Unseen Underground Pubfest – Kolkata

Unseen Underground Pub Fest Kolkata

Unseen Underground Pubfest VI

After creating history by organizing Ragnarok’09 a whole night rock show on 31st December, Unseen Underground has started their this year’s journey with the 6th edition of Unseen Underground Pub Fest last Sunday at Geoffrey’s pub in association with HMI guitars . Rock fanatics in the country are already very excited about the national tour of Unseen Underground in 6 different cities along with 100 upcoming bands from ever nook and corner of the country within this year. Unseen Underground Pub Fest VI was the opening show for the mega series of rock shows that are planned to happen this year.

UUPF-VI had featured 4 talented bands of different genres, from Funk Jazz to Technical Death metal. The Fest was declared open by playing the promo for the upcoming Escher’s Knot’s EP Tessellations which is officially getting released by this month. Franks Got The Funk a Chennai based funk-jazz band talented with a group of young musicians opened the show with a zeal. They created an ambiance suitable for the kind of music they were playing, which gathered the crowd near the stage. Their Jazzy Funk music was quite unique to the crowd that gathered for the night. Bjorn’s vocals and guitar works amazed the listeners and made them ask for more. Due to their recent line up changes they ended their performance with their popular self titled song. Their performance was tight and Chennai should certainly feel proud for bands like them.

Subsequently Blind Image a contemporary metal band from Chennai took the stage with a meticulous vigor. After the release of their 2nd Album More Than Human they have created a strong fan base in the city. The crowd requested them to play their own comps and greeted them with equal energy. Their new line up was appreciated by everyone. They started their performance with Glitch In The System from their second album followed by Deciphered, Ominous, More than human, Sepia Tone Sunrise, Axioms of synergy and Allegiance In Defiance from the same album. It is much appreciated that Indian bands now a days cover their own music only. Shri & Siddharth’s guitar work was appreciated by the fans and their performance was energetic. Blind Image then offered the stage to Spitfire a melodic death metal band all the way from Bangalore. They started with their own composition Minds In Disguise followed by Burn It and Devil Driver’s cover Hold Back The Day. The band displayed a greater energy on stage for songs like Wild Impulse and LOG cover Black Label. Chennai already has a good number of fans for this band and they gained few more after their performance.

The Last band for the night was none other than Escher’s Knot. Most of the people among the crowd seemed to know them as well as their own compositions and most of them were singing along with the band. They started with their own composition Up For Nothing followed by Textures’ cover Drive, Mayan Calendar, This Page Has Been Left Intentionally Blank. Their new instrumental track  Hyperspace surprised the crowd . They concluded the show with Break The Cypher.

Chennai rock fans had a fantastic evening. If you have missed it this time do not forget to look out for the next show. Interested bands can send in their entries to unseenunderground@gmail.com to take part in national tour to 5 other cities. Unseen Underground’s journey has just began, keep looking at the updates on their blog (http://www.unseenunderground.blogspot.com/). I am sure you rock fans don’t want to miss any of the shows!

Check out the pictures of Unseen Underground Pubfest VI here

Unseen Underground Pubfest VI – Pictures

Unseen Underground Pubfest VI featured Escher’s Knot, Blind Image, Spitfire and Frank’s got the Funk.

Here are the pictures in black and white.

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Watch in fullscreen mode for best viewing pleasure.

Pictures by our staff photographer Shashank. J

Swarathma – live in Chennai

Swarathma played in Chennai as part of RangDe.org’s Saturday shows at YMCA, Chennai.

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Swarathma – Live in Pune

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Experienced 10 minutes of sheer madness at the Swarathma gig in Pune on April 18!

Now you may ask, why only 10 mins? Well, the regulars might take it in a wrong way but to me it was just 10 mins of madness I could catch at the gig. The only reason being, I reached 10mins before Khodu (the owner of High Spirits) came and informed about the cops outside! Sigh!

But yeah the energy on stage was equal to the energy below the stage. It was one musical mela, with PYT’s dancing to Pyar Ke Rang. While Kaustubh (Jishnu’s brother) distributed the ‘ghodi’ masks, it was time for Vasu Dixit (vocalist) to bring out the ‘ghodi’ and do what he does best ‘groove with it’.

I always enjoy every show put up by Swarathma, one because they display high amount of enegy on stage and secondly, whatever they do they do it for a cause. Their attempt to create awareness about social relevant issues through their music is that what’s taking the band places. This time while they tour India, they will be lending a hand not just to one organization but three in total namely – Bell Bajao (an organisation fighting against domestic violence); Rang De (microcredit org formed to eradicate poverty) and Small Steps (to help the Tsunami victims).

The witty dialogue exchange between Vasu and Jishnu is thought provoking as songs like Ghum (referring to child sexual abuse) dig deep as they blend it with some soul-stirring music.

But then it’s not just about being serious, the entertainment meter rises with songs like Bolo Kya Hai and Topi Walleh and you just can’t help but giggle when Jishnu speaks in a Bihari accent. The one thing that sets Swarathma apart from the rest, is that their music has soul and it clicks with all age groups.

A proud owner of their live DVD and the ‘ghodi’ mask, I wish the band all the best for the rest of their tour. You can catch them in Chennai on May 1st. Details coming up soon! Do register and subscribe to Rock and Raga so that we can inform you of the Swarathma show in Chennai.

Band members

Vasu Dixit (vocals / acoustic guitar)

Varun (guitar)

Jishnu Dasgupta (bass)

Sanjeev Nayak (violin)

Pavan Kumar (percussions)

Montry Manuel (drums)

Swarathma gig report Inbox X Reply | Akshata Shetty to me, msnarain show details Apr 20 (2 days ago) Experienced 10 mins of sheer madness at the Swarathma gig in Pune on April 18 Now you may ask, why only 10 mins? Well, the regulars might take it in a wrong way but to me it was just 10 mins of madness I could catch at the gig. The only reason being, I REACHED 10mins before Khodu (the owner of High Spirits) could come and say COPS are out. Sigh! But yeah the energy on stage was equal to the energy below the stage. It was one musical mela, with PYT’s dancing to Pyar Ke Rang. While Kaustubh (Jishnu’s brother) distributed the ‘ghodi’ masks, it was time for Vasu Dixit (vocalist) to bring out the ‘ghodi’ and do what he does best ‘groove with it’. I always enjoy every show put up by Swarathma, one because they display high amount of enegy on stage and secondly, whatever they do they do it for a cause. Their attempt to create awareness about social relevant issues through their music is that what’s taking the band places. This time while they tour India, they will be lending a hand not just to one organization but three in total namely – Bell Bajao (an organization fighting against domestic violence); Rang De (microcredit org formed to eradicate poverty) and Small Steps (to help the Tsunami victims). The witty dialogue exchange between Vasu and Jishnu is thought provoking as songs like Ghum (referring to child sexual abuse) dig deep as they blend it with some soul-stirring musi. But then it’s not just about being serious, the entertainment meter rises with songs like Bolo Kya Hai and Topi Walleh and you just can’t help but giggle when Jishnu speaks in a Bihari accent. The one thing that sets Swarathma apart from the rest, is that their music has soul and it clicks with all age groups. A proud owner of their live DVD and the ‘ghodi’ mask (well it’s blue, wish it was purple) I wish the band all the best for the rest of their tour. You can catch them in Chennai on (you add the venue, date and time ) Band members Vasu Dixit (vocals / acoustic guitar) Varun (guitar) Jishnu Dasgupta (bass) Sanjeev Nayak (violin) Pavan Kumar (percussions) Montry Manuel (drums) – Cheers A Reply Reply to all Forward Akshata is not available to chat