In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Bobby (Girish Talwar, bass) said

Zero was always 10 per cent of our lives. Like you keep space for dessert after food, this 10 percent is the dessert of our lives and will be reserved for music.

In relative terms, Zero was one of the biggest Indian rock acts. Their music was original and recognised wherever they played. I remember watching them in Ahmedabad a few years ago and Gujjus went ballistic over ‘PSP’ and ‘Not My Kind Of Girl’. But with Zero, one always got the feeling that the music was a placeholder; a stop-gap of sorts till the ‘scene’ became bigger or personal priorities came along.

Be it with their album releases, or their website, everything took its own time coming. And before we knew it, it came to an end. So justifying a statement like the one above, is probably easy. However, the question really is – can a band ever be bigger than the sum of its parts?

In Zero’s case, despite the many, many guitarists they’ve had, disappointingly no.

I always wondered why people made big deals about reunions. It seemed absurd that a band past its prime would come back to anything but a lukewarm reception and the murmurs of a guy at the back saying “Wasn’t that guy in Wham?” But all that changed on the evening of August 30.

Zero played (possibly) their final set at the Chitrakoot Grounds on Day 1 of I-Rock 2008. Preceded by what was a particularly mediocre set of performances by the competition acts, Zero reminded us exactly why they will be sorely missed.

Head downstairs for the review, pics and a largely insignificant Indiecision.

It was already past 9:30pm when Zero kicked off their final set which meant that either the set would be only a few songs long or it would have to be hastily cut short. As at D’Ultimate a few days ago, Gaurav Gupta joined Pozy Dhar on guitars.

The lights went out. Rajeev wasn’t on stage. ‘Mariachi’. Enter Rajeev, dressed like the dude from The Killers. *roar*

For a fan who knows that this may be the last time he/she sees one of his/her favourite bands play live, the importance of enjoying the set is doubly so. So I jumped like a maniac and pushed a guy.

It was obvious that this was an emotional evening. And even though the attempt to start a “Behenchod, Madarchod” beat failed (well practiced at the D’Ultimate set) one knew that there was bound to be something special.

They played the songs everyone loved; ‘Lucy’, ‘Old Man Sitting on the Back Porch’ and ‘Hate in Em’ (the last two coming back to back which was particularly endearing). And then, time showed its ugly face and rules made its presence known. Curses were thrown and during the penultimate song, ‘Ayaya’, more than one member of the audience got senti.

But that’s the way it is and though its cliche, one only realises how much something is worth once its gone. The live rock music scene in Mumbai is left with a large hole that, though there are many contenders to fill, no one really has the spirit to do. So when ‘PSP’ was cut short, and hundreds of kids in their black t-shirts and long hair sang it themselves, a defining moment in Indian rock came to be.

And everyone who was there, will remember it.

Indiecision: A

If there’s one corporation I need to thank for introducing me to Zero, its HSBC. A friend got free passes to a Kala Ghoda festival gig courtesy his HSBC credit card and graciously took me along. So off us Colaba boys went, 15 minutes down the road. Apart from Rhythm House, there wasn’t much at Kala Ghoda those days. And Rhythm House too was pretty different. They were, along with the erstwhile Groove, the first music store in Mumbai to have listening stations. My first listen of Skinney Alley came courtesy that.

The stage was on the road that takes you to Bombay Blue and Noodle Bar. It was elevated enough to be distant and close enough that you didn’t have to strain your neck to watch the band. That’s most of what I remember of that entire evening. There was an act called Pythagoras and the Right Angles that played and I think Parikrama played too. I’d heard of Parikrama earlier, but not of Zero.

I don’t recall much of the set, and there couldn’t have been more than a hundred people at the venue, but at the end they played this song whose lyrics I could make out to be

“Bastard in, Bastard in, Bastard in, Bastard in” x4

The song was awesome and I wondered what the lead singer was actually singing. When I came to know they were playing I-Rock (at Rang Bhavan) it guaranteed my presence there.

Also, they looked different and I think Rajeev was thinner.

This gig was bound to be killer and, for the sake of keeping the good bits in, we’ll assume that neither Cirkles nor Sector 8 played a part in the event. Cirkles is the project of Teemeer from Sceptre and since they play with acoustic guitars, the set, much like Sceptre, consisted of Metallica and Megadeth covers, rendered via aforementioned acoustic guitars. Since they played Metallica, a large portion of the younger audience gave them props but several times during the set Teemeer’s voice audibly (and visibly) faltered.

Cirkles would do much better playing their own songs instead of Seal and Chris Isaak covers.

Sector 8 are a Hindi rock band who are young and I was hungry so I missed that set.

For the review of Zero’s set, plus killer pics courtesy Shirley and the Sony, and the Indiecision, take the ‘Old Man’ jump.

Given that this was Zero’s second last gig, and everyone in the about 200-250 strong audience knew that, it was obvious that nobody really gave a crap about the opening acts, except possibly the acts themselves. Between songs, persistent chants of “Zero, Zero!” signalled the collective impatience and finally, the band appeared on stage.

A quick sound check and a few jokes later, Zero kicked off their swan song.

They started with a particularly energetic rendition of ‘We Will Rock You’. In the absence of Meghu on guitar, Gaurav Gupta (Red Cube) took up guitar duties with Pozy Dhar. The result was, though not as enthusiatic as previous Zero guitarists, pretty efficient. Songs played (videos once they’ve been catalogued and YouTubed) included personal favourites ‘Old Man Sitting On The Back Porch’, ‘Ayaya’, ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Hate in Em’ (at warp speed).

In between the set, as is usual with Zero gigs, there was a lot of engaging banter including flattery of the movie Rock On and a particularly musical performance of the popular chant “Behenchod, Madarchod”. Helga’s Fun Castle (again Meghu excluded) came on to play ‘Smoke Some Ganja’ much to the delight of the crowd that was so tightly packed and so obviously enamoured by the song that the chorus became more a demand than a line.

But this was a classic Zero night. The ingredients were perfect – a crowd that knew the songs, a venue that didn’t allow for excessive breathing and a moshpit that threatened to injure some band members. It compares to a number of gigs they’ve played at Razz and ‘intimate’ club settings like Velocity (oh if only they played ‘Break Stuff’). Rajeev and Sidd were at their comic best improvising when needed and involving the crowd in a way I guess only Dadar can teach you.

Sure there were a few errors and ‘Hate’ didn’t sound nearly as right but if you were at the gig anywhere near the front few rows (the rest of the crowd really could see nothing), the atmosphere was insane.

I-Rock is already going to be stellar.

Indiecision: A

The first time a friend told me about ‘Indian’ rock music, I laughed. The idea was absurd and almost insulting.

It’s been six years since the first time I watched Zero play live. Since then I’ve been to over 20 of their gigs, interviewed them once, offered them drinks in a dry state and even covered one of their songs in my band. In a few days the band will play its last live gig ever, leaving a gaping hole in the Indian rock scene and in my journofanboy heart.

So over the next few days, we’ll relive the days of yore. From buying t-shirts at I-rock stands, to injuring oneself in a PSP moshpit to being the only one in Ahmedabad who knew the lyrics to ‘Hate in Em’.

Zero play their second last gig tonight at D’Ultimate. Catch a (glowing) review with pics tomorrow.