Making music in Bangalore

All these years, we ducked the temptation to stick a label on our music. Defiantly, we called Thermal And A Quarter a genre-busting band. Like in The Lord of the Rings, speaking the name of something gives it power. It took us 14 years to agree on one label that represented our diverse influences, the tradition and the irreverence, the activism and the fun, the franticness and the sublimeness that found their way into our music. Bangalore pervaded our imagination, sneaked into our subconscious, manifested in rhythms and words.

You have Chicago and Kansas City Blues, or Brazilian Jazz. So why not Bangalore Rock?

Bangalore is to us symbolic of the ‘new’ India. It remains a haven for free expression, with easygoing people, open-minded and high-quality audiences, and plenty of venues for arts and music. Nowhere perhaps would you find a city that is more cosmopolitan and more diverse, with more English speakers per square kilometre. TAAQ’s music borrows (or is it burrows?) from this mix.

From our syncopated Carnatic-influenced rhythms to that curious blend of a classic/retro vibe with cutting-edge technology and rock-n-roll idiom, TAAQ’s obsession with urban themes is influenced by the city’s changing landscape. Thus, it is also a mirror to everything from back-office machinations to nouveau riche, crooked politicians, to bans on live music, from pub culture to moral policing… Our stories are largely Bangalore’s stories.
So much for Bangalore, now let’s dissect Rock. The ‘rock’ in rock music is now strangely warped in usage. Anything can be ‘rocking’. Time was when rock stood for rebellion, anti-establishment, protest. For music that believed it could change thoughts, actions and lives. For the counter-culture. Sure, the counter-culture eventually became a culture unto itself; the anti-establishment became the establishment. What a self-defeating piece of evolution!

TAAQ has tried to stay relevant, to make music that endures 30 years hence. Over the last decade, we have spoken our minds, questioned the establishment, and even been unafraid to bat for it — asking people to vote, for example. We don’t know if all that was ‘rocking’, but we’ve stayed honest to our art.

We have often been told to lay off, that rock bands should stick to entertaining audiences. Who defined a rock band’s ‘job’? All music is about expression, and if part of it is socially and politically relevant, it doesn’t make the artist an activist. Artists are, historically, observers and commentators. They inspire thought, action and change. We think we do that well.

Our current campaign takes aim at corruption. In September, we released Kickbackistan, the “Official Anthem of Uncommon Wealth”, which drew attention to the corruption surrounding the Commonwealth Games. Over the next month, we will take that campaign further with an all-India music video competition that will call for people to make a creative music video for the song.
As we’ve said before, TAAQ plans to be present in the future. While we are at it, we will take Bangalore Rock across the country and all over the world. The name Thermal And A Quarter has been a conversation starter since 1996. It's time that Bangalore Rock continued that conversation on the world stage.

Bruce Lee Mani is the lead guitarist and vocalist for band Thermal And A Quarter