LAST TWO FRIDAY'S AT THE LIVE 1O1

First it was fusion jam.  Then came the contemporary dancing.  And in the name of rock, they had Thermal and Quarter. Last week, the Vineyard Centre had jamming, a soapbox session and featured the band Cosmic Debris.

Live 1o1 Special Nite

The opening band for the evening, Wood, was all set up to go right from the start, and what a 'solid' start that was. Right up to the last song, the band was simply 'heavy'. Wood with Sunder the drummer who is also the lead vocalist, bassist Arjun, Rehan and Viswanath on the guitars, certainly rank among the up and coming bands in Chennai.

Then it was time for the star attraction of the evening -Thermal and Quarter. After having rocked the crowd in Bangalore at the Deep Purple concert, they rocked the Chennai crowd at the Vineyard Centre with songs off their album. Songs from their album Potatoe, One of those Days, Sanity in Gravity, Without Wings, That Day this Morning, Somebody's fool were all 'rocky' stuff, with the highlight being their grand rock instrumental called Late O'Clock, which had the crowd 'ticking'. Bruce Lee Mani on the vocals and guitars, Rzhude David on the bass and Rajeev Rajagopal on the drums, the band's performance was at a different level.

The main feature of the evening was Cosmic Debris. With Ashok Cherian on the vocals and guitars, Shaun Roberts on the bass, Sanjay on the guitars and Vasanth on the drums, the band started with their 'own compositions' and gave an excellent performance. Ashok's rustic and raw vocals gave a distinct touch to their music.

In came the 'Soapbox' and the topic this time around was 'Chennai Traffic' - "Traffic in Chennai would be more organised if everyone rode bicycles". There were comments ranging from 'bribing the police (with technical tips on how to carry a 20-buck note in the shirt pocket and keep the bigger denomination notes in the trouser pocket, in case you bump into a cop), to bringing the army in! The session was concluded by Rohit Jayakaran the MC who kept the crowd entertained with his jibes. Many agreed that it was of no use blaming the government and waiting for new laws but that it was each one's responsibility, that the roads are what they are.

Now to the most interesting part the 'jamming'. Saroop Matthew (vocals and guitar) and Praveen George (bass) of the Vineyard Band, Mario from Joose (bass and vocals) and Ranjith (drums) created a lot of excitement and had the crowd on their feet.

Live 1o1 next week

July may have come to an end, but that's not stopping Live 1o1. August 3rd is an open jam nite and the musicians that have signed up are members of the Unwind Band, Bonesaw, tutors from the Vineyard School of Music, Joose and the band No Idea. This August at the Vineyard Centre promises a lot of variety, with a contemporary folk music nite, a British rock nite, a experimental progressive rock nite and an outstation band.

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