� Krithika Sukumar
� Krithika Sukumar
For Thermal And A Quarter( TAAQ) the year has been sunny side up. They bottled a collection of songs recorded the same time as Plan B, and some from‘ pre-date Jupiter Café’ into This Is It, their latest release that premiered at the Jakarta Java Jazz festival, and voila! Distinctive and original,‘ their sound’ seems to have evolved again, and the album’ s name says it all: both fans and TAAQ agree. The band has also played harbinger, recording Shut Up And Vote in 36 hours for the Jaago Re campaign that urged citizens to vote in the general elections gone by in May. The campaign organised by Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based NGO, gave TAAQ the perfect chance to perform for a meaningful sociopolitical cause. But this is not a first on either count: Humpty Dumpty from their first album has not-very-scathing references to‘ now banished politicians’, and their music has stood out since their debut eponymous‘ frayed shoestring budget’ album. Their initial releases were rare original sounds at a time when Indian rock bands were beginning to defy the clichés of being‘ rock’ and‘ Indian’. Their music infuses jazz, Carnatic, rock and blues without sounding predominantly like one genre.‘ Defying categorisation,’ they call it. A term that might fit their perception of themselves after Jaago Re –“ we are careful about the causes we support. For us, the heard mentality wins over the herd mentality. Besides, voting is the next big thing. Everybody and his uncle are trying to cash in on the voting theme – and imitation is the best form of flattery.” The band’ s story begins the way most bands’ do – an idea borne out of idleness, and to have a good time, doing what they love doing – making music, in the dorms of a college hostel, way back in 1996. They started off as the Christ College Band( with Bruce Lee Mani, Rajeev Rajagopal, and Sunil Chandy), and renamed themselves TAAQ( the name was Chandy’ s brainwave). Their first album was recorded in 2000 for a“ princely sum of Rs 1000” in a modest studio in Banaswadi, Bangalore and mastered in Auroville. Their CDs and cassettes perked interest among anyone willing enough to shell out cash for a first-time listen to a fledgling band. But their music sounded a lot like it hadn’ t been heard before, their compositions sounded original. They were beginning to sound less like Indian rock and breaking its copycat clichés at a time when Parikrama( the other big wig rock band in India at that time – formed in 1991) was trying to sound more universal. Indian rock was evolving and TAAQ was on the cue,