After making their stash of funny money, the greasy-palmed triumvirate of Thermal And A Quarter have retired to their own private island. It’s a lavish life that many would envy, but for the ennui. They want to be entertained. So go ahead and make the most kickass music video for Kickbackistan, the song that made them filthy rich. And you could too if your video wins the 2 lakhs on offer for the Kick Out Corruption Music Video Competition. Go on, shoot!

The post Just in from TAAQ's private island that funny money bought appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Wednesday, 11/11/09 – 9 PM:

Thermal And A Quarter joins guitar players Amit Heri, Amyt Dutta, Tony Das and others at Blue Frog, Mumbai on the occasion of Eleven Guitar Day.

In the afternoon, Guitar Doctor Bruce Lee Mani will test-drive the new Digidesign Eleven Rack. Free workshop on guitar technique and technology from 3 PM – 5 PM at Blue Frog, Mumbai.

Read Guitar Doctor’s review of the Digidesign Eleven Rack.

Limited seats. Attendance open to pre-registered participants only. Last-minute aspirants can try their luck by emailing elevenrack@ansata.net.

Presented by: Digidesign – www.digidesign.com
Event Support: Groove Temple and Blue Frog

The post TAAQ feat. Amit Heri, Amyt Dutta, Tony Das and others – Blue Frog, Mumbai, 9 PM, Nov 11 appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

May 17. It’s the night of the big election result, and the CEC is likely to call off the dry day at 6 PM. That means a lot of us are going to be very thirsty indeed. Flipside: the roads are going to be a lot less safe if all the tipplers get behind the wheel after celebrating or mourning or whatever.

This Sunday, Thermal And A Quarter and Kyra raise a toast to the spirit of responsible drinking.

If you stand up for your tippling friends and stay sober, and if you volunteer to drive them home, you get a free drink coupon from Kyra (redeemable, of course, on your next visit – if you are not driving again, that is!). Also, the first 1o lucky Unstoned Heroes get a free, autographed copy of This Is It, the hottest rock album by the coolest Indian rock band.

If you don’t have the liver to abstain, there’s help. You can hop into a cab arranged, by the management, at a very special fare.

Go on, be an Unstoned Hero!

Drink. And be driven.

For tickets, contact Kyra Theatre

RSVP on our Facebook page

The post What does it take to be an Unstoned Hero? appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Catch Doctor Bruce doing a small workshop at the Furtados store in Koramangala, Bangalore, tomorrow April 30th, 6pm. Free entry.

Stuff covered:

Electric Guitar
1. Buying your first electric/upgrading to a better axe
2. Basics of setup and care
3. Tone: Getting the most from your guitar + rig

a. Guitar – pickups, controls

b. Amp

c. Pedals/Processors

d. Cables

e. Picks, etc

4. Daily regimen/practicing

Acoustic Guitar
1. Buying your first acoustic/upgrading to a better guitar
2. Basics of setup and care
3. Electro-acoustic – problems and solutions

a. Amplifying acoustic guitars

b. Pickup types and applications

c. Performance issues

4. Finger style – a quick glimpse of the possibilities

The post Guitar Workshop appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Rock hard midweek – Mumbai & Pune, Apr 7 & 8

What is one bleary-eyed, groggy morning at work when we’re the TAAQ of your town?

It’s not always that a weekend drops by in the middle of the week. Or that we drop by both Mumbai and Pune. But here we are (and the edge of the world isn’t so far).

We can now safely call the Hard Rock Café gigs a series. We’ve played in Mumbai and Bangalore. Pune, where the Café has opened not many moons ago, will play host to us for the first time. We expect a lot of first-timers here.

Mumbai: Tuesday, April 7, 8 pm onwards

Pune: Wednesday, April 8, 8 pm onwards

Are you worried about the morning after?

Calling volunteers: Since it’s our first outing in Pune, we’d like all the publicity you can help us get. Tell your friends, call your family over… just pack the place. Please write to us (taaqmailATyahooDOTcom) if you are able and willing and, most importantly, if you are in Pune.

The post Rock hard – Mumbai & Pune, Apr 7 & 8 appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Calcutta (er, Kolkata) felt like we went back in time by around 40 years. Everything’s old and has a quaint feel about it. On the other side of its quaintness, even the traffic, honking and road rage is played out so realistically in true barbaric form, unlike Bangalore where the same scenes are enacted by formally dressed yuppies driving their mid-sized luxury cars (my great self shamefully included).

Rajeev at Shut Up and Vote, Kolkata

Been to Cal a few times before but this was the first time at college street and its many narrow gullies. What an amazing place! You know, I’ve never got it when people speak about their favorite cities and how they are absorbed and soaked in the character of these cities, etc. (pretty much like how I don’t understand auto buffs who speak of how their vehicles handle and hug and kiss the road so well, etc… what the!!! ).

Bruce at Shut Up and Vote, Kolkata

Anyways, I think Calcutta did it for me this time. It drizzled a bit as we were rushing back from Bhojohori Manna to Presidency College for sound check. It was a mad drive back.

Calcutta may not save me, but together we can cry

It’s the closest to my idea of the real real reality of an Indian city. To me, in the end everything boils down to being some shade of grey and Calcutta has the most shades to choose from.

So as Calcutta handles amazingly well, and gently hugs and caresses the road, we move to the next big city on our tour – Ny Dhilly.

adios
Rajeeb

About the gig: Suffice to say it happened!

TAAQ takes the Shut Up and Vote tour to Kolkata

The post The Shut Up and Vote Tour Diary – 2 appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

High up in the blogosphere, a certain journalist has taken exception to two parts of the song title: ‘Shut Up’ and ‘Vote’.

His first blog post, titled ‘On Dumb Editors… and Dumber Rockers’ accused TAAQ’s anthem of being ‘exceedingly stupid’. We popped in to say our bit. Over the last couple of days, the conversation did hot up and today, he has a fresh new post where he snipes at TAAQ again.

Sauvik Chakraverti writes:

TAAQ confessed to having composed their song “Shut Up And Vote” in response to a “brief.” In journalism, we call this a “command performance.” As I said, this song is not from the heart nor from the mind. It is just an ad jingle – and a rude one at that. It cannot work. You cannot compose a jingle that says “Shut Up And Drink Coca-Cola.”

Our response: You can (in a bottle or in a can). And lots of people are doing that. But we won’t. And not just because we like our cola with rum.

A command performance, indeed! You wish!

Let’s get this straight. The Jaago Re One Billion Votes campaign is a citizen initiative spearheaded by the voluntary organization Janaagraha along with Tata Tea. If we were singing this anthem for a particular political party, the blogger’s accusation would hold water (or cola, or whatever). But what’s dumb about speaking out along with like-minded, progressive citizens, and what’s dumb about persuading young people to participate in electing our leaders?

Now, Mr. Chakraverti comes across as a reasonably intelligent, articulate sort of chap but, like many of his kind that we know of, his views are clouded with pessimism and this, in our observation, is nothing new to this creed of non-participants. And that’s what we tried to remind him about.

Go to the coffee shops and watering holes and pot parlours of the world and you will find plenty of them – bottom-feeders that drink deep but taste not the spring of citizenship. What we have exhorted the youth to do through this song is participate in the electoral process, to exercise their  right as citizens. That, Mr. Chakraverti, is a necessary first step. Before crying foul, before finding fault with the system, or even before poking holes where none existed.

Through this song and through this series of concerts, we urge the youth: Do not stand back and submit to pessimism and inertia. Participate as citizens. Idle debate is no good unless you have exercised your right to bring in change. Ok, you know and we know that the system sucks. You know and we know that even this time round, we cannot do away with corruption. You know and we know that the usual suspects may share power again. But all of that said, your inertia is not a fitting response. It will take us nowhere and will only leave us more frustrated at the way things are.

We’ll write another song for the cynic and the pessimist and the non-voting beefburger (haven’t we, already?). When it’s time.

Until then, shut up and vote.

Et tu, Mr. Chakraverti!

The post Shut Up? Vote? Or none of the above? appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Towards the end of the show, Bruce performed the first verse of One Small Love, our brand new single. The song was used in the show’s end titles, too.

Watch the video here

Thus, One Small Love was launched nationwide, officially. And it’s yours to keep. So, download it off our website now. Go to http://www.bangalorerock.com/, click on the ‘Wassup’ icon and fill in your email address. We’ll send you a link from where you can download it.

Go on, spread the love!

The post Thermal And A Quarter on 'We The People', NDTV 24×7 appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Some tunes from This Is It will make it, for the first time, on Bangalore airwaves.

So keep your eyes on the wheel, your hands on the road, and your ears wide open.

Ashte!

The post RJ Bruce on Radio Indigo appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Lots of songs from the new album This It It should be played, interspersed with sparkling conversation and inside stories (on the mega roach too).

Tune in, tune up, enjoy!

Thanks again to WorldSpace for their support, and to Hari for putting it together.

The post TAAQ on WorldSpace appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).