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In Conversation with Distortion of Mischief

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With an unwavering devotion to Old School Rock n Roll music and measureless energy which they offset at the stage with the purpose of making each and every person in the crowd jump out of their seats and rock with them, Delhi-based band Distortion of Mischief (DOM) proudly calls itself as ‘People’s Band’. Comprising of 5 members; Ashutosh as vocalist, Minaam as Lead Guitarist, Ishaan as Rhythm Guitarist, Guru on drums and Mahesh as Bassist, this band is a bunch of jumpy, high spirited and mischievous members which they all vow to be deeply embed in their personalities.

Here DU Beat gets in conversation with the band members and let’s see what they’ve got to say!

Q: When was your band formed? What is the genre of the music that you people usually play?
A: Distortion of Mischief was formed about 7 months ago in October 2013 after the breakdown of a previous band.
We’re into Rock n Roll and Classic Rock music.

Q: Where all has DOM performed till now? What response do you usually get from people after your performances?
A: In the past 7 months we’ve played in about 17 places out of which 15 were college fests and Battles. Public response, well we can say they love us, at least our compositions, from the way they react when we’re off stage, congratulating and praising our most popular composition ‘Bombshell’.

Q: Which famous musician/artist/band does Distortion of Mischief usually take inspiration from?

A: We’re all hardcore ACDC fans. And owe them big time for what we are today. Every time we walk onstage to perform even one cover of them (which people say we do quite well), the crowd goes wild no matter where we are.

Q: How often and long do you people rehearse? What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc?
A: More than rehearsal, it’s the bonding we have between us, we do practice, but more than that hang around a lot which kind of helps us understand each other better, in turn helping us perform better. And when we’re practicing; we do more of new tunes that pops up every now and then when we jam together.

Q: What major awards, achievements has DOM bagged till now?
A: Every prize we get is important in its own way…Okay that is a very old one to quote here!
But honestly it’s the crowd cheering for us that counts more than the prize. But if you insist (which you will), our first victory at Fortune Institute of International Business was the most important and memorable one.
And after that over a period of 7 months and in 15 competitions we’ve won around 11 of them.

Q: How do you see your rock band for English music fitting the culture of Indian music? What is the scope of rock music in our country?
A: We’ve never felt that English was never supported in India, it always has been and we’ve been able to make many people like Distortion of Mischief and Rock n Roll too.

Q: Do you people write your own songs? What are the songs generally about? (Any specific themes)
A: Yup, we write our own songs, we’ve got around 6-7 compositions in our list. The topics of our songs are mainly mischief, fun and well girls to be very honest.

Q: How do you justify the name of your band with the music that you play?
A: Distortion of Mischief is mainly all about fun and mischief. Being a band that plays Rock N Roll, we add fun and mischief to our music and performance, on stage and off stage too.

Q: Since everyone is a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
A: It’s more about the music that you guys play. Stick to the genre that you’re playing and don’t think whether this genre is supported or not. If you like it, play it. Oh yeah… and don’t do drugs (laughs).

Q: Tell us one thing which you feel that sets you apart from various upcoming bands in the country.
A: We call ourselves the “People’s Band”, we’re more fun and crazy when it comes to performing. Plus we’ve got this mission to resurrect Classic Rock in this age of music, so that’s how we think we’re different.

One can find more about their upcoming gigs and music on their Facebook page.

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DUB Speak

The growing trajectory of The Underground Music League

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The 80’s proved to be the golden era for both western and Indian music.The quality of music created then still stands higher than the quality of music created in the present era. With a downfall in record deals and a lesser scope in the industry for non-mainstream musicians, independent artists are finding a hard time pursuing their passion for music.The need to break away from the Bollywood hegemony and to give a boost to such musicians led to the formation of the Underground Music League, an organization devoted towards providing a platform for musically talented people from outside of the established culture,into the mainstream.

U.M.L gives an opportunity to gifted musicians and is trying to bridge the gap between the artist and their audience. Apart from the core team, the organization also inducts interns from various colleges in the University of Delhi and elsewhere. The interns who prove their worth get a stage to perform at various fests under the U.M.L banner. This exposure helps them gain experience and display their creation to the world.

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U.M.L at Khalsa College earlier this year with The Swag Gang Crew

It is funny how Bollywood rules this world, when most of the singers composing these songs were once independent musicians themselves. With potentially no scope for new independent musicians and dancers to make a place in the charts, U.M.L was started, keeping such things in mind. It was created to evolve this industry and to provide a platform to splendid talents who have a passion for music, not just to express themselves but to voice the whole generation.

Siddesh Sharma founded U.M.L on 11th march 2012 , and since then they have performed at colleges like IIT Delhi, IGIT, DRC, S.G.T.B. Khalsa College, MAIT, Delhi Technological University, IP College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Shaheed Sukhdev College Of Business Studies and at Public Locations like Star City Mall, Ice – Cube, JLN and many more. They were even asked to perform an additional day at Crossroads because of the good performance on the preceding day.

U.M.L currently supports variety of artists namely Donny J, an extremely talented vocalist whose YouTube Channel has received a staggering 567 subscriptions in 3 month, The Swag Gang Crew, street dancers who have received strong positive review for their complex choreography. They have a well mixed set of English – and Bollywood songs to back up their moves. Gaurav Thukral who is good at Krumping, The Quixotic, a singer as well who has received similar responses to Donny J and many more acts. A video that went viral on Youtube with 667 views, features Vijay Tiwari, aka Extreme, a beat boxer using his vocal chords to produce music that is so intense and engrossing. You can watch the video here.

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The Quixotic in the midst of a performance

When asked about where they see themselves in the coming years, Siddesh says, “Well the opportunities and possibilities for U.M.L in the near future is Big. For the time being , U.M.L is trying to do what it was made to do first, that is connecting with people and forming a strong bond with them.The coming future cannot be predicted but there is one thing that we are sure of, we are going to have a pleasant ride and together we all will rise.”

U.M.L conducts hip hop sunday event at Zook Lounge in Saket which constitutes of rap battles, hip hop battles and beat boxing battlesl.U.M.L has also recently collaborated with desihiphop, the largest UK based website on the Indian scene.

To join U.M.L, interested people have to attend their meetings regularly, the dates of which are displayed on their facebook page. These meetings help each and every member to get to know each other, and accordingly the core members explain the newcomers about the group and the different departments. The core members also see if the newcomers are fit to join U.M.L or not.

For more information, visit U.M.L’s various social media pages:

Facebook,  Twitter , Instagram and Youtube

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Sounds

Music Review: Shakira fails to charm with her tenth self-titled album

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The hip-swivelling goddess of pop hits, Shakira returned to American pop scene with her tenth self- titled album last week. The 37 year old songwriter and producer seems to be changing the course in her latest album after delivering some sensational hits like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, ‘Whenever Wherever’ etc. The recent album boasts of collaborations with big names like Blake Shelton, Rihanna that makes the soundtrack interesting to look into.

The up-tempo lead single with Rihanna ‘Can’t Remember To Forget You’ might be perceived as a desperate attempt for a pop-hit and the duet with Blake Shelton ‘Medicine’ that works just fine. Dare (La La La) apparently the official 2014 World Cup Song is an outgoing song with a certain electro pop feel. It seems that Shakira tries to blend rock, reggae, pop, etc that signifies a sort of multiple influences that got into making this studio album from Shakira after four years.

The Columbian star does not put much ‘Latin-ness’ in the album but only two tracks in Spanish-‘Loca Por Ti’ and the Spanish version of ‘Can’t Remember To Forget You’. There are a lot of personal influences on the album with tracks like ‘23’ which she wrote for boyfriend Gerard Pique and ‘The One Thing’, the mid tempo pop track written for her son Milan. She also sings about spite in relationships in tracks like ‘You Don’t Care About Me’ and ‘Cut Me Deep’ featuring band Magic.

The Grammy winning Latin pop star falls short of fulfilling the expectations we had after her charismatic and edgy tracks but provides a sense of fulfilment when considered in the range and blend of different music genres. The lyrics lack emotion and depth and the album on the whole leaves us with ambivalent reactions and discontented with an album coming after four years.

imagecourtesy:providencejournal.com

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Campus Central

Top Societies at Delhi University Fests: Conundrum for Battle of the Bands

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Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests. The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during 13 cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were award 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points and for the third position, 1 point was added to their tally. Our points tally for the bands of Delhi University ended up being a close one. With 9 points, Conundrum bagged the top spot. At a close 8 points, Andolan and Red Shorts take away the second place.

The Winning Band at a glance

Conundrum, P.G.D.A.V College

Conundrum, from P.G.D.A.V College with its original compositions like Temporal Drifts, Pretend and Bliss emerged victorious at fests like Crossroads and Confluence this fest season.  Shiv, the band’s vocalist attributes their success to their perseverance. “We have been at it since the first year of college and it’s in the third year that we could come up to the level we aspired to be at. But obviously, there is always scope for improvement”, he went on to add. Note: The thirteen fests included in our analysis for this series include SRCC’s Crossroads, Gargi College’s Reverie, Sri Venkateswara College’s Nexus, LSR’s Tarang, Hans Raj’s Confluence, I.P. College for Women’s Shruti, Daulat Ram College’s Manjari, Hindu College’s Mecca, Jesus and Mary College’s Montage, Miranda House’s Tempest, Kamala Nehru College’s Ullas, Kirori Mal College’s Renaissance, SGTB Khalsa’s Lashkara. Out of the fests listed, only 7 had conducted a competitive Battle of the Bands.]]>

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Campus Central

Top Societies at Delhi University Fests: LSR for Western Music

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Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests. The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during 13 cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were award 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points and for the third position, 1 point was added to their tally. In the Western Music (Group) category, Lady Shri Ram College for Women’s Western Music Society leads the charts with 13 points in total. Sri Venkateswara College’s Crescendo follows a close second with 12 points, while Jesus and Mary College’s Echo stands third with 6 points.

The Winning Society at a glance

Western Music Society, Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Lady Shri Ram College’s Western Music society is well known for its acapella performances. Though they have covered a range of genres from Gospel to Indie music, their competitive piece is always a complex Jazz acapella arrangement. “We don’t practice for hours and hours every day. We just have a 1.5-2 hour practice session 5 days a week. But in that time, we make sure to channel our musical energies completely and make the most of our time. We are genuinely and truly fond of one another; we have the best times together as a society and as close friends. And coupled with our mutual love for music- it makes singing together a great experience”, shared the team. Performing Team Members: Kamakshi Khanna (President and Conductor), Abhilasha Sinha (Vice-President), Nolina Mishra, Kimberley Rodigues, Michri Thejaseno, Cindy Z Tlau, Anna Charenamai, Nandini Singha, Rhea Mahanta, Bhavya Kulshreshtha, Glory Salam, Varnika Prakash, Uttara Thapa M, Saakshi V Lama, Geyir Sora, Ankita Naik, Sanchia Thimanna, Sharanya S, Satwiki Adla. Note: The thirteen fests included in our analysis for this series include SRCC’s Crossroads, Gargi College’s Reverie, Sri Venkateswara College’s Nexus, LSR’s Tarang, Hans Raj’s Confluence, I.P. College for Women’s Shruti, Daulat Ram College’s Manjari, Hindu College’s Mecca, Jesus and Mary College’s Montage, Miranda House’s Tempest, Kamala Nehru College’s Ullas, Kirori Mal College’s Renaissance, SGTB Khalsa’s Lashkara. Out of the fests listed, only 8 had conducted a competitive Western Music (Group) competition.]]>

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Campus Central

Top Societies at Delhi University Fests: Gargi for Indian Music

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Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests. The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during 13 cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were award 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points and for the third position, 1 point was added to their tally. With 19 points, Gargi College’s Samranjini emerged as the winner in the Indian Music (Group) category. Kamala Nehru College’s Sangeetika and Daulat Ram College’s Alahyaa follow next with 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Winning Society at a glance

Samranjini, Gargi College

Gargi College’s Indian Music Society, Samranjini, sang their original composition in fests like Mecca and Shruti this year. The song was based on two ragas, namely Puriyadhanashri and Shuddh Basant raga. When we asked this talented choir their secret to success, they said, “We swear by the saying ‘practice makes a man perfect’. It was passion towards music and the endeavour to give our best that drove us all the way.” Names of the performing members: Aishwarya R, Vibhooshitha R, Ambika Srikrishnan, Mohima Chakraborty, J Subhadra, Arpita Sahai, Anjali Mehra, Ishita Mathur, Darsana Gogoi, Arundhati Ray, Yatika Sharma, Stuti Rai, Sahishnuta Barua, Needhi Roy. Note: The thirteen fests included in our analysis for this series include SRCC’s Crossroads, Gargi College’s Reverie, Sri Venkateswara College’s Nexus, LSR’s Tarang, Hans Raj’s Confluence, I.P. College for Women’s Shruti, Daulat Ram College’s Manjari, Hindu College’s Mecca, Jesus and Mary College’s Montage, Miranda House’s Tempest, Kamala Nehru College’s Ullas, Kirori Mal College’s Renaissance, SGTB Khalsa’s Lashkara. Out of the fests listed, only 11 had conducted an Indian Music Group Competition.]]>

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Hans Raj College

Day 2 at at Hans Raj’s Annual Cultural Event: Music and beyond

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After the first day at the Hans Raj Annual Cultural Event focused on dance and drama, the second day turned out to be a musical one.

The event was attended by few guests and dignitaries. Dr. V.K Khwatra – principal of the college, Mrs. Sonal Gupta – ECA Convenor, Mr. M.P Sharma – Dramatics Head and Sports Faculty, Dr. Mahasweta Saika and other faculty members of the college were present.

Swaranjali – the music society of college had the present as well as alumni bands performing. The function also witnessed some solo performances by members of the society.

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Jasleen Kaur – member of Swaranjali started the event with her solo performance. She sang two songs for the audience which were both punjabi folk tracks. Aisian Nighwan originally sung by Richa Sharma for Coke Studio was her first song and is about the joyful feeling one experiences in love. Charkha by Wadali Brothers, on the contrary is about separation and pain in love which she sung next. Jasleen is a well known classical and sufi singer and she has featured on various channels like Zee Punjabi, Fateh TV, PTC Punjabi and more. She was the only one from the university to perform a solo at Mood Indigo, IIT – Bombay’s classical concert where she opened for famous Pandit Ronu Majhumdar and secured the third position.

Raagleela – last year’s Indian Band of the college performed its five original productions. The band has opened for Salim-Sulaiman at Mood Indigo 2012 and was also shortlisted in top 100 bands of country to compete for a slot at MTV Coke Studio.

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Freewill was also an alumni band that performed for the event. It was a western band of the college for the year 2012-13. The members reunited after a year to perform in the college. They performed one original production and two cover productions.

Sagar Chawla, who is the keyboard player for both Freewill and Raagleela said, “I feel really nostalgic to come back to the place from where it all started. But at the same time we all miss the presence of Rachna Ma’am. This all couldn’t have been possible without them.” Members also dedicated a song to Late. Rachna Sharma, who was the ECA Convener of the college.

Nirupan Sinha, a western vocalist of the college band and also part of Freewill also gave a solo performance. Nirupan performed two songs which were Dreaming and Make you feel my love. He had bagged the first position for western solo singing at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Kamala Nehru College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce and ISBF. At Mood Indigo, he was adjudged the second best singer.

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Last for the day was the current band of the college – Hansraj Projekt. The band performed it’s four original productions namely Batiyaan, Dil Se, Tarapa & In and Out. The home crowd at Hans Raj cheered for their band and the guests also enjoyed the performance.

Hansraj Projekt with it’s four productions this year has bagged various prizes at different competition like other societies of the college. They won the battle of bands at IIT Bombay where they also opened for Mohit Chauhan. The band was awarded an recording contract with T-SERIES there. It also recorded the track Kaisa Hota for the album Sounds of Freedom’14. The band participated in the band competitions all over the country and were awarded first positions at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, IIT Delhi, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and ISBF.

Sajal Sharma, the president of Swaranjali and also a member of Hansraj Projekt and Freewill told DU Beat, “This was a mission for us and it was accomplished. It was great to have the alumni members coming in and taking part in this small celebration of music.”

Image Credit: Udit Chauhan

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Shri Ram College of Commerce

P.G.D.A.V based Conundrum wins Bass Camp at Crossroads

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Day four of Crossroads 2014 started with Bass Camp, the Rock band Competition organised by the Western Music Society of Shri Ram College Of Commerce. The finals of the Competition started at around  12:30 in the afternoon. The prelims were conducted earlier under the supervision of three eminent judges of the Delhi School of Music. 32 bands had showed up and out of these bands, the best 10 bands were sieved out. The judges for the finals were, Moses Khiagte who is a vocal coach and a retired musician, currently working in three places namely, Bikers Cafe, Punjabi by Nature and 100% rock. He has managed three contemporary rock bands. He is also the ex-music teacher of Delhi Public School, Sonipat. He has also done recording sessions with Parikrama and Black Shades.

The other judge was Bhanu Mehendiratta, a well known musician, who is a part of bands like Sold Out and Half Step Down. This was his second time at judging Bass Camp. He has also won the famous competition 440 yards.

Out of the 10 selected bands, 9 had turned up and they battled it out for the first position. The winning band was to receive Rs. 7000 as the cash prize and a keyboard from Casio. Conundrum, an alternative rock band from P.G.D.A.V College played two of their original compositions and proved their worth. Their music had alternative and progressive rock elements to it that led them to obtaining the winning spot in the competition.

All in all the event provided followers of rock music a wide variety and variation of genres right from Hindi Fusion to Funk to Death Metal and provided the audience a few new independent bands to follow.

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Sri Venkateswara College

Hansraj’s Nirupan wins Western Music Solo at Nexus

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The Western Music Solo competition scheduled for 12:00pm at Nexus 2014 got delayed due to technical difficulties, however the competition picked up pace once it began. The judges for the event were both in-house judges – Dr. Nikhil Yadav and Dr. Ratna Raman.

25 teams from colleges across campus participated in the event. Maximum of 2 teams per college were allowed and 3 accompanying artists were allowed along with each performer.

The performances ranged from Christina Aguilera’s songs to Amy Winehouse. All the performances were well received by the audience, making it worth the performer’s time and effort. Ultimately the winners were declared, the first position was bagged by Nirupan from Hansraj College and the second position by Hanita from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

Post by DU Beat.
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Indraprastha College for Women

Dyal Singh wins Rangoli Making, LSR wins Philharmonia at IP’s Shruti 2014

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Indraprastha College for women, featured a colorful Rangoli Making competition on the 1st Day of its annual fest Shruti . Nine teams participated in the event from various colleges including Gargi, Maitreyi, Lady Irwin College and IP College among others.

The theme for the competition was “Colour of Life” . “The theme is very interesting & the competition is tough. Its colourful, creative yet classy” says Vandana, a participant from Gargi. The event was judged by Ms. Shagufta Sufee of the Political Science faculty and Ms Nikita from the Mathematics department of IP College.

Sushil & Shweta from Dyal Singh came first, while Shefalika and Ujala from IP college were the runners-up. Consolation prizes were awarded to Bhamini, Tanvi and Kalpana; participants from Lady Irwin College.

One of the main attractions of IP College’s annual fest Shruti 2014 was Philharmonia – the Western Music Competition. Ten colleges participated in the event including CBS, Jesus & Mary College, Ambedkar college, Jaypee University, Sri Venkateswara College among others.

Held in Activity Hub, the competition featured both solo participants and groups. LSR won the best group, while Sri Venkateswara College came close at 2nd.

In the solo category, Hanita from CBS came first, while Kamakshi from Lady Shri Ram college came second. The third prize was awarded to Shreya from Sri Venkateswara College.

Sidhant Malhotra ([email protected])

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