JRO!

OK here I am again. I know it has been long and I've missed my blog! *Looks around happily... until her eyes wander and stop to see the date of the last entry...* Yeah, like I said... I've missed blogging.

Anyway, this is about the June RockOut which happened in July and what can I say... it was amazing! Like many concerts that happen in Chennai, the fan following was rather small (there might have been like 150 people which is kind of a big deal for Chn!) but what the heck, it was totally awesome! This blog is dedicated to my all time favourite Indian bands - Blood and Iron, SKRAT and Motherjane.

SKRAT came on and as always, they had the fans screaming out loud for more. Their music, to me, is creative, professional and fun. It isn't beat up. You can never hear a similar sounding song anywhere. The riffs were perfect, the drum fills were complementary. The vocals fit in so well... if you have seen one of those delicately carved pieces of furniture that wouldn't have looked as exquisite without minor, vein-sized details... you'll know what I'm talking about. They weave together a perfect fabric with all their instruments, paying perfect attention to details. If there's anything that SKRAT needs to achieve the overall awesomeness that they're so close to having - it is the lyrics. They're very good but they could be better.

Blood and Iron was pure METAL. That's all there is to it. It was raining cats and dogs. Nobody cared. Half an hour of headbanging and indulgence. And then they were gone. Just like that. For what seemed like a minute, a silence fell over everyone after they found out that repeated pleas of an encore wasn't going to yield any results. BnI has musical genes in them. If they wouldn't have told you that the drummer had a broken wrist, you'd hardly notice. The grounds were filed with mad sounds from the snare and the crash. The double bass was too good to be true. Keyboards made the song. Guitar solos have their own place in a song but a keyboard solo this genial is hard to come by. Vocals were out of the world. The only thing was that nobody could hear the bassy. Well, bad arrangements maybe... But Blood and Iron was probably the band that got most of the attention and accolades.

Motherjane... if you would look at these guys in a coffee shop they'd seem like ordinary Mallus who live a happy life eating beef and drinking their everyday chaaya. The "rockband" outfit is only for stage. And boy do they astonish you! The Neversink river isn't the confluence of east and west, Motherjane's music is! You will start to wonder if Nikola Tesla made magical guitars if you'd just look at Baiju play. Now it's Indian... now it's western rock... Indian... rock... It makes you breathless and when the solo breaks off and he's playing rhythm again all you can say is "wow!"

There might be Wacken Open Air and Bloodstock and Woodstock... but there is also JRO and the talent here is definitely a threat to anyone who is competing. Viva la Musica!