Bio

We’re not just a rock band. And we’re not just an Indian band.

We’re called Thermal And A Quarter and we’re a Bangalore rock band. We’ve been a Bangalore rock band since 1996. In that time, we’ve released 7 albums, including the first Indian concept album and the first triple album from the continent. We’ve played in the USA, Europe and all over Asia and we’ve been featured on radio shows and in magazines across the world. And like old blue eyes, we’ve done it our way. Still do!

So what is a Bangalore anyway, and what does it mean to you? We’re glad you asked!

Bangalore is not Bollywood. It’s a big city, but still has the heart of a small town. It’s landlocked, but it’s known for its lakes – many of which have mysteriously become residential layouts in the past half-century. It’s a garden city and its India’s silicon valley at the same time. Our city has a bit of everything in it – people from all over come here to study, work, play and live.

Thermal And A Quarter’s music is a bit like that, too. It’s comfortable with the western rock idiom in the same way that nearly everyone in Bangalore speaks at least a smattering of English. But it’s not just rock. There’s blues, funk, jazz, prog, maybe even some soul.

Like our city, we don’t need to wear eclecticism on our sleeve. But it’s there.

You won’t hear raga-rock clichés like the strains of a gratuitous sitar (or veena) in our music. But being Indian has shaped our music in subtle, inescapable ways. Maybe it’s our fondness for polyrhythms, maybe it’s the improvisatory zeal with which we approach a live show.

Being a Bangalore rock band is about being a kind of amphibian beast, comfortable in more than one world, and at home everywhere – even if Bangalore is where we put down our bags and stretch out when the day, metaphorical or otherwise, is done. So if you’re in the mood for some masala in your chai and some Chainese in your chow mein, get set for a full meal of Bangalore Rock. And we won’t charge more than meter mele one and half – promise!

If Bangalore is defined by the unexpected and subtly different, Bruce Lee Mani is the ideal Bangalore rock front man. A clean-living family man and one-time literature teacher, Bruce’s image is very different from the archetype of the rock star as Dionysian champion of excess. No tattoos, no piercings – but he is something of a biker at heart. The guitar has been an important part of his life ever since he decided, as a teenager, that it was even cooler than cricket. Bruce Lee Mani’s meticulous approach to the guitar and his eclectic grounding in classic rock, soul, funk and jazz and made him stand out in the college music scene. Back in 1996, Bruce formed Thermal And A Quarter and set out on a lifelong journey of songwriting and musicianship, emerging as one of India’s most accomplished guitarists and singers.  Bruce Lee Mani is the only Indian guitar player to have won the Rolling Stone Magazine  ‘Guitar Player of the Year’ Award twice – in 2009 and 2012. In 2011, Bruce also won the Leon Ireland ‘Vocalist of the Year’ Award.

Rajeev Rajagopal, TAAQ’s genial groovemeister, used to be a teenage metalhead. There was a time when bands like Slayer and Megadeth took pride of place in his tape collection. Like any obsessive percussionist, Rajeev put in his time banging on desks, plates, the walls, and anything else within reach before receiving a thorough grounding in his chosen instrument from a teacher who introduced him to the wider world of rhythm. His musical interests and abilities grew in tandem, and while he’s never been the type to take an extended, flashy drum solo at the expense of his band mates (or the audience), his handy way with a backbeat made him the first choice for a nascent band with progressive aspirations called Thermal and a Quarter. Rajeev Rajagopal’s diverse influences help him provide TAAQ’s sound with a tasteful, sometimes intricate, sometimes steady and forthright but always groovy bedrock.

Leslie Charles is the band’s resident hothead, as outspoken and acerbic on a range of pet peeves as he is smooth and groovy on his 4-stringed instrument of choice. A fan of the mellow yet danceable stylings of the neosoul movement, Leslie started out with covers of bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden in his college days. A dearth of suitable bassists prompted him to pick up the instrument himself. His bass heroes reflect his eclectic background: Paul McCartney, Motown stalwart James Jamerson and of course Geezer Butler and John Paul Jones. Leslie’s favourite band of all time is The Beatles, and you know that can’t be bad!