JRO 2009

The time was 5 pm, July 4. The second evening of the eleventh edition of Chennai’s annual rock fest JRO or June Rock Out (yes, it’s the wrong month!) kicked off at the scheduled time. Calling itself India’s only ‘responsible rock’ event, it strongly forbade liquor and cigarettes among the bands and audience, and supported various NGOs with the proceeds from the ticket sales. The venue was excellent – an amphitheater (Bucks Theater) in the vast YMCA sports campus in the heart of the city. The long path to the venue had banners of the event organiser Unwind Center and the various charitable organisations supported by the event. The entry was priced at a modest Rs. 200 for the evening. With an interesting line-up of bands covering many genres, both local and outstation, it promised to be a memorable evening. Bands from Mumbai and Delhi, though, were conspicuous by their absence.



Jazz-Rock band Touch Wood and Funk band Public Issue, both local, were the first acts of the day. Public Issue interestingly began with a tribute to the recently departed Michael Jackson.

Nu-Metal act Crimson Wood from Trivandrum was up next. Their music was heavy and the band was tight, and their songs were quite varied within their sub-genre. I liked the vocals on their last song, which had elements of rap blended with a groovy metal riff. The medium sized crowd enjoyed the show, which was slowly warming up with more people filling the arena. No one looked up at the sky, though, which was quickly filling with dark clouds. By the time the next band started their set, it was pouring fast and fat.

The second band was Scrat, a local band quite popular with the crowd. Like the previous band, they were city winners and zonal finalists at the CRI last year. They were, according to me, the best non-professional act of the day. Their music was everything from grunge to blues - think Superfuzz. The songs were well mixed up in terms of tempo and breakdowns, and the tunes were upbeat and fast paced, with flashes of guitar, bass and drum brilliance. The frontman Sriram had the drenched crowd moving with his skill and enthusiasm. The band’s songs were well recognized by many of those present and a few of them were singing the choruses out loud. While it is difficult to recall one song over the other, I really enjoyed ‘Adrenaline’, and their cover of the Porcupine Tree song “Open Car’.

The third band was Bangalore band (and CRI finalists), Bleed. Their music could be called Nu-metal/screamo, and there were many fans of that genre present. Armed with a punk look (and some clichéd one-liners!) they managed to impress the crowd. ‘My Game’ was aggressive, and their heavy metal cover of ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ was quite good. Then, they made a musical U-turn by calling on stage one Andrew Kenny on acoustic guitar and vocals, and they quickly started playing emo rock ballads and covers of bands like Dashboard Confessional (‘Vindicated’). They may have pulled it off smoothly, but why play only covers at a stage like that?

They were followed by local favourites Blood and Iron. One of the older bands in the scene, they are credited with being the first metal band from the city to have released an album a few years back. They were selling copies of their second album ‘Dynamite World’ at the venue (priced at Rs 120/-, for those interested). They were quite a sight to look at – the guitarists had flowing long hair, open shirts and mean-looking V-guitars, and all the six band members were clad in black. They played Melodic/Power metal, really akin to Scandinavian band Norther. The vocalist’s strong voice (and sense of humour!), and the galloping keyboard-and-guitar riffs went down well with the crowd, and soon there was a good mosh pit going. The loudest members in the crowd were promised free CDs by the band, and one fan even went on stage headbanging, and pulled off some crowd-surfing! But it was the keyboard that was the backbone of most of their songs, and there were moments of brilliance. Their songs were well recognized too, and one was compelled to shout the choruses out loud. Noteworthy songs were ‘In Darkness’ and ‘Altar’.

Another CRI finalist band, Abraxas from Pune, was next. After an unusually long sound check, they finally kicked off hard and fast. Staying true to their genre of Melodic/Metalcore, their songs had clean, moody intros followed by grinding riffs and harsh vocals. But the occasional guitar solos were soulful and melodic and stood out in the songs. The moshing in the crowd continued. By now, the arena was nearly full of people waiting to see the headliners Motherjane. They had to wait a while, though.

Motherjane, riding high since the online release of ‘Maktub, gave a sublime performance. For the hour or so that they played, with their typical half-face paint, they simply wowed the crowd. Baiju on lead guitars was especially good, and the night ended with a touch of sophistication it may have lacked till then. ‘Chase the Sun’ was the highlight of their show, if you ask me. A great all round performance by the headliners is the best way for any show to end, and this was no different.