publication Archives - Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ)

The 'Rock' in Hard Rock Cafe

bassist, carlton braganza, guitars, indian rock music, publication, shows, TAAQ and the Divas | November 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

Never has a Hard Rock Cafe gig sounded so delicious (loud, yes, but good) and not in a long time has TAAQ played its four-chambered heart out like it did on Thursday night at Bangalore. And I say this as a very disgruntled photographer who found the lighting, the cross-beams and the fat railings thwarting the remotest photographic possibility. The one thing that made my night was the way these guys played, and the way the gig sounded.

There was talk of a “new PA” and the boys sounded very excited about it. But I know at least three HRCs in India to be notorious for their acoustics — for the most part, they are hollow, sepulchral places and the stages (except in Pune) are placed where most people wouldn’t care to notice the band. Which means the band usually must make most of the effort to get itself noticed.

Rajeev finds something amusing about the set list

I didn’t pay much heed to Shut Up, but right from Respectable, the quality of the sound was very impressive. Actually, that nice lush sound was a pleasant surprise and I had to keep pinching the next guy (a very unlucky Umesh) to convince myself that it wasn’t my uncharacteristic sobriety that was making me hear things.

Tripping over a very drunk couple who first tripped on the music, then on each other and then sprayed the floor with fragrant bile, I craned my neck for a decent angle and finding none, resolved to wait it out and listen to the gig for a change. A very smart decision, in the end.

There were heartbeats of an old TAAQ magic — some impromptu, loosening-up jams and evidence of visible on-stage chemistry especially from the freshly recuperated Rudolph David. Won’t Stop and Mighty Strange were followed up by a slightly muscular version of Hey Jude. Ordinary Affair was tight and Holy Jose had an extra smack of la-di-da from Jason. My favourites from the evening were Drunk and Grab Me.

More photos on our Flickr page
Thermal And A Pint – Octoberfest, Oct 25, 7 pm

culture police, guitars, moral police, polls, publication, valentine's day, world music day | October 22, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

Thermal And A Quarter – live at Octoberfest

Thermal And A Quarter Pint.

Live at the Kingfisher Octoberfest, Bangalore, Oct 25, 7 PM. Don’t worry about the billboard-makers who missed out our name — they were probably partying already.

S’will, s’way!
A drumroll for Kyra

advertising, bassist, culture police, delhi, guitarist of the year, mangalore, opus in the creek, publication, shows | May 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

Kyra is what Bangalore has always wanted

And suddenly… unexpectedly… just like that… Bangalore gets a world-class performance venue.

Despite being the IT/BT capital of the world for over a decade, all that progress hardly made a whisper of a difference when it came to sound and lights available at any of the performance venues in our city. Progress, if any, was reflected in the pricing of the food and drinks. The only place that has great, world-class sound is apparently the Infy boardroom where Murthy and Nandan jam on their Midas XL8 digital console (known to be the world’s best board). No kidding, they’ve got the works in there, I hear. While we mega rockstar guys have to shut up and play with whatever comes our way. Not to forget the standard pre-gig scenario of haggling with the organizers for that extra sub-woofer or a slightly bigger mixing board or removing a few tables at that pub to make that stage just a tad bigger so that I don’t have a guitar neck going through my ears or have my boom stand up the frontman’s rear.

Finally, here’s a venue where all of that bad stuff is history.

Kyra, with its 30/40 stage + JBL VRX compact line array system with multiple dual 18″ subs powered by QSC amplifiers, processed and managed by a DBX Driverack + VRX delay speakers designed with ‘EASE’ to ensure even quality of sound across the venue. Not to mention the Soundcraft GB 2-24 24 channel mixer + Truss with 36 lighting points handled by a LSC Maxim M dmx lighting console with 48 faders.

Phew…I’ll stop for now, but there’s plenty more. For all the yada yada yada visit the one and only www.acousticcontrol.com, who have done a fantastic job at Kyra.

And the best part is Kyra promises that this is just the beginning… they are just starting off. Some standard teething troubles, etc. happening but lots more stuff is gonna be put in there.

And if you are wondering why yours truly is being so nice to this place, hear this: Finally, man, finally… finally… finally somebody decided to respect the work of the humble drummer and invest in a high end professional acoustic drum set. My eyes flood up as I thank the person whose decision it was to put in a good high-end kit in there. Contrary to what everybody (including my wife) thinks, we drummers do put in a lot of work into our sound, and for time immemorial we have been disregarded when it comes to spending that lil extra on making sure there’s a good kit at the live gig.

Thank you Kyra. Bangalore desperately needs you.

All the very best, and whatever happens the show must go on.

Gig review by Bruce coming soon.

Thank yous:

Team TAAQ: Vinay Kewalramani (Sound + Gig Mgmt), OB-Wan and Guzuru (Guitar/Bass/Drum Techs)
Kyra: Navneet, Chris, Shimrei, Anand, Ajit and all the staff

More later,
Cheers

Rajeev

Photo courtesy Akhil Gupta
Vote's the fuss?

ashwin srinivasan, Axl Rose, Erisa Custom Strat, expression, Jazz Yuppies Double Bill, JD Rock Awards, Jeff Peters, publication, Swarathma, thermal, Varun Murali | April 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

The taste of sour grapes is everywhere. Ever since Bangalore registered a low voter turnout last week, tongues have been wagging about the failure of the Jaago Re campaign, et cetera. Of course, we have a bone to pick there.

Bruce was quoted in DNA today. Excerpts:

On the low turnout:

If you think about the way our country has been run, in the last few years at least, there are far more spectacular ‘failures’ that deserve mention. We believe that the campaign is a success that is still in the making.

On the comments of certain leaders that the campaign was a failure:

The assignment of blame is perhaps our nation’s most absorbing pastime; there’s always someone else responsible for your problems.

On voting for the first time:

It felt good to use the finger. I can’t say it was the best candidate who got my vote, but in the context of the ‘big picture’ maybe it was the right choice!

More
Thank you! Now go vote!

ashwin srinivasan, Axl Rose, bar, calangute, Cubbon Park, Erisa Custom Strat, expression, Grammy, Jazz Yuppies Double Bill, JD Rock Awards, Jeff Peters, journalist, publication, Ronie Scotts, slogans, Swarathma, thermal, Varun Murali | March 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

The Shut Up and Vote tour was fabulous right through the five cities. Thank you for attending the finale at Bangalore, and thank you for staying and cheering through every song, and singing along to every last word of every chorus. We love you. But now, please go and vote.

We’ll leave you with some fabulous pictures taken by Shrenik Sadalgi.

Bruce Lee Mani

Rzhude

Rajeev Rajagopal

Thanks, Shrenik!

There are more fabulous pictures taken by one (and only) Mr. Gaurav Vaz. Facebook people: you’ll find them here.
Mumbai rocked, and Bangalore will

ashwin srinivasan, Axl Rose, Cubbon Park, Erisa Custom Strat, Grammy, jaago re, Jazz Yuppies Double Bill, JD Rock Awards, newsletter, publication, Swarathma, thermal, Varun Murali | March 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

We’re all a little red-eyed from playing Mumbai last evening and gearing up for this evening’s gig at St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore.

7 PM. Entry free.

Anushya Badrinath has shot some amazing pics of our gig in Mumbai.

TAAQ – Shut Up and Vote – Mumbai – © Anushya Badrinath

Dig in for more…
The Shut Up And Vote Tour Diary – 3

ashwin srinivasan, Axl Rose, Cubbon Park, Derek Julien, Erisa Custom Strat, expression, Grammy, jaago re, Jazz Yuppies Double Bill, JD Rock Awards, Jeff Peters, publication, pune, Swarathma, Varun Murali | March 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

TAAQ brings the Shut Up and Vote tour to the capital

The capital. Power center with no power cuts. Karims. Gulatis. Great gigs. TAAQ quite infested this joint between 2006 – 2007, playing some super shows in the colleges, pubs, etc. Delhi’s always been good to us!

Bruce at the Shut Up and Vote tour, Delhi

Staying at the Tata Tea guest house, while crew (who, btw, are beginning to look more like the rockstars than us) stay at a place called (see? see?) ‘Rockland’. Manage to catch up with old pal Hebbani Raghu Rao Venkatesh (of CNN IBN Anchor fame) and his lovely wife Anu at their home in Noida. Thanks for that great dinner!

Rzhude in full flow at the Shut Up and Vote tour, Delhi

Pragati Maidan is such an amazing place; last we played here must’ve been for GIR, way back in the late 90s, at the Hamsadhwani theater. Lal Chowk is also a striking location – the pics will speak for themselves. Sachin’s sound and lights were spot on, and everything came together just right. Changed the set list a bit; threw out the medley and put in Jupiter Cafe and Sanity instead. The jams were cooking! And there was a bunch of folks in front who seemed to know all the licks and lyrics… nice!

Rajeev skins 'em at the Shut Up and Vote tour, Delhi

Post gig Colonel’s (overpriced) Kebabs and Swagath Pomfrets later, we’re ready to move on.

Must be quite a trip to do this kind of thing 200 days a year.

Tonight, be there in Mumbai. We have a huge stage, full power sound and the works in terms of lighting and multimedia. And it won’t cost you anything except the train fare.

If you miss this one, you’ll rue it. We know Nerul isn’t exactly Near-ul, but it ain’t Far Out either. Please note the correct address of the venue:

Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology (RAIT) grounds (D Y Patil Academy campus), Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

Location details and map

See you there tonight!

Happy Ugadi to all of you in Bangalore. We’re coming at ya live on Saturday evening at St Joseph’s College of Commerce Grounds. 7 pm onwards. Entry free.
The Shut Up and Vote Tour

ashwin srinivasan, Axl Rose, bar, commonwealth games, Cubbon Park, Derek Julien, dewarists, Erisa Custom Strat, expression, Grammy, indian rock bands, jaagore, Jazz Yuppies Double Bill, JD Rock Awards, Line 6 POD 2.0, official anthem, PG Santhosh, publication, shonali mathias, Swarathma, thermal, Varun Murali, votes | March 18, 2009 | Permalink | Comments Off

The Shut Up and Vote Tour

You have already previewed ‘Shut Up and Vote’ on YouTube. Now, coming soon to your city, or a city near you, is the ‘Shut Up and Vote’ tour, part of the Jaago Re One Billion Votes campaign. This is an initiative of Janaagraha and Tata Tea.

We will play in five cities to get the youth together to stand up, shut up and… vote!

It’s interesting how some good folks in the blogosphere are already dishing out their cynicism and quasi-intellectual gibber about the campaign and its effectiveness. They yap about India and China, about the economy and their parsimony, about the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, about Padma Shrees and Padma Laxmi. But hey, just for a minute, get off that high horse and do something, people.

And well, about our song.

Some of the comments on the music video made a big deal about language: some viewers thought the song ought to have been sung in Hindi. Heh, we’ve heard that one even before most of you started to Rock On! Our piece of advice: Try that in Chennai, my friend, and you’ll spend the rest of your years picking splinters out of your rear.

But seriously, language is a non-issue. If you have English newspapers and magazines, English TV news channels, and English theatre, if you can fill your bank application form in English, and sign your name in English, why Bollywood-ise our world?

Go to the neglected Northeast (we have) – English works there better than the officialese of Hindi. And then, we have always maintained that English – thought, written and spoken our way – is an Indian language, and that stays.

For those who haven’t heard us before, we urge you to listen to our songs a little more carefully. Potatoe Junkie, Humpty Dumpty, Cynical World, Galactiqua, Sevenish, The Steal, Chameleon… scratch the surface of these songs and you’ll get to the heart of the messages we have been spreading for the last 13 years. To that list, Shut Up and Vote is one more addition.

So, come and watch the concert. It’s the first step you can take before you use your index finger to make a difference.

And while you’re at it, we’ll practice what we preach.

Here’s the schedule:

MARCH 20: Open Air Theatre, IIT Madras, Chennai

MARCH 23: Presidency College, Kolkata

MARCH 25: Pragati Maidan, Lal Chowk, Delhi

MARCH 27: D.Y. Patil College, Mumbai

MARCH 28: St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore

Be there!

Rajeev finds something amusing about the set list