Live
Great Indian Rock X: Mumbai
Date: February 25, 2006 | Venue: Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai
The Great Indian Rock festival is an annual event to promote bands in the Indian rock scene. A regular feature in Delhi, the festival came down to Mumbai this year for a mini-leg of sorts, much to the joy of the local rock and metal aficionados.
The bands performing at the Mumbai leg included Demonic Resurrection and Split from Mumbai, Joint Family and Prestorika from Delhi, with Freak Kitchen, the progressive metal band all the way from Sweden slated as the headlining act. Mumbai’s own Medusa was also scheduled to perform at the show, but were unable to do so as their drummer decided to fall ill. Nevertheless, the line-up was good enough to enthrall the masses and all the right ingredients were present to make it a memorable show.
Demonic Resurrection was the first band to take the stage. Having heard a couple of their originals before, this was the first time I was seeing them live. Theirs was an all original set, which included songs off their latest album, ‘A Darkness Descends’. They started off their set with “Behind the Mask of God�?. The drumming and vocals were impressive, as they continued their set with other popular songs from their album such as “Apocalyptic Dawn�?, “Spirits of the Mystic Mountains�? and “The Summoning�?. Mephisto did a good job on the keyboard, and the band was pretty tight — one could see a large section of the crowd moshing and head banging to their music, as they combined grinding metallic guitars and hardcore rhythms to a good effect. A great start to the show, I thought.
Split [no relation to this magazine] was up next. The last time I had seen them perform was at Independence Rock XIX, two years ago. The band had reunited very recently after a brief hiatus and was on a comeback trail of sorts, so I was looking forward to see them perform. Vocalist Garreth had a Mangal-Pandey-meets-Russell-Hammond (remember ‘Almost Famous’?) look going for him, which captured the attention of a fairly large section of the crowd. Guitarist Vishwesh tried his hand at a bit of stage humour, which didn’t go down too well with the crowd.
The band started off with “Slither�? by Velvet Revolver. Quite a song to start the set with, I’d say! The guitars sounded nice and heavy, and the drumming was tight. Garreth tried doing a Scott Weiland, albeit unsuccessfully. They played U2’s “Vertigo�? next, which really made me wonder where they were going with their set. Any way, the guitars were pretty crisp, although the vocals were a bit weak. Still, they put on a good show.
Next in line were their original compositions, “My House�? and “Don’t Let Go�?. The former was the highlight of their set, laced with edgy riffs and some good drumming. What they played next was a bit of surprise for everyone — Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody To Love�?. What started out as a little experiment back at home actually turned out to be quite a crowd pleaser. Again, I spotted a dozen people moshing to the song, which is quite amusing because the song isn’t mosh-friendly by any stretch of the imagination! The band did a great job on the number and executed it to perfection. “Pig Society�?, an original composition (featured on the Great Indian Rock 2006 compilation) was played next. The catchy chorus and good vocals complimented the neckbreaking hooklines.
They ended their set with their rendition of Audioslave’s “Cochise�?. Again, Garreth attempted a change in style, a Chris Cornell this time, but finally settled for what sounded like Scott Stapp (ha!). The intro seemed a bit off the hook, but they sustained enough momentum to end the set on a high note.
Joint Family was up next. I had heard a lot about this band, and they lived up to expectations. They started off with “The Drummer’s Advice�?. Fairly good song, which the crowd instantly liked and responded with a large mosh pit. I immediately took a liking to the vocals, which reminded me of some of KoRn’s old work.
They followed it up with a couple of originals, “Fight Back�? and a really bad pun on ‘Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind’ (which I can’t seem to recall, for obvious reasons). These guys had everything going for them. The crowd was supercharged when the band introduced Vinay from Bhayanak Maut as a guest vocalist on Slipknot’s “People = Shit�?. The crowd simply went crazy! Vinay did a great job partnering Akshay on the vocals. The man surely knows how to put on a great show. I saw a huge mosh pit being formed right in front of me eyes. Amazing.
The band then followed that up with yet another Slipknot number, “Liberate�?, along with a few more original compositions — “Change�?, “Life’s a Bitch�? and “Juggernaut�?.
Overall it was a highly entertaining set. Akshay did a good job on the vocals, drummer Shardul set the pace for their high-voltage set. These guys are destined for great things, and I can’t wait to watch them perform again.
Prestorika was up next. I had heard a bit of what they had to offer last year at Livewire and was curious to see what they had to offer this time around. They started off their set with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman�?. The vocals were pretty good, and the guitaring was intricate. They followed it up with a few original compositions, which included “Monkey Business�?, “I Survive�? and “Not My Way�?. Apart from a good show put up by their lead guitarist Lokesh, I for one wasn’t too impressed by this band. This band seemed to lack energy and the ability to grab the attention of the crowd. Their set was quite long-ish and very few people actually seemed to be enjoying it. I was quite honestly relieved when they stopped playing.
And then came on stage, the highlight of the show, the headlining act Freak Kitchen. The Swedish trio comprising of Björn Fryklund on drums, the mighty Christer Örtefors on the bass guitar and Mattias “IA�? Eklundh on lead guitar and vocals, has been around for almost fifteen years now, their career spanning six albums, the latest being ‘Organic’, released last year.
They took an awfully long time to set up their equipment, during which time the audience was repeatedly subjected to a “highly informative�? semi-documentary about an AIDS-related NGO. Social responsibility and rock music definitely go hand in hand. NOT.
After what seemed an eternity, the band started off with “Blind�? from their very first album, ‘Appetizer’. With uplifting lyrics related to themes of racism and hate and some really fabulous vocals, it’s hard to believe that the band composed this song more than a decade ago. They followed it up with the stark “Porno Daddy�? and “Nobody’s Laughing�? from their fifth album, ‘Move’. Mattias’ vocals and stage presence were simply amazing as the band continued with “Silence�? (‘Dead Soul Men’) — the extremely catchy chorus and strong bass lines had the crowd on their feet. They followed it up with my favorite songs, “The Rights to You�?, and “Speak When Spoken To�? from ‘Organic’. A fairly large section of the crowd was seen humming along to the latter as the song had received quite a lot of airtime on VH1 as part of promotion for the event. The next song “Vaseline Bizniz�? (‘Freak Kitchen’) led into a very impressive Viking ‘folk’ song. The audience could not help but watch in amazement at Mattias’ ‘my-guitar-doubles-as-a-keyboard’ antics — simply amazing. They finally ended their set with “Propaganda Pie�? (‘Move’).
It was great to finally have a Scandivanian band perform in India — Björn’s incredible drumming talent was a treat and Christer’s on-stage antics, especially the Viking dance, were a lot of fun and I thought he did a great job on the bass. Freak Kitchen’s distinctly operatic structure fuses elements of hardcore, jazz and progressive music into a cohesive, alternate sound, void of any broader qualifying characteristics that would anchor it to any one style of music.
It was easily one of the very best live performances I have ever seen, and I was glad I got to see the band in action just a few weeks after having heard them. They’ve successfully managed to make a fan out of me, and how! I went home with a big grin on my face and a Freak Kitchen t-shirt to go!
All in all it was one of the finest events of the year so far. I surely do hope Great Indian Rock comes back to Mumbai next year to showcase some of the finest talent on the local scene, and much more. Here’s hoping for the best, in the name of rock. Cheers.
Hey Aditya,
The track “Monkey Business” done by Prestorika is actually a cover by the hard rock oufit “Skid Row” & not one of their OC’s….
Jst wanted to correct u on that !
Jits
hey dude,,,,,,,,,u guys rocks i would die for u all keep that spirit high
Thanks for the fine words! We had a great time!
/B
hi guys i urgently require the lyrics for JUGGERNAUT by JOINT FAMILY . Please could any one mail me the lyrics we are plannin to cover the song its just great the drums rock. ( i m a drummer btw) so please as soon as anyone reads this and decides to share the lyrics pleasssssssssssse pass it on my email is arnav.bhattacharya@gmail.com OR arbhatta@hotmai.com . Thanks a milllion guys …..
Hey guys! When will the Great Indian Rock festival come again in India????! Keep posting …I like to see it!
Don Lapre Zach
dude…u got one piece o writing to actually put me into da show….m a big fan of JF…n Vinay…Bhayanak Maut…me too doin vocals on Thrash, HEavy, Death, Doom…metal…sumtimes sme old classics of eric clapton,Jimi hendrix,Van Halen, Steel Dragon, WHite Lion…etc…dude…do put up some mre news on dese gigs…
cheers