Nada Nada

What: RGIT’s annual rock show
Who: Split, Junkyard Groove, Avial
Where: Renaissance Club grounds, Juhu
When: 24 March 2010

As I staggered out of the Rennaisance club grounds that night, I was in two minds, really. This was supposed to be one of the gigs of the year and the bands didn’t disappoint. I also held in my hand an Avial poster freshly autographed. How COULD I be disappointed, right?

That said, the organizers seemed to try everything in their power to make the show farcial, but thankfully enough sense prevailed. Ah, yes, no video or picture taking was allowed from the audience. This was inexplicable to me, as most people / bands would want as many videos as possible to hit YouTube. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that a TV channel was the sponsor and had rights issues. Anyway.

The gig started relatively early, 0645, when a 60-strong crowd welcomed back Split who ‘are opening and are back especially for you’ (obviously, the supplied Red Bull did nothing for the Emcees’ eloquence). They (Split, not the Emcees) reunited after a 14 month hiatus, the interim in which many side projects (like Dischordian) were explored. I’ve never seen Split live (been in Bombay only 13 months) and I could see just why they were so highly regarded. Nice, tight, Clash-meets-Pearl Jam sound. The highlight was clearly lead vocalist Gareth D’Mello (what? The guy for whom PSP 12” was written? Why, yes!) whose extended yells just made you wanna scream along.

Starting the set with a ‘song none of you would have heard before’, Fingerprints, Split proceeded to belt out some of their classics, like the power-packed Punk Rock Days, the semi-psychedelic What Does That Voice Inside My Head Say? before ending with the tracks that got the crowd mental - My House and Building Higher. Those who’ve seen Split before say they were as tight as ever, we’re all looking forward to seeing more stuff from these guys in the coming months. But I hope it doesn’t mean Dischordian is dying out, that’d be a shame (later edit: They’re not, just confirmed with Gareth. Phew).

They left the stage for Chennai band Junkyard Groove who remain the finest embodiment of how certain beverages of an intoxicating disposition can enhance stage presence. Just once, I’d like to see JYG sober to have a comparision. JYG were as fun as ever, and despite some sloppiness induced, no doubt, by the said beverages, they put in a masterful performance. By the way, Ameeth cut his hair, for those interested in said artiste’s follicular experiments.

With new drummer, Hudstin Fernandez, JYG belted out their crowd favourites Imagine, Rock ‘n’ Roll (which refuses to get out of my head), It’s OK, Folk You, Twinkle Twinkle and others. My favourites: Folk You, with its Tamil lyrics, and Hold, featuring Siddharth’s mesmerizing solo. Some needless over-the-top tomfoolery also happened. Singing Black & White (in ostensible protest to the sound being turned down) was ok, and even Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Night (yes, yes, that same irritating tune you hear in all parties) was funny, simply because the ‘cheerleaders’ in the crowd thought they were seriously singing it and yelled and screamed. Yes, cheerleaders. They were meant for security purposes but clearly had an IPL overdose. There were too many breaks in the set, a drunken rap by bassist Craig Maxworth and more, which was prima facie fun but became too much of a gimmick. Some of us do come to gigs for music. Yeah, old school fuddies, I know.

So Avial. A little background about people who’re clueless. Avial is a traditional Mallu dish. Slang-usage, it means an esoteric mixture. Like kichdi, if you will. Avial (the band) consisted of musicians who’ve all played for other ‘English’ bands and got together to do something in their traditional language. Avial have been trend-setters - their very well-made video, Nada Nada, hit Kerala airwaves as early as 2004, no YouTube back then, remember. Their album is brilliantly produced and mixed, given the medley of instruments. They have one of the best websites by an Indian band.

Their music consists of Malalayam lyrics against a traditional rock background with use of other sounds - turntables, voice-overs, samples and yes, a rooster. It was a brave experiment but everyone lapped it up. In my time, I’ve seen Avial fans in Mallu rockers, Mallus who think Bryan Adams is heavy metal, Delhiites who listen only to Bollywood, and even professors. Just shows there’s a regional authenticity about their music that strikes a chord with any Indian. I’d love to see more regional rock bands, who shouldn’t be shy given Avial’s success. Fossils, for one.

Tony John does an admirable job filling in the vox spot since Anand Raj Benjamin John left the band (but there’s no doubt Anand’s voice fit the band better, and he also looked more raw and regional). At the concert, where atleast 20% of the audience was Mallu, Tony came out in a lungi, to a huge reception.

The sound. Oh lord. Some of Avial’s best tracks, including the mesmerizing Chekele, were ruined thanks to bad sound and the only beneficiary was Mithun, we all found out he’s a fantastic drummer. Nothing else could be heard. Thankfully, someone woke up, and the last four songs were superb. Avial played all the tracks on their album and everyone seened to recognize a few.

But here’s where Tony made an error, pointing the mic to the audience more times than necessary. Sure, everyone’s heard of Avial, but you don’t expect a predominantly non-Mallu crowd to sing ‘Chekeladikkumumbe Thayannthaaro’, do you? It was an obvious disaster first time he tried it, but sadly he didn’t learn from his mistake, and persisted with some other songs (probably extrapolated the army of 20 Mallus in front of him to the whole crowd). Killed the feel of it, I thought. Also, his arsenal of stage presence seemed to include raising his hands up, making a ‘wave’ towards Rex, lifting a leg up (!!) and the odd dialogue targeted at his ‘makale’.

Oh, and before I forget (as much as I’ll try to), Rikki, the ‘guest guitarist’ from Euphoria, jammed with the band on stage. Needless to say, it was a facepalm moment. Decent soloing outdone by Bollywood-fake-guitarist-style-acting.

Gesticulation criticisms, sound and Ricky aside, Avial lived up to expectations, the order of songs was perfect, the samples (especially on ‘Karukare’) were good. But uhm, there were too many instruments on the samples, some lead guitar included (!). Avial’s biggest assets are their songs, which I reiterate, are superbly produced. They ended the set with (duh) Nada Nada, their magnum opus. So well do people know this song that they even did the rooster bit (yeah, the same rooster of previous paragraph fame).

It was, no doubt, a superb gig. Two of the biggest bands from down south, and one of Mumbai’s favourites reuniting. With better sound, a cameras-allowed policy and Tony singing instead of pointing the mic to us, it could have been one of the gigs of the year.

Photos by the shutter-happy Kunal Kakodkar (check out his portfolio here), gotta ask him how he managed to get his cam in.

Deepak Gopalakrishnan is a Mumbai-based rock freak, blogger and cartoonist. He blogs here and tweets here.