The haunting sound of the blues

In a groovy evening of the blues, City-based band ‘Blues Before Sunrise’ played a funky and memorable set at Hard Rock Café recently.

The band, which started off as a simple jam between friends, seemed to be soaked in passion as they rendered countless blues numbers one after another. A contemporary blues band whose roots are firm in blues and classic rock, their inspirations vary from American blues legend Howlin’ Wolf and Eric Clapton to modern day icons like John Mayer, ‘Oasis’ and ‘The Raconteurs’ among others.

Over the course of the gig, the band played original compositions like ‘Blue Because Of You’ and ‘Find A Dog Instead’ alongside covers of Eric Clapton’s ‘Blues Before Sunrise’, ‘Highway To Hell’ by ‘ACDC’, ‘Rock and Roll’ by ‘Led Zeppelin’, ‘Skyfall’ by Adele and ‘Caledonia’ by ‘Muddy Waters’ to name a few. “The place was packed and the audience just grew as the show went on. We kept the set list quite varied and the audience really appreciated the mood of the show. They danced and sang along and interacted with us quite a bit. It was a great, high-tempo gig and we all had loads of fun,” said Sheela Sequeira, the vocalist. The other members are Sidharth Gopalan and Claude Loren.

Most of the audience was moving and grooving to the music by the end of the evening. “I was just here for a meal with my friends but the blues got me hooked. It’s always a pleasure to hear bands playing this genre because it takes a lot of soul to play it. The singing was quite good,” shared Alok, an attendee.

Jason Zachariah, who runs Nathaniel School of Music, joined the band on the trumpet, melodic and keyboards. He was thrilled to be a part of the show. “It was an amazing gig with a mix of the blues, rock ‘n roll and originals!” said Jason. Gaurav Vaz, who plays bass for ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’, also accompanied the band for a few songs as a guest artiste. “They’re a super fun band to play with,” added Gaurav.

What made it more special was the fact that the gig was part of Hard Rock Café’s breast cancer initiative ‘Pinktober’. All proceeds from the show will go towards the
support of breast cancer prevention via Organ Cancer Foundation.