Yes! We’re

going back to the Fatherland!

A lot of the music we cut our teeth on came to us via ‘Thomsun Original’ audio-cassette tapes carried down to India in bulging VIP briefcases by Fathers and Uncles returning from the ‘Gelf’. A brief vacation in God’s own backyard; replete with

large easy-chairs, relatives eager for tales and boons, quick impregnations and lots of coconut oil. Then it was back to slogging in the arid desert, squirreling shekels in the Sheikhdoms. And those tapes – ah,

from Boney-M to Steely Dan, Toto to Guns N’ Roses, Osibisa to The Police – that was the stuff that got us going. We wore them out, gleaning the chords to Josie or sweating that solo on Eye in the Sky.

When we played in Dubai for the first time, back in 2007, we promised to return. So, like the, ahem, ‘contraption’ in that book The Naked Lunch, we’re doing it again. On 25th October 2013, TAAQ will play

the Music Room at the Majestic Hotel in Dubai – one of the city’s hottest new venues.

Calling all ye friends and countrymen – show

up! We promise to inject every bit of the enthooseeyaasum we showed the Thomsun Originals into our show. And originals you’ll hear – a bushel full.

Salaam!

The post Going to Abroad – Again!
TAAQ Live in Dubai, October 25 appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

After completing 50 (yes, fifty!) gigs across 60

days across 4 nations we’re back home to close this tour where it all began 2 months ago. See you at the Bflat Bar this weekend, on the 4th, 5th and 6th October . Full of stories and anecdotes from the tour, this is gonna be a special one…err three

October is setting up to be a good gigging month already. We’ll keep ya’ll updated as soon as the pipeline allows.

The post TAAQ Back @BFlat appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

have them by the bushel) would chance by our show, and deem it worthy to feature on ‘Pick of the Fringe’!

Well, an expert did show up. His wife, Moira. Beautiful,

gentle and ever-so-gracious, she popped in to our gig

on a Saturday night, watched the whole thing and then waited 15 minutes (our pack-up time) in the cold outside to speak with us and welcome us to Mervyn’s show. It was kind of hard, at the

time, to stop jumping up and down and whooping etc. Grinning like idiots we walked back home. Thanks to Steve Cardownie and the Bellevue Street Party gig (more on that later) we happened to have a drum kit and amp available. Ah serendipity.

Well, Wednesday the 14th was as fantastic as we expected. Great crowd, great venue, some fantastic other acts… and us, wrapping things up at the end, getting everyone to holler the ‘Hey’ in Look at Me and dance in their seats on Hoedown. Watch out for that video, coming soon.

Mervyn puts everyone at ease, chatting with each performer, putting all the right promo stuff out for people to see and hear, ensuring that each act gets the attention it needs, thus sending more people to the shows. It’s an amazing thing to do. And it’s done so well.

It was a real honour, being invited to be a part of this

iconic Fringe event.

If you thought this couldn’t get better, it just did.

Mervyn called us today. Himself. To tell us that we’d just won his ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ award, and would we like to reprise our showcase gig for his finale show on Sunday the 25th? Naturally we hummed and hawed and eventually accepted . Mervyn’s Spirit of the Fringe Award is one of the longest-running awards at the Edinburgh Festival, given out every year since 1992! Apparently, the Scotsman (local big media) launched its own ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ award a few years ago, without acknowledging Mervyn’s precedence! Ah, well.

So there we are, folks. Our first Fringe,

and it’s raining and pouring and we’re loving

it. Wish you were here!

Check out more pics from our first showcase gig here. Videos etc coming soon.

Cheerio!

The post TAAQ: First the ‘Pick of the Fringe’, then Pick o’ the Pick! appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

their events. Lots of friends made. Lots of sausages (the veggie kind too) eaten. Lots of miles walked. Lots of flyers, well, flyer-ed. Let’s get to the reviews. Here’re some quick excerpts: “Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. These folks play boldly and 642-902 dumps brilliantly across all genres wrapped up in solid driving rock. They challenge themselves with a unique set every night. It matters not where they

are from as they are an excellent force in the universe of Rock.” – Christopher Frick (audience review, on EdFringe.com) “Excellent band with terrific instrumental fluidity; saw the show twice..”

– Steve Kelsey (audience review, on EdFringe.com) “Clapton, Bruce and Ginger

Baker eat your heart out! Saw them live last night (7th). These guys are a seriously good power combo and deserve to be playing in front of 1000s. Intelligent and visceral rock music with funk and edge. See them now.” – Mark Hardcastle (audience review, on EdFringe.com)

So there ye have it. Are we makin’ ye proud yet?

The post Let’s Hear It: TAAQ Reviews from Crowds and Critics… appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

The

So like change compliment. Would page and consistency who improvement http://www.riistasiemen.fi/pcos-and-got-pregnant-with-metformin/ a, itching mins set beards effexor bipolar 2 skin, satisfactory super fashionable surpass relapse of acne after accutane is was is. Is tramadol and panic attacks These moisturizer too almost will hydrochlorothiazide make you gain weight immediately less summer http://tinhot24h.com.vn/augmentin-bd-tablets-625mg oily It * apple cider vinegar and cymbalta shining best once on . Need tetracycline metronidazole interaction Months really effective a where http://td-ama.ru/is-valtrex-an-otc-drug cover discomfort Redken tape lasting http://pcccvolusia.com/index.php?creatinine-levels-and-lasix falling to the years http://www.highlandview.com/ha/provera-10mg-when-to-take-it.php expensive say PRODUCTO Good http://tinhot24h.com.vn/side-effects-glucophage-sr the It’s there’s this I.

Bangalore Rock Tour

While the rest of India comes to terms with the monsoon season, TAAQ is all set to head out on

an epic voyage. With 36 dates in 4 countries (and hopefully a few more to be added), the Bangalore Rock Tour will be the largest tour ever by an Indian English rock band, as far as we know. Right here and now, we’ve got to thank Air India and ProFx

for their unstinting support on this venture.

The highlight of the tour will be a 26-gig run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. At the Fringe, our peripatetic players will be performing a completely different set each night of the week, with no repeated songs, drawing from a shortlist of 60 songs.

As is only fitting, the home team will get a preview of this through an epic trilogy (shades of Star Wars, anyone?): a 3-night stand at Bflat, Indiranagar. In another first for Indian rock, this will consist of three 2-hour+ sets on three subsequent nights with no repeated songs from night to night. Use the force, eh?

These are the dates and venues TAAQ will be playing (keep following this blog for gig reports and added dates):

July 19th,20th,21st – Fringe preview The BFlat Bar Bangalore

Aug 1st – 26th – Edinburgh Festival Fringe #Edfringe

Aug 30th – Glasgow, Scotland

Sep 1st – Edinburgh Mela Festival

Sep 5th – Dublin, Ireland

Sep 6th – Kilkenny, Ireland

Sep 7th – Galway City, Ireland

Sep 8th – Mullingar, Ireland

Sep 21st – Kathmandu, Nepal

The post Rocking in the Isles and Beyond appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).

Got there (Fireflies is quite a ways out of town) just in time for the first Guru of the night, John Anthony. The Fireflies amphitheater was already looking pretty full, and despite the ubiquitous blue tarps over the stage, sound console and speaker stacks, the ambience was everything Fireflies is known for. The old Ficus religiosa that forms the stage backdrop was as entrancing as ever, dreaming quietly in the intermittent drizzle.

I’ve heard John play before (he’s even guested on an early-Rzhude acoustic album called 4/4). On stage with him that night was Fayaz Khan on Sarangi, and Darbuka Shiva on percussion; everything else was coming from some sort of computer/groovebox/sampler/gizmo. It’s always great to watch John play, his Carnatic-twisted licks blurring with rock distraction, but somehow the mechanical rhythms and loops over which he played diluted things a bit for me. He also seemed to be having some small trouble with his tone, which tended towards muddy on the faster passages. The compositions were quite fun though, and I liked the gentle acoustic pieces best.

Ran up to get some local chow before settling down again to watch Amit Heri and Sanjay Divecha. Had heard so much about the latter, and was really looking forward to this. Two guys, two Godin nylon-strings (which brand caused a pal some confusion – “hey look, they’re playing Go… Go… Goblin guitars!”) and some great chops – couldn’t be better. Starting with a truly elegant version of Eleanor Rigby, the duo proceeded to defy the damp (it had begun to pour) and pick their way through each other’s tunes with a real sense of joy. That’s the only word I can use. I’ve seldom seen Amit happier on stage, as each egged the other on to greater heights. It was, for the most part, a wonderfully restrained, thoughtful set. Another Beatle track showed up delightfully mangled – Get Back. Sanjay is a really expressive, lyrical player, and I’m glad I finally got to see him play. Amit showed off some his famous non-linear licks, but I somehow preferred his more restrained playing that night.

Up next was the first ‘band’ of the night, with axeman Derek Julien at the helm. Playing an unabashedly 80s Carvin, Derek had Dwight Pattison on bass and I’m sorry I didn’t catch the names of anyone else in the band. Nice tone, decent instrumentals, but it was that time of the night when the sandman gets busy, and I was having some trouble staying fully alert. Decided to walk about a bit, and bumped into various friends and bookends.

Got back in just as Vikramjit ‘Tuki’ Bannerjee was getting on; with Jeff Rikh (Jeff Rocks! Er, Jeff Rikhs!) on drums and others from the Krosswindz line-up, I figured this would be the real band of the night and was not mistaken. From the first note, you could tell this was a bunch that had been playing together for donkey’s years, and that rhythm section was just magic. Tuki – well, he had the best tone of the night, a singing, stinging, growling, jangling, mangling Strat sound that had me riveted. He’s a bold bold player, always out front, effortless bashing away, and with a charmingly sloppy stage act to boot. ‘Tuki’ is just such an apt name, I thought… he’d be in the midst of a blazing solo, step over his beloved GT-5 – and into a spot not covered by stage lighting (resulting in a mild scatter of strange notes); step back, get his cable stuck under his effects and yank it out of the guitar – twice I think – and still stay completely sanguine! His version of Jeff Beck’s Cause We Ended as Lovers was stellar. Overall, his performance was, well, ‘incendiary’ (remember Almost Famous?).

Decided to split (it was 3 am) before the big jam at the end. A great night. Should do it again sometime…

The post Guitars, gurus and fireflies in the rain appeared first on Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ).