It all started on Sunday afternoon when we landed at Xaviers college in Mahim for our soundcheck at 2:30 only to find the gods of metal Brahma on stage soundchecking and we were told they needed 15minutes more. We also found out that 11am they arrived and had started their setup and soundcheck since then. The organizers were not happy with them to say the least. Anyway we chilled out and by 3:30 they were done. So finally we got on stage only to find out the cops had come and were giving the organizers grief about the sound level and had also threatened the sound guys that they would confiscate their gear.
So there was a lot of running around and calling congress party person and some kid whose mom had a problem with the sound cause her son was faking that he was studying and lots of shit. Also not to mention that there was a wedding making a huge noise outside but there was no issue with that. Anyway finally we were told we can play it at soft volume which sucks because its no fun. We completed our soundcheck which felt fuckall cause there was no juice
in the sound and we chilled and the contest bands started playing. We meanwhile got to meet some RJ from Red FM which was funny to say the least.Anyway Gravity was playing and I believe they made a blunder of some Opeth covers that they attempted. Anyway we got on stage, the volume of the PA was fairly decent though not blasting completely. We had an AWESOME time on stage and the crowd was the best we've ever played too and they really had a good time. I can safely say I'd love to go back and play, this goes down as one of my most memorable gigs ever.
We played
Cookie Monster
Pudhe Sarka
She Folked Up My Jazz
Kothai Doro Cho
I Came
Bunty Aur Malika
Like A Virgin
Khooni Murga
We have a blast and got off stage. Lots of hand shakes, lots of photos, Riju even got 2 pretty ladies to take a photo with him. The teachers also loved our performance. We felt great.
Then Brahma got on stage and played Sad But True. Their engineer cranked the volume despite being warned and then in 3 songs the cops had canned the show. This was sad because right outside was some fucking Holi music being played at 3 times the volume. All I can say is cops, politicians and people in India are MADARCHODS!!! Why the fuck do they stop a rock show when right outside in the name of some stupid festival where people throw balloons filled with dangerous liquids and colour and injure people there is lou music blaring. Why is that not stopped?
Fucking assholes!
Anyway we had a great gig, we got paid immediately. The organization was SUPERB!! Great job team Ironize, you guys did a fantastic job!
We had a days rest and then it was HRC on Tuesday with The Works.
We landed up at soundcheck in the afternoon aruond 4 and the Works did their soundcheck. Again we had sound dot com doing the sound so we were safe
We did soundcheck without Riju as he was BUSY with work and it was fine but not fun cause you really do need the bass for that low end.
Anyway it was a long wait before the gig, we had coffee and ate some free food. Finally the moment of truth had a arrived. There was a decent number of people but since it was early no one was drunk yet
Its a completely different experience playing at HRC with people eating dinner while you play but it was totally fun and I think everyone enjoyed our set even if they weren't as responsive as the crowd at Xaviers, so that part was a bit strange but I for one enjoyed the gig. We also have played the heaviest songs at HRC ever during a prime time slot, the only heavier band would be Bhayanak Maut but that was in the afternoon so
We played
Cookie Monster
She Folked Up My Jazz
Pudhe Sarka
I Came
Kothai Doro Cho
Like Virgin (Madonna Cover)
Bunty Aur Malika Sherwath
Khooni Murga
Good good fun!!!
After this the Works took over and played a 2 and a half hour set of classic rock covers, very tight, lots of showmanship and very energetic. I must mention they played 3 songs from Rock on and the response those songs got was the biggest response I've ever seen at HRC from a normal crowd.
So madness indeed.
The gig ended with a giant cheeseburger and nachos!! YUM YUM!!!
We had a good time, footfalls of 416 people that night so it was great!! And a big thanks to Mihir and the Works for making this gig happen and the management at HRC and Groovetemple. We should be playing at HRC in the future
Workshop has gigs lined up in Mumbai on 19th, 24th and 25th so we'll see you all soon.
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-----------PART II---------------
The month of March has been a good one for Workshop cause we've played 5 gigs. I don't think I've ever played 5 gigs in a month in my life
Anyway we started off with Ironize and Men At Work which I already wrote about.
On the 19th we played at Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan’s College of Engineering. Which is located in Sion East. Since its been a while since the gig my memory is not at its freshest. Anyway we played at 3pm in the afternoon because Raj has IIT lectures so we pretty much opened the show.
We reached the venue and my god it was the biggest stage in the world. It seemed like it was made for 2 bands
but we basically got everything setup while some DJ dude was spinning the latest Bhangra numbers and our sound dude said I know about rock bands because I've heard Rock On or something to that extent. So we started soundcheck. I took no chances and shuffled between the mixer and the stage making sure the PA sound was not too bad. Our Rock On soundman I don't think was impressed that someone was showing him how to do things Anyway we proceeded to eat Samosa while, during and before soundcheck.We got on stage to quite a timepass crowd with teachers in the front row and we started our set.
We played
Cookie Monster
My missing testicle ritual for which the teacher returned the testicles to me.
Pudhe Sarka
She Folked Up My Jazz
Kothai Doro Cho
I Came
Bunty Aur Malika
Like A Virgin (Madonna Cover)
Khooni Murga
Took a bow and got off stage. Had a good time. I ran away home for work. Raj for IIT. Leaving Riju and Hamza with a very very drunk Keshav(Devoid) to judge what they called an Aural Gangrape on their senses in the band competition which I think MH-04 won.
Almost a week later we landed at KC College in Thane, also known as the true birthplace of Workshop!!! Everything was exactly as it had been the last time I visited. The same mandap and stage etc etc. Thankfully it was Wilburns sound so I did not have to worry about any Rock on Engineer. It was early in the afternoon. As usual after setting the stage and sound or rather assisting in the process we sat down to judge the band contest which we did and thankfully it was only 6 bands from which Catharsis came out on top.
We took the stage next and played for about 90 minutes in what I can only describe as probably the wildest fucking gigs ever!!!!
I made sure everyone came to the stage front by saying that only those with aids, gonorrhea or piles should stay at the back. The show was fucking insane!! The crowd was possessed by fucking devils.
Highlights
1. People randomly being lifted up by groups of people and FLUNG on stage. I mean flug like crowd surf with the wave up your ass type. Three or four times, one dude even fell from the stage and got a bit injured. Another one took the monitor power supply with him. Thankfully my gear was unharmed.
2. Random dude runs up on stage, does some mad moves behind me and runs off stage again.
3. I barked into the mic and the crowd barked back and we had a barking match leading Raj to sing Who Let The Dogs Out.
4. Raj making love to his guitar on stage and Riju then making love to Raj....... hahahhaa I'm kidding about this.
5. Me coming to KC college and everyone else coming with me.... buahahahhaha sums up the into to I CAME!!!
Our setlist was
Cookie Monster
Pudhe Sarka
She Folked Up My Jazz
Kothai Doro Cho
I Came
Bunty Aur Malika Sherwath
Like A Virgin (Madonna Cover)
Khooni Murga
Chhati Ke Saath Panga
We played our whole set after which we were taken to the conference room and fed some nice homely veg food by the MD of the college who I must say is a really really nice chap. The treatment we received at KC was exceptional and I am extremely thankful to them and Workshop really loves playing there.
However veg food and me don't go together so my and Hamza stopped at Bembos on the way back to get some meat into our bodies.
The next day was the RGIT festival and Workshop was somehow convinced into not only playing for an embarrassing gift item but also to judge the contest either because none of the other bands would or as we were told the bands preferred to have us judge. Anyway we said its a nice show and the organizers claimed to be short on funds so we said what the heck. I however have realized that henceforth we will never play another free show again. If you can't pay, we can't play.
Anyway so 9am myself hamza and riju are in a large vehicle headed to the college with our gear to judge the contest. Also Roop (Black) and Bijit (PSYX) were also judging. Our gear was put away and we were given some nice comfortable sofas to judge the contest in the quadrangle sort of area where an unmiced kit and stage that was strange was setup. Anyway after 1 band it got canned because of cops and the elims were shifted to the conference room where we continued the contest till about 3:30. I will mention that the organizers did take good care of us and kept us well fed. The most interesting band was Psychotic Cymbals who played Iron Maiden songs are 10 times the speed and had more stage antics that playing ability. Anyway eventually Zygnema walked away with the prize. Khiladi 2nd and Reverse Polarity 3rd.
Meanwhile at the venue for the main show the drums and amps were late, soundcheck delayed. Sceptre took their soundcheck. Things had gotten really delayed. Prayag Soundcheck and it was almost 6 I think. Basically Zygnema was supposed to have played and been done by 6 and so on and basically Workshop was last and to be on stage at 8:45 and I was repeatedly assured by the organizers that it wont be a problem. Seeing the drastic soundcheck problems I said fuck it Workshop will just check before playing and let the 1st band take the stage. Of course as luck would have it Zygnema is nowhere to be seen so Psyx takes the stage only to have their lead guitarist Bijit receive an electric shock resulting in some yelling that he could have been killed and then some checking of the power supply which was messed up by which time Zygnema had showed up. So power supply was sorted and Zygnema got on stage and played 3 songs and I once again expressed my concern to the organizer saying there is major delay so they agreed that by 8pm Psyx would get off stage. Psyx vocalist apparently also fell off stage during Trooper. Anyway at 8pm Psyx decides its not time to get off stage and played 1 more song. This despite the guitarist being an organizer and knowing the problems and delays. I can tell you I was not happy.
So anyway assurances continued that Prayag would get off at 8:46 and Sceptre by 9:16. I however told him that I was sure it would become 9:40. Anyway so by the time Prayag got off stage it was 8:50 got 54 I think so they got a nice slot. Sceptre proceeded to get on stage and the organizers imaginary 5minute check actually ended around 9:15 and I was informed we could get on stage at 9:40 and lots of talks about 80% confirmation about getting permission till 10:30 and all which I know better than anyone doesn't happen. So 9:45 Sceptre was getting of stage. So we finally got on stage and since we took about 10-12 minutes to setup because frankly it can't be done faster. We played the fastest set of our lives. Performance was okay but it was so hard to enjoy the show because a Workshop gig is an experience which is beyond the music its about what goes on in between and it really sucked to play like that. But we played anyway
Our set was
Cookie Monster
Bunty Aur Malika
Kothai Doro Cho
The only reason I played like this was because I met more than 5 people in the audience who said we've come to see Workshop and it would be really unfair to them if we didn't play. Anyway I felt like shit after the gig. Lots of issues. The organizers apologized a million times and I know a lot of things were not in their control and they'll learn from their mistakes and I guess I learn from mine. So then finally headed back home on a not so nice note.
But today is a new day and we will have more shows and better shows and what matters is that there are people who like our music and they make playing worth it and thats the fun part and we'll take it from there.
Cheers & Stay Demonic
The Demonstealer
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