About six years ago, Mumbai-based alternative metal/post-hardcore band Goddess Gagged came to Bengaluru and conquered the long-standing Strawberry Fields band competition at the National Law School.
Turns out, there is an unfunny aftermath to the win. Though they were guaranteed a tour as winners, the band paid out of their own pockets to fund expenses to travel to the North East and other cities.
Guitarist Arman Menzies recalls, “We went to Delhi and played in a mall. And then we went to Shillong and played in a field, to 10 drunk people. Not the best memories, but it was fun.”
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The band, which includes guitarist Devesh Dayal, vocalist Siddharth Basrur, bassist Krishna Jhaveri and drummer Jeremy D’Souza, now have a new tour experience to look forward to. After nearly three years of being on a break and concentrating on other projects and studies, Goddess Gagged reunited in August and are slated to perform in seven cities as part of tour series 2Stroke.
Now in its fourth edition, 2Stroke Tour takes Goddess Gagged to Kolkata, Shillong, Guwahati, New Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai between August 26 and September 4.
After releasing their latest single ‘Handmade Waterfalls’, the band finally hit the jam room, playing together for the first time since early 2014.
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Vocalist Basrur says they have been individually practising and getting back to the songs of their debut album Resurfaces and more in the last month.
“I haven’t even heard the songs in a while now, maybe two or three years.” While Basrur got busy composing and lending his voice for Bollywood films and jingles, D’Souza and Dayal were off to the U.S. to pursue music courses and Jhaveri concentrated on bands such as Pangea and Indus Creed. Menzies, too, turned to focus on his electronic music as Zokhuma. He jokes that it had been a while since he picked up a guitar. Menzies adds, “It has rekindled my musical excitement. I’d been out of practice for the last two or three months.”
Dayal, on the other hand, who plays in progressive metal band Skyharbor (which features Jhaveri on bass as well), says getting back to Goddess Gagged favourites like ‘Sink or Swim’ and ‘Modern Machines’ made him realize “these songs are way harder than Skyharbor”. He adds, “That’s just the nature of this band (Goddess Gagged).”
Either way, they’ll be five shows down by the time they get to Bengaluru, and probably have a hang of their entire set. While Menzies says he will be nervous on the first day of the tour in Kolkata, he just knows that their Bengaluru show will be special.
He adds, “We spoke about it today, and we all agreed that Bangalore is probably going to be the craziest show. And The Humming Tree is one of my favourite venues in the country right now.”
Goddess Gagged perform at The Humming Tree, Indiranagar on September 3 as part of 2Stroke Tour, alongside Tails on Fire and Diarchy. Tickets available on Insider.in