October 2012 - Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ)Monthly Archive

Stuck in a rut. Spinning on the same old groove. Waiting for someone, or something. Anything. A pick-me-up. A grab-me-up. The blues arrivecanada goose outlet online with no warning and leave with no forwarding address. An endless list of things that bring you down. Big picture? What’s that? Dreams canada goose parkdreamed, chances missed, opportunities that moved

on when the door stayed closed for an instant too long. A feeling that if only that

somebody or something could grab you and ‘take you off this page’, you’d be in a better place.

Grab Me was written just before our frontman and drummer quit their day jobs (one more time, with feeling!) to give the

‘full-time musician’ thing another run. It’s the first song to be recorded at TAAQ’s Queen’s Road Studios in Bangalore. The first song recorded with bass player Prakash.

Here’s the music video for Grab Me. Incidentally, this was the very first DIY video we put together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKTZsdeg-0o

Click here for lyrics!

 
Personnel, Gear and Trivia

All Guitars/Vocals
Bruce Lee Mani
Bass
Prakash K N
Drums
Rajeev Rajagopal

Equipment used
Erisa Custom Stratocaster
Yamaha BBE 5-String Bass
Laney 160W Bass Amp
Vox AC4 TV Guitar amp
Line6 POD X3 Live Guitar processor
Pearl, Mapex and Tama Drums with
Sabian, Paiste and Zildjian Cymbals
Monster, Mogami and Planet Waves Cables

Trivia
“Been everywhere but the big time, lover
Somewhere, somehow, this ruby yacht ran aground”
‘ruby yacht’ – an oblique reference to the ‘Rubaiyat’ (of Omar Khayyam fame)

“Dance me to the ground

it’s lover-ly
How lots of chocolates can mystify the mage
A tip of the hat to that immortal tune ‘Wouldn’t it be Lover-ly’ from My Fair Lady.

The shadows shrink as I pour my first drink
A Boost in the mug with no happy encore”
Ah well. Our frontman’s choice of morning bevarage

“… and a paisa-worth of bromide”
‘Bromide’ is a generic name commonly used sedatives and headache-remedies in the 19th and early 20th century; specifically, the term is also used to refer to a ‘verbal sedative’ or an overused bit of common wisdom.

“For The Cat” is one of the more personal songs written by our frontman Bruce Lee Mani. It speaks of the influence of Cat Stevens on his thoughts, his music and his life. We’ll let Bruce do what he does best – take up the mic – and talk about “For The Cat”

“If I ever lose my eyes
If my colours all run dry…
(Moonshadow)

I also have to thank Mr. Jaideep Sen for the gift of the poster that started the words to ‘For The Cat’. Pulled from a Cat Stevens LP, the poster has the Cat captured live, eyes closed, fingers poised, bare torso strung with flowers. Under the picture are boxes with the 12 months of the year as titles – but within the boxes are the lyrics to his songs, not mundane Mondays and too-short weekends (that’s the ‘words go around the sun’ reference).


So, there you have it. For The Cat. From the album 3 Wheels 9 Lives.”


Here’s a small music video of “For the Cat” that we put together!

Click here for lyrics.

 

Personnel, Gear and Trivia

All Guitars/Vocals
Bruce Lee Mani
Bass
Prakash K N
Drums
Rajeev Rajagopal

Equipment Used
Erisa Custom Strat
Epiphone Sheraton (fills)
Yamaha TRB 6-String Bass
Laney 160W Bass Amp
Vox AC30 Guitar Amp
Line6 POD X3 Live Guitar processor
Pearl, Mapex and Tama Drums with Sabian, Paiste and Zildjian Cymbals
Monster, Mogami and Planet Waves Cable

3 Wheels 9 Lives is finally up and running. Years and years in the making, this mammoth album of 28 songs has gone through its cycle of writing, rehearsing, recording, mixing, mastering, grabbing quick burgers for lunch because no time for full meals, being ripped off by the damned autos to avoid driving in traffic and other such.

Have you gotten your copy off Flipkart yet?

In 2009, we thought, “this is it”. All sorts of prohibitive rules were being levied on music, and we thought our day was done. But the people who loved and lived for the scene kept at it and the independent music culture survived. Bands continued to make music, the fans gave us all the love, every one believed. Today we’re closer than we’ve ever been to the dream that underlined Thermal and a Quarter’s inception 16 years ago. Indie music has grown into a full-fledged sub-culture in India.

Meanwhile, in March of 2012, 3 boys marched off to Singapore and the US to for a tour at 9 locations. The foundations of 3 Wheels 9 Lives were laid during this tour, when songs like “Meter Mele One-and-a-half”, “In the Middle”, “If Them Blues and “Dangerous Mind” were staples at gigs. Slowly, gradually, more songs were written, some that came to us in minutes, others which had their foundations laid many, many years ago.

Ask Thermal and a Quarter what inspires them, and we’ll say “the city of Bangalore!” before you can say “Pecos”.  This city has given us everything we know and everything we have. We may write about everything from Betelgeuse to Bikes to Bad Journalism, but the root of everything is Bangalore.

Every song from 3 Wheels 9 Lives has stories woven around it. Actually, it’s more like we’ve got our ears pricked up for fun things that we can make songs out of. From your first bicycle ride, to artists being ostracized and criticized for hurting religious sentiments, to the Weapon of Mass Destruction inside you, to the oh-so-pretty Bangalore women, to the ugly face of the glamour-world, we’ve got all the stories in the world to tell!

Starting this week, we’ll give you 3 Wheels 9 Lives: Lyrics and More. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Watch this space for all the dirt on our biggest album to date!

Ah, almost forgot. The thing about the experiences 3 Wheels 9 Lives talks about is, that they could happen to just about anyone (as Bruce puts it, “to any Regular Rajesh”). We’re not telling you epic stories of heroes slaying dragons (okay maybe sometimes). What we’re getting at is, if you read any of these and go “HEY! This sounds like that one time when…”, do let us know what happened that one time! Watch this space for how you could do so; maybe we’ll pick out the best ones from there and make a “Legends of 3 Wheels 9 Lives” series, who knows!

Oh, also, 3 Wheels 9 Lives comprises of 3 whee… er, 3 CDs. Just saying.

3 Wheels 9 Lives is Thermal and a Quarter’s 5^th studio album with 28 tracks and 3 CDs. Get it off the Flipkart Digital Store.