After much contemplation, we decided to play at October's Sunday Jam. Freedom Jam which was supposed to happen on the 2nd was postponed yet again, so we thought we might as well perform at the Sunday Jam.. After all, we'd spent a tiny fortune at Unwind Center @ Rs. 250/- an hour practicing for the Freedom Jam. Plus, Sovit and I needed some experience playing live. So off we went to play for October Sunday Jam to be held at Guruskool Campus, Neelamangala.
The place is quite far, let me tell you that. We got lost along the way too (silly, silly!), but then
reached the campus at about 3:30 PM. On the outset, the place is nice for camping out at night. Greenery everywhere, undisturbed by technology... it felt good.
There were some outdoor theatre performances done too. And they were good. Real good. The acts made you think.
It was about 7PM before the actual Sunday Jam started. There were just three bands (including us), plus some solo performers.
Some things to note before you head out to Guruskool campus:
1) Take loads of water to drink
2) Take eatables
3) Take your stock of cigarettes
Reason: Simple. No shops anywhere nearby so you might as well be prepared while you're there!
The first band to play was a metal band - a 3 piece band called
"Sclavus". They were pretty good - but then the junior sized drum kit really did them in and they just did a couple of songs even though there was enough time to play some more.
We were next to go - that was when I realized that the kit was really bad. Anyways, we did our set list
(Save me by Magdalene as sound check, then Poison Heart by The Ramones, our OC "Around the corner", follow
ed by Neil Young's Keep rocking in the free world and finally ended with another OC "Free Pay"). It was pretty ok though we messed up the endings for two songs - thanks to the kit that was literally falling apart. Sovit mustered the courage to do White Lion's When the children cry as an acoustic solo, but he fumbled and stopped mid-way. Must've been the nervousness; however, what little he sang, he sang good. We're very thankful to Bolin of Heavy Water for lending us his crash cymbal (and stand) for our performance. Otherwise drumming for me that day would've been literally impossible. Thanks dude!
After us, Pravin did some solo acoustics with his guitar and harmonica. His OC's were really nice and very soothing. Then came the bad boys - Heavy Water. Man, there's a band I tell you. Amazingly tight band, and played each cover ditto, to the note. Their OC "One tune down" was also amazing. They left the crowd literally drooling for more!
By the time Heavy Water was done, it was past nine. So we skipped the other performances and headed home. Hard to believe the amount of traffic in Bangalore outskirts, at 9:30PM on a freaking Sunday!
Anyways, it was a good outing for the boxes. The feedback we got was good - we did well for a band that was missing some of its members (Anant's gone home so Sovit handled the bass; Vinneeth - no news) and performing for the first time as a band. Well done, boxes!
