Pics: Tough On Tobacco @ Blue Frog

Sidd Coutto’s newest project Tough On Tobacco played the Blue Frog on Thursday, July 2. Tough On Tobacco sees Coutto reunite with Helga’s Fun Castle band-its Johan Pais (bass) and Jai Row Kavi (drums), along with guitarists Niranjan ‘Pozy’ Dhar and Gaurav Gupta, and Neil Gomes on violin/flute/sax. We were there for the gig, along with a bunch of folks who really like HFC.

Notes

1. We caught the band earlier this year when they played a short set at the Baajaa Gaajaa press conference, and it’s easy to hear the the development of the band’s brand of pop rock. The songs are far ‘fuller’ now, undoubtedly the result of various jam sessions and introspection.
2. While the music itself is largely efficient, the show is powered by Coutto who plays the parts of frontman and comic with ease.
3. There’s a lot about Pozy Dhar we don’t know.
4. While Helga’s Fun Castle and Tough On Tobacco have individual identities, one cannot help but recall the aggresive funk-slathered alternative of the former when TOT are on stage. ‘Cows On Parade’ was missed.
5. That said, HFC material was (vociferously) demanded welcomed by one section of the crowd insisting on listening to the band’s flagship ode to the reefer ‘Smoke Some Ganja’.
6. As Amit Gurbaxani noted in our last review, “the band’s stand on nicotine may not be as straight-forward as it seems.”

We, with help from the folks over at Babble Fish Productions, took a bunch of pics at the gig. Here are a few.