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Amps On Fire – Gig Review

Jun 2 • Indian News, Reviews • 3000 Views • No Comments on Amps On Fire – Gig Review

Gig Review and Pictures by Arkadeep Deb.

The crowd funding bug has bitten India, and in a good way. This should be a realization that has dawned on many who have not been living under the proverbial rock all this time. Evidently though, crowd funding maybe the saviour the country’s disillusioned Heavy Metal junta might be looking out for. Organized in effort to stimulate masses towards the impact crowd funding has had on cultural events, congregations, DIY initiatives, etc.

Organized at the far Northern fringes of the city in Khardah at the Ravindra Bhavan, “Amps On Fire” featured the nascent Mellow Trip, Nu Metal veterans Not Yet Decided, Bangla Thrash pioneers Atlas, Prog Rock/ Hindi Hard Rock outfit Wajud and Vedic Symphony, who are an infusion of folk rock with the heavier side of Alternative Metal. The initiative not only opened its doors to an audience at the low meagre price of Rs. 30 but also promised to offer an assortment of goodies such as refreshments and music merchandise such as posters at student-friendly rates.

First up were the newly formed Mellow Trip. Mellow Trip played a down to earth, tight set complete with their brand of Progressive Rock. One might also go so far as to say the band has a soft spot for Post Rock-ish elements, but that only worked in favour of the heavy smoke laden ambient sound they were aiming to cook. The band also did a Porcupine Tree cover in the form of the track “Open Car”, along with the three original numbers “The Wishing Tree”, “Drown” “Alive”. Mellow Trip features Debojyoti Roy Chowdhury on Vocals, Aniruddha Banerjee and Subhadeep Bhattacharya on Guitars and Akash Dutta on Drums.

Up next were Nu Metal veterans Not Yet Decided flaunting a revamped line up with Sayak Bagchi (ex-Mortar) behind the kit. The 4 piece turned up the volume from the get go with a Fear Factory cover, a Hatebreed cover and 3 originals to boot. Instrumental behind organizing the gig to a great extent, Not Yet Decided commandeered the audience to bang their heads away and unleash unreasonable amounts of angst via foaming mouths and clashing elbows in impromptu moshpits. The only fly in the ointment was probably yours truly slithering in on the stage for a quick photo capture here and there, resulting in bassist Kanad tripping over. An act of dumbassery which I haven’t forgiven myself for, yet.

The third act on stage was Prog Rock/Melodic Hard Rock outfit Wajud, with their brand of Hindi Rock, featuring soulful, moving powerhouse vocal delivery from frontman Sovik Dutta. The band played a mix of their originals. An adept clean vocal delivery is somewhat of a rare sight in the Kolkata Rock/Metal circle given the mish mash of bands that crawl out of the woodwork. It is also an affirmation of sorts of the fact that Wajud has somewhat of a supergroup status given that all their members have individual experience of several years, in their kitty. Wajud played a tight and completely original set comprising of their didactic and moving compositions: “Kyun?”, “Insaaf”, “Wajud”, “Jeetangay” and “Jihad”.

The fourth band of the night was Bangla Thrash act Atlas. Atlas are renowned for their depth of proficiency behind the instruments they play and their air-tight stage act. With compositions that are strongly in the veins of the Big Four of Thrash, the four piece act alternated between 6 and 8 strings as their set progressed. The set ended on a high note with the band covering Korn’s “Blind”.

The final set piece was that of Vedic Symphony who wielded a fusion extravaganza of sorts, combing Hard Rock and traditional Progressive Metal with strains of Indian Classical, complete with a violinist to boot. They performed a sweet and short set starting off with the Aahir Bhairav and then going on to cover Alter Bridge’s “Buried Alive” and Opeth’s “Hope Leaves”, before concluding the show with an All Star performance of Bangla Rock’s founding father, Mohiner Ghoraguli’s “Bhebe Dekhecho Ki”.

For a show that is largely DIY and banks on crowd funding to get the nascent indie talents of the city, Amps of Fire was far from none-to-shabby; on the contrary the organizers went out of their way to make their patrons feel welcomed, and also managed to instigate a sense of responsibility in the latter, as a member of the “scene”. Decorating the stage gorgeously with recycled beer bottles and stirring up enough emotions such that the camaraderie is palpable: That’s one crowd funded initiative I’d hate not to be a part of!

While the organizers left no stone unturned in their wake to guarantee that Amps on Fire meets the expectations it has fanned among its patrons, the half empty auditorium spoke in a different tongue. The auditorium though desperately in need of some footfall when the gig began, looked fairly crowded once the veterans took to stage; but, for the most part the audience played a lacklustre role, and foremost of all glued their precious heinie to their seats, until otherwise urged to get up and walk down to the front and do their bit. Make no mistake, once they were on their feet, the cheering simply refused to die down and the audience made every band feel right at home with their synchronized lip service of hoots and claps, but that’s all there was to it, not initiative to “seize the initiative” and make the entertainers feel worth it.

This, in my recent study (so-called) of the Kolkata Metal scenario demographic cast further light on the bane of the misunderstood cousin of the Kolkata cultural hub, i.e., the Heavy Metal culture. For one, none of the familiar faces that make a humdrum affair of every gig in the South-Central part of the city were absent, both young and adult. This further underlines two facts: A- Most of the young crowd are given to the convenience of conveyance, company, posh factor of the gig and only show up to support their friends bands, which is still copasetic considering they are as I labelled “young”; B- The adults are given to the same convenience(s) with an added side of no more flying fudges to give about the upliftment of the scene and supporting the cause. So, now we know that there are three kinds of audience:

The one that shows up to hang out with friends, show off their XYZ-core tshirts, get high, get action.
The slightly senior one who used to be a regular but then got plain old tired with stagnation of the scene.
The third fan who thrives for Metal but is largely a puppet; he has to be handpicked and personally informed by his friends/organizers/musicians that there is an event and his presence would mean something. They need to be told when to headbang, they need to be told that just because they have come to an auditorium doesn’t mean they should find a good seat and not leave it for the forthcoming few hours.

It doesn’t take Solomon’s wisdom to infer how precarious the situation is for Kolkata’s music scene with indie organizers conjuring shows out of nowhere, creating a buzz and then suddenly slipping into reality’s gaping jaws and disappearing into oblivion. With that in mind, there are not many options left for the indie scene to bank upon and flourish with continuity. In this context, the patrons and believers should step up and do their bit if they still want the music they love to thrive. Not only will you be the #SCENESAVER this city deserves, but the one it needs right freakin’ now!

Gig Review and Pictures by Arkadeep Deb.