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For the Cat: Lyrics and More
“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)Will you keep on building higher
Till there’s no more room up there…
(Where Do The Children Play)If I had to list all the words and all the songs of Cat Stevens that changed the way I looked at things, changed the way I listened to and wrote music, I’d need to spend a month or so on Twitter. And most of a life still finding layers of meaning and shades of wonder.
‘For The Cat’ is perhaps the best way, for me, to acknowledge a debt; a debt to a maternal cousin (a total cat in his own right) who introduced me to The Cat (among other great music), and to The Cat himself, for writing the words and music that stay true, stay relevant, stay special.
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 RajagopalEquipment 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: Lyrics and More
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 5th studio album with 28 tracks and 3 CDs. Get it off the Flipkart Digital Store.
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A jarful of fireflies
With every passing year the annual gathering under the banyan tree at the Fireflies Ashram gets bigger and bigger. At this nightlong music festival last fortnight, the assembled crowd was young, old, drunk, stoned, raucous and sleepy. In all some 5,000 Bangaloreans turned up and screamed themselves hoarse way into the wee hours, prompting the normally hardy resident mosquitoes to throw in the towel, for the night.
TAAQ had to fight its way onto stage and once we got there, as is our wont, we kicked ass! Even the odd drunk staggering into microphones and amplifiers on stage could not upset a very tight set. It was clearly one of those nights – if you were there, you weren’t really there. Meanwhile at Cow’s Paradise, a retirement home for cows next door, the members of the genus Bos masticated noisily, unmindful of all the talk about “Paper Puli”.
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Bruce Lee Returns: To and From Hong Kong
5 Gigs, 4 nights. One very long day. That’s what it felt like. We’re still working off the high.
Playing sets at the Skylark Lounge and The Wanch to folks that really listened. Sharing stage with Bobby Taylor (producer, the Jackson 5) and his band. Connecting with a whole bunch of new people. Walking the narrow streets, packed in wall-to-wall with skyscrapers. Eating REAL Chinese food. Dumpling Yuan. Nha Trang. And buying the bull at Wooloo Mooloo (that was one pricey steak). It’s a blur; a real doozy of a defocus. And things have never been clearer!
Got to go back. Play. Play. Play.
I have returned!
See pics here
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Gig alert – TAAQ Tales, Dec 11, 2010
TAAQ Tales – bedtime stories that will keep you awake!
The first ever episode of TAAQ Tales, in which we uncover the stories behind our music. The words, the pictures, the dramatis personae, the unspoken words between the lines, the unsaid lines…. everything.
Be there, ask, and go home with our secrets.
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