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Photo: R. Ravindran

SOUNDS INTERESTING TAAQ performing at Distil

The songs of ‘Thermal And A Quarter’ (TAAQ) are free of foggy layers that make you search for their meaning. Be it a report of an eating-out session in Bangalore (Chainese Item) or a humorous commentary on the Keralite’s ability to adapt to any new environment (Holy Jose), TAAQ’s songs often relate what we are already familiar with.

In contrast, the band’s name seems more difficult to crack. On its official website (thermalandaquarter.com), the band has answered the question about the meaning of TAAQ in a section it calls TAAQ FAAQ (Frequently Always Asked Questions). With a partly onomatopoeic ring, ‘Thermal And A Quarter’ refers to the “three Mals (Rajeev Rajagopal, Sunil Chandy and Ajit Verghese) and a quarter Mal (Bruce Lee Mani)” who constituted the band in 1996.

Yet, the name remains the subject of constant curiosity. Recently, Bruce Lee Mani posted an entry on the band’s blog (taaq.in) to dispel doubts surrounding its name. As nobody believed the truth, he came up with a fresh theory that even he doesn’t believe. The gist of it: In an exercise aimed at bringing about absolute equality among the human race, everyone is reduced to ‘a global mean’, measurable in thermals, so that all possess the same abilities and no one is superior to the other. This ‘global mean’ has been measured as a ‘Thermal And A Quarter’.

But, during a chat following a TAAQ concert at Distil (Taj Connemara), Bruce draws attention to what sets the band apart, and without realising it, demolishes his own ‘global mean theory. He says the band has been around for 11 year and is to its fourth album – no mean achievements.

A good part of the concert, which began at a quarter past nine, was made up of songs from the band’s 10-song fourth album, which “has just been put together after a 10-day stint at A.R. Rahman’s studio” and also ones that are going to be part of the fifth, whenever it comes.

As TAAQ presented these songs, their sound was one of guitars overlaid with drums. TAAQ has undergone several reshuffles. But its core has remained undisturbed since 1999, when Rzhude David (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals) joined Bruce Lee Mani (electric and acoustic guitars, vocals, song writing) and Rajeev Rajagopal (drums, percussion), who were the old, original, trustworthy pillars of this Bangalore band. On the fringes are accompanists Tony Das (guitars, vocals) and Nate Linkon (saxophone). At the Distil concert, only the core team was at work but that detracted little from what fans know as TAAQ sound.

PRINCE FREDERICK

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