Indian AVIMA 2010 Winners List

ASIAN ANTHEMS OF THE YEAR!

Zedde – Mumbai(India)

Best Rock Song

Junkyard groove - Imagine (India)- GOLD

Best Rock Group

The Bicycle days (India)-BRONZE (tie+o.3)

Thank You For Existing Award

Sanjeev T and The Rainbow Bridge

Best Electro/Dance Act

Shadow (India)-BRONZE

Feelgood Song of The Year

Junkyard groove – Folk you (India)-GOLD

Zedde-Mumbai (India)-BRONZE


GENRE BENDING ACT OF ASIA

Bicycle Days (India)-SILVER


T2B (Tipped 2 Be THE NEXT BIG THING)

Summerpint Junkie (India)


Prayag (India)


Go to the AVIMA page to view more : http://voize.my/music/full-avima-2010-winners-list/

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Folk You (Fan Video) - Junkyard Groove

Recently, Mr.Varun Agarwal made an amazing corporate stop motion video for Bangalore band Junkyard Groove & their sing a long happy song "Folk You". This effort by Varun indeed amazed the band members & supporters of the band.
We decided to ask him what inspired him to make the video & what Junkyard Groove means to him, here's what he had to say

"Well I always wanted to do a music video for Junkyard . I love their sound. In fact I usually end up doing music videos for songs I really like without featuring the band in it at all.

I made Voice for Pentagram which clocked around 98,000 hits on youtube and I did Antaragini for Raghu which got 101,000 hits. Both dont feature the bands at all.

Now I was always fascinated by the I.T industry. I always found their work environment very boring and I thought lets make a fun video on that. Thats when I decided to do Folk You on a corporate setting.

Junkyard Groove to me is an independent band that has carved a niche for itself and has not given up music to pursue something else. Their are true to their music and true to what they believe in.
And thats just brilliant."

Watch more of Varun Agarwal's work @ http://www.youtube.com/user/varun760

Junkyard Groove on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/junkyardgroove1

Also Check Our Interview with Junkyard Groove : http://indianrocket.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-with-junkyard-groove.html

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Inder Sidhu & The Non-existent Scene?

Recently, there was a lot of hue & cry about an article Mr.Inder Sidhu wrote in Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 15, Dated April 17, 2010. Most of the content put forth in the article had was based on inadequate research done by the writer. He makes false accusations throughout the article & even refers to music scene in India as a non - existent one.
Initially, I wasn't going to going to put a link to this article on my blog as it goes against everything musicians in India stand for. . It makes my blog seem pointless . . But I realized that its about time musicians were aware of what the so-called "Media" thinks of us.
Here's a link to the article : http://www.tehelka.com/

This article caused quite a storm among musicians in India & the well - known Thermal & A Quarter decided to give a staunch reply to Tehelka.

Dear Tehelka,

Thermal And A Quarter is a Bangalore-based rock band with delusions of world domination since 1999. We read Inder Sidhu's outcry against "the media's hysterical coverage of Indian rock bands" with familiar feelings of resigned amusement and piquant regret. While Sidhu makes some pleasant noises and points available fingers at the usual suspects, he disappoints us by stating the obvious and therefore fails to offer us any fresh insight into what actually ails the rock scene. What ails the media we already know.

First off, Tehelka could have attempted to address the question: What is uniquely "Indian" about the Indian rock scene? You get really excited about Indian writers in English, so why can't an electric guitar and English lyrics employed to express Indian themes excite you as much? Is the Indian rock "movement" -- as some like to call it -- merely about the explosion of rock band competitions and sponsored collegiate rock festivals? Is it only about the so-called mushrooming of venues for Indian rock? Is it about the legitimacy accorded to it by weak-willed Bollywood flicks such as Rock On? Is it more than a West-aping deluge of residual post-adolescent hormones? Or is it merely a vehicle for selling phallic fantasies associated with jeans, bikes, movies, or alcohol?

Why can't the music scene you obsess about be the product of entrepreneurial activity or the struggle of independent artists to secure a platform for expression in a milieu notorious for the absence of infrastructure or patronage? Is it not also about artistic independence -- and what is indie in an Indian context anyway? Is it not about the paucity of industry support for independent music (and just what is this "industry"?)? And why are we in such a hurry to pack it all up in one store shelf labelled 'rock' - what about Carnatic blues, or Indian jazz-rock, or Indian prog-rock, or Indian death metal, or Devotional jazz-rock, or Malayalam thrash metal, or Hindi country blues, or Kannada funk?

Which part bothers you the most: that the Indian media is writing about Indian rock music at all, or that it is covering rock without balls or brains? After all, we read your magazine because it tells us what we believe is closest to the truth. But never has it once offered lip service to this movement, apart from getting musicians to applaud their favourite bands at the back of the book. When it comes to the coverage of underground music acts in India Tehelka, too, is part of the "lazy press" you love to deride. Your dispirited coverage reinforces the fact that in this country we have no national newspapers or news-magazines -- only parochial ones. When it comes to covering the independent music scene, even Tehelka cannot look beyond Delhi or Mumbai before your vision gets all blurry and your perspective degenerates to homogenising what you attempt to analyse. Isn't it time you became free, fair and fearless in writing about this too?


Sidhu writes that the "vocabulary and context for rock criticism does not exist in India." When was the last time you met an editor who condescended to carry a major story about any westernized urban counterculture in India? When was the last time any self-respecting commentator (such as you, we hope) turned away from the clippings morgue and did some legwork to find out what's really happening in India's underground music scene?

For instance, how do Indian bands approach songwriting, where do they learn to play their instruments, where do they rehearse? How do they finance gear, studio time and production efforts? What level of initiative does it take for a band to bag concert dates at Hard Rock Cafe or Blue Frog, or plan a five-city tour? Or to cut an album and market it independently?

These realities offer story ideas for any journalist with a serious interest in writing about Indian rock. Perhaps Sidhu might want to consider exploring these areas instead of expending two thousand words on a subject he believes is not worth writing about. That's laughable. Of course, we are aware these stories can't be written within a week's deadline but has any journalist cared to investigate the possibilities, or any editor dared to commission them?

For instance, on February 14 this year Thermal And A Quarter hosted the 'One Small Love - Bangalore for Mangalore' concert. Commemorating the first anniversary of the attacks on women in pubs in Mangalore and Bangalore, it brought musicians and speakers together to give voice to issues like freedom of expression and tolerance. About 500 people attended the concert in Bangalore and many more logged in to watch the live webcast. The Facebook page for One Small Love added 1,300 fans in a single week sans any advertising or PR.

The media did not take notice of One Small Love. Why? Because we took a decision not to invite any mediapersons to cover it.

In its weekend magazine supplement, a leading national paper gushed about an "unsponsored" concert in Bangalore by two independent rock bands held on February 13, the previous evening. While we attended that concert and doffed our hats to the bands that pulled it off, we noted dourly that the journalist had not done his homework when he hailed the unsponsored concert as a first-of-its-kind event. Thermal And A Quarter was among the first bands in Bangalore (perhaps in the country) to pull off successful (in terms of attendance and gate collections) self-funded shows dating back to 1999. National Public Radio in the US reported our Floodaid concert of 2005 (a fundraiser for the families affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami) but no Indian publication bothered to do so. Just because no press releases were issued, does it mean these were not events?


We'd be happier if the media did not write about the "scene", because clouding these half-cooked reports and analyses with poor reportage, bias and myopia is far worse. As some wise guy once said, "It's better to shut up and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Every "music journalist" wants to be the next big commentator on the Indian rock music scene. In 14 years of being around, we've seen these megalomaniacs crash and burn and we have outlived them all. On the Indian rock scene, longevity is to die for. As the only band in India to release four studio albums in our career through independent distribution plans, we are not looking for benefactors in the media to make or break our career, thank you.

Frank Zappa said, "Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read." We wrote a song about journalists like that - it's called Paper Puli. And we have an annual award for music journalists who satisfy Zappa's criteria. It's called the Paper-Pulitzer. We might consider nominating you.

Love and peace.
TAAQ

This reply may not be published in the Tehelka because it proves them wrong & potray's their lack of research & knownledge about the ever-growing music scene. What Inder Sidhu & Tehelka don't realize is that Indian Original Music sells but their music doesn't sell-out like their magazine.
I'd like to thank the scene for making some of the best music in India & for those of you who still haven't heard TAAQ & their song "Paper Puli", log to their Myspace page : www.myspace.com/thermalandaquarter

Long Live Indian Original Music !!

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Avima 2010 India Nominees : Official release

AVIMA(The Asian Independent Music Awards), the World’s Biggest Independent Music awards (20 countries), kicks into the next gear with a slew of exciting music talents. Leading the charge are acts from Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Brunei and Philippines predominantly clocking up nominations in the hip-hop and rock categories. But it was Inch Chua, the petite electro-acoustic singer from Singapore that stunned everyone with her 6 nominations, icnluding Best Pop Song (Rule The World),Best Pop act and Most Mindblowing Music Video.

The Nominees From India:

Best Rock Song

Sanjeev T and The Rainbow Bridge – Free Will

Demonic Resurrection - A Tragedy befallen

The Summerpint Junkie – Forbidden Fruit

Prayag - Bas Karo

Junkyard groove - Imagine

Best Rock Group

Motherjane

Sanjeev T and Rainbow Bridge

The Bicycle days

Best Rock Vocalist

Suraj – Motherjane

Sanjeev T

Kartik basker – The Bicycle Days

Pranab- Prayag

Best Electro/ Dance Song

Sanjeev T and Rainbow Bridge – Give in to me

Best Electro/Dance Act

Shadow

Moody melancholic masterpiece

The Bicycle Days – Circles

Summerpint Junkie – Hallucination

Feelgood Song of The Year

Junkyard groove – Folk you

Zedde-Mumbai

Most Mindblowing Music Video

Motherjane - Broken

The online polls begin on April 8th and the link can be found at http://voize.my/category/music/avima/ from that day onwards. The AVIMA scoring is unique and drives home the philosophy of “band talent-fans power”. As such, the winners are determined via an online polls that makes up 30% of the overall scores and the remaining 70% to be determined by global judges.

Join the AVIMA 2010 Facebook group for all the updates.

For more info : http://voize.my/music/avima-2010-nominees/

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JYG TOUR !!

Here are the our Dates

Oct 12th - Shilong with Mr Big

Oct 14th - Dimapur with Mr Big

Oct 22nd - Bangalore @ Bacchus solo performance (Ameeth)

Oct 23rd - Bangalore Rocktober Fest with Skindred

Oct 25th - Pune Hard Rock cafe (Vh1 world stage)

For those of you who have not yet downloaded the album its up for free

http://www.gimmesound.com/JunkyardGroove/

http://www.junkyardgroove.net

http://www.gimmesound.com/JunkyardGroove.net

http://www.myspace.com/junkyardgroove

http://www.facebook.com/junkyardgroove

http://www.ilike.com/junkyardgroove

http://www.facebook.com/ameeththomas

http://www.twitter.com/ameeth

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An Interview with Junkyard Groove

When did Junkyard Groove start?
JYG started in the year of 2005. I think May and we played our first gig in June, a competition which we lost because we abused too much. We got a consolation prize of 2nd place. We normally keep JYG's birthday on the same day as Craig’s, which is on June 20th.

How did you guys come up with the name?

Siddharth and me came up with the name even before Craig and x drummer jerry joined. We where walking around his house thinking of a name and I was hell bent on junkyard Tribe and suddenly Sid said groove. It just sounded good. Therefore Junkyard Groove :)

What was the original inspiration for starting JYG?

I had stopped playing music for a year and a half so did Craig. I was seeing bands that where not all that great getting hyped (x band mates). That’s when I decided fuck this I need to get back into the scene and form a band that I will love playing with and a band of friends that just love music with their lives. That’s when I reached out to Sid, Craig and Jerry…. unfortunately Jerry left the band. This has made the bond between Sid, Craig and me much more stronger because we realized we couldn’t take things for granted. (At least this is what I think)

Why did JYG decide to keep “Nicer in a minute” for free download?

We where signed to a label Creative Kingdom who kind of fucked us over and we where deciding what to do as a band. In this time we decided to give the people who love us who and have been waiting for 2 yrs for an album. So the free E.P. Our fans come first :)

Tell us something about your debut album “11:11”
The album 11:11 and E.P have been a strange journey because some of the songs were written by me a very long time ago as in the basic skeleton of songs like Say Goodbye, please don't wake me up, Folk you, Save me and Feel like a knife. As we got older as a band there where others, which the whole band wrote together, which include Rock and Roll, Its ok, Hold, Been so long, Twinkle, Thank you, Imagine and Let you go.

Here is what each song means to me :)
Imagine: This is a about a person in my life who lived in a messed up world but never showed it. Only when I really got to know her, I found out unbelievable things in her life. People always look at you from the outside and think they know it all.

Rock and Roll: The lyrics explain its self :). It’s just about love for music and party

Been so long: The music was kind of finished but not the lyrics. I finished the song only when we went to Dubai. It questions where home is because we are wanders searching for a place where we feel wanted. This is true for all people.

Folk You: This is basically a stupid fun love song, which I think will fit perfect in a Bollywood or Kollywood movie. LOL! The chorus was inspired by a Malayalam fisherman's song :)

Its ok: Lyrically, The song is about two people who wanted different things from each other. Musically, I love playing the song live because it’s a crowd fav.

Twinkle: This is another stupid love song basically when you’re in love and drunk at the same time. Sid and me wrote it when we were drunk one night and in love (not with each other please note)

Let you go: I think this song took the longest time to write musically. Lyrically, when I wrote the song, it really did not apply in my life at time. But it took a whole new meaning when a person I was in love with left me. Every time I sing that song I think of her.

Thank you: This song is about being thankful the things you have.

Feel Like a knife: Its an upbeat song about high sprits (not alcohol although we love it… LOL!! )

Hold: This is a song we always end our set with. It’s about keeping things that are close to you safe as in relationships in our lives.

How does the song writing process go about?
It all begins with a fight. We have to go through 6 songs we don't like till we get one we all like. There is no fixed pattern in the way we write. By the way, the album is up for free download: http://www.gimmesound.com/JunkyardGroove/
Every time you download we get paid!!

Tell us one of the funniest JYG moments ever?

Here are some:

Craig was on his bike with his wife and this guy kept staring at him on the road (Craig kind of got freaked). After a little more stalking, the guy slowed down next too him and said “I’m listening to you on my Ipod”.

The other day Sid had gone had gone kite flying with his friends to the beach and met this bunch of school kids. They asked him what he does and he said he plays for JYG. They began laughing and said “Yeah right and I am Tom Cruise”.

As usual when my weekend comes, I need my drink (Whiskey) and the wine shops had closed. There is this after hour bootleg shop that I know so went there to pick up my stock for the night. Suddenly this guy comes out of the dark and asks me “can I take a picture with you?” I was kind of zapped and asked him “you know me from?” he said “you don’t know me but I’m a fan and know JYG”

This one is a bit of an old story. The band had just started out I think we where a year old and we had just headlined NLS and was on a high. The next day we went out to eat lunch and 2 guys saw us with our guitars and asked us which band we play for? So we said JYG. Then the guy pulls out his phone and he had all our demos on his phone. They then went on to offer us weed and booze. LOL!!

It always zaps me how much reach music actually has. The songs we write are very personal and make us happy. But once we put it out there for people to listen, you realize you are not alone.

What are your views about online distribution of music?
I think its great but music is becoming free. That is why we realized we need to do things differently so we decided to excrement with our distribution method and joined http://www.gimmesound.com where the artists gets paid for every download. The money is shared by the site with the artists 50/50 from add revenue. Our Cd's are still on sale because our hardcore fans like the physical Cd. We do door to door cash on delivery: http://junkyardgroove.net.

Where was the best gig you guys played?
IIT Chennai and Desert Rock festival Dubai

What would you guys like to tell your fans?
Thank you so much for the support because without you we are nothing. You guys come first. Please do download our music free. We get paid for every download. Spread the love!!

*A special thanks to Ameeth Thomas & Junkyard Groove for doing this Interview on such short notice. Thank you Junkyard groove for the music!

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Junkyard Groove: Official "Let You Go" music video

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Junkyard Groove : It's OK music video

The Official Music Video for Junkyard Groove's It's OK.
Directed by Ashwath Ravee.

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Show/Video shoot/CD's

JYG have just finished shooting the music video for "It's ok". The footage has gone in for editing. Exclusive photos from the shoot are available in the blog section.
http://www.junkyardgroove.net/blog.cfm?feature=616282&postid=39562

JYG 11:11[bootleg] Cash on delivery !!!!
Rs.250 per copy(only for deliveries in India).
They have tied up with the music distributor with arguably the widest reach in India -
The Indian Postal Service :) 
http://www.junkyardgroove.net/store.cfm

Their website : http://junkyardgroove.net

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Simple Song

A new song by Junkyad Groove's Ameeth Thomas

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Take it and Go !

Hey all,
The E.P, 'Nicer In A Minute', is finally up for download here :

http://www.reverbnation.com/junkyardgroove

If you could spread the word, nothing like it! :) Help the band by making the link your status message!
Also, any feed-back from your end is most welcome!

And in the end, in the words of Russel Peters " Take it and Go" .

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Junkyard Groove - Its Ok

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Junkyard Groove - Rock & Roll (home made)

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