originals: My life & Zephyretta (though someone must check the pronounciation of this name for them).



Pin Drop Violence
PDV, The king of the mosh band. They started quite a terrific mosh but most fans were disappointed in their performance. There seemed to be something missing as most people were heard saying. I actually heard someone say, "They did a better gig at Razz." They had the moshers eating outta their hands. I had meanwhile walked back for a drink and was sitting on the sparse grass while this got done with. This is something I didn't do on Day 1.


Oldies
Dinosaurs of Rock, don't really have much to say about them. I don't know the name of the guy who came up first but remember seeing him on Movers and Shakers performing with the Rubber Band. He did a spoof called Another Rides the Bus. Then came in the non-Dinosaur female vocalist Shazneen for the evening who looked like she had been possessed by Robert Plant, no complaints. Up next was Rajiv (once again my memory fails me) as he started off with Lynyrd Skynyrd and wrapped it up with a cover of Coming back to life. The best line he said on stage was to the bottle throwers, "Somethings never change." with reference to the changing music, changing crowds. Fahad Wadia came next, successfully had the crowds moving with a successful cover of Pink Floyd's Time and then terrible covers of Hoochie Koochie Man and some AC/DC number. Last up was the crowd's favourite Dinosaur and my least favourite: Gary Lawyer. I'm happy he didn't get to perform his original because the cops barged in. He started with Creed's My Sacrifice and then did The Doors' LA Woman. And well that wrapped another evening.


Though, I didn't feel as sated as I felt on Day 1, still no regrets over the 200 rupees spent. I think I was just happy, I got to see Them Clones perform again.

Independence Rock XXII Finals - Day 1

Brought to you by the dynamic duo, Jugality-Trashhead.

Review: Jugal mdY
Media: Sukamal

I know that the Headbangers and Moshers Union will kill me for this but the first day of the 22nd Independence Rock was the most fulfilling rock experience in the last 5 I-Rocks that I've attended in my little life. The last year I actually did not go to I Rock, didn't bother to see what the line-up was because I just presumed that it was all going to be Death Metal, Black Metal or something Metal with all the wannabe moshers running here and there - may be the bands are good at what they do, but I kinda need a break. Let me just get ahead with the bands now than keep ranting:

Black
The event kicked off with Black, a Bombay based band deriving heavy influences of grunge. They were the last band to sound check so their sound checked OC (Newspaper boy, if I'm not mistaken) became their first song as the crowds had started to trickle in. The most memorable song that they performed was their cover of Pearl Jam's Black and it showed that it was their favourite song (as the vocalist had claimed.) The band had great timing and a terrific live presence, with the lead vocalist even jumping off the stage, off the barricade and moshing through the crowd as well.

Boomerang
The next were a band from Mizoram called Boomerang. The band came through as a little unlucky with the guitarist's strings snapping right at the first number which was RATM's Bulls on Parade. That took a bit of their time while the band just stood there on stage like lame ducks waiting for the string to be replaced. Despite the crowd shouting out to them, "Play some bass!" or "Do something!" Their music had the crowd raving and illiterates calling them Nepali. You know it's strangely funny but no matter how much we accuse the rest of the world, I realised how stupidly racist Indian youth is. Most of them couldn't understand and stand the fact that a band who they hated because of their physical appearance actually put up fucking good act. To add to that: Bombay is the most wannabe rock scene ever. Coming back to Boomerang, they've got this great reggae and blues sound to their rock and they probably gave me the most memorable extended live version of Killing in the name of. Their original "Who do you wanna be?" was once again nothing less than terrific. One wished that the glitch didn't happen and they had gotten to perform their whole set.

Half Step Down
Next up were Half Step Down, starting off on a very different sound from their predecessors. A very mixed influence was visible in their sound which for a while had me listening closely. But by the time they reached their third song, I was a fan. One of their originals "Overture to Outer Space" was a great number because of the piano solo prelude. I wish they had more live energy. Most of the band just stood there like mechanical dolls doing their thing. The guitarist had come pretty funkily dressed in a cowboy hat and three-fourths but all that attention drawn to him seemed like a waste.

After Burn
Following Half Step Down, was the worst band of the evening in my opinion. After Burn was the not-so-good band in the terrific line up. I think the problem lied with the fact that their vocalist was just not cut for the scene. The only good thing I could see coming from the vocalist was the cover of Pearl Jam's Animal. The rest of the band though sounded perfect. Their originals were the worst in the lot so far. They were very repetitive as individual songs by themselves, and almost all of them sounded the same to me at some level. Also, please someone tell the vocalist to NOT jump around so much if he is to go out of breath and stop singing.


Caeser's Palace
Caesar's Palace, I shall call them a brave band. Having guts to cover Tenacious D in front of a hostile wannabe rocker crowd is brave and courageous. Covering the song well and the moving on to do a lot of originals is another sign of bravery. Good bluesy sound to one of their songs had us foot tapping. Just like Boomerang and Half Step Down, CP also had beautiful change overs in the middle of their originals. Their originals went in all possible directions which was really impressive.


Scribe
Well, by now the wannabe junta was all restless. Too much of good rock had happened for their taste and they were all confused, they were dying to run amok in the jungle and cause some heavy chaos. And much to their rescue was Scribe as they kicked off on the heaviness. I quite enjoyed the heaviness for a while more so because that would complete the whole balance and make this day the most fulfilling I Rock experience yet. But then after two songs when the vocalist presumed he owned the masses, he switched over to a track by Del Amitri and he lost the crowd. Fame is a fickle friend. All his fans in the mosh started cussing him the next second. Right in the middle of the Del Amitri track they switched to something heavier, quite sad actually, SELL OUTS! The bad news is Scribe won the event. Not that I was rooting for any one band in particular but still, no Scribe.


Parikrama Pro Act
No doubt, the Indian Rock sounds have matured and gone to greater heights. This is the first time, I was so tired and full that I wasn't looking forward to the headling act of the evening which was Parikrama (quite surprising). Well Parikrama came in and Nitin started with his trademark, we-love-yous and we-can't-wait-to-get-started, I was worried if everything was going to fall into the same pattern as the last three times that I'd seen them perform in Bombay and would they play the same ten songs as everytime. Thankfully, NO. Though I feel sad that they didn't play Coldplay's Yellow or Pink Floyd's Coming back to life but was a good show nonetheless. They played a whole lotta originals. The track they wrote for Frodo and Sam, "Am I dreaming?" was probably the best track of the evening. Open Skies, their instrumental had some great variations this time. Nothing went about as usual with Parikrama this time so I sighed, feeling happy that I didn't just go to the back when they arrived on stage.




That's it folks. A really nice evening of rock music. Will put up the review and media from the second night later today. Keep checking

Independence Rock XXII Prelims 1

Bigger, Badder and Louder than ever before, I-rock finally goes national. 3 city preliminaries and a grand final at the Chitrakoot Stadium in Andheri on the 8th and 9th of September. Delhi and Bangalore preliminaries have been done with and it was the Mumbai leg last weekend at the Hard Rock Cafe and Razzberry Rhinoceros on Friday and Saturday respectively.

With a few friends I turned up at Hard Rock at around 7 PM just to make sure we get seats. Cover charges were 500 bucks per head which you could redeem inside for food and drinks. The line up for the evening consisted of 4 bands, out of which 1 band was going to make it to the national finals. After almost 2 hours of waiting, it finally started.

1. GrooveLab
First band to go up on stage. Their genre of music is funk rock with doses of punk pop. They played a mixture of originals and covers to good effect. They have been around for about a year and their original music is quite interesting, but they lack the tightness that comes with playing together regularly. As individual musicians they are good, but they seriously need to improve their tightness. Rhythm section was bearable with the credit going to Sapna behind the drums. Her style of drumming complemented the band's music perfectly. They have a lot of potential and they just need to keep working on creating more original music and improving their stage presence.
Rating: 2.5/5


2. Black
I first saw them perform 4 months back at the Atria Mall at a gaming event. I was quite impressed with the performance and the quality of their music. Their music is a throwback to the hard hitting music immortalized by the likes of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden with hints of classic rock of the 80's. They are quite a seasoned lot with a lot of things going for them. They got excellent musicians, tight rhythm sections, excellent songs and above all an excellent stage presence, led by frontman Shawn Peirera. They played a mostly original set with a perfect cover of Pearl Jam's Black! Way to go guys... keep it up
Rating: 4/5



3. Something Relevant
I have already reviewed them before on my blog. So it was good to see them back on stage and performing their jazz rock-blues-jam genre of original eclectic music. They are getting better with every performance. As expected, they delivered a set of original songs which made you feel that you are at some Jazz bar and not at the Hard Rock Cafe. The only sore point was that since this was a competition, they couldn't really connect with the crowd due to the lack of time. But overall it was a good performance, with their trademark songs and jam sessions.
Rating: 3.5/5



4. Red Cube
Nothing to write home about. They turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the evening. I had such high hopes from Red Cube, having heard so many good things about them. They turned out to be just about as good as your garage bands. They could have done so much, as some of the members of this band were part of pro bands like Bhayanak Maut. They dished out a typical fare of pop rock and Incubus songs which failed to engage and I won't even start on their stage presence which was as dead as a dodo. Overall, the weakest band of the evening.
Rating: 2/5


Farhad Wadia, the granddaddy of Indian rock and founder of I-rock, finally announced the winner of the evening and as expected, Black took away the honors.

Will bring you live footage from the finals. So keep watching this space!