Sidd Coutto can either be referred to as the drummer of Zero/3 Guys & A Girl/Ankur & The Ghalat Family/Blackstartblues, or frontman of Tough On Tobacco but it’s best to refer to him as “that-guy-who’s-part-of-every-other-band.” One of those other bands is Coutto’s latest project, christened Punk Ass Orifus. It’s a project that sees Coutto fish out some old songs and write some new ones, arranged around a semi-punk structure. Supporting Coutto in this musical jaunt are old time friends and bandmates – Gaurav Gupta on guitars (of Ankur & The Ghalat Family) Johan Pais (of Helga’s Fun Castle) and Zorran Mendonsa on drums.

At the Lower Parel gig tonight, besides scenesters and expensive beer, you can also expect the band’s performance to include a collaboration with Ken Stringfellow. Known best for his work with REM (our obit here), Stringfellow will join the Dadar boys on stage where they will hopefully create some new (not unexpected) impromptu material that is the signature of any typical ToT gig, along with some more hooks to take home.

Also, the gig may shed light on why it’s taking so long from the promised ToT sophomore release, Big Big Joke.

Check out artwork for the band below.

Punk Ass Orifus - Design by Siddharth Chavan

Of the new act, Coutto says

It’s a brand new band, it’s a brand new act, and it’s a brand new sound. We’re doing things differently, like we’ve not done before in all these years. So come and watch it, it’s happy entertainment, more or less and there’s Zorran on drums as well. These are songs I just wrote, because I was just pissed off. I’ve never been a fan of genres and I don’t bother too much about them. Come, have fun. It’s as simple as that.

Over the span of 2011, we saw Coutto release his debut solo effort, Sunny Side Up (download here), Tough On Tobacco breaking out of their hiatus towards the end of the year (and playing an excellent set on day two  of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender), play more gigs with Blackstratblues, Alien Chutney, 3 Guys And A Girl, and made his debut as a Bollywood playback singer for the film Ra.One (deets here). He also went missing in November.

Stream some of their music here.

Check out the track ‘The World Will Carry On’ below.

Punk Ass Orifus – the world will carry on by punkassorifus

Helga’s Fun Castle give us a previously unreleased track to place under the Christmas tree. ‘Last Chance’ is a blast from the past and it was slated to be a part of the band’s second album.

Frontman Sidd Coutto tells us more about why the song and the album never got released.

We started work on the second album and we were a few songs in. It was at this point that I began to feel that it was not very Helga’s Fun Castle because it was very riff-heavy and hard rock in nature. We decided not to release it (the album). It was around this point that Hansu and I sort of segwayed into Tough on Tobacco.

Download ‘Last Chance’ here.

With a warped sense of humor and an uncanny ability to write some of the best hooks of the scene in the last decade, Coutto has a knack of making songs stick in your head with an easy melody. At his recent solo album launch (photos here), Coutto did everything, well almost, by himself to create the music of his solo album on stage, with a little help from his friends.

He tells us about the guitars he uses – an Epiphone EJ 200 (acoustic), an SG Standard and sometimes borrows a Gibson Hummingbird as well

(laughs) How do I explain this to you? It’s a little difficult to put it down, but it helps me having reliable guitars. Yeah, they’re very reliable. They look good on stage, and most importantly they sound perfect. It’s all very plausible.

His bandmate, Ankur Tewari of Ankur & The Ghalat Family uses a Gibson guitar too (follow Gibson Guitar India on Facebook to find more indie rockers who use Gibson guitars). More on that tomorrow. As always, stay tuned.

Photos by Naman Saraiya

Sidd Coutto

Sidd Coutto will play sets with Blackstratblues, Ankur & The Ghalat Family and Tough On Tobacco at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender. Tickets are on sale now!

Visit the official Gibson Guitar India website and find your own Gibson. Follow Gibson Guitar India on Facebook and Twitter for updates too!

Singer-songwriter Sidd Coutto played Blue Frog, Mumbai on Wednesday, October 5 in support of his debut solo album Sunny Side Up (stream here). What was originally promised to be a solo act, stayed partially true to its promise as guests joined the Zero drummer on stage – ranging from bandmates from Tough On Tobacco to friends who Coutto has made along the way in his fairly busy musical career over the last couple of years.

Coutto opened the evening with a solo performance of Tough On Tobacco’s ‘Voices In My Head’ from their debut album The Happy Goat. Proficient use of the looper and flangers on the opening track made an interesting impact, warming things up for the evening. Coutto moved to play a couple of covers alongside guests Manasi Scott and Shazneen Arethna (of 3 Guys And A Girl). Warren ‘Blackstratblues‘ Mendonsa joined the ToT frontman first on the melodica and later on guitars performing ‘The Everyday Love Song’ from Zero’s 2005 album Procrastination. Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar, bassist of Zero accompanied Coutto on the djembe. Tough On Tobacco also got together on stage to perform some tracks off their second album, which has been in the works since almost a year now. Anushka Lewis joined on harp while Rozelle Alphonso played cello on Coutto’s own material.

While the performance itself was patchy, Coutto’s affable character made for an enjoyable evening nonetheless.

Photos by Naman Saraiya. For a full gallery of photos, visit our Facebook page.

Sidd Coutto and Warren Mendonsa @ Blue Frog, Mumbai

Sidd Coutto with Tough On Tobacco @ Blue Frog, Mumbai

Sidd Coutto @ Blue Frog, Mumbai

The gig was the first in a series of pre-parties for the Bacardi NH7 Weekender (tickets on sale now!). The band played only a handful of tracks from their debut album, The Happy Goat (full stream), belting out material from their second album which has been in the works for a while. The band also played some material from erstwhile band Helga’s Fun Castle. While the band was on a hiatus, frontman Sidd Coutto had been working on a solo album (stream his first single ‘Free’ here), due to launch on October 5 at Blue Frog, Mumbai. The band ended the night with an improvisational track about Pune auto rickshaws, the girl on the second table from the stage and how men and women look at themselves in the mirror in the morning.

The band members will guest alongside Warren ‘Blackstratsblues’ Mendonsa this Friday at Blue Frog, Mumbai (deets here).

Setlist
‘Come On Down’
‘Dog’
‘Alone’
‘Love, Love, Love’
‘Do What You Gotta Do’
‘Yahweh’
‘Play It Some Other Way’
‘Big, Big Joke’
‘Blow Yourself Away’
‘Wonder’
‘Smoke Some Ganja’ (Helga’s Fun Castle)
‘Happy’
‘Taxi Song’
‘Improv Song’

Photos by Mehr Singh and Naman Saraiya. For a full gallery of photos, visit our Facebook page.

Sidd Coutto of Tough On Tobacco @ Arc Asia, Pune

Gaurav Gupta of Tough On Tobacco @ Arc Asia, Pune

Johan Pais of Tough On Tobacco @ Arc Asia, Pune

Jai Row Kavi of Tough On Tobacco @ Arc Asia, Pune