'We want to be present in the future'

Making Music

When it comes to making good, original music, the City’s pioneer rock band, ‘Thermal and a Quarter’ (TAAQ) is always at the forefront. Metrolife catches up with the band
for a chat about their fifth studio album, ‘3 Wheels 9 Lives’, which they recently launched.

 
“There isn’t one concept for the whole album, since there are 28 songs and it’s a triple disc. But if there had to be one theme, it would be Bangalore rock. That’s our genre, our style and it links everything together. It’s a dedication to this City,” explains frontman Bruce Lee Mani.

The album is extremely diverse, both lyrically and musically, and has songs like ‘Aerodymanic’, ‘Bangalore Flowers’, ‘Billboard Bride’ and the popular ‘Meter Mele One-and-a-Half’, which is about the autorickshaw drivers of the City, who love ripping off their customers.

The band has been around for 15 years and has seen the music scene shape into what it is today. “The biggest change is that there is a music culture now. Earlier, there was a lot of classical, Bollywood and fusion.

Now, there is a growing preference for original English music and going for live gigs has become a norm,” observes drummer Rajeev Rajagopal.

Bassist Prakash K N chimes in, “There were hardly any gigs when we started and the audience was starved for music. They’d ask for ‘Metallica’ or ‘Iron Maiden’ and cover bands would play that. Now, people have seen these bands play live in the City and realised that it doesn’t make sense for other bands to be playing their music.”

The three seem quite content with where they are at the moment and the way their music is evolving. Just the fact that this has been their full-time job for over three years speaks volumes.

“We’ve done around 120 original compositions over the years and when we go back and listen to them, we do feel that we were doing something different at that time. If you go through our albums, it’s pretty much a document of our lives,” notes Bruce.

He adds that the credit goes to the people who have supported the band over time, saying, “It all happens because of the loyal fans and the people who come for our gigs.

If with our first album, people had said, “You guys suck”, we wouldn’t be here today.”
They have also done their share of giving back to society by starting ‘Taaqademy’, a music school that triples up as a jam pad and recording studio.

“We just decided to bring our teachings together and give a place to practice. To have a space to plug in your amps and play a drum kit as loud as you want without having your neighbours calling the cops on you is a huge step forward,” shares the frontman.

“We didn’t have that when we started. We’re just giving Bangalore what we didn’t have.”
What are their plans for the future? “We want to be present in the future,” concludes Bruce.