SPLiT

Ze Pearl Jam Tributary

2010-10-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

Ze Pearl Jam Tributary will flow past B69 in Andheri on the 22nd of Octomber, 2010. Split, Blakc(sic) and many other rockstars swill come there to wash away their sins in this holy confluence. Anyone else wishing to wash their sin away will have to pay Rs 150 and entah(!). As for the bands, they are awesome and needn't pay any money.

Some press we've been getting

2010-10-13T03:34:00.001-07:00

TBC

2010-10-13T02:15:00.001-07:00

So yeah - we're back. Thanks mostly to Sidestand, Harley Davidson, Rolling Stone and an EP that's been given away for free at all the Harley Rock Riders gigs. When a band starts playing after an 18 month self-imposed hiatus, the amount of momentum needed to get back on track is nothing short of epic. And thanks to the powers that be, we have managed to get the energy flowing - and it's showing - you know it's growing.

So - Sidestand. Himanshu Vaswani and Shawn Pereira approached us sometime in Feb 2010 to manage us. They described themselves as people who believed in our music, who knew the scene and who "is still a bachcha run by people with huge holes in their pockets". We heard out their 90 minute presentation on what plans they had, and hopped them on board soon after.

Since then, we've played at Sol Mirador (thank you BRA for once again starting us off), RGIT (along with Avial), Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai, Blue Frog (unplugged) and...

We got hit with the news about the Harley Rock Riders tour sometime in the first week of July. By the time it was actually confirmed, we still found it hard to believe. Harley Davidson and Rolling Stone had decided that they would take Split on a 5-city, 6-gig India-wide tour to promote the launch of Harley Davidson in the country. The numb, unreal feeling died down and Split started practicing like never before. New originals, rehashed covers of 80s pop classics, improv harp-guitar solos - everything was on the menu. We're still in the middle of the Harley Rock Riders tour (3 killer shows down - Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai (with Indus Creed!!!)). We play Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Hamsadhwani (Delhi) from now till December the 4th.

Split's also been paying loads of attention to our online presence - Facebook and Reverbnation mostly. If you happen to read this, would be great if you could join us on both -

www.facebook.com/splitsplit
www.reverbnation.com/splitsplit (we were #1 on the Mumbai Alt charts for a week, before Panic Attack pipped us)

We've also recently cut up some live footage from the HRR Chandigarh gig for a video. The song - Punk Rock Days. Post prod by Vaas from Enter Guerilla and Shekhar from Split & Blind Walk. Catch an eyeful -

And finally, in what is the biggest news, Nigel, our drummer since the beginning of Split-time has decided to move on. We inducted Split's latest entrant Varoon Iyer about a week back.

Will update more later. Got some work to finish now. Long live the interweb,

Split

This blog is resurrecting

2010-10-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

We're going to try one more time to get this blog going. Loads been happening with Split these last 6 months. It all started with... (to be continued)

2010-09-27T00:15:00.001-07:00

my first split gig ever

2008-04-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

since all the bloggers here are getting really old and have nothing interesting to talk about other than the usual "split hit the stage and it was their best show ever" crap, i'm going post something that's smart.

it's about the first split gig i ever saw.

i walked out of the shower, the water was running down my legs, my manly muscles glistened.... erm... okay, sorry. so, i had a shower and got ready for the gig. tauraez (a rather shy split fan) and another friend were waiting for me at the door. remember, this was a long time ago, 2004 i think, and i had to ask my mom to "please give me some money so i can go to watch a rock band play rock music and i promise i won't do drugs and waste my life". my mom agreed this time. so, i left the house with exactly 110 rupees in my pocket. with 10 extra rupees, i thought i'd buy a lighter so we could play lighter-fight while suffering the nightmare of having to listen to the opening bands. (lighter fight is when you try and burn the opponent's lighter bearing hand with your lighter, yes, i invented it)

just as we were walking out of the colony, this fat chick fainted. we didn't really care, you know... because she was fat. but then we thought that it would be insensitive to let the fat girl faint like that, so we picked her up and waited for some nice person to come along so we could let him take care of her. and her boyfriend did come running, so all was well i guess, but noooooo, we had to take her to the hospital. so, since we are indeed really caring and sensitive guys, we reluctantly did that.

so, we took her to the nearest hospital and looked at our watch (only one of us had a watch, i lost mine in a gutter) and ohmyfuckinggod! it was 6:30! the fucking gig was fucking supposed to start at fucking 6:00 fucking! aaaaaaaaaaah! i didn't want to miss the gig. so i started running towards koregaon park (5 km away) when i noticed that the ric guy was running right behind me. apparently, we were supposed to pay him. wtf?! we said "bhai-saahab, woh ladki se paise le lo?" to which he said "woh to behosh hai". and suddenly we realized. we had to pay the ric guy 40 bucks and we only had 210 (for two gig entries)

you know what sucks? missing a gig. you know what sucks even more? missing the gig because some fat chick fainted and you had to be mr-nice-guy and carry her to the fucking hospital. and there was no way we'd let society treat us like that. so we waited like pansies for her boyfriend to come along who then paid for the ric fare (and for our ric fare to the gig) but then we scolded him, said "you fucking lund, we were supposed to reach the gig at 6:00. it's 6:45 now". but then we decided not to waste too much time and left in the same ric, without the behosh-ladki.

we reached abc farms at 7:00 and we were pretty sure we had missed the "cool band from bombay" and we were really pissed off and promised each other that next time, we'd kill any fainting fat girl at sight. but we tried getting into jazz garden anyway. our third friend had made it comfortably without having to deal with what we just had dealt with. so, i reached the ticket counter and told the guy "three tickets for split gig please?" and he said "sure, 450 bucks".

*heart breaking sound*

me: "what?!"
he: "450, man"
me: "but the pamphlet says 100 per ticket"
he: "yeah, 50 bucks for cover charge"
me: "what's cover-charge?"
he: "you can drink something for 50 bucks inside"
me: "what if i don't want to drink for 50 bucks inside?"
he: "then you waste 50 bucks"
me: "can't you give it to someone else? i'm sure someone's going to drink more than me, i don't drink"
he: "sorry man, 450 or bust"

we weren't going to pay 450 bucks for half a split gig, no way! no way in hell. so we tried to picket the show, we stood at the entry telling everyone that they were ripping us off and that we didn't deserve it. the third friend being a girl started chit-chatting with other girls instead and we had to ask her to get to work. but the whole concept of "cover charge" which was rather alien to us, seemed to be perfectly fine with everyone else. so we couldnt' gather much support. (read: any support)

by now the ticket dude was kinda pissed off and he said "okay, get someone to buy your cover charge and we'll let you choots in". that was the first time i felt really happy when someone called me a "chut" and i said, "sure". then we started trying to convince people to buy our cover charge for us. there were very few people entering jazz garden at that time, probably because the show was over and they were just groupies trying to get some. the third friend was still having a great time chit-chatting from "hey, please buy our cover" to "ooh, what lovely shoes". we had to unfortunately loose a member of our trio when we asked her to sit in one corner and let us do the work.

finally, a bunch of firangs said alright, which was kinda sad because one of them was a really cute brunette who smiled at me. she was probably thinknig "oh, he's cute but if he can't buy cover charge for himself then i don't think he'll be able to support a gamily". i was in love by the time i got in and they handed us these hand rolled cigarettes and i said "fuck, are you kidding me? i don't smoke" and he looked at me like "pansy" and asked me to get in.

something was seriously wrong with the venue. the stage was empty and the girls were unlike what they tell you about rock-chicks in movies. in the movies they're skinny, tall, wearing black, hot, messy hair and all. here... i saw girls wearing flowery skirts and pink tops. and what was even-wronger was that it was 7:30 and there was no band on stage, so we asked the chutya ticket guy again.

me: "dude, you lund, where's the band?"
he: "they'll be on stage soon"
me: "what?! weren't they supposed to be on stage at 6:00? that's what it says on the pamphlet"
he: "yeah but when it says 6:00 it never starts at 6:00"

what kind of fucked up logic that was, god only knows. but we waited patiently inside, playing lighter-fight. the first band was so lame i wanted to stuff mud in my ears in an attempt to put and end to the agony that was their music. i could have made better musing banging my head on a piano. i don't know what the band was thinking, seriously. i'd give them a grammy for NOT EVER PLAYING MUSIC EVER. this dude wearing a cap was playing the acoustic guitar was within reach and i swear i was going to hit him on the shins or something.

but the pain was soon over. and on came the band...

i'm not sure about who was on stage at that time but here's the lineup from what i can remember
guitars - vishwesh
vocals - garreth
bass - shekhar
drums - nigel

gary got on stage and his first request was "could we have all the lights off? except for this red one right here". his demands were met.

there was something about the mere presence of the band on stage that made us move to the front. the girly-friend of ours had been asked to not sit in the corner anymore and move ahead. we got to stand right in front, within reach of the monitors and split burst into their first song from the set.

i don't remember the own comps that they played but i distinctly remember pig society. either that or an old version of it that started a moshpit where i was beaten the hell out of by this sardar guy (revenge will be mine). the covers were what got me to really like the band. since these are the only songs that i had heard before. minerva (deftones) you know you're right (nirvana) i stand alone (godsmack) and an incubus song whos name i can't recall.

gary then took a break and this blonde guy, robert plant lookalike took over the vocals with, what i recall, were a couple of rage covers. if they were then bullet in the head was one of them. very very nicely done, vishwesh did some backup vocals here and there.

they got an encore too, mostly by guys yelling "sabbath! sabbath! sabbath madharchod!" but the rest wanted the band to play a little more. the encore happened, i said "job well done" to vishwesh, talking to him like i was malmsteen going "yeah, i liked the way you played minerva but it's actually done in a different way".

my neck was officially fucked, i couldn't hold it up and the ticketguy went "oh, you don't drink ha?" and i said "yeah, i was headbanging man, if you know what that means".

i got home at 2am and i wasn't allowed to go watch rock bands play rock music for another month or so. but it was worth it. fond memories of split.

cheers!
kalhan

The guys who bought the first Split EP - Eastwind, 24/2

2008-03-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

Rocked Hard Cafe

2008-03-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

Avial's concert is what everyone was talking about when I got to Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday night. The cafe wasn't packed then. The boys had spread themselves lazily around a table and were consuming, as usual, large amounts of Rum and coke, and food.

Mel's hair was a sight. He looked like a frizzly vulture - an extremely good looking one. Nigel showed off his new gizmo, sticking out of his ear, and was trying to persuade someone to accompany him to buy new shoes. Shekhar has evolved and now drinks wine. Garreth was singing along with the videos being screened and smiling serenely. Aviv was making arrangements to have Rum on stage.

Rishu arrived, with Dhaval and armed with more Rum. We stepped out of Hard Rock to mix more drinks, and there the boys argued about how much alcohol they should /could consume before hitting the stage. The rest of us random standers-by drank the rum.

At 9:30, the gig began. I was really happy to see the energy and spirit of the band was just right- they sound checked with Pearl Jam's Alive.

It was an Unplugged show. They were sitting on pretty stools on stage, and Aviv had his acoustic guitar. Nigel, however, gave the drums a full blast, and Mel was fairly vigorous on his Telecaster. I had a video camera and wanted to record as many of the original songs as I could.

Their set list was mainly the originals, and some covers - Radiohead's Just, Wicked Garden, their funky version of Jefferson Airplane's Somebody to Love, With or Without you. The originals were many and were sounding tight - Build Higher, Holy Ghost Machine Gun, My House, Pig Society, Belief, Isn't it strange, Don't wake me, Fat Oaf. The energy picked up and went higher, and Aviv would frequently close his eyes and vanish into a solo. Garreth would pull out his harmonica and seduce us. The last song of the night was a cover of the Doors' Five To One. Wow.

The boys had a blast on stage. Rishu got fairly smashed. Another memorable gig.

Split's Eastwind Experience

2008-02-26T04:12:00.000-08:00

This one is going to be difficult to write, given that my already-rusty memory is further dulled with 3 nights of consecutive hangovering. But I will try. For what else is this life for, but to try.

Shekhar was the first one of us to get to Delhi. He was so eager to meet all his Delhi friends, he left a week early. Nigel and I got in on the first day of the festival - 22nd. Gary and Aviv got in sometime later. And Woody came in the morning of the show - on the 24th. We'd pre-booked 2 hours at On-Stage (a 3-story musician's mall in Delhi) but decided against doing it. Instead, we just hung around in the guest-house and worked out the set with Woody.

I was particularly in good spirits because Aviv was letting me use his 25-year old Artist Series Ibanez for the gig. The guitar (affectionately called Pomfret) has a sustain half-life of 500,000 years and really sings. Shekhar was seen walking in the chilly Delhi afternoon hand-in-hand with Jean. Aviv and Priyanka rolled and smoked joints all the way. Nigel was Nigel. The thing that I remember the most that afternoon in the guest-house was how clear and powerful Gary's voice sounded to me, after so long. It felt right to be there with these 4 guys.

We left for the venue in 2 batches. Our soundcheck was on at 4:15, post Something Relevant's killer set. Armed with Rahul's (Medusa) GT6, Aviv's Artist Ibanez and a yellow Fender pic, I felt ready as I'd ever be. Soundcheck was such a blur - as always. We sound-checked on various songs, and the levels seemed to sort themselves out easily. The stage sound was brilliant! We, it seemed, were going to enjoy this gig - with only a can of Red Bull to spur us onwards.

Since the last few shows, Split had been working on a set where the energy built up - from quiet and slow to loud and paced. However, at Eastwind, we had to rethink this strategy. We needed to hold people in our stage (there were two others - Scribe and Helga's Fun Castle playing around the same time we were) and so decided to start with a bang. Build (Higher)! O yeah! I really like playing this song - it's relatively simple to play and makes me want to break something.

The songs seemed to follow thick and fast. The crowd began to build up inside the tent too. Split got the best turn-out I'd seen so far at the RSJ stage, but don't take my word for it. I was watching from 11 feet up in the air. Steep.

Aviv's opiate solos, Shekhar's solid bass and Nigel's solid, clear beat sounded great on stage. Possibly the best stage sound we've ever got. But it was Garreth who was sounding completely incredible. I didn't watch him much, but I sure could hear him all over. For my sound - I was pretty pleased with it too. Nice solid crunch from the Ibanez, driven past the GT6, multiplied by a Marshall combo. Sweet, sweet.

My House, Fat Oaf, Isn't It Strange, Don't Wake Me (beautiful sax from Woody), Belief, Holy Ghost Machine Gun and finally (we almost didn't get to play this one) Pig Society.

Post gig Gary got interviewed by a channel (don't know which) and then, the band, by TV 18. Vikram, who was interviewing us asked us if we named the band Split as a reverse-psych maneuvre against further band break-ups. Pretty insightful dude.

We just chilled after that. Hung around. Watched some other artists. Karsh Kale, Leni Stern, Shaa'ir + Func (tech-glitchy set) and some others. I'd been bumming free beers off Sidhu and Vishy and was nicely buzzing - talking to Heena from Gibson and Smriti from Eastwind, when, for the first time in 3 days, I felt the Eastwind ground go quiet. And I knew it had ended.

We headed to an after-party about 2 hours later. It was nice, but not completely rocking. Maybe this has something to do with the free-booze counter shutting after 12:30. Scribe, Demonic R, Split, Menwhopause, DJ Blot, Dhruv Ghanekar, Anal Funk - they were all there.

Post a grueling 2-hour drive to find food, we finally retired. But not before tucking into ham sandwiches. Crash.

The flight back was less eventful than I imagined it to be. About half the Boeing was loaded with Mumbai's music-scene. The pilot made some inane speeches to wake us up. The burger was dry. Something funny happened - as soon as we landed, before the flight had stopped taxiing, Dhruv got up and pulled open te overhead bin. A pedal-bag slipped out and landed on the aunty sitting below. Her screams were terrible - like someone was out to kill her. Her husband almost beat up everyone around him in a Hulk-rage.

Mumbai. Hello.

Searching for Split online

2008-02-14T00:54:00.000-08:00

Funny keywords that people searched for and then have come to the Split Blog.

give me nicknames you bastard
afrin population in the 1950s
inches hair gone
the punk rock insurance
nicknames for holy ghost fathers

(Got from Google Analytics)

Split vocalist in coma after guitar-thrashing

2008-02-14T00:13:00.000-08:00

pic - afrin sopariwala

We are sorry to report the following -

On the 3rd of February, Split looked like they'd have just another show. Some moshing, some drinking. However, what happened into the 7th song of the set was easily the band's darkest moment. While playing the breakdown of Build (Higher), a blues-based riffer that pretty much builds on itself, the rhythm guitarist Melroy D'Mello was thrashing wildly to the music. A very inebriated Garreth D'Mello turned around and walked straight into the guitar-head. Eye witnesses claim that they heard his jaw clamp shut with the impact 40 feet away.

The vocalist crumpled and fell to the side of the stage and the show was called off immediately.

We'll keep updating on Gary's health on www.myspace.com/splitsplit

Split plays Eastwind, 2008

2008-02-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

Split is playing on the 24th at Eastwind, along with 59 of India's biggest artists!

Eastwind is the first ever music festival in India promoting contemporary original music. Not to forget, the largest as well!

Scheduled to take place from the 22nd to the 24th of February, 2008 at the NSIC Grounds in Delhi, there will be 3 stages present which will have simultaneous performances from 1:00 pm - 10:00 pm. With 60 bands slotted to play over the three days of the festival, this is going to be a music extravaganza!

While music will always be the focus of the festival, there will be several side shows such as exhibitons, gaming stalls etc to keep people entertained through the day.

The festival is going to be an annual property hereon. Eastwind is not just another event. It is is a movement that will be driven by musicians to promote their original music and have people sit up and notice by taking their music from the so-called "niche" audience to the masses!

Hello! Here's a list -

1. Advaita (Delhi)
2. Anal Funk (Mumbai)
3. Anterior (United Kingdom)
4. Artistes Unlimited (Delhi)
5. Avial (Trivandrum)
6. Bandish (Delhi)
7. Baja Gaja (Nepal)
8. Barefaced Liar (Delhi)
9. Blend (Delhi)
10. Bhayanak Mauth (Mumbai)
11. Boomarang (Aizawl)
12. Cassini’s Division (Kolkata)
13. Caesar’s Palace (Bangalore)
14. Chromosome Eye (Mumbai)
15. Cyanide (Delhi)
16. Demonic Resurrection (Mumbai)
17. Detonation (Netherlands)
18. Dhruv Ghanekar and the Ranjit Barot Project (Mumbai)
19. Dream Out Loud (Mumbai)
20. Evergreen (Kochi)
21. Feedback (Delhi)
22. Five Little Indians (Kolkata)
23. Galeej Gurus (Bangalore)
24. Groove Suppa (Mumbai)
25. HFT (Delhi)
26. Half Step Down (Delhi)
27. Helgas Fun Castle (Mumbai)
28. Hypnosis (Delhi)
29. Indian Ocean (Delhi)
30. Jalebee Cartel (Delhi)
31. Junkyard Groove (Chennai)
32. Karsh Kale (United States)
33. Kryptos (Bangalore)
34. Leni Stern Band (United States)
35. Level 9 (Delhi)
36. Levitikus (Delhi)
37. Little Babooshka’s Grind (Chennai)
38. Midival Punditz (Delhi)
39. Medusa (Mumbai)
40. Menwhopause (Delhi)
41. Motherjane (Kochi)
42. Mohit Chauhan (Delhi)
43. Mrigya (Delhi)
44. Myndsnare (Bangalore)
45. Oidua (Delhi)
46. Parikrama (Delhi)
47. Pentagram(Mumbai)
48. Pink Noise (Kolkata)
49. Raghu Dixit Project (Bangalore)
50. Sajid Akbar Band (Delhi)
51. Scribe (Mumbai)
52. Shaair and Funk (Mumbai)
53. Skinny Alley (Kolkata)
54. Something Relevant (Mumbai)
55. Soulmate (Shillong)
56. Span (Kolkata)
57. Split (Mumbai)
58. Them Clones (Delhi)
59. Thermal And A Quarter (Bangalore)
60. The Superfuzz (Delhi)

5 things you didn't know about Mulund

2008-01-31T02:01:00.000-08:00

From the mid 1950s to late 1980s, Mulund was an idyllic sleepy hamlet.
The population of Mulund has shot up to around 8 lakh in 2001 as compared to the 3 lakh in 1991.
Till the ban, it had the highest concentration of ladies bars in India.
Till the ban Shekhar was a frequent visitor to most of them.
Split is playing it's second show at Mulund on the 3rd of Feb, at Bond Bar, Nirmal Lifestyles.

St Andrews Gig Review by Nihar

2008-01-26T02:47:00.000-08:00

Its shows like these that keep us going. It looks all so hopeless when you first arrive at the venue , with the carpenter setting up the backdrop, the sound guy looking as confused as a new born child, no clue of where the hired furniture guy is, but then , at the first strum of the guitar....its all worth it.

Had a decent crowd turnup (250 approx.) Real good considering the promotions.
The show started with Split, which I can say is by far the best split performance. This time they also had a saxophonist on board which took all of split songs to another level must say. Good call with that sax guy.
Have never heard a better version of 'Higher' before. Split should serioulsy consider doing a few more unplugged shows, before they take their next leap.

I've never seen Zero unplugged. Primarily becasue they've not played unplugged in a while now. The day we were deciding the lineup for this show and when Zero came to our minds, we knew it sounded good, but not even half as good as it sounded yesterday. It was brilliant ! Zero unplugged, Kicks ass. Their set started with a song from their first album, 'Lucy' and ended with another song that , well, can be called as one of the most famous songs in the Indian rock scene, 'PSP 12'. I was tired, hungry, filthy and just waiting to go home and crash and I was sitting. But when PSP 12 started, man. I was blown away. Had to get up. Have never heard a more soul full version of a song ever before. The way these guys converted the song into an unplugged one was just brilliant!. They should feature it one of their CD's.

Vayu , though being an excellent performance, had a really bad time with the Sound. Loads of confusion, loads of arguments. Guitars couldn't be heard, drums were too damn loud.
For some reason , what we had anticipated with Vayu's performance was not really happening on stage. It wasn't the same band we know who usually blows away minds at the gazillion of shows they play in Mumbai. Not much synergy.

As I said...Overall....a good show. For those who missed it, we have another unplugged lined up for your @ Sophia's College, Auditorium on the 17th of February. This is the Last show of Sharktooth Livestorms, where some of the biggest bands in the country would be performing. The line up has not been finalized but would be disclosing that soon.
But do look forward to it....who knows...maybe one of the bands is Parikrama ..... ;) .

Signing off,

Nihar.

Mocha show review by Arjun Mohan

2008-01-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

This was quite special, being the first time ever I heard Split unplugged. For a change, I didn't have to travel to the West for a concert, so that was a good thing. The not-so-good thing was that this was held in a place with little or no leg-room but loads of smoke of all kinds, all of which hurt like crazy. For those who don't know, I'm allergic to smoke, so you can imagine my state, especially when smoke was coming down from the top deck.

It was mentioned as unplugged, but I found wires criss-crossing the whole place, and the band members were playing on electrics. There was clearly a wire too many, as I spotted one wire that dipped into a candle, caught in a flame. Luckily, that was fixed, well in the middle of the set.

When I stepped in, Garreth and Aviv were playing songs by their side-project Dischordiant, which got over one song after I entered. Then Aviv took a break and Garreth played a song by his own solo project (how many solo or side projects do they have?) and then Split assembled, minus the drummer. While I'm not too big a fan of acoustic rock/alternative, I surely liked these compositions and the performances here.

Now I'll tell you- I haven't heard too much of Split, except Build, Fat Oaf and Holy Ghost Machine Gun. I recorded an event at Zenzi (that one which got cut short very early) and forgot what those other songs sounded like. This was the first time I heard "Isn't it weird", "Belief", "My House" and "Pig Society"- the last of which sounded like RATM meets soft grunge- the band said some such thing, mentioning RATM. They first did a cover which I don't know about, and when requests for Pearl Jam came in, they initially refused.

"Build (Higher)" unplugged? That was quite an experience, listening to the more melodic side of this song. Garreth played the harmonica a lot longer than on the CD that we've got. Nigel stepped in (I was right behind) and got the best beats out of a special, one-piece drum. He played it like a set that was, well, more than one piece! "Fat Oaf" began and held those reeeaaaallllly looooooong notes that we've got used to- a well-known feature of Garreth's vocals.

There was a lot of talk in this event, as all band members except Shekhar (who's not known to talk much) and Nigel (who stepped in later) spoke to the audience, with a few questions from the audience (including me). The endings of their songs have often confused me a lot (the harmonica solo and the shouts of "Higher!!" and guitar licks in Build, the up-tempo ending of Fat Oaf with lyrics different from the rest of the song and that frenzied ending of Holy Ghost Machine Gun), being different from the rest of the song. They said "just to keep things different; to break the monotony". I had a few more for them, but didn't want to be labelled as a Question Mark in this scene.

Speaking of Holy Ghost Machine Gun, this (and Pig Society), differed from the rest of the lyrical themes of Split songs (often about women who cheat, love lost, sadness, angst), with themes about terrorism and religious fanatics. That frenzied ending was very soft here, but then, this was a soft, coffee-time act, not the vigorous headlining band in large grounds at college festivals.

They finished with a Pearl Jam cover (a choice between Alive and Last Kiss- guess the winner), which they hadn't practised much, as they said. I wished to stay on longer, with the band, but I had to rush to catch a fast train home to be on time for dinner, for a change.

Garreth held those notes well, just as he always did. Aviv's rapid picking was special- I was watching that closely to pick up something. The improvised Alive solo was a treat. Shekhar, not vocal at all here, made his presence felt in all the Split songs, and even did a short solo somewhere. Mel partnered Aviv well, but took a break in one song. Nigel made the most out of a single drum.

This experience was different, and one of the better live events I've heard. Now I'm looking forward to a Split gig in full gear, full distortion, fully cranked.

Split at SIES, Powerchords - Thanks Rajeev

2008-01-21T03:10:00.000-08:00

Split Unplugged - Mocha

2008-01-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks Hardik.

Split, oh, Split

2008-01-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Long overdue post.

I was in Bombay for a whole month, and tried to spend as much time as I could manage with the boys.

Attended one practice session.
At least 5 drinking sessions.
One bike ride.
Rishu's wedding.
One post gig celebrity session (missed the gig by about 45 mins.)
Two film shoots with two of the boys.
One nice new year party.

They're all well and hearty and getting old. Some becoming daddys, and others getting bald, some wanting to settle down with a girl, and some managing to get a new girl at the drop of a hat.

Attended Gary's solo concert - his solo artist name is Dischordian - and... well, am glad it's finally happening. He should have done this 7 years ago. He's really good. I have a video of him at our New Year's Party, which I'll upload soon.

Mel is with Blue Frog, and completely sold to them. Which is good. Kalhan is hanging around at Blue Frog, bumming laptops to get on Orkut, and blogging his ass off, and getting molested by Melroy.

More news:

Three Split gigs this month. Of which one is a fabulous acoustic show.

And finally, the new website is up. And email addresses. I pulled strings and managed to get -
afrin@splitsplit.org.

Wooohooo. Take that, Kalhan!

Visit - www.splitsplit.org

thank you,for the fireworks....

2007-12-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

think ratm....
(thank you,for the fireworks.... shall be the title until i can come up with something better)

little madmen;
sittin way up;
on thier stools;
with buttons in their hands;
preaching words of fools;

they pretend to save you;
better listen to their plan;
theyll put a chip in your head;
and a gun in your hand;

so,you better not say;
that youve been the victim;
when you took his hand;
you chose your direction;

big old uncle sam;
yeah,hes gonna sue;
wearing red,white and blue;
talking shit to you;

fuck yes;

hes gonna strike;
but hell do it in the night;
so you wont have a clue;

old lady justice;
the bitch may be blind;
but she can smell green money;
and she likes fine wine;

ashes to ashes;
dust to dust;
its come full circle;
'cuz you chose yourself first...

SUBLIMINAL..

2007-11-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

There is a point to this post. I'll try to make it clear..

Kalhan : type SOMETHING!
i mean
say, post on the blog you idiots
or something
me: ok
il post
kalhan: good
me: hehehe
brb

subliminal message: POST ON THE BLOG YOU IDIOTS!
(ps- im not calling anyone an idiot.that was kalhan..)

believe..

2007-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

now peepal......this is one of my favs cuz its got a hidden meanin in it........figure wats its about and post.....(mel,ur banned from the game cuz i think u knw wat i mostly write about).......

while your talkin 'bout your sunshine;

im still talkin bout my pain,yeah;

you bribe me silver linings;

my minds still in in disarray,yeah;

chaotic,erratic,spontaneous;

combustion of self;

lift me up,take me higher;

tear my wings and watch me fall;

but.......

chorus:
you make me believe,yeah;(x2)

at the end of the darkness,theres always a light;

you make me believe,yeah;(x2)

that youll always stand by me,no matter the price;

.........thrs more........but im feelin lazy today........

there,mel,i changed th lyrics...........

Cyberspace

2007-10-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mookie... excellent point... Thanks for bringing this up.

Now, I'm not here to moderate this blog, and boy, about the trolling, I get every single comment anyone posts on this blog as an email, so no one knows more about the trolling here than me.

But, I've noticed that we're not sure what to blog about... And well, maybe that's a good thing. Because it can be about a lot of things.

This blog is Split's Space... but it's not only about Split. As I mentioned in the first ever post, it's a blog where anyone connected to Split can post about -

well, what they know, like, hate, dislike, suggest, love about the boys
about things and ideas that Split represents - the rebellion, the vague randomness, the outrageousness, the absolute ridiculousness, the 'do things at the moment and have a blast'.
about music... good music...
about 'soul searching'...
about new revolutions, and about changing the world...
about dogs, cats, alcohol, and popcorn.

See, that's a lot of things to post about. And obviously, there's more.

I know that we visit this blog often... more than once a day... and its a great way to express, and well, start an online revolution. No one knows yet, the full power of an online community... but I know that when we discover it, it will be mindblowing.

Keep talking.

unblog..

2007-10-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

iv been thinking,theres multiple reasons why i almost never blog here.kalhan suggests i blog the multiple reasons.

it seems wrong to troll on a blog.i dont really have anything purposeful to say.ps-notice how drastically my spelling improves here?

this is a split blog.heres how much i know about split.
its a band.
its got five people in it.
my house has a brilliant riff.
er..das about all.

and this is what i know about its members.
aviv- i know him a bit,so blah.
melroy-wears big glasses.
garreth-uh.he sings.
shekhar-uh again.i think i spoke to him once but i dont remember,i was drunk.
nigel-whatever the poll says i guess:)

damn.my reasons arent too multiple eh?

.

2007-10-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

first theres the pain,then theres something more;

like the waves hit the sand and take it away from the shore;

what i really think,you know so well;

so put me back in the darkness,take me out of hell;

why do you insist,on keepinkg me here?;

is this a test?making me face my fears?;

breaking me down into pieces,until theres nothing left;

life's a whore,that shouldnt be kept;

if there really is something more,then show it to me;

'cause i chose the darkess,now i cant see.............

soul searching.......music

2007-10-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

*ahem* bear with me and my occasional whining... oh, forgive me for any grammatical errors, I typed this pretty fast, have to scoot...

Music...What is music? Is it something that defines you? Is it something that you relate to? Is it something that you find solace in, when the world turns it's back on you?
The first time I understood, and fell in love with grunge was about three or four years ago. I had just started smoking green, and I was cocky and full of myself. Me and my friends decided to smoke up that day, other than me, no one else had done 'it' before. We went to the outskirts of the city, a quiet colony along the coast. I was supposed to enjoy myself that day, I mean, after all, money and friends were the two most important things in my life... but that day, when everybody was enjoying themselves, my trip went very bad, very fast. It was at that time, I looked up from my fucked up trip,to see my friends fucking around and fizzing pepsi on one another.i closed my eyes and i went to a dark corner in my head,there was nothing except dirt there.i was all alone,sitting in that dark corner,curled up,i realised sumthing else was there too.a tune,the first few notes of the song 'lithium' by nirvana,i started humming the tune and sang the words.......those first few lines,"i'm so happy,'cause today,i've found my friends,they're in my head"...........thats when i understood the meaning of what those lines meant to me,they may have been written in a different context,or not,never really wanted to find out the 'true' meaning of that song.i was still in that dark corner of my head,but now,i liked being there,the rest of the song,even though i relate to it,i cant really explain what it means,to me atleast.but those starting lines helped me like myself more,i hated being me before that.those words,at that particular moment of time,meant th fucking world to me,they told me i did'nt need anything in the world to be happy,i just needed my god damned self.at the end of the day,when you finally realise,that you are yourself,thats when the perceptions of reality get destroyed,and what you feel comes out as much more than just an expression.
so,what is music you ask me??i still don't know,or maybe i do know and i just cant go back to that place where the world opened up to me that evening.......but even though i may not know the answer to all the questions that may be raised,or for that matter,i may not even know the questions,but you know who you are,or you will know,when you finally find that dark place in your head and the words you find yourself in.
music to me,is what I am,what defines ME,what it personifies through me,is what makes me myself.....................'cause,you are the music,and the music is you.....

p.s.mel,you happy?i din interview you............an now i gta go fukin blind myself in sum studio for passport size photos............thisl kill th nostalgic mood.................damn

Continued...

2007-10-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Kalhan, stop being grouchy. I have been supremely busy.

Anyway, to continue on your noisy note, I'm going to list the nicknames for the boys.

Garreth - Tranny
Melroy - Mellund
Nigel - Chont
Aviv - er... various bad names
Shekar - Shakkar

And now, lets see how much we know about the boys. Am going to put a poll... Give it a shot.

(There maybe many correct answers in reality, but I've fixed on one already.)

splorkut nickname dictionary

2007-10-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

okay, you bastards, there are four contributors to this blog and the only one bothered enough to post is me. so i'll do it again, with another post that wouldn't have made a lick of difference to the "world of split" (the one that's full of semi clad women)

so, these are the lame ass nicknames that we came up on splorkut, over a period (hehehe, period) of a year or so, some of these nicks are really old, and they're for the veterans (read: old people and/or fossils and/or people who'll die sooner)

noobs (also read as newbs, n00bs, noobies) please refer to this list if you don't know who said what to whom when (the when part can be figured out by the date/time given next to the post)

what their parents wanted to call them - what we call them
afrin - af
rishu - beachGIG
anirudh - box
dhaval - divisionbelle (no longer valid) dhavlee
vikram - burn
mamta - pervy (in case she disagrees we're going to type her nick in CAPS)
kirtana (there's no h in her name) - mookie

then there's me, amey and bhanuj (they both fluctuate) who don't have nicknames as yet or won't ever. but you guys can call me god-mod.

sorry if i forgot anyone. if i did then maybe you weren't all that important anyway.

lyrics to new split song - my punk rock days are gone

2007-10-16T00:56:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking about the yesterdays
They seem so much better when they're gone
All the fine women I had
All the fine women that cried
My punk rock days are gone

But now my scene is a bit obscene
I need to work that mindless shift
And yeah I know I've said this before
My punk rock days are gone

All you people driving cars
Everyone with bank accounts
All the ones who are the stars
My punk rock days are gone
Mr Lawyer with your sparkling hair
And builders that speak out of turn
Everyone seems happier
My punk rock days are gone
My punk rock days gone

Bounced cheques make for dinner conversation
Square feet rates are part of this song
Insurance for the healthy
More savings for the family tree
My punk rock days are gone

And today I stand before you wearing
Nothing but a loser's frown
And yeah I know I've said this before
My punk rock days are gone

All my brothers with the 9 inch cocks
Investing in those bonds and stocks
You know I'm in this state of shock cause
My punk rock days are gone
Mr Doctor treating wealthy wives
Ministers with multiple lives
Rich brat packs party dusk to dawn
My punk rock days are gone
My punk rock days are gone

we interview melchoy again (and this one's cooler than the one done by box :)

2007-10-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

What're you wearing?

A t-shirt and a pair of pants. my glasses. my earphones. socks. shoes. underwear. in no particular order. some axe deo.

first things first, why do you hold your guitar so high?

i like to hold it high. it seems comfy.

when i asked you what your political opinion was you said you refused to define yourself. is this because you know absolutely jack about politics?

Define jack.

referring to the "mel: a history" post, we see you're wearing a google tshirt. were you being nice to afrin or are you a capitalistic pig?

I love Google. almost as much as I love masturbation. So, if Google tells us all that it is possible to watch The Exorcism Of Emily Rose without crapping your pants, I will believe them. If only I was as cool as Google. But I am not. But I am not a capitalistic pig. This is a capitalistic pig - PIG.

What is your critical opinion on malls?

Rhymes with balls.

Did you get bullied when you were little?

Very rarely. I always stood up for my rights. this one time this bastard Louis from Class 10 came up to my desk, pick up my pencil box and slammed it down. The pencil box was close to my heart because it was one of those double decker things that you could hold a million things in without bursting open. So i jumped out of my seat like Asterix and sat of Louis and punched him while the class cheered. That was the peak of my teenage years.

when and why did you drop out of college?

Shucks. Haven't been asked this for a long time. I dropped out because wasn't any good at it. I was wasting time, had absolutely no inclination towards lab work. I thought for sometime that it was cool to drop out. But it isn't. You need a grad for loads of things. I wish all readers massive success in their educational lives. Massive! *mental note*

the simpsons or southpark?

Fuck Kalhan .... you're a dick. Ofcourse, Simpsons. For me to poop on.

what are the political/social issues that require immediate attention? (unless you admit you know absolutely jack about politics, in which case you should only talk about the social part)

Finding stray dogs homes as opposed to killing them. Terrorism. Stopping it. Corruption - esp. when it's present in our Government & Police force Maps in South Africa such as

When did you start playing the guitar?

That is a personal question, Sir.

Where did you buy the cry baby from? how much did it cost you? is it worth the money? does it give problems at high frequencies? and why don't you use it? ankle problems?

I pulled it out for the first time at the Razz gig and now, looking back, I realise that it wasn't needed. It will be needed from upcoming gigs cause we're working on this new song called "My Punk Rock Days Are Gone" - which has a wah intro. It was a gift from Vishy. It cost me nothing. Just like Amitabh Bachchan's Mayback cost him nothing cause it was a gift from Amar Singh. It is worth the money? Hmmmm ....interesting. Let me think a little more about this one ... About the high frequencies .... don't know man. I just step on it. Sometimes it sounds ok, sometimes it kind of doesn't waaaaahaaaahaahah as well.Wish I could get that Jerry Cantrell sounds from Rotten Apple. Thats the best fucking wah I've ever heard. Better than Hendrix in Voodoo Child.

ever had a fracture?

yes. it was painful. very.

describe yourself in 6 words.

Supercoolawesomesexybrilliantneatsweet. (Done in one)

describe the rest of split on one word.

Determined

Split without Mel is like... (what?)

They'd be lost for a few years, but eventually they'd realise that they are indeed as talented as I always said they were.

Gmail or hotmail? (hotmail is now providing 5 gb of space, mind you)

then, gmail. It;s not the size - it;s how you use it. Hope my wife is reading this.

msn messenger or gtalk?

Gtalk

how come you don't blog anymore?

How come I don't ride my bike anymore? How come I don't drink as much anymore? How come I have enough hate inside me to kill 3 full grown Antelopes? Some questions are best left obfuscated.

Do you prefer the bombay scene to the Bangalore scene?

Trick question. Last I checked, Bangalore didn't have a scene.

Do you dance?

Sometimes. (everyone note this down and lets make fun of him when he posts on Splorkut) It's not something I'm proud of. But society puts too much pressure on people who don't want to dance. So, I just dance once in awhile to throw the agents off my trail.

Have you ever been hit on by a guy?

Yes. But it wasn't his fault.

As a guitarist, what are you more of? A songwriter or a perfectionist?

Songwriter.

To you, what is punk all about in one word (or two, if its too hard).

It's a question.

Did you like Borat, the movie? I think it sucked carrots (oh yeah, that's my new catchphrase, sucking carrots, what do you think?)

I hated it. The series was nice because it was all mostly un-scripted.The humour was all in that pretty much. Cohen is a fucking genius at improvising. Even the Ali G movie was hilarious. But with the Borat movie, the humour imploded under the script, killing with it the entire population of Kazakhistan and 3 horses. Nice. I like. Sucking carrots seems gay.

Talk about catchphrases, first "stop your bitching" and lately its been pitchouli!!!! What is pitchouli? How do you pronounce it? And when are you going to stop with the lame catchphrases?

It's patchouli. It's pronounced puhchoolee. I will stop with the lame catchphrases right now. Patchouli!!!!

Aviv vs Zorran, who would win?

Depends who's on top.

When you left Split in Bangalore, what were you thinking? Were you high?

I was bored. I get bored and do these things. Bangalore was AWESOME, so I'm glad I did that. But when I thought of moving back, the MOST important thing that drew me here was Split. I stayed in touch with the band while I was away, and even played with them for a show I think. Check with Shekhar. He remembers everything.

Are you high now?

No man. I'm incredibly bored.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever smoked?

I fucking hate you.

Watching two hot girls make out or making out with a hot girl, what would you prefer?

2 hot girls making out, definitely. Been watching a lot of cum-swapping videos on the net. They're awesome.

You guys keep talking about groupies, but I haven't seen any after the Split gigs i've been to. Are you guys lying, trying to convince us that you have extraordinary sex lives, or do you need special infra-groupie glasses to spot them?

The groupies exist man. Kind of. Sort of. Split is not the most sexually sought-after band in the world, but Nigel has been known to get lucky once in a while. And Shekhar of late. But all his women lurk in the shadows. It's like a pre-mating ritual. You won't understand.

Have you ever invented something?

Yes. I invented the pressure cooker.

What're you going to be doing in 5 minutes? (not doing hot groupies for sure)

I'm going to listen to the Muse.

Melroy, nice name, very nice. But the short form, Mel can cause trouble. When you were in school did people make funny rhymes about it? like "Mel fell in the well", "Mel is touching his bell" etc? How did you take it as a child?

The exact line was "Mel - ring my bell. Roy - take my toy". I took it not well at all. But that's how it is.

"Jumping off the cliff ain't scary, its landings that confuse andcloud me", actually, i get really scared (confused and clouded) evenif i'm stading on a cliff and if i look down (or if i look down frommy balcony on the second floor) so what i'm saying is, it doesn'tstand true for me. so, for the 4-5 seconds that it takes to sing thisline, you've lost the most important member of your audience. me. howdo you cope with this loss? (for 4-5 seconds)

I'm working on My House (Vertigo-free version). The line will now go -"Jumping off Patchouli ain't scary, it's gay men that gang rape and prod me".Do I have you now?

uhm... yes. now, associate a word or two with the following:
kalhan - lund
this is sparta! - 300
the split blog - afrin
adidas - afrin
sports - bat & ball
keith richards - monkey
marilyn manson - intense
kalhan - :)
pig society - railway platforms

who's split's biggest fan?

afrin

oh don't see me do ya, chootya? does your mum listen to split? what does she think?

no she doesn't. I dont think any of our parents are into Split. We don't invite them for shows. They don't pretend to miss it much.

what soap do you use?

mysore sandalwood soap.

who's the hottest member on the split forum?

There's this Italian woman called Paola.

*checks community members list*

you've had my rage dvd since last year, when you planning to give it back?

I do? That's news. It must've gotten lost in the mad party we had atmy place when we won Launchpad. I'll ask my wife to look for it.

your favourite indian band (that hasn't released an album as yet)

Split.

your inspirations? and why?

1] guitarists - frusciante (melodic & playing for the song), morello(powerful & riot-inducing), cantrell (path-breaking), billie joe armstrong (powerchord master), bellamy from muse (melodies).
2] non guitarists (painters blah blah) - matt stone and trey parker(for making me laugh & think). I like some of Simrat Sandhu'spaintings too. ( one of which i have seen and personally think it's brilliant)
3] lyricists - zack dela rocha, greg graffin, brandon boyd - and Eminem.

which lyric do you hold closest to your heart and why?

honestly (zwan) - i believe you mean the best that life can bring, ibelieve in it all
omission (frusciante) - omit myself as a favour for god, suffer fatecause it's the only lift you got, dedicating all of before to now,emphasising things you won't allow
take the power back (ratm) - the complacent students sit through someof that bullshit that he learnt in school
pig society (split) - nine - four on the paneland many other lyrics that do not lose their potency when written inlower case.

jane's addiction or chili peppers?

RHCP.

chili peppers or rage?

Rage

what was your mental state of mind mental thing, when you heard aboutthe rage reunion. describe briefly the espression on your face.

I was like "O well .... in a month, I'm going to meet a bastardsomewhere who went to the concert. Then I can live vicariously for aminute and try and forget the depressing geographical and economicalconstraints that made me miss the gig. Bulls Who Pee Red!!! Waon waonwacka waon waon wacka wacka wacka"

are you anti lol or pro lol?

anti it. But I'm pro :) And the wah is totally worth it man. Chicks find it hot when you use awah. It's like your expressing your soul with your foot.

Suck my ass

well, see ya mel, thanks for the interview and all

You really are a dick.

right. afrin is now going to do spellcheck on this blog post and put spaces in the necessary places :) thank you all for reading.

testimonial for mel

2007-10-08T03:59:00.000-07:00

testimonial 1:

mel is my best friend. we grew up together on the streets of meera road where we would spend hours watching the garbage collectors collect garbage. later, we would watch the garbage collectors collect more garbage. as time went by, i got more serious about life and stopped watching the garbage collectors collect garbage. our friendship suffered greatly. for many years we didn't even talk. finally. last week, i called him up and we met at barista. mel stuck me with the bill as usual which i have to pay in installments now, due to the meagre salary i get working as a full time split fan. things are looking up for us now. i have a great sense of humour and always make him feel good if he's feeling down. i am crazy about music and always am scrapping friends on orkut.

testimonial 2:

mel is the ri-duh-m guitarist of split. he has a beautiful brown telecaster which has a semi hollow body and a very slick fretboard. ever since it was introduced in the 50's, musicians from all over the world have relied on the telecaster's powerful tone and smooth playability. mel's guitar has a faster neck than most telecaster's i've played (mel's is the only i've played) it has a one piece maple neck and 21 medium jombo frets on a 25.5 inch scale. the two single coils cry out loud when passed through a good overdrive patch. mel also has a crybaby, the wah whose sound and tone has never been duplicated and has been used by tens of guitarists worldwide. the only disadvantage of the crybaby is that it weighs around 3.7 pounds.

oh wait, testimonial for MEL.

mel is funny and annoying. more annoying than funny. he's approximately 7'5'', many would disagree, but he seems to be (since i'm 6'8'') and weighs... not much. he has a telecaster and an original crybaby wah, and i think he has a marshall blues overdrive pedal too, oh great. now i have to steal it from HIM.

SPLINTERVIEW WITH AVIV :)

2007-10-05T02:41:00.001-07:00

Aviv speaks! Finally!
Notice how he responded in only 2 days. I have super-bugging powers. MUHAHAHA!

Wassup Aviv! (you can't say nothing much)
(Note from interviewer: He dint answer it! People don't take me seriously, I tell you. So I'll just pretend I'm Aviv and answer for him:
Ah, well, woke up, got about 30 bugging messages from Kitu.. so dragged my ass to a cyber and typed out answers. I type slowly.)

How did you happen to join Split, and when?

I joined Split in October or November 2006. Well as the legend goes, Split and a wise man from the south (Sandeep from 'old jungle saying' Mel's band from Bangalore) were sitting in the sacred house of the spirits. Split was then enduring an ordeal that no band should face- creative impotency- and asked the great long haired wise man from the south for guidance. The wise man then paused took a large gulp of the dark red spirit and in a trance like frenzy conjured up his wisdom and uttered the words that was to cure Split's lack of proper erection (creative impotence) saga. "Get on board a new better musician. Someone who'll solo like a Ferrari and someone who already has a girlfriend (so they didn't have to share the few groupies left because... you... the band was ...) Then the great banger of all things, especially women, Nigelantricks called the underground not so popular with rock scene- Aviv- Sir Aviv from Cherai that very instant from the temple of spirits and invited him to join the rockalicious orgy .. SPLIT was whole again.

What other bands have u played for? Were you serious about any of them? Did any of them make it big? I mean biggish... as in slightly unobscure?

Hmm... now that you pamper my self esteem with such encouraging questions about my past endevours i must oblige... Freebase was the only relevant band worth mentioning. We didn't win a grammy or anything but we did record and work on some killer music. There were others but all giant wankers... i was always serious about my music and the Iplayed with. No none of them made it big before or after me.

Apart from playing with Split, what do you do?

Nothing. Split is a full time thing. With all the tours and stuff. The groupies, the beer, the daydreaming, the the various albums in different states of completion... you know it's a lot. Oh, in my scarce free time, I run a guitar school (some might disagree with the term school... who cares! Kiss my arse and call me Jonny wankers!) Guitar.Inc.

Your favourite Split song, and why.

My HOUSE!!!!! Why .... jumping off that cliff ain't scary... that line has helped me a lot... when I'm scared shitless of something and freeze.. i sing (hum the tune) " Jumping off that cliff ain't scary.. its landings that confuse and cloud me." It is strange but beautiful try it. I am dead serious(Mel is a genius for writing that line) you'll feel not so alone and figure that bad landings may happen but its all part of life and everyone is scared of it. You won't feel alone your chest will swell and you'll jump!

Your favourite song that YOU have composed/written?

A song called- Starstudded. Not been performed with the band and don't know if we'll include it in our list.. cause it's kinda not a typical split song.. but it is close to my heart..
(Note from interviewer again: is that a hint to the band? Hey, band, I think this is a hint to you.)

Do your moods create your music?Or does the music create your mood?

It 's a 69 type of situation.

Your influences?

George Paul John Ringo, Steve Vai, The great classical masters, Don Mclean (vincent muhaa!) there are lots can't think of them all.. Kurt of course... and Guns and fuckin Roses (it sounds so much cooler with that)
(Note from very talkative interviewer: do you play lead for Spl-fucking-it? ps- this would have been the next question if this was not an online interview.)

When did you start playing? Can you play any other instruments? Actually, I know you can't, so name any instrument you'd LIKE to play.

When i was 15 i started playing seriously. I got my first guitar on my first birthday so pretty much since then (it was quite cool actually a shiny red baby guitar). I've always wanted to play the Indian Bamboo flute. And I'd also love to bajao the drums well and of course there's this really pretty girl I know I'd love to bajao... never mind.

Since everyone else is being asked this question, when are you releasing your album? Maybe we'll compare your answer with the answers the rest of your bands given:)

My first album will be out by 2010. It will be a guitar solo with a vocal lines by Gary he is the best. Split's album well.....

Any other Indian band you'd like to play for, apart from Split? (you cant say there is no other band)

No..... I really did pause for a few moments and thought about this one... and honestly no.. oh wait ...well actually there is one band, no no they're not Indian, sorry. No.
(ME:ARGH! Thats just circumloqution for "NO"!)

Say you're gonna drop dead.Or your fingers are going to fall off. Or you go suddenly deaf or something... whats the last song you'd play?For whom and why?

In My Life by the Beatles. It just means a lot to me and would love to sing it to the people I love. Why? Well, if you listen to the song it talks about a person's memories of the special people and things that have been part of his life and how much these things mean or meant to him.. but then he pauses to tell his wife or family or whoever is it is he is singing to ... that in his life they mean the most. I like the sentiment.

You rarely write words for any of your music, right? Why?

When I was younger I was a keen lyricist. But I soon figured that my inability to sing in my mother tongue would be a set back. I was keen on making it in the music business and no one was willing to sponsor my trip to America. Unfortunately no one was willing to sign on an English singing psedu-american accented teenage broke nepali looking thane-born potential rockstar... so I chose to speak a more universal language of sound and decided I would be an instrumentalist...

About Guitar.inc..what are your plans for the school; how, when, and why did it begin? How devoted are you to it?

Guitar. Inc was my rebellion against all the people who told me I was wasting my time doing music. Opinions varied but the message still the same... don't dream you don't have the right to because 1) you are born in the wrong country man. 2) Dude when you going to take life seriously? what you think we're all fools for working regular jobs? 3) Dude guitar players don't make any money any more.. look at that lenny (name changed) he was so good but look what happened to him. and lots more..... It started in April 2007. I am very devoted to it.

Do you think Guitar.Inc is doing well? If yes-what/who has helped it grow? If no-well, blah... elaborate.

Yes it is doing awesome! My dad has been the biggest help. My brother Shawn, mom. And last but not the least my faithful students.

When you're rich and famous and touring the world playing a real Lespaul and doing hot groupies everyday, will you still come back every weekend or something to Upvan lake to teach random idiots how to play Bach and Boyzone? Honest answer.. Bach and BOYZONE.

Tumare Muah mae Ghee Shakar (not Shakar Mohite of course!) I see you made it a point to pick on my Guitar's legitimacy and right to be a true LES PAUL... but a rose called by any other other name smells just as sweet I say, you monkey fellow, you Chinese Pluto guitar playing chop stick!
(you-know-what from you-know-who: FYN! YOUR guitar has a HOLE in it. Mines atleast not porous!)
Yes, I will still be teaching the groupies how to play my favorite instrument ...oh yes, of course the idiot students, ...yes them too.

Did you find a spider family in my guitar? (This is a genuine question.)

Yes, actually I happened to catch young and oh so fukin hot teenage britney spider in a rather revealing and compromising position...hehehe...

What was your best ever experience on stage?

Nothing in particular. Or wait when Melly took Luke's pants off at launch pad. Man, it felt so good standing on stage with musicians who have integrity.

Your worst ever experience on stage?
Got too drunk and forgot my solo.. long long time ago when i was an amateur drinker... I just stood there and smiled stupidly at my band.

Did you ever cry for a movie? (heheheh)

Yes, most Hindi movies make me cry.

What will you be doing 5 minutes from now?

Returning to my daily state of affairs of course! You know, save the world, knock up julie ann moore... give lessons to Steve ...regular stuff.

Good. Now say something nice about me :)

Ok Aviv says and i quote" Something nice about me. Me is a nice person. Kindness is one of her many virtues. She has big round well formed eyes and a .....
(Pissed-off interviewer who cant shut up: atleast FINISH the sentence ungrateful..AND dont make it seem like im forcing you to say something nice about me!)
(uh-oh! I DID force you, dint I..heheh!)

In case anyone cares, I just counted and turns out its 22 questions,not 21..
bubye :)

e-mail swapping with Mel

2007-10-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

Good Morning fellow Split fans. I recently had the chance to interview [the man, himself] *drumroll* Melroy D'Mello, the usually-stoned guitarist of Split.
*applause* Thank you, Thank you.
Oh and thanks to Mel for sparing time for the nonsense that I can pack through an email.

Yenjoy

Box asks:
Sorry for the typo, or whatever it was.
P is for Pig will be out soon [as said previously]. So how do you feel about that?

Mel: Such as like most Americans don't have maps. As in such as Iraq & South Africa. Feed the kids. Don't kill animals such as America.

Me: Where do you see Split headed in the coming couple of years - since the scene's evolving pretty fast?
Mel:We'll have an international record deal with Jive records, who'll just sign us up for only our sweet looks. They'll market us as "the angst from India". 2 years after we're signed on and opened numerous times for Avril Lavigne, they will use a 30 second edit of "Belief" to launch Halo-4. We'll play Jay Leno - a show where we'll share the stage with Naomi Campbell (just back from retirement and rehab) and Jack Black. Shekhar and Jack Black will find something in common -they're ongoing problem with bad skin. After this, everything gets
kind of hazy.

Me: Do you think the Split community on Orkut [aka Splorkut] is the greatest ever made? {hint: yes}
Mel:No. The greatest thing ever made is Old Monk Rum. But if you want me to be a conformist pig, then yes.

Me: We've heard a couple of the new songs, and are definitely good, so would you explain to us in a gentleman-like manner what the creative process is like?
Mel:Gary and I were so far the song-sparkers for the band. Aviv's come in with some great ideas - so we're all of us actively involved in song writing now. We usually write lyrics and keep the sheet handy. If there's a tune that starts to sound good, we see what lyrics we can slap into it. Patchouli!!!! Sometimes, we have lyrics and tune written in entirety by one person (mostly Gary or me). Then we go through iterations and versions and fix on something that causes Nigel least discomfort. Patchouli!!!!

Me: The band has a rhythm guitarist in Aviv. Could you picture your band making all the superfluous music without a rhythm Guitarist?

Mel:What? Superfluous music? What the fuck does that mean? And Aviv's the lead guitarist. WTF? WTF? Such as maps as if in South Afghanistan.

Me: When is the album supposed to be out, complete with artwork and thank you's et al? [hint: give us a date]
Mel: Sometime this year. Fali the flea infested bastard is sitting on it.

Me: Thank you for your golden time your majesty!
Mel: Anything for my subjects. Now about that "not being high part" ...

An interview with Gary - vocalist, harmonica player, and rebel extraordinaire!

2007-09-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Gary, what did you do today?

Not much. I am now happily, ecstatically unemployed. I'm just soaking it in. Slept 11 hours, met Mel and Simrat, had an Orlem Delight, fish cutlets, beer. I read, I slept some more... awesome day overall. I just had dinner, which included sorpotel. Now to read and sleep some more.

Give us a quick update on 'p is for pig', the tracks, duration, every bit of info you can think up.

There'll be eight or nine tracks on the album. The well-known ones, and a few that we haven't played regularly or are pretty new - Isn't It Strange, Don't Wake Me, Save Me. Recording's a bit stuck right now- Fali's busy with a new job. So we need to figure out how and whereto finish recording.Oh, and for the record, I said "by the end of the month" - I didn't specify which month!That's about it I guess. Can't think of any other info right now.

What's your favourite track from the album?

It varies. I guess My House, Holy Ghost Machine Gun, and Build Higher. Also Don't Wake Me, and another that might or might not be on the album - Save Me.

What's the highest expectation you'd lay on this album?

That it's the kind of album that I myself would love to listen to, from start to finish. Or do you mean like record sales?! In that case, fuck knows! I don't think about it. We'll find out soon enough.

Who are you referring to when you say 'p is for pig' or 'pig society',is it the dead ('March of the pigs' by Nine Inch Nails) or an innocent profanity ('pig' by coal chamber)?

When I say P is for Pig, I'm referring to the pig in a child's alphabet book.

What's "my house" about? I mean, I know Mel wrote the lyrics so I'm not expecting it to make much sense, but, just in case it does? :P

I don't like explaining my lyrics, so I don't usually ask other people about theirs, but Mel has given us several different explanations for My House. I thought all of them were spur-of-the-moment, off-the-top-of-his-head bullshit, but quite amusing as usual. Personally, I think it's a weird love song and I love it.

"Fat oaf" sounds like a cross between a tiny anti-consumer message and a departure. Is it?

Departure meaning? Like "farewell, my lover"?

Yeah... is it?

No, nothing of the sort.I don't like the lyrics to that song, they're vague and unfocused... They were supposed to be temporary, but too much time went by, and with certain things, after a point it gets too late to go back and change them. I suppose there's a vague and rather poorly-expressed anti-consumerism message in there, but that's only incidental.

Kids being fed with father-values at the most vulnerable point of their lives (save me) or holy wars (holy ghost machine gun) what's more of an immediate threat to us as humans?

Hmmmm... in my head, both songs are coming from the same place. What are father-values?

Father values, like, conformities i guess. Anyway, what are you more of - a poet or a singer?

Singer. I know I sing well, and I do it quite easily. Writing's more difficult, and I'm usually not satisfied with it.

What's the toughest vocal line to pull off live, have you managed to do so every time?

Hehehe. The scream in Cochise. The highest notes in Build Higher. And no, I screw them up once in a while. The scream is easier though.

Your influences, who and why.

Nick Cave, for the immense range of his work, the beauty and depth of it. Dylan, Cohen, Tom Waits. Pretty much the same reasons. Their work is amazingly fine-tuned, pretty much to perfection. And as a whole -the lyrics, the arrangement, the vocal delivery... everything. Nothing is throwaway.Queens of the Stone Age. What awesomely melodic heaviness! And I love the sense of humour and the druggy, lazy, feel that they have, in spite of being heavy.The Beatles. I can't think where to begin with answering why. The Stones too... too many others to mention really... Cake, Johnny Cash,Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Radiohead, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Roy Orbison... that should be enough for now!

Hip hop or death metal?

Death. I'd prefer death to either of them.

When it comes to covers you guys have chosen from a wide variety of genres. Nine inch nails to Radiohead to Godsmack to Deftones and Incubus. When you choose a track what criteria do you choose?

No particular criteria. But the process is something like this:
1. One of us likes a song and suggests it.
2. Everybody says it's fuckall.
3. a. Suggester himself is not too keen on the song and gives up.
b. Suggester likes the song enough to mindfuck everyone for a while,and sometimes everyone finally agrees that it's a good song to play.
4. a. No one bothers to learn the song and the idea dies.
b. One by one, everyone learns the song (with two-week intervals between each person), and six months later we finally play it.

You can play the guitar, harmonica and sing at the same time, or so i hear. Are there any bootleg Garreth D'mello recordings floating around that we don't know about?

Sing at the same time? No, I tried it a few times when I started learning the harp, but didn't manage really well. And since the harmonica-holder was one I made myself, it wasn't too stable or sturdy, so I didn't spend too much time at it. A few home demos, mostly stuff that'll be on the album. And I guess there are a few covers that I recorded with a friend, years and years ago. Chris Isaak, Roy Orbison. I don't remember the last time I heard them and I'm not sure I want to search.

How does the Split songwriting process take place?

There's isn't really any such thing as the Split Songwriting Process. A few songs have been brought to the practice room practically complete, only needing arranging. Others have been rough ideas - maybe a riff or two - that were brought to practice and were built on from there. Sometimes stuff comes out of a jam, sometimes out of someone playing something to irritate everybody else.

What, according to you, is the gem of songwriting? minimalistic ortechnical? how far have you incorporated that into split's music?

Minimalist. I think the technical bit can come in later, and shouldn't be overdone. And for Split, I think it's just how we are as a band and as individual musicians. There's no conscious effort to incorporate anything.

Lets take a random Split song being played live. who's job (from the band) is easiest to pull off?

Don't Wake Me - everybody except me! Everyone else fucks off for a drink. (Fresh lime soda if they're Shekhar.)

What are the social issues that you've tried to highlight using this album? What issues were less easily addressed? What do you feel you've missed out on?

I don't address social issues. It's all personal.

Which city in India would you say has THE scene you'd love to be in.

Bombay's pretty good... but I guess Delhi, probably. I don't really know enough of the scene to say so with any confidence though.

When it comes to the scene, most bands around are given importance on their old-school-metal outfits and Iron Maiden covers. do you think that keeps the scene behind a few decades or is it a good thing to being touch with your roots?

Being in touch with your roots and being stuck in something that's finished are two different things. There's nothing wrong with old-school metal, but hardly anyone manages to bring anything new to it, or out of it. Still, I don't know if you could say that it "keeps the scene behind" or anything of the sort.

When did you know that Split needed a second guitar player?

When we jammed with Aviv and realized how much better it sounded.

what can Aviv do that Mel can't? And vice versa.

Aviv can play the Slither solo. Mel can play the Your Time Has Come solo (usually). Mostly stuff like that. Only Aviv can nail some really tricky, fast shit, fancy chords and stuff... and there's some really simple, wacky, groovy shit that only Mel can come up with.

Now, most importantly, what's the worst cover you've ever done?

Blurry... or Control, I think... by Puddle of Mud. The bastards had both songs on the set list when I joined the band. What a fucking piece of shit.

What're you going to do after you've posted the answers to this interview?

I told you - read and sleep. 11 hours. Goodnight.

Oookay, enjoy Gary, keep the music coming, good night.

good night Kalhan, you fucking rule! <--- i added this part on my own, but i know he means it :)

Melroy - The Incredulously Ridiculous

2007-09-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if the usage of 'incredulously' is correct here. However, I'm going to go with my Googly instinct which says it suitably conveys what I want to convey. Anyway, getting on with business, I was going through some old links, and found this hilarious story that Mel had posted on his blog.
Here it is in Mel's own words.

THE FIRST HISTORICAL INDIAN HOMOSEXUAL EPISODE

It happened in the time of Ashoka, many years ago. Gopi was a young village lad, supple and ambitious. Being ambitiously supple, he grew tired of his village and decided to head towards the big city - Takshila. Leaving with only blessings and a donkey to carry all his worldly belongings (2 pairs of clothes, food for the journey, some gold coins and a pencil), he head into the big, blue world. He stopped for rest in a few hours, then resumed his journey again. He repeated this sequence of actions several more times till - almost all of a sudden - he was at the gates of the big city.

Inside the city, he let the sounds and sights sink in nice and easy. Once he was done sinking, Gopi realized that he was really hungry. However, the supple lad had spent all his money and eaten all his food... all except a loaf of bread. He watched a couple of hot city women walk across the street carrying water in jars... they were really, really hot. He reached into his satchel strapped onto the donkey's back. The loaf of bread... nice. He pulled it out and was about to have a go when he stopped all of a sudden and didn't have a go. Instead, he made a beeline for a street-side stall from where emanated the most delicious of smells... the store sold butter chicken. Gopi almost slipped on the small pool of saliva that quickly formed at his journey-worn sandals. What was he to do now? No money, hunger tearing into his tummy and only a loaf of bread. The smell of butter chicken was so yummily yummy that he decided he'd hold the loaf above the big pot where the golden puree simmered. That way, he could taste the molecules of butter chicken and still not have to pay. Gopi smiled and drooled some more.

He held the loaf, at first sneakily, and then with growing confidence, above the pot. The shop keeper was too busy to figure out what Gopi was doing for the first 2 minutes. Then, when he finally did, he got really pissed. He asked Gopi to pay up for the yummy smoke that he'd consumed by generously spreading it over bread. However, our gastronomic gangster didn't have any money. So, he screamed and pleaded for mercy -

"I have nothing .... please spare me .... all I have is this donkey".

So, they took his ass.

Splorkut?

2007-09-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Oh, yea. The Split community on Orkut. I should have mentioned it before, coz I've never seen such a super hyper active community on Orkut. It's on a trip of its own. There was a time when I could keep pace with the community and its grave discussions. But soon, it grew wild, and took up a mad pace where someone would post every 3 minutes. It was quite incredible.

We've actually gotten to know other Split fans, and we've also learned some irreplaceable important facts about each other, (for ex: Kalhan likes to smoke kittens), and we've learned new bad words, and argued about all kinds of artists and music, and killed long hours in mundane conversation, and played ridiculous games like 'Rate the person below you' and cursed cops.

Wooooo. This post is dedicated to all those people who believe that life without the Split community would be as drab as a toast without butter.

Splorkut rules!

2007-09-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

We were going to call ourselves Splorkutians back on the Split community on orkut.
Meh, it seems that phase is now over, like the Gary-long-hair phase, or the shirtless-nigel phase.

I like the whole idea of this blog a lot, and I thought If I could get to be a part of something so earth-SPLITting[wink-wink] it would be really cool.
Thanks to Afrin, and Split a lot.
and especially Afrin, cause she invited onboard.
hope you have a pleasant journey.
We're taking flight now.

Ani[also known as box on the community]

Wanna blog for Split?

2007-09-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Split Blog Contributor's Terms and Conditions:

1. I hereby swear that I'm a Split Fan.
2. I will use my powers as a Split Blogger to write fun, interesting, random trivia about things vaguely related to the band / its music / its concept.
3. I will not use this blog for commercial, offensive, or boring purposes.
4. I will enjoy blogging for Split, and share the blog with other music champions.

If you agree to these Terms and Conditions and want to post for Split's blog, drop me an email saying I agree to SBCTAC at:

sheildmaiden@gmail.com

And don't dare tell me that my email address is silly. So what if it is?

rsj pubrockfest gig review : 10th september 2007

2007-09-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

22 hours of busride and i'd be mad as hell if this gig hadn't happened.

the lineup for the show is in itself an exciter, 13th hour, the baby of drummer jay (of pdv fame) zorran (ex guitarist of split) p-man (current bassist of pdv) and whatshisname, the vocalist were going to kickstart the set followed by *drumroll* split and then the superfuzz.

i reached the venue at 7 pm or so, and the soundcheck was just going on, so i managed to sneak in a few snaps of me at the soundboard looking all technical while staring at the pretty red buttons and took a few pics of zorran's (better known as "warren's brother") pedalboard, which is pretty kickass. the phaser is a pretty important pedal if you ask me, and if you don't ask me then you can go fuck yourself.

anyway, i was checking out the pedals before i was kicked out of razz and asked to come in again. which i did, only to realize that the soundcheck was still going on, apparently the superrfuzz drummer's tom's weren't sounding good. i'm talking about the drum-toms, fyi.

so, went out, ate leftovers from the subway tables and rishu managed to sneak me into the guestlist, and i'm hoping i don't owe him a hundred bucks.

so, the gig starts with 13th hour, the band was brilliant i tell you, in the short span of a month, they've developed with a bunch of kickass originals and well-nailed covers ranging from system of a down to mudvayne. zorran is indeed the riff master, very good stage presence, although the vocals were a bit of a turn off, the sound kept everything tight as hell.

then came split. onstage, watching them there after about a year was bliss. mel's switched to a couple of pedals instead of that huge-ass processor that he used to drag along, one's a marshall bluesdrive pedal and one's an xxl stompbox (if anyone knows what the hell a stompbox is, please tell me) aviv's still using the processor and the les-paul lookalike guitar, shakkar used a k-5 for the gig, the fieldy (from korn) signature guitar, and nigel was using the wooden drumsticks as usual (sorry, i don't know a lot about drum equipment)

their set started off with this song called "voice", brand new song it seems, i swear i didn't think garreth would play the harmonica on stage, but he did and they messed it up in the end, but since garreth already told us that they might, he is forgiven. the set progressed into "my house" which kicked ass, a wee bit different than the version found on the streams, i prefer this one, any day. garreth's vocals shone out, and so did mel's backup vocals.

there's something about this performance that was so grand, which is odd if we take the size of razz into consideration. i guess its the light that shines off mel's specks and gary's rings that makes it look like a pink floyd performance. i could have sworn i saw vishwesh in the crowd till i stopped swearing (?) and he took the mic and sang a bit of my-house from mel's mic. he then took mel's place to play "pig society" and nailed the riff for sure. a note to garreth, or whoever the band leader is, i can play the riff too :)

mel got his guitar back, gary announced the song of the night for me and the set progressed into the opening harmonic-driven riff of "holy ghost machine gun" which was the mosh-starter (too bad there were hardly any moshers in the crowd) and i have to admit, nigel nailed the beat into the ground, yes, luke kenny can go screw himself. i felt an inch taller during the duration of the song, maybe because i was standing on the monitor, which probably blocked off a lot of the stage sound (hehe) but the song was liberating, if you'd like to believe an under-statement.

zorran was the lucky bastard who got "fat oaf" dedicated to him and he was called on stage to play the song, which he did. looks like he remembers the riff still. there were a few sound problems with this one, since zorran's used to his single effects and not the processor and he had to keep fiddling with the volume control, but if you pressed your ear against the speakers it was easy to listen to :P

no aviv solos on that one, and the night went into the almighty "build higher" which rocked the set-list harder than it ever has. it almost stole the light from pig-society and holy-ghost-machine-gun, the sound was excellent, the riffs could be heard clearly and garreth's voice sounded sweeter than ever. then came the end of a relatively shorter set-list, the song "sometimes" and i hope this one's gonna be on the album, a perfect ending to a perfect, yet short setlist.

and now, the superfuzz got the stage, i have to admit, the bassist is quite tight, he has amazing grip and he can nail a good bassline, the drummer lacks consistency but is great with his beats and the guitarist is... well, i can find a good 20 similarities between him and some major rock acts from the grunge/post-grunge era.

the set was long, and entertaining, but i couldn't help but notice the similarities between his vocal style and that of jack white (the white stripes) especially in "what every kid wants", and lyrical similarities like in the song "school" which has a hook that screams "you're back in school again!" which is quite similar to "you're in high school again" by nirvana in the song (again) "school" and another song which has lyrics similar to "aneurysm" ("she gets it pumpin straight to my heart")

their set consisted of some very kickass covers in their punk rock avtaars, "no ordinary love" which is a sade cover with a heavy chorus effect, "john the revelator" which consists of a catchy riff and screams which happens to be a favourite of mine from depeche mode's new album "playing the angel" and ended with "jack the ripper", a white stripes cover.

great gig, ended with a great applause, although half the superfuzz setlist i was staring at girls near the bar (sorry, i'm getting used to the bangalore no-glam life, i couldn't help it) but i'm glad i came for this one, even thought it cost me a bomb :)

wouldn't miss a split gig for the world

Nigel - A Story

2007-09-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

I've promised myself I'm going to do a 'History' about each of the boys. Although, honestly, I know lots about only Mel and Gary. And Nigel to some extent.

Nigel, is a bum. A nutter. But a nice chap. Can be a super pest at most times, but somewhere deep inside, there resides a particle of niceness.

Nigel is hilarious. Not always, but many times, and he can have you cracking up, especially with some nasty one liners. He's fairly thick skinned too.

He's a burst of energy (noise) and he's a womanizer. Full time. In fact, he takes that occupation so seriously that he is continuously studying expert documents to fine tune his skill and prowess.
Last seen, he was reading a book called 'How to give a woman an orgasm without having sex.'

Of course, like all noble experts, Nigel likes to share his knowledge. Give him the floor and he will have you sit down and hear him out, all about sex, for 300 minutes. Even if you beg him to stop... nothing can stop Nigel when he gets started... (though we've discovered that bringing a girl into the room can distract him for a few minutes, but even that is not as effective as slowly making your way behind him, and hitting him hard on the head with a cymbal.)

Nigel lives in style. And likes to dress in style. He's a fancy-flashy boy. Looks nice though...

When we met, and I was appointed chief and only dedicated photographer, Nigel took me aside once before a show, and made a complaint / request. He said, no one ever got photos of him while he performed... Of course, this had much to do with the fact that he's always behind a stack of drums, but he is also vain. Come on, he takes care of his appearance, and takes longer to do his hair than how long Mel takes to get ready in a whole week. But that is not the point...

So, I agreed to pay special attention to drummer boy and get photos. Here's a couple of the nicer ones.

Nigel was one of the founding members of Split. Him and Shekhar are the oldest Split boys. And the band really means a lot to Nigel... He takes care of the money too - and guards it like a mother hen. He loves jazz, and can be trusted to
1. embarrass you in public.
2. get attention from 50 passing strangers by doing something ridiculously outrageous.
3. Cancel band practice if he is in one of 'those' moods.

Anyway... I'm extraordinarily tired, and can't think of any more nice things to say about Nigel.

Here he is - making that wall of noise for Split on stage.

If Gary can take his shirt off, so can Nigel.

Ps: Nigel is great fun and a rockstar. Split wouldn't be Split without him. At all.

Garreth - A History

2007-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

A brief history of Garreth's avatars.

The old days:

The Bhagat Singh Look, GIR 2006:

Peace and Bikes - Goa, 2006:

The first hair cut in ten years? IRock, 2006:

Tatooed, barechested, and as Jim Morrison:

With ForceField, punk band, and as full time dog magnet:
Beer, and sidelocks:

At peace.

Mel - A History

2007-09-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw Mel, was at the hospital where Nigel was at after he met with a near fatal accident (broken rib, arm, ruptured spleen). Mel, in those days, was neat, and looked like this:

Soon however, as a renewed madness - probably a combined effect of being back in Bombay, being back with Split, and hanging out with Garreth (and me) - hit him, Mel got a bit untidy. And his hair grew. And his sleek spectacles broke, and his contact lenses got lost.

As a result he dug out the good old sodabottles.

I was horrified when I first saw them.

Then, I grew used to them.

And then, I thought they were the best things to happen to Mel.

Now, I can't imagine Mel without them. And no one else could carry them off the way he does. On television, on stage, in my movie?

-

2007-08-28T03:58:00.000-07:00

why isnt split making a video for my house?its a beautiful song.
ps-i guess der wont be any answers here if there arent any on the orkut thread..
pps-i hate musicians mall.

zlood

2007-08-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

hhhhhhh
hello afrin:)dat was my process of font selection.(wingding is strange)
i would have changed colour too,and given u an insight into the cognitive processes that underlie that particular decision,but font selection is jobless enough to begin with.

i,obviously,have very little to say;)

strangely,tho i blabber constantly online,i have only been to 3 or 4 split gigs..

Hello Mookie

2007-08-27T09:17:00.001-07:00

Say something!

Out with the boys

2007-08-25T03:16:00.001-07:00

10 things you will see when you hang out with Split:

1. Food fight - popcorn, peanuts, or carrots, whatever's on the table.
2. Lots of alcohol for Mel, Garreth, Nigel and Aviv, and limesoda for Shekar.
3. Nigel and Mel fighting over something as ridiculous as 'is it possible to give a woman an orgasm in 3 seconds.'
4. Mel and Garreth arguing about the origins of punk music.
5. Hardik randomly yelling 'Split rocks. Microsoft rules.'
6. Garreth saying 'Banchod, Microsoft is full of chuts.'
7. Afrin saying Google is God, and everyone agreeing (except Hardik.)
8. Aviv playing the guitar and singing 'if I were a young man, and if I were to marry...'
9. Shekhar not saying anything. Michelle smiling. Simrat looking lovely.
10. Everyone getting smashed and Mel trying to leave from the fire exit.

Newboos

2007-08-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

Come aboard, all ye Split lovers, and random lovers, and bored pigeons.

I have brought on:

Kalhan (his other blog)
And Dhaval Roy (her other blog)

And now they will say hello.
Hoot.

More about SPLIT

2007-08-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

Split is a band with an attitude that says - "Let's fuck around."

They dont want a conventional existence, with 'this is how it should be.' Hanging out with Split is going where the wind blows. And boy, anyone can be the wind.

They've been around a few years. They've had people come and go... but everyone who has been a part of Split has been part of the brotherhood, and even if they're doing something else now, they're still part-Split. Like me, I'm a half-Split.

They're 5 boys.

Garreth - who sings, is 27 and is at present
getting his bike serviced and cursing a cop.

Melroy - who plays guitar, is also 27, and is presently saving the world from bad music.

Aviv - who also plays guitar, is, I think 27, and is teaching
a 18 year old girl how to play the guitar.

Shekar - bass, is 25, and is
at this time, and most others, asleep.

Nigel - who drums, is 27, and is wondering if he should have his hair braided or not.
And now, you know Split.

More about Split's Blog

2007-08-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I continue, post lunch, to be extremely bored.

Here are a few really-boring-and-unnecessary facts about the blog.

1. It is black. My other blog is white. It is like my dairy. Split is a rock bank. Must I conform to convention and give it a black background?

2. I don't know who I'm going to share this blog with. I think it should specifically be fans of the band, and not essentially the band.

3. Mainly because - the band is too busy pursuing other boring but money inducing activities.

4. This blog doesn't necessarily have to be about Split. It can be about anything related to music, cops, food, sex, and all other things that Split relates to.

5. That is all I can think of for now.

Now, I will invite the other big fans to blog on Split.

Kalhaaaaaaan.

Split's Blog?

2007-08-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

Split has a website. And new one being designed.
Split has a super hyper active Orkut community.
Split has a myspace page (which I can't get around on - really grumpy service, I think)
And Split has me - their biggish fan.

And right now, I have absolutely nothing to do, well, actually there is loads of work, always is, but I dont want to work. I want to make a blog for Split. And here it is.

Now, I will get busy with putting up Split photos, and then will wonder who to invite to this blog.

Until then, (here's my favourite part) push button to PUBLISH.