My budding IndiRock career in Bangalore

Nate has camera

First off, after more than 4 months of frustration I finally recieved the package that had my digital camera. I'll be able to post some pictures of my apartment, office and stuff like that once I get the chance. Things have been pretty crazy lately...

I’ve mentioned before in my blog that Bangalore has had a ban on live music in bars/clubs that has crippled my ability to perform live, which is probably the single most gratifying experience I’ve ever had. Until very recently, this has definitely been the single largest missing piece to my life in India…until now!

A few weeks ago I was jamming with my usual group. Mediocre, but excited to play, the group really had very little potential to do anything more than play in Ani’s attic. Maybe with a lot of work we could perform somewhere, but I was mostly playing to somewhat keep up my chops. Listen, I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’m going to be a less talented musician when I get back to the US, but that doesn’t mean that I’m gonna give it up.

We had a new drummer for this session, a guy named George who was actually really good. I was really impressed with his ability to change styles and insert ideas into the music, something a lot of drummers can’t do. After we were done playing we went out for a few beers. I got to talking with George and he invited me to jam with his other band, Lounge Pirhana. I agreed and we played that very next Sunday.

Lounge Pirhana

I don’t know if I’ve been away from the US for too long, but this was really one of the better jams I’d had in a while. We played hard for more than two hours, so you can imagine my lip was killin me by the end. It was good, though, cuz George called me the next day and asked me to come play on a few tunes at their gig at Opus (Opus is the bar where I sing karaoke sometimes). They have a pretty nice stage and a decent set-up for a live band, so I was excited.

So I played a few tunes with the band and it was one of the most refreshing artistic releases of my life. After more than 5 months of playing either in a tiny room with 2 or 3 people or in my apartment with my iPod I was finally able to perform. I wouldn’t say that I played so well, but it felt good. I officially have the bug again and I’ve been itching to play ever since.

I was given the opportunity the next week. I jammed with a few friends in a band called, this is no joke, Maximum Pudding. After being in a band called Captain Teabag, nothing really phases me, so this was fine. We played at a huge battle of the bands where more than 50 bands competed.

Now Maximum Pudding has never really rehearsed. We jammed once for like 45 minutes, so our only option was to make something up on stage. I used to do this with Captain Teabag, but those were some of the best musicians I’ve ever heard, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We were given 20 minutes on stage, so you could play for 20 minutes, or you could play for 15 and talk for 5….oooorrr you could waste the first 8 minutes fixing the crappy keyboard, make up a mediocre song for 8 minutes and leave the stage with 4 minutes remaining cuz there’s just nothing else you can do on the same F major riff. It was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of my musical career.

Well much to my surprise, Maximum Pudding was given a “Special Mention” on the final night. Only the top 5 bands played in the finals, but we were apparently somewhere in the top 8….out of 54 bands!!! I can’t really explain how this happened, but my phone has been blowing up with requests to play with bands ever since. I don’t even have time to play all the gigs I’m being offered. I had to ditch a gig at Opus just last night because I wanted to go out to dinner with Laura’s parents and say goodbye to Matt, who has left for the US…for good. (Which is a whole other story in itself. It’s strange to see one of the group leave already, but after almost 10 months in India he’s headed back to Detroit.)

Nate is happy

So things have really turned around on the music front, and I’ll keep everyone updated on my budding music career in Bangalore!