Live: The Lightyears Explode, Workshop @ JRM Grounds, Mumbai

The Lightyears Explode and Workshop performed at NMIMS college’s Mayhem festival on Friday, Feb 11 at JRM Grounds, Mumbai. We were there.

You’ve gotta love college festivals. The one time ordinary, everyday college kids get to wield walkie-talkies, sport carefully designed t-shirts that say “SECURITY” and take their event way too seriously always makes for a kvlt experience. Regardless of whether there is an audience of 50 or 5,000. The former being the case on this Friday night, more on college fest kvlt-ness later.

The Lightyears Explode
If the lack of a proper soundcheck (and a missing drum leg), a big audience or the fact that the drummer’s persistent requests for “No smoke on stage” went unheard affected The Lightyears Explode, they didn’t show it. Fresh off their Launchpad victory, the Mumbai garage punk trio were forced to play a shortened, sound problems-packed set on Friday night but didn’t let that effect their delivery of of manic, Arctic Monkeys-inspired punk. While finesse isn’t currently one of the band’s more compelling arguments, their three-minute bursts of angular, guitar-heavy stompers definitely is. With a lottle (sic) polish, these kids have the chops to be bigger than just Indigo clones.

Indiecision: B-

Setlist
‘Bow Down’ (cut halfway, twice)
‘She Probably Still Is’
‘The Gay Song’
‘Bow Down’
‘The Weapon’

Workshop
Given the pedigree of its members, Workshop has the potential to be a far more compelling live act than it currently is. Their self-imposed humour metal tag demands that their live act be more entertaining than a few jokes about sex and blue overalls. And for the most of it, the band has got the requirements of the genre spot on. Efficient alt metal constructions, singalongs and tongue-in-cheek lyrics form an integral part of the band’s MO. It’s in the execution that the band falters. Frontman Sahil Makhija’s real, non-Demonic Resurrection voice takes most of the blame. Unrestrained by the need to growl, Makhija’s delivery holds far less weight in this avatar. Perhaps more use of the vocal processor (well used whenever it is) is the solution, or harmonies, or anything to make him sound less um, girly.

The band only had time to play about a half hour set on Friday. Sporting a new guitarist (a dead ringer for Neil Nitin Mukesh), the quartet performed material from their debut album Khooni Murga to an audience comprised largely of the college festival’s organising committee. The kvlt-ness of the situation wasn’t lost on the band, who orchestrated a stage invasion at the end of the set. Still, the performance lacked crucial punch to showcase the band’s material better. With a new album en route, now’s the time to nail down the live act for a group that needs desperately to be bigger than the sum of its parts.

Indiecision: C+

Setlist
‘Cookie Monster’
‘Pudhe Sarka’
‘She Folked Up My Jazz’
‘Kothai Doro Cho’
‘Bunty Aur Mallika Sherwath’
‘I Came’

The Lightyears Explode @ JRM Grounds, Mumbai

Sahil Makhija of Workshop @ JRM Grounds, Mumbai

Workshop @ JRM Grounds, Mumbai