ROCK steady

Tue, May 13 12:10 AM

There is already a buzz doing the rounds and come Thursday, rock will be rolling into Delhi - the Pub Rock Fest (PRF), held in association with HT City and put together by the respected Rock Street Journal, kicks off in two days. Old favourites, young talent and steady acts from all across the country will be there.

Not to mention two international guitar bearing ladies, Aurora Jane and Rachelle Van Zanten. Every year this summer fest of music has shown growth and improvement.

It has added more fans, added new cities like Shimla Chandigarh and Jaipur from the North of India to the festival circuit and managed to get a slew of big name sponsors. The festival will travel to 20 cities in all zones until the monsoons come in July.

Live wire A couple of years back live entertainment, especially for niche genres like rock and metal, were limited to scanty concerts. But, gigs in clubs and pubs have contributed to growing these genres.

Editor of Rock Street Journal Amit Saigal, the man behind the festival, recalls how it all started. "There is something very intimate about a gig in pub in which a band plays to a smaller crowd.

There is a lot of interaction and vibe. There was no such culture in India when we started the fest 4 years ago.

Within 4 years the fact that it has become a 60 gig 20 city festival is testament to the great vibes that these gigs create," he says. Road ahead In terms of providing more avenues for bands and music lovers, thanks to the festival a lot of young bands are doing multi city tours.

Says Dhaval Mudgal, vocalist for Half Step Down, who will be playing in Shimla, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Delhi: "We are a little apprehensive about the acceptance we may or may not find in these new cities, but it's certainly worth it. We have played Jaipur where we had a mixed crowd and there was a large chunk that really loved our music.

For the Metros now we can manage getting shows just with our CD's or word of mouth". Mudgal says playing to a regular audience that knows your music can get a tad boring after a while.

"The usual crowds can get to you after a while, while exploring newer audiences can really be very interesting. The deal with pub gigs is that you can pretty much do what you like, try new songs, jam or just be yourself and most importantly be close to the audience.

" He says regular stage shows don't allow that freedom. "You have to stick to a formula there.

We more or less debuted with the PRF and have grown a lot with it." Watch this space for a complete low-down of the fest in the coming weeks.

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