There are walls all around us — walls that divide the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the past and the future. With the mission to bring some of these walls down, Bengaluru rockers Thermal and a Quarter make headlines again in their newest album No Wall Too High .
The dream child of Mathew Kurian, a Bengaluru-born scholar at the United Nations University in Dresden, Germany, who wrote the lyrics, the record is a tribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as the consequences of change that it had on cities like Bengaluru.
Teaming up with guitarist and vocalist Tony Das from Bengaluru and choral singer Kristin Meyer from Dresden, Germany, No Wall Too High commemorates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. The band will also head to Bonn, Germany, where they will launch the album internationally on the occasion of the 70th United Nations Day celebrations on October 24.
Drummer Rajeev Rajagopal from TAAQ explains that the album was holistic in nature. “We saw a pattern in all the songs written by Mathew. There was a relevance to what’s happening in India to learn from history, not repeat mistakes, value what we have and use it responsibly. That’s what inspired the name of the album. The title reflects that somehow every song touches upon some kind of division, including the Berlin Wall, a symbol of division, which inevitably fell in the end.”
The process was very organic, echoes frontman, guitarist and vocalist Bruce Lee Mani. “Mathew contacted us by phone and email earlier this year and things just fell into place.”
Mathew says: “An interesting dimension to the project is old Bengalureans reconnecting and singing songs about change. The songs were written by me over the last 20 years.”
The main trigger for these songs was the stories I heard from my parents about how Bengaluru has changed. Another trigger was the story of Kristin who works with me in Dresden. Born in former Eastern Germany three years before the fall of the Wall, hearing her story inspired me. Since I’m not a musician, I contacted TAAQ because of their global appeal and we clicked immediately.”
Kristin points out that many lost their jobs when the Wall fell and one of them was her dad who was a professor in a German University teaching economic history, socialism and Marxism. “He wasn’t allowed to continue teaching since communism was considered evil. After a lot of struggle, he decided to take up work in a bank. The transition was hard for us as children.
However, as society changed, I’m part of the generation that was lucky. I’m the best example of someone who came out of the system and has all these opportunities. I would not be here if it wasn’t for the Wall coming down. So I can relate to what’s happening in Bangalore that has also undergone changes.”
Mathew adds that the most important part of the story is he met Kristin’s father who didn’t have any regrets. “He told me change happens for the best and he picked up the pieces and went the way it took him. For him, the biggest yardstick of happiness was the future of his daughter. I wrote a song within 10 minutes of meeting him and it’s easily one of the best in the album. When I gave these songs to TAAQ and they heard the story of the Wall, they related to it and came up with a set of fantastic songs.”
Bruce points out that next year the band celebrates 20 years of being together since they started in college. “Throughout this time we never thought of collaborating with a non-musician, let alone someone we never even knew. However, the first time we met Mathew was a few days after the album was done. All our communication was by phone or mail. But he was from Bangalore and we shared a very old school Bangalore connect.”
He adds that Mathew gave lyrics that weren’t written from the perspective of a musician. “They were more like a poem. For me, being the lyricist in the band, writing is a very personal thing since these are stories that are internal. He was fine with us making changes. We dashed off one demo song ‘Silicon Outhouse’ which talks about the city with a girl’s reference. We mostly stuck to his template for the other songs; we altered some and we finished recording the album in a month. We have never worked like this before!”
Rajeev adds that they had just finished their sixth album The Scene. “We didn’t expect this. I guess we are the only band in India to do two back-to-back concept albums in a year. The collaborative effort has been a great journey.”
“Looking back we found ourselves chronicling the times we live in. Somehow all our albums showcase the history of our city,” says Bruce and adds: “For example, in a song called ‘Bangalore Blues’ in the album, there is a sample of street sounds from Brigade Road in 2002. It was something we recorded for our first concept album Jupiter Café. So you will hear the acoustic song in the backdrop of how Bangalore used to sound 13 years ago.”
Mathew sums up: “There is something peculiar about Bangalore. It makes you a global citizen and yet you are locally connected. However, we are neither here nor completely there. That kind of makes a band like TAAQ nomads.”
THE FOREIGN CONNECT
Kristin Meyer
I come from a choral music background and found the entire confluence of music very interesting. And while this is my first visit to India, I felt very much at home here. We had a lot of conversations on the overall concept and it resonated with me. Since one of the songs deals with the story of my life, it was a nice connection. They used what I’m best at and showcased it in the album where I sing in five of the 10 songs. Music is a hobby for me and I’ve been singing in choirs since I was six years old. It does a lot to people connecting and bridging borders.
Launch highlights
- TAAQ will launch the new album on October 10 at the RockStock 2015 Festival in Royal Orchid Park Plaza.
- The album will be available in the Indian market first, exclusively on www.oklisten.com.
- The international launch on iTunes and other global distributors will be on October 24, alongside their gig in Bonn, Germany.
- TAAQ will play a one-hour set during their album launch alongside other European Bands performing at the Market Square Celebration in Bonn.
- TAAQ will be the only non-European band to play at the day-long festival.
- A special album website www.nowalltoohigh.in will allow fans to look at album art, pictures, credits, download liner notes, preview/listen to track clips and write to the band.
