Heading over to Hard Rock Andheri, I couldn’t help but recall the last time I’d seen Lightyears and Spud share the same stage. That was almost a couple of years ago at the Fully Fantastic stage at the 2012 Poona edition of the NH7 Weekender. The bands played on consecutive days, with Spud playing the first and Lightyears the next. Being the assigned volunteer for online live streaming at that very stage, I inadvertently was witness to all artiste sets on both days in the Production Control Room (PCR) – eyes glued to television screens showcasing multiple camera angles. So, yes, I pretty much had a very acute live experience of every artiste set that played over the two days at the festival, entitling myself to judging every act and assessing their musical genius – or not.
Having seen The Lightyears Explode quite a few times after that, with one of their most memorable gigs being their album launch last summer at Blue FROG and NH7’s The Scene’s first edition, I knew most of their lyrics by heart and even the jokes frontman Roy cracked at every gig. However, despite having seen them so many times already; I still appreciated their onstage stunts, “ghaati-punk” beats and unfailing inducement of a formidable mosh pit. I wish I could say the same for Spud in the Box.
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| The Lightyears Explode attempting to, I'm guessing - recreate the album art from the Arctic Monkeys debut album |
Unfortunately, I was running a tad late and missed the first few tracks of the Lightyears set, which I later came to know were “Bow Down”, a cover of Pentagram’s “Nocturne” as done on P-Man’s YouTube video series No Cover Charge and the title track of their debut album “The Revenge of Kalicharan”. Greeted by the familiar refrain of “I know, I know” of “The Gay Song” when I walked in, the 3 piece punk outfit went on to play one of their best dance – alternative tracks “Diet Coke”. However, the notoriously ineffective acoustics of the Hard Rock franchise couldn’t do justice to Carvalho’s stellar drumming nor Roy's stomping riffs on the masala punk maker’s take on the retro filmy classic “I am a Disco Dancer”.
The Lightyears were then joined onstage by Aniket, a friend, who guested vocally for a powerful rendition of “Gone, Daddy Gone” mashed up with the Small Faces classic “I’ve Got Mine” and RAtM’s “Bulls on Parade”. After a mellow “The Late Night Song”, the set was concluded with the crowd breaking into a mosh with “Kunj Gutka” and “Garam Dharam”, following which more than half of them dispersed leaving a scant audience for Spud in the Box’s set.
After spending over twenty minutes in what was a very problematic sound check with vocalist Rohan Rajadhakshya whining and moaning with expletives strewn in, the six piece pop-rock act proceeded to start out an even more problematic set with “More Than Once” from their debut EP Attention, Please. With guitarist Hartej Sawhney seemingly clueless, the harmonies between the lead vocalists more often than not superfluous and off-key - like in their fourth track for the night “Use Your Words”, more sound system issues (bass, guitar, synths) and opportunities for Rajadhakshya to cuss and moan – the set was lacklustre and mundane. Rajadhakshya’s and Dayal’s (vocals, guitar) many attempts to rouse the crowd failed miserably and the cheers from the crowd seemed to emanate only from the band member’s friends and fan-girls.
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| "Hey there - we're a bunch of untalented fucks, don't we look pretty?"The writer; female, 19, straight - confesses that guitarist Siddharth Talwar is indeed quite a pretty boy. |
It seemed as though they’re trying to incorporate too many genres of music in one song and aspire to create a uniquely ‘fresh’ and ‘original’ sound, giving way to disconcertingly chaotic and unstructured results. With a lot of their intricate synths and guitar work channelling the progressive rock soundscape, a step in that direction may not be the worst decision for the barely-out- of- college-20-somethings – maybe even rethinking the extensive line up, specifically pertaining to the three guitarists and two vocalists. It’s almost as if Rajadhakshya and Dayal couldn’t decide between the two of them who should be the lead vocalist and struck a deal to harmonise every lyric of every song.
Spud could benefit from exploring and defining their sound and leaving behind their experimental phase reminiscent of a bunch of teenagers at a fun jam session. Apart from the redeeming title track (“Attention, Please”) from their EP and singles “Hold Your Horses”, “Headrush” and “Manic” with mellow build-ups and prog-esque sounds, Spud couldn’t really hold their own and needs to brush up their live performance skills.
