Indieca Tour Diary: Mumbai

Mumbai’s The Mavyns and Kolkata’s The Supersonics are on tour this month. The Indieca tour sees the bands visit four cities. Follow the tour here. This is their tour diary.

Mumbai
Date: February 2, 2010
Venue: Hard Rock Cafe
(This diary was written by Kristofor Paul Mendonca, drums, The Mavyns)

The gig was supposed to begin at around 9:30pm, but we were supposed to be there to sound check by 4. Rohan (guitars, The Supersonics) and Ananda (vocals, guitars, The Supersonics) from The Supersonics had flown down from Kolkata earlier in the afternoon and were hanging out at Vivek’s (vocals, keys, The Mavyns) aunt’s place in Santacruz. Nitin (bass, The Supersonics) and Avinash (drums, The Supersonics), the two remaining music makers had already landed in Mumbai a day before and were going to meet us directly at the gig.

Pradeep (vocals, guitars, The Mavyns) and Varoon (bass, The Mavyns) came over to my place around 2:30 and we loaded the guitars and other equipment and headed to Santacruz. As we made our way to the garden behind Vivek’s aunt’s place, I was wondering what The Supersonic guys were going to be like. I mean, they pretty much have a super rock star status, at least relatively speaking, and deservedly so.

We entered the garden and all fears and trepidation was cast aside as Rohan and Ananda reached out to us with all the warmth of a happy volcano. We soon got talking about things they did and things we did and how it was so awesome the both of us were getting to tour together. They also proceeded to animatedly recount their scary flight details from the morning, something very related to the TV show LOST. You should ask them about it sometime.

From our initial short interaction I can definitely say I find these guys are exactly what is “right” with the music scene. They are here to have fun and make sure everyone is having fun with them. They was no air about them and they had an absolutely pure positive vibe and energy flowing from their every pore.

Soon it was time for us to head to Hard Rock Cafe. Some of us went by cab, while the rest followed in an Innova that had been hired for the day. Today an Innova… tomorrow a limo with an attached Jacuzzi overflowing with Playboy playmates. Laughing are you?

Now back to reality. We were on our way. And this was happening.

We reached Hard Rock and spent a good 30 minutes just taking in the sites and sounds and calling shotgun on the different memorabilia we wanted to grab with us and sneak out after the gig. I got Prince’s purple outfit and Ringo Starr’s snare drum.

The Supersonics had their sound check first. And were done faster than we could say – “Hey, your keegles are too soft”. They were fast, furious and a power house of emotion. Like a rainbow on SPEED.

Obviously we were already nervous but got through the sound check pretty quick too. With more than an hour to spare we decided to take a trip outside and check out the sites and sounds. We were drawn to a local “pub” and as hard as we tried to resist its lures, the sweet smell of fermented barley was just too strong. Soon we had hijacked an entire section of the local establishment and conversation and chakli was flying back and forth.

Before we knew it, the clock had struck 8:45 and we slowly made our way back to Hard Rock. We headed up to the band waiting area near the stage to get ready for the gig. I think that was the most stressful and nerve-wracking period of the entire show. The waiting!

By 9:45 we were finally asked to begin. I was pleased to see a whole bunch of new faces and hoped they would remain as happy after our set and they looked before. In the background I could hear Vivek announce the band and the name of the first song.

I took a quick sip of water as the first strains of piano filled the place. I don’t remember much, but I think there was quite a bit of cheering and clapping after each song we performed, something we are still getting used to.

An hour later and we were done. We played all our original material with a couple of covers thrown in between.

We quickly scampered off stage to make way for The Supersonics. If they were awesome at sound check, they were beyond awesome during the real thing. Bursting with energy and melody, they totally killed it. As tired as I was, I couldn’t stand still and till the final note of the last song my ears were glued to them like a hungry man at a buffet.

After the gig, we hung out for a bit and said hello to a few new friends we made, then it was off to Vivek’s aunt’s place in Santacruz again for the after party.

We were going to be hanging out the next day and then it was off to Pune to continue our tour at the Hard Rock Cafe there.

Till the next adventure.

Follow the Indieca tour!