As trite as this may sound, this post is about Indian rock bands. I first saw Thermal and a Quarter when we went to Cul-ah. I was all of 16 and truly intimidated going into Mount Carmel alone. But, TAAQ played an all day set there. I saw TAAQ later opening for Jethro Tull. Similarly, Antaragni opened for Bryan Adams as well and they were quite different. One band whose music I heard but never got the chance to see was Molotov Cocktail from Madras.  Soon, it was time to go to college and I wound up going to Xavier’s in Bombay. One of it’s many perks among many others was that it was located right next to Rang Bhavan and I remember going there on the eve of I-Rock when I was actually supposed to be manning the book-stall at Malhar. But I remember we were just sitting around and then the Blue Screen Death vocalist broke into ‘Man In The Box’, a tune which I did not recognise at the time but was blown away by anyway. Time passed by and I remember the first so-called road trip to Pune. We went and watched two days of rock shows at the now very-famous Pancard Clubs in Baner Road in Pune. I can’t remember the line-up too well but we saw AFS, Freedom, Zero, Them Clones, Motherjane, P.D.V. and Pentagram among others. Among other things at that show I remember Zero’s rendition of Stairway to Heaven beginning from Christmas in July and their funky cover of Come Together. Motherjane were mind-blowing as well and AFS were sublime with their covers of ‘Suck My Kiss’ and ‘Wake Up.’ I also loved Freedom’s cover of ‘Black’ and Chandresh playing the guitar with his tongue. I remember Vishal Dadlani bashing up the sound guy as well. Apart from that I remembered that Pune was a city of metal heads and shouts of’ play some fucking commie rock!’ But the highlight of it all was the start of a time when I’d see guitarists and vocalists go up on stage and say; ‘ Can I have more vocals on the monitor?

Or the more ubiquitous,’Can I have more bass on the monitors?’

My first and second years saw a flurry of concerts and I saw Freedom, AFS and PDV live again. I saw Zero live about 2-3 times in my 2nd year including one memorable gig at Mikanos which had AFS, Zero and Pentagram on a triple bill. Also, thanks to the genius of Roswitha , we did an Almost Famous like event and managed to meet Zero which was a lot of fun. I remember our friends won the event and they had to come up with ideas for songs. Thus, was born ‘Cheesy Love Song #1′ which I don’t think saw light of day. But as third year came by, we stopped going for gigs only to catch the occasional ‘Zero’ gig. I didn’t attend those famed rehearsals of ‘Tommy Mucus’, a talented ensemble of EP students from IITB. (I think Udit might read this!) Mood Indigo also saw ‘ Dragonfly’ which sucked but some good performances from Medicis from Pondicherry and Zero, with a replacement for Warren, their supremely talented lead guitarist.

Time goes by and these memories will yet remain cherished because good music and good friends together is an unbeatable combination.

Current musix: Burning Unknown – Sometime

p.s. Might I add that this Pune based band is good shyte. Band pimping absolutely intended.

1. Counting Crows – Friend Of The Devil

This song is a cover of the Grateful Dead which originally appeared in that seminal work of the Dead called American Beauty. Adam Duritz does a pretty good job of it all and I’ve recently discovered the Counting Crows and thoroughly recommend them

2. Bethany Joy Lenz- Elsewhere

This is a pick slightly off the beaten track. Funnily enough, when I was watching the cheesy ‘One Tree Hill’, it’s sung by one of the main characters. Some further checking showed that it was a Sarah McLachlan original. It’s done rather nicely and Bethany Joy plays the piano as well I believe here.

3. John Mayer – Message In A Bottle

Dubs pointed this out to me when he visited London. I already love the Police version of it and this cover is an acoustic version of it and definitely ranks up there.

4. R.A.T.M. – Maggie’s Farm

Bob Dylan does an extremely nasal rubbish original of this. R.A.T.M. as part of Renegades, which incidentally is an album of R.A.T.M. covers, simply add a lot of heavy bass lines and riffs and with Zach De La Rocha providing the vocal fireworks, it’s unrecognizable from the original in a completely good way.

5. Eddie Vedder – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away

From ‘I Am Sam ‘ soundtrack, Eddie Vedder is one of my favourite musicians and I’d have to rank this above Pearl Jam’s covers of ‘Rocking In The Free World ‘ and ‘ Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay.’ Last Kiss incidentally is also a Pearl Jam cover and I deliberately chose not to conclude it as it is not representative of some of the great covers they do.

6. GrandFunk Railroad – Gimme Shelter

This probably wouldn’t rank up in any one’s list but it is one of my favourites. I prefer this version any day to the Rolling Stones version. It’s peppy and fast and it’s on my 25 top most played in my ITunes.

7. Big Head Todd & The Monsters – Tangerine

Of all the covers here, this has to be my favourite. It’s the toughest choice to make as Tangerine is one of my favourite Led Zeppelin songs. This song was covered for the Zeppelin tribute album and it is simply mind blowing. I’m willing to stick my neck out and say it’s better than original.

8. Alanis Morissette – King Of Pain

MTV Unplugged was the first time when Alanis played this song and I know that I have 2 Police covers on but both covers are really good ones. I always enjoy Alanis and she has interesting covers always.

9. Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah

The first time I heard this song I was completely silent and didn’t stop till I’d listened to it three times. It’s haunting and blows away the Cohen original, i’m actually not sure who the original is by . But it’s an indication of Jeff Buckley’s talent who was no more after this album. It’s an extremely eerie, captivating track.

10. Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower

This for me has to be the baap of all covers. Hendrix at his best. Bob Dylan’s version also is extremely enjoyable but the Hendrix version is just an out and out classic

For any readers I might have, let me know what covers you think are amazing and we’ll swap notes and exchange some music then.

Cheerio then.