I’ve studied classical guitar at the Bangalore School of Music, and jammed on guitar in various bands, many with strange names:
- The obligatory college band, at KREC (now NITK), which never had a name. With Niloy on bass, Nikhil on drums, Sushant on vocals, Vivek on second guitar.
- Contraband - a bunch of jam happy musicians from Pune, India, where everyone played just about everything. Led by the inimitable Sagar Sarkar, with every session recorded into Kumar’s amazing archive of jams, maintained at Studio K.
- The Transient Xchange Committee - a jazz/funk band in Seoul, South Korea. Featuring “Grumpy Old Man” Mark on keyboards, Simon on trumpet, Big Bill on guitar, Hun Suk on bass, Walker on drums and Jess on vocals.
- Partly Over Forty - a folk rock outfit in Bangalore. So named since I was the only one under forty in the band. Better known as Portly Fortly after I left! With Vijay and the two Pradeeps on guitars and vocals.
- A classical guitar duo with Dinesh, a fellow student (and now a teacher) at the BSM.
- The Garage Quartet - a classical guitar quartet with Dinesh, Kamaan and Emmanuel, named for the BSM garage in which we practiced.
- The Bangalore Institute of Free Rock - a collective formed by the Saturday night jam crowd from Pecos. Featuring the talents of VD, Aids, Soggy, Bagchi, and many others.
- Stretch - more jazz/funk and blues, with Prakash on bass, Tillu on drums, and Raveen on keyboards and vocals.
- The Little Big Blues Band - what the name says. Raveen’s brainchild, also featuring VD on bass and Nishant on drums.
- Persons Committing Nuisance - jazz/funk again, with more straight jazz leanings that anything else that I’ve done. Short for “Persons Committing Nuisance Will Be Prosecuted”, found prominently displayed on many walls around Bangalore. Led by the phenomenal Sharik on piano, with Nate on saxophone, Rajeev on drums and Prashant on bass.
