Rock legends Pink Floyd gained lasting fame and influenced entire generations with pathbreaking albums like The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. No wonder then that India’s finest rock bands got together to perform covers of Pink Floyd greats at Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi (January 7) and Mumbai (January 14). In the US and UK, there are dedicated bands by the name Think Floyd that play only Pink Floyd.
Members of bands like Parikrama, Advaita and ThemClones are all part of Think Floyd, a musical tribute to the British band. They first played in 2007 and this is the second time they are doing a tribute night. “Floyd is more than music to us and several other fans,” says Surojit Deb, drummer for ThemClones. And he says that performing with members from bands such as Parikrama and Advaita is a fantastic experience. “Forget music, you get to learn so much about Floyd,” he says.
For a band like Parikrama, it’s like a few disciples paying homage to the biggest influence in their lives. Even on their Facebook page, under the influences sub-head they write: “Pink Floyd...and then some”. Chintan Kalra, the lead guitarist of the band says that for all the gigs they do in a year, Think Floyd nights stand out. “It’s like our personal ode to the great rock band of all time,” says Kalra.
What these bands did was to get together weeks in advance and have about 15 jam sessions. These stretched over eight to 10 hours and were “really intense” according to Deb. He confesses that he wasn’t a great Floyd fan and is more of a “90’s guy”. “But in the last three years, I have realised what I was missing out on and this is a totally different experience,” he adds. Speaking only for himself, Deb says that he is used to playing songs which usually last about four minutes. “But when you do a Floyd song like “Echoes” or “Dogs” they are almost 23-minute pieces,” he explains.
Kalra says that the getting together to rehearse was a bit like friends getting together for something they are all passionate about. “While the common interest is still music, it’s somehow different when it’s Floyd. There are no squabbles or ego issues as we get totally lost in music and don’t think about anything else,” he says. Deb echoes that sentiment and says, “The chemistry between us when we are performing Floyd is something I have never seen before.”
Will they do something on these lines for other bands as well, say like Led Zeppelin or Nirvana? “Why not?” concludes Deb, “but Floyd? Difficult to match that.”
Think Floyd, live at the Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai, January 14. For more information call 022-66511209 or log on to www.facebook.com/hardrockmumbai