Showing posts with label Avir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Avir. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Bamboo Shoots Cover Series: We cover Ne-Yo
Notes on the Video:
We met up earlier in the day for practice and setup to do this taping. Right from the start, everything went wrong. The audio setup wasn't working right, everything was taking forever and we were getting frustrated. Then my wurlitzer fuse blew and Ankur had to disassemble it and jerry-rig it into the PA. It was hot and sweaty and by the time the cameras finally turned on, we were all aggravated and taking it out on each other. If you're in a band you probably know what I'm taking about. As I'm watching this, I can feel the tension in the room and if you know us, you can probably see it on our faces too. I love that Steve dutifully captured it. Anyway, we hugged and made up after the taping, and now it's just funny to see us going through this band drama while singing "nobody struts like her" in perfect harmony.
Huge disclaimer: I think Ne-Yo is one of the best singers out there right now. I'm not Ne-Yo, we're a rock band, and believe me I'm not trying to put my voice in the same league as his. We just like his songwriting, it inspired us, and we thought we'd share. Hope you dig.
--Avir
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
IM BACK FROM THE JUNGLE. Avir updates us on his Costa Rica trip
IM BACK FROM THE JUNGLE.
although I miss the jungle and the unpaved roads and the wild lychees and someday I will go back and learn to live like an animal and to hell with all of you. not really but, you know, sorta. here's some pics from costa rica. before that i was in turkey (less jungles, more ancient civilizations, more unibrows, still amazing).
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Walk like an Egyptian?
Here's a quick video of us being interviewed by Rolling Stone India outside the Blue Frog in Mumbai.
" I think we're describing what it means to walk like an Egyptian? I have no idea." - Avir
Friday, April 17, 2009
Avir...back in the States
I'm home. So odd being back. For example, it's 8am and I'm wide awake and I'm about to go to a Zumba class at my gym because I don't know what else to do. Ahmed, Ankur and I flew back together, Karl and Shiv have stayed on in India for a bit. The flight was more or less unremarkable. We watched Almost Famous. Arriving in Newark was an adventure though. We had discussed on the flight that we might get split apart by security so whatever. As Ahmed says, he has 5 names, and they're all on the terrorist watchlist. Sure enough, when we landed, Ahmed was pulled aside by security right from the get go, and taken to an undisclosed location. Ankur and I pointed and laughed. As expected. This was right at customs. So me and Ankur are still left. We were waiting in the customs line, Ankur was behind a guy who looked dumb high. He had a little micro ponytail and he straight up walked into customs with nothing but a bag of chips. He was just carrying this bag of chips everywhere, getting it scanned, carefully handing it to customs, and he was just very mellow about it. He was hilarious. Ankur and I got through, got to baggage claim, got our bags and Ahmed was still nowhere to be seen. I thought gitmo was closed? Usually I get harrassed at airports so I was thinking maybe Ahmed was a nice decoy for me.
So finally we started walking out but Ankur and I get routed to one last security check where they scanned our bags because we had a bunch of gear that looked suspicious. Ankur is first and he's describing his equipment, what an MPC does, how midi works, he's in a band signed to Epic records, we just toured India... basically kicking his game to the security guard. That works well, and I have less gear, so I step up figuring I'll do the same. I don't even get to open my mouth. I get escorted through automatic glass doors, down a long empty hallway and into another area. Asked to sit down and wait. And there was Ahmed. And bag of chips. So now us three are sitting there looking at each other. Security goes through our bags, opens my shaving cream, goes through my clothes, looks through my camera. Asks me why I packed so little for a 3 week trip, grilling me about my guitar pedals, etc etc. Backstory - our ride to the Delhi airport was literally in a duststorm, so as a result I was sneezing and blowing my nose nonstop. I had dust in my hair and on my clothes and anytime I'd shake my head I'd start sneezing on the plane. So my bag was full of used tissues and this dude is meticulously going through them one by one. I asked him how us three got back here and he said it was totally random (righhtt).
Anyway, now that I'm home with my trusty computer we're going to be getting more pics and video up soon. There's a few clips up already. Keep checking back for more. Also more articles from India will be surfacing and we'll be sure to get them to you.
So finally we started walking out but Ankur and I get routed to one last security check where they scanned our bags because we had a bunch of gear that looked suspicious. Ankur is first and he's describing his equipment, what an MPC does, how midi works, he's in a band signed to Epic records, we just toured India... basically kicking his game to the security guard. That works well, and I have less gear, so I step up figuring I'll do the same. I don't even get to open my mouth. I get escorted through automatic glass doors, down a long empty hallway and into another area. Asked to sit down and wait. And there was Ahmed. And bag of chips. So now us three are sitting there looking at each other. Security goes through our bags, opens my shaving cream, goes through my clothes, looks through my camera. Asks me why I packed so little for a 3 week trip, grilling me about my guitar pedals, etc etc. Backstory - our ride to the Delhi airport was literally in a duststorm, so as a result I was sneezing and blowing my nose nonstop. I had dust in my hair and on my clothes and anytime I'd shake my head I'd start sneezing on the plane. So my bag was full of used tissues and this dude is meticulously going through them one by one. I asked him how us three got back here and he said it was totally random (righhtt).
Anyway, now that I'm home with my trusty computer we're going to be getting more pics and video up soon. There's a few clips up already. Keep checking back for more. Also more articles from India will be surfacing and we'll be sure to get them to you.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Avir becomes a father...
India's technological boom has resulted in Avir conceiving and having a child in a record two weeks. This phenomenon is a rare but interesting side effect of international touring, no doubt.
Just kidding...the baby is just a friend!
Day off in Bangalore
today is our day off in bangalore. we just got done an interview with midday newspaper here. they gave us flowers at the end, no joke. - Avir
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update on Bangalore and Kolkata from Avir
just got back from back 2 back shows. bangalore just got done. kyra. its a brand new club. we learned today that it was supposed to open next week but when they heard we were coming they hired more people and got it up and running for tonight. apparently they put up the windows only a few hours before we arrived. it was rad. especially because you arent allowed to dance in bangalore! and clubs must close by 11!!! but it sort of made for a fun time as everyone tried their hardest not to dance (like dancing while holding their chairs so they werent leaving their seats). i also had a wireless mic so i got to run around the venue like a dumbass and stand on chairs and sort of get in trouble. the crowd ended up playing along with spoons. long story. we have video somewhere...
last night was kolkata - also sick. small little rock cub where u cant breathe type thing. the crowd was super super enthusiastic. i had a whole bunch of my family there. it was fun.
i havent slept in forever. after the kolkata show we had a flight at 6am. so we stayed up in the hotel, sang with these philipina karaoke singers and headed straight to the airport. from there straight to soundcheck in bangalore. day before we went to like 2 afterparties in mumbai after our show at blue frog so we didnt sleep then either. now im sitting here in our hotel where we're having a little after party. whiskey, soda, and potato chips. sorry if im not making sense. im about to knock out.
night night
avir
last night was kolkata - also sick. small little rock cub where u cant breathe type thing. the crowd was super super enthusiastic. i had a whole bunch of my family there. it was fun.
i havent slept in forever. after the kolkata show we had a flight at 6am. so we stayed up in the hotel, sang with these philipina karaoke singers and headed straight to the airport. from there straight to soundcheck in bangalore. day before we went to like 2 afterparties in mumbai after our show at blue frog so we didnt sleep then either. now im sitting here in our hotel where we're having a little after party. whiskey, soda, and potato chips. sorry if im not making sense. im about to knock out.
night night
avir
Friday, April 10, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Interview with Bamboo Shoots featured on UGroove Online
...AN INTERVIEW WITH BAMBOO SHOOTS........
Who are they? : Avir Mitra (lead vocals, guitar), Karl Sukhia (backing vocals, bass and keys), Ankur Patel (percussion), Ahmed Mahmoud (guitar) and Shiv Puri (drums).
Tim: Awesome set guys, that was really cool. Where did you guys meet?
Avir: Me and Karl met when we were little kids, and we had like sleepovers and stuff like that. And then at some point we decided we wanted to play music, you know how that goes. Shiv I met when I was crashing at NYU, he cooked us a bunch of food, and then I realized he played drums and we became good friends ever since. Ankur…
Ankur: I met these guys in ’03 right? You guys had your first practice or something like that, and I walked in with this thing…
Avir: He sort of just walked in to our practice, and was like, ‘I play this’, and we’re like, ‘Alright, cool’.
Ankur: It was so random.
Avir: And Ahmed joined the band about two years ago – he sort of just showed up to one of our practices, and we needed a guitarist and he knew our songs better than we did. We’re like, ‘You’re in!’
Tim: So you’ve been together two years?
Avir: No, we’ve been together – our first show was in 2004.
Tim: There’s a cool electro-vibe in your music, where’s your influence, musically come from?
Karl: A lot of us are into the hip hop music, we like that, but we definitely like the production side of it also, and then like RnB production. All these weird flavors to bring to rock music.
Tim: And you got involved in ‘mtvU’ – you won best new talent right?
Avir: Yeah, it was like a Best Band On Campus competition, that we didn’t even realize we were signed up for… There was like 1600 bands, and we figured this out when we were in the top fifty, and they were like ‘You need to send your IDs over’, and we’re like for what?! Next thing we knew, we won, it was just really random.
Tim: And what came from winning?
Avir: We got to play on (Late Night with) Conan O’Brien…
Tim: That’s right.
Avir: And since, we have a deal with EPIC Records, and we’ve recorded our first album with Jerry Harrison from Talking Heads in California.
Tim: And when are you releasing that?
Avir: That’s a good question, I think it’s gonna be this summer. But when you’re on a major label, you’ve got to deal with like, major headaches.
Tim: The politics right?
Avir: Yeah, exactly.
Tim: So, what’s this mix tape you talked about during the show that you’re sending out?
Avir: That was just random. We ended up doing a bunch of cover songs, but doing them sort of weirdly.
Karl: It started off with the band doing a video tape version of a Kanye West song, ‘Paranoid’. And we just posted it up on Youtube, and then we started doing these other little covers, and we realized that we had a bunch of them sitting there, and we were like, ‘Let’s just put them out there.’
Avir: Yeah, it was just as simple as that. It’s going to be free, and we haven’t told the label or anything.
Tim: It’s undercover.
Ankur: But they’re not really tapes.
Avir: I wish they were tapes.
Tim: That would be cool, that would be retro.
Ankur: So nobody can play them.
Tim: So what’s on the album? Many of the songs we heard tonight?
Avir: Yeah, almost all of the songs from tonight.
Tim: Including ‘Tom Cruise’?
Avir: No, that one, no. That didn’t make the cut. We recorded it, it’s probably going to be a B-side or something.
Tim: Awesome, so more of that electro-rock style on the album?
Avir: Yeah, there’s probably a few slower songs on the record, that we usually don’t play live, just because…
Tim: The vibe?
Avir: The vibe, yeah.
Tim: And what’s your pick for the first release single?
Avir: We don’t know yet.
Karl: Yeah, I don’t know. We’re going to have to sit down with…
Tim: The label? The politics?
Karl: Exactly.
Tim: Any tours upcoming? You plan on doing the country?
Avir: Yeah, that’s the goal. We just want to be on the road for the rest of the year. So, we’re going to Virginia this weekend. But the goal is to start doing more opening slots. The grind.
Tim: Who’ve you opened for?
Avir: The Plain White T’s…
Karl: Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
Avir: All Time Low. You can tell from the people we open for that we are like, either we fit in with everyone, or we don’t fit in with anyone.
Karl: Exactly.
Tim: Guys, thanks heaps and good luck.
Avir: Thank you man.
Tim Johnson www.TIJOTV.com Listen
Who are they? : Avir Mitra (lead vocals, guitar), Karl Sukhia (backing vocals, bass and keys), Ankur Patel (percussion), Ahmed Mahmoud (guitar) and Shiv Puri (drums).
Tim: Awesome set guys, that was really cool. Where did you guys meet?
Avir: Me and Karl met when we were little kids, and we had like sleepovers and stuff like that. And then at some point we decided we wanted to play music, you know how that goes. Shiv I met when I was crashing at NYU, he cooked us a bunch of food, and then I realized he played drums and we became good friends ever since. Ankur…
Ankur: I met these guys in ’03 right? You guys had your first practice or something like that, and I walked in with this thing…
Avir: He sort of just walked in to our practice, and was like, ‘I play this’, and we’re like, ‘Alright, cool’.
Ankur: It was so random.
Avir: And Ahmed joined the band about two years ago – he sort of just showed up to one of our practices, and we needed a guitarist and he knew our songs better than we did. We’re like, ‘You’re in!’
Tim: So you’ve been together two years?
Avir: No, we’ve been together – our first show was in 2004.
Tim: There’s a cool electro-vibe in your music, where’s your influence, musically come from?
Karl: A lot of us are into the hip hop music, we like that, but we definitely like the production side of it also, and then like RnB production. All these weird flavors to bring to rock music.
Tim: And you got involved in ‘mtvU’ – you won best new talent right?
Avir: Yeah, it was like a Best Band On Campus competition, that we didn’t even realize we were signed up for… There was like 1600 bands, and we figured this out when we were in the top fifty, and they were like ‘You need to send your IDs over’, and we’re like for what?! Next thing we knew, we won, it was just really random.
Tim: And what came from winning?
Avir: We got to play on (Late Night with) Conan O’Brien…
Tim: That’s right.
Avir: And since, we have a deal with EPIC Records, and we’ve recorded our first album with Jerry Harrison from Talking Heads in California.
Tim: And when are you releasing that?
Avir: That’s a good question, I think it’s gonna be this summer. But when you’re on a major label, you’ve got to deal with like, major headaches.
Tim: The politics right?
Avir: Yeah, exactly.
Tim: So, what’s this mix tape you talked about during the show that you’re sending out?
Avir: That was just random. We ended up doing a bunch of cover songs, but doing them sort of weirdly.
Karl: It started off with the band doing a video tape version of a Kanye West song, ‘Paranoid’. And we just posted it up on Youtube, and then we started doing these other little covers, and we realized that we had a bunch of them sitting there, and we were like, ‘Let’s just put them out there.’
Avir: Yeah, it was just as simple as that. It’s going to be free, and we haven’t told the label or anything.
Tim: It’s undercover.
Ankur: But they’re not really tapes.
Avir: I wish they were tapes.
Tim: That would be cool, that would be retro.
Ankur: So nobody can play them.
Tim: So what’s on the album? Many of the songs we heard tonight?
Avir: Yeah, almost all of the songs from tonight.
Tim: Including ‘Tom Cruise’?
Avir: No, that one, no. That didn’t make the cut. We recorded it, it’s probably going to be a B-side or something.
Tim: Awesome, so more of that electro-rock style on the album?
Avir: Yeah, there’s probably a few slower songs on the record, that we usually don’t play live, just because…
Tim: The vibe?
Avir: The vibe, yeah.
Tim: And what’s your pick for the first release single?
Avir: We don’t know yet.
Karl: Yeah, I don’t know. We’re going to have to sit down with…
Tim: The label? The politics?
Karl: Exactly.
Tim: Any tours upcoming? You plan on doing the country?
Avir: Yeah, that’s the goal. We just want to be on the road for the rest of the year. So, we’re going to Virginia this weekend. But the goal is to start doing more opening slots. The grind.
Tim: Who’ve you opened for?
Avir: The Plain White T’s…
Karl: Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
Avir: All Time Low. You can tell from the people we open for that we are like, either we fit in with everyone, or we don’t fit in with anyone.
Karl: Exactly.
Tim: Guys, thanks heaps and good luck.
Avir: Thank you man.
Tim Johnson www.TIJOTV.com Listen
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The guys in Pune
Here's a pic of everyone (plus friends and family) in Pune. Notice the Sylar-esque look Shiv has. Watch out he's about to steal some powers. Enjoy!
From Avir:
We're workin on getting a bunch more pics out. btw that house u see in the background was haunted. the old man who ran it was a ghost and the piano was out of tune like it came from the set of a cheesy film. the building was over 100 years old in the middle of a wierd field, with these wierd british sculptures and 30 foot ceilings. rad place to crash... cant wait for u guys to see some more pics!
From Avir:
We're workin on getting a bunch more pics out. btw that house u see in the background was haunted. the old man who ran it was a ghost and the piano was out of tune like it came from the set of a cheesy film. the building was over 100 years old in the middle of a wierd field, with these wierd british sculptures and 30 foot ceilings. rad place to crash... cant wait for u guys to see some more pics!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Avir gives an update...
Quick update...
last nights show at zenzi was sickkkkk. im not just saying that. it was in this small sweaty room. it felt a lot like nara sushi in richmond va. there was no distortion on the amp here so i had to buy this shitty digitech distortion pedal. it sounds so 90s. it was like a d.i.y. show in the middle of india. we did a lot of jumping around and i ended up crawling on the bar by the end of our set. we took a lot of video so we'll try to upload some soon... i gotta run, we have to make our way to pune and we're already late. peeasssss
- Avir
Come check us out tonight in Pune!!!
last nights show at zenzi was sickkkkk. im not just saying that. it was in this small sweaty room. it felt a lot like nara sushi in richmond va. there was no distortion on the amp here so i had to buy this shitty digitech distortion pedal. it sounds so 90s. it was like a d.i.y. show in the middle of india. we did a lot of jumping around and i ended up crawling on the bar by the end of our set. we took a lot of video so we'll try to upload some soon... i gotta run, we have to make our way to pune and we're already late. peeasssss
- Avir
Come check us out tonight in Pune!!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Ground Update from Avir!
Hey friends,
It's like 12pm here on Monday and we're in New Delhi and we're already beat! We've already got some rad footage and pics, and working hard to get it to you. Things are a little slower than expected because the internet is sort of slow and its tough to find a computer to transfer video to. Also Ankur managed to destroy like every fuse in my room. Dhol and Vodka. But we're working on it. We've been staying up super late at night and then we're not able to sleep in because of jet lag. But then at like 4 in the afternoon you feel like you are sleep walking.
We are seeing some crazy things - I think it was just yesterday that Shiv, Ankur and I were dancing with Hijras. Those are basically eunuchs. They come to weddings and either bless you or curse your marriage, depending on whether you pay them or not. It's an age old custom here in India. Pretty wild. Anyway, little known fact outside of fam and friends, but last night Shiv had his wedding here in New Delhi. It involved a lot of music, fireworks, horses and 20-piece brass bands. Kind of a cool way to kick off a tour. Our friend and producer Jerry Harrison is also here on his way back from Australia so he got to join in on the festivities (and also danced with the eunuchs).
Aight well I'm going to go walk around and look at things.
Avir
It's like 12pm here on Monday and we're in New Delhi and we're already beat! We've already got some rad footage and pics, and working hard to get it to you. Things are a little slower than expected because the internet is sort of slow and its tough to find a computer to transfer video to. Also Ankur managed to destroy like every fuse in my room. Dhol and Vodka. But we're working on it. We've been staying up super late at night and then we're not able to sleep in because of jet lag. But then at like 4 in the afternoon you feel like you are sleep walking.
We are seeing some crazy things - I think it was just yesterday that Shiv, Ankur and I were dancing with Hijras. Those are basically eunuchs. They come to weddings and either bless you or curse your marriage, depending on whether you pay them or not. It's an age old custom here in India. Pretty wild. Anyway, little known fact outside of fam and friends, but last night Shiv had his wedding here in New Delhi. It involved a lot of music, fireworks, horses and 20-piece brass bands. Kind of a cool way to kick off a tour. Our friend and producer Jerry Harrison is also here on his way back from Australia so he got to join in on the festivities (and also danced with the eunuchs).
Aight well I'm going to go walk around and look at things.
Avir
Sunday, March 29, 2009
We interview Tricky on MTV IGGY
Avir and Ahmed recently sat down with UK artist Tricky for a one on one...
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