British Council’s Soundpad

Indian Musicians are finally coming into their own. No matter whether they’re rock acts, electronic collectives or DJs, the quality has progressed from where it used to be. Picking up on this boom and the opportunity to make a difference to the growing independent music scene, the British Council has launched Soundpad. An ambitious new project, Soundpad explores the art of studio production in music, providing upcoming artists an opportunity to craft and chisel their music, while also giving them a platform to showcase their output.

Four bands – Medusa (Mumbai), Swarathma (Bangalore), Advaita and Indigo Children – formerly Superfuzz (Delhi) – have collaborated with legendary UK music producers John Leckie and Dan Austin, recording new material and spending time in the studio this year.
With the Soundpad project, Leckie hopes to give Indian bands an experience of how record production is done in the UK at the highest level and encourage cross pollination by allowing the musicians to work across platforms.

Advaita

The Road We Travelled
Abhishek Mathur(Advaita)

It was the evening of our third day in London and all the activity at the Westminster University was just about winding up. The four bands had been doing interviews, video shoots and other interactions with the students of the university, a great way to start the UK chapter of the Soundpad project. We had vacated our funky student’s hostel on King’s Cross in the morning as we all had to leave for Brighton this evening. All the band members were eagerly waiting for our tour buses (in which we would travel round the UK) to arrive – the rumour had spread like wild fire… these were no ordinary buses, they were special luxury vehicles equipped and furnished with all kinds of goodies.
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Suddenly there was a commotion – the buses had arrived! “My God! They’re huge!” exclaimed someone, we quickly got our stuff together and walked to the area they were parked. None of us were prepared for what we were about to see. Both buses had two floors, sleeping bunks, two lounge areas (with comfortable sofas), DVD players and flat screen TVs (both upstairs and downstairs – our driver Chalkey soon handed us his personal collection of 600 DVDs)! There was an X Box and a Playstation 3. A little kitchen upstairs comprised of a microwave, kettle and all the cutlery we would need plus two fridges – one for milk, cheese and the such, and one packed with chilled beer. There was even a little toilet. A trailer hooked to the back of the bus carried all the gear. Needless to say all of us ran around laughing like little children; I looked up to the heavens and smiled – we must have done something good to deserve this!

Soon we were off. Advaita and Medusa were on one bus while Indigo Children and Swarathama were on the other. After ‘getting to know’ the tour manager Rick (he’s been the front of house engineer for Massive Attack’s Mezzanine UK tour and Tool’s Aenima UK tour to name a few), some Floyd on the home theater and more than a few beers, it hit us – we were actually on tour! This was the stuff rock ‘n’ roll fantasies are made of!

Brighton must be one of the prettiest towns in England and our buses were parked next to the venue we were supposed to play – the awesome Concorde 2 (there is no Concorde 1 in case you’re wondering). This was a road along the beach and looking at the coastline the next morning was one of those beautiful sights that stayed with me even after all that happened in the days to come.

By the evening we were ready for our first gig. This was what we were here for. The venue manager was a really nice guy but he and his crew weren’t expecting an eight-piece band to climb on stage! Due to time constraints we didn’t get a proper sound check and before we knew it the place was filled with a charged up audience waiting for the show. It was a critical moment, and we all said our prayers and began with our opening song, Mukti. Boy, were we in for a surprise; the crowd roared with approval and we could sense the sound was fantastic outside. We grew in confidence and went on to play a solid tight set, cheered on also by our friends from Medusa and Indigo Children. Finally when we were done the audience shouted ‘more, more!’. It was a magical feeling and we played Miliha as an encore and quickly got of stage, our first show in the UK had been a hit and we were ecstatic!

From here on, the tour just got better and better. Rick and Paul were the nicest guys on Earth! They actually apologized profusely whenever there wasn’t enough time to sound check or something wasn’t quite right on stage. Here we were, an unknown band from Delhi, and these guys had worked with the biggest names in music – yet they took it upon themselves to make us feel comfortable, whatever the odds.

The tour carried on and we played gigs in Liverpool, Oxford, London and Cardiff. The show at London was another memorable one with all four bands playing in front of a packed crowd as part of the Soundpad showcase night in the presence of the great John Leckie with whom we had worked six months ago as part of this project. Each of the bands dished out super tight performances and impressed the audience. I remember feeling really proud as in a way all four bands made a statement to the people gathered – that Indian bands can do it at the highest level.

It was a whirlwind of a tour and a sad day when we finally said goodbye to Rick, Paul and our ‘magic bus’ and its driver Chalkey (another really nice bloke). But it was an experience of a lifetime and the British Council really deserves a big thank you for giving us this whiff of the rock ‘n’ roll dream, and a professionally organized tour!

Visit the British Council’s Soundpad website.
Visit the Advaita website.

Check this space for Advaita’s exclusive interview with myopusradio.com

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Swarathma

Giving Back: Swarathma’s one show for one policy
Jishnu Dasgupta, Bass guitar.

There was an experience I’d like to share, something that changed us forever. We played at Someplace Else in Kolkata this year, by all measures a successful gig. But when we decided to do something offbeat, like playing at a home for abandoned kids, we had no clue what to expect. And there was plenty on our plate that night.
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On March 1, 2009 Swarathma showed up at Child Care Home, more a fortress (with barbed wire icing on the 12 foot walls) than a home for children, and began unloading strange boxes and cases before the bemused staff. Cassini’s Division and the Supersonics generously donated stage amps and one Dolon from Gol Park did sound for the princely sum of Rs 1,600. (Yes!)

The venue was a covered terrace atop the Home, and there was no stage. But this show was about the audience: Girls from 4 to 16, picked up by cops, rescued from traffickers, children of sex workers… kids so far removed from the kids we’ve met that we wondered whether we would be able to connect to them at all.

But we needn’t have worried. From the word go, there was such an electric response that it just blew us away. It’s quite surreal to see someone in the audience, all of 6 years old, hands in the air, eyes closed with a smile that could light up a dark night like Diwali. And when you realize you have a part to play in that smile, it’s a wonderful feeling.

The fun didn’t end there. The neighbors, incensed that these children from another planet were having fun, called the police. Tense moments ensued, as they threatened to shut us down. We stripped down the sound – un-miced the kit, used just a snare and no toms, switched off the PA and played on monitors. But who cared! When the Ghodi made her entrance, there were frissons of delight that ran through the 100 odd girls. They danced like there was no tomorrow! The girls were beside themselves with joy, serving us tea and snacks with much care in the ‘afterparty’ (if we might call it that)!

That’s when we decided that for every show Swarathma does where we get paid, we will do a show for people who may not have the chance to watch a band play. That’s what we did at Naukuchiatal as well, a small hamlet near Nainital, where the villagers and boarding school kids in the area showed up in large numbers to see who these curious characters were. Of course, that show ended a bit early as there was a leopard scare in the area! I mean, we’ve heard of cops shutting the shows down, even the occasional college principal, but a leopard?

This just goes to show you that if you let go of your notions of ‘how it should be’ then there’s a tremendous amount of fun to be had – and you might even end up making a difference.

Visit the British Council’s Soundpad website.
Visit the Swarathma website.

Swarathma exclusive interview with myopusradio.com on Wednesday, 15th July. 3 – 6 PM. Tune in!

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Medusa

The final band to be featured as this month’s Big Fish, Medusa, unleashes “The Spokesperson” as the voice of the band. Specially created for Myopusradio.com, it’s the first of a kind that the band has created as an alternative to regular interviews. A track within itself, “The Spokesperson” answers all questions [except those annoying existensialist ones].

Download this track

Medusa belongs to the new wave of Indian rock bands that fuse diverse rock and electronic influences to create a fresh and original sound. The band features Raxit Tiwari on vocals/samples, Rahul Nadkarni on guitar and Vinayak Pol on drums.
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Indigo Children

Indigo Children, formerly known as The Superfuzz, is a Delhi-based band known for its well-crafted compositions. The band has generated a buzz in the Delhi rock scene, no doubt catapulted by their success as the winners of the 2007 edition of Channel [V] Launchpad.
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There are 4 comments in this article:

3/08/2009namit say:

indigo children ROCK
4/08/2009Daniel Hogg say:

I do not know how this matters but its time someone takes indian rock n roll somewhere.Take it out of India if needed.These musicians are too good. Wish i culd do stuff.But am struggling myself.BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YALL.
5/08/2009Joe say:

Download the myopusradio Desktop Player DOESN’T WORK…SAYS PAGE NOT FOUND!
10/08/2009admin say:

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the heads up. The link is now fixed.

-team myopusradio