I am ever so grateful to Pradnya Joshi, my giggly and bubbly friend from Netscribes. She took me to Firangi Paani and introduced me to the coolest local band ever. Split. I heard them for the very first time on May 27, 2008. They have been around for a while and I have been missing all the action. Damn it Pradnya! Couldn’t you have told me about these guys sooner? When will you improve? Always late!
Moving on, Split is
Garreth D’Mello (vocals)
Aviv Pereira (lead guitars)
Melroy D’Mello (rhythm guitars)
Shekhar Mohite (Bass)
Nigel Collasco (Drums)
Pradnya knows Nigel etc etc and that is how we got to go to the gig. I wasn’t really keen on this one because frankly speaking, the Indian rock scene is very boring, with a few exceptions of HFC (Helga’s Fun Castle) and Them Clones. Now these guys have such an interesting sound. A song of Them Clones was actually used for a bike ad, can’t recall which one though.
Most of the other bands are aping the West, or at least trying to, and end up making a mockery of themselves in the bargain. It is such a waste of effort, time and electricity. I can’t stand PDV (Pin Drop Violence). I think they are all noise and no music. And Pradeep Miranda is so over-hyped. Get a life guys.
So, with all this angst against the Indian rock scene, I was pretty sceptical of listening to ‘yet another Indian band’. But boy, was I wrong! After some bands doing their thing, which also included an Irish band, whose vocalist spoke more and sang less, (he should be an orator. Or a politician in India) I was about to strangle myself. However, I must say that there was another international band that wasn’t all that bad. The lead vocalist reminded me very much of 4 Non Blondes vocalist, Linda Perry, and she indeed was a delight, both to watch and listen to. Wish I knew the band name!
But that was it. I was getting frustrated by the minute and Split didn’t seem to be coming upfront very soon. I threw daggers-eyes at Pradnya and she patiently told me to wait. So wait I did. And I am willing to wait another lifetime if I just to get hear that voice again. Yeah baby, after an eternal interim period, SPLIT WAS ON!
Perfect guitars, drums were just so right and the songs? Who cares that I couldn’t understand a word? I was intently focusing on the voice. And the man behind that deep, resonating, sending shivers-down-my-spine voice. Ah Garreth. You are simply amazing.
Such an interesting voice. I didn’t pay attention to anything else. Just the voice. It has a mysterious edge to it. And the way the words swirl. Heaven.
I liked the entire person Garreth transformed into once he started singing. It was such a pleasure to watch him perform.
Split played for the longest time and generated the loudest cheers amongst the audience. Everyone in the bar stopped doing what they were doing and listened. Split is playing. Nothing could be more important than that!
You could say I have become a fanatic Split fan. I could say that you were right. But no. I am just a fanatic Garreth D’mello fan. We worship thee!
For more information, you should visit their website:
http://www.splitsplit.org/lyrics.html
Thank you Pradnya! Nature’s eight wonder has unfolded before us!!!
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