MUMBAI: Going a step forward, the Channel [V] Launchpad season III has introduced a new element in their band hunt concept.
Seven shortlisted bands entered a ‘ House of Rock’ on Saturday, where they will be put up for the next 10 days for some gruelling sessions and tasks that started from 31 January 2009. The elmination were due to begin on the first day itself, with one band scheduled to get ousted from the house based on a task performance.
The bands housed in the ‘House of Rock’ are Faridkot, Reverse Polarity, Cassini’s Division, Blank Noise, Workshop, Circus and Prachir. Housed in a bungalow on Mumbai’s outskirts, the bands are provided with a jam room and are completely disconnected from the outer world ( a la Big Boss/Brother element?) according to the ‘rules’ of the show.
On their first day, the band members/ musicians appeared to be quite bored but nevertheless ‘acted’ that they were enjoying the process – but wait, isn’t this about being youself? why act? Possibly, the gruelling sesions will force them to question themselves whether they are rockers or just – posers.
A peek into the thoughts of bands like Faridkot, Blank Noise and Workshop will tell us about their take on being in the center of this ‘Rock Melodrama’.
I P Singh, vocalist of Faridkot says, “It’s good being here, it’s definetly better than working at the office, and we are doing what we like here – making music.” Faridkot from Delhi was one of the bands which were exceptionally good at the eliminations a day earlier. Apparently, Faridkot have also been nominated for the Jacke Daniel’s Rock Awards to be held in coming weeks for their song ‘Madhav’. ” I don’t think we’ll be able to attend that,” Singh says. Faridkot have a radio-freindly sound and the band certainly demostartes good musicianship. This is one band which doesn’t really ‘put-on’ an act, to say the least.
The Workshop seems to be one of the most favoured bands with Vocalist and Guitarist Sahil Makhija at the band’s helm. Makhija is also the member of Metal band Demonic Ressuruction. However, the three member band is not playing Metal at Launchpad. “We are not playing metal here- I am not ‘growling’ here and that makes a huge difference”.
The band is sure to grab eyeballs, irrespective of how they play. Unlike other bands, Workshop stands out for their witty appraoch and unique dressing sense. And don’t be surprised if you see Vishal Dadlani and Bobby Talwar favouring this freak band. Like both the jury members, Sahil Makhija is also a known name in the rock circuit.
Makhija is quick to explain, “Yes, I know the jury – but it’s not that I am their ‘buddy.'” He adds, “There’s also a negative side of knowing them – the jury will have that ‘pressure’ – and that’s not really a good thing.” Nevertheless, the Workshop is least bothered about winning, Makhija says, “The kind of exposure one gets through a TV channel is huge and that’s more than enough- it doesn’t matter if we win or lose,” he says.
It’s left to be seen if their ‘eye-ball grabbing’ act favours them in the long run. Looking from a pure entertainment perspective, this is the band to watch out for!
Nikhil, Guitarist and band representative of ‘Blank Noise’, expresses his thoughts , “There any many good musicians here, really good, but like all musicians, everybody has attitude and ‘ego’ … we too have it.” Blank Noise calls themselves a bilingual experimental band as they sing in both Hindi and English. Apparently, it is also one of the youngest bands to be participating.
‘Task-ing’ Times
One of the tasks given to the band members on Day One was to voluntarily pick out one word and make a song out of it in ten minutes. Songs were made on words like Mummy (Faridkot), Pappu (Prachir), Waxing (Cassini’s Division), Bra (Reverse Polarity), Boyfreind (Blank Noise), 420 (Workshop).
Vishal Dadlani seemed to like the underlying and obvious x-rated philosophy behind Reverse Polarity’s Bra (is a lie). Pappu by Kolkata based Prachir was appreciated for its words and meaning which mocked the band’s former bassist who chose to leave them them mid-way through the competitions. “Boyfreind by Blank Noise can be termed as one of the most daring songwriting of the evening – the band appeared to be truly happy and ‘gay’ while singing this one,” Dadlani avers.
While most bands took a comic and sarcastic approach towards their words, Faridkot’s radio-friendly breather ‘Mummy’ was rubbished as being ‘jingle’ type by the jury – it was certainly not! The next band to come under the scaner was Workshop, Dadlani expressed his ‘high- hopes’ from the band and termed their song on ‘420’ as completely insignificant. Apparently, Workshop was also playing sans a member who was preparing for his exams.
Two common cases indicating the same thing – music can never be chosen over studies given the apparent reasons!
Out of Six, one band stands to get eliminated based on their performances so far. Catch the bands live in action at The Blue Frog Club, Lower Parel on 3 February 2009.