Mark Menezes - the man behind the beat
April 20 2009
Rohan DeSouza chats with Mark Menzes, former drummer of Rock Machine – the biggest rock band in India in the 90s.
What attracted you to the drums as an instrument?
Hmmmm . . . don’t know . . . I was seven years old at the time . . . could be that I was quiet, shy and introverted, and that a monstrous sound may just get me some attention . . . hard to decide, but whichever way I look at it, I loved the instrument but was deprived until I started work at 19 and then chipped in with my first salary. Mom and Dad gave in and contributed the rest - finally got me a brand new “second-hand’ kit, hit the stage at Mood Indigo – IIT a month later and the rest is history.
What is it like for musicians in India when you started - was it easy for you to take up drums as a career?
Musicians have it tough the world over and India is no exception. Starting out in the early 80s and with the age of the 60s and 70s just behind . . . it was a world of sex, drugs and rock n roll, flower power, hippies, Woodstock; I don’t think any parent would be thrilled to have their kids partake of this pie. So it was a major ‘No no’ anyway, at this stage it was just a total high to be on stage and play to an audience and enjoy the moment. No thoughts on making it a career. Musicians who made it a career were either in the Indian film industry or doing the wedding circuit . . . the ‘Nankatai’ bands and were disrespectfully referred to as “bandwallas”. We were ROCKERS . . . in it for the love of music that we enjoyed.
There was and still isn’t any infrastructure in place for anyone doing “western” music to want to make a career of it in India but with Rock Machine/Indus Creed we chipped at this WALL in a small way and eventually did get the recognition and respect from a young adoring yuppie population around the country . . . and this brought us to the attention of MTV. Having five videos aired on MTV Asia and winning the MTV Asian Viewers Award in 1992 was an eye opener for Indian musicians doing “western” music and played a significant part in contributing to opening the door towards blending Indian/Western music and getting it accepted, which is what you see with Indian pop and Bollywood music today.
When did you realise you wanted to take drums up as a career?
Taking the drums as a career was not a realisation but was necessitated from the fact I used up my Dad’s life savings to go and study music overseas in 1985. On returning to India, I had no choice but to venture into the unknown world of “professional” bandwallas and got involved in doing jingles with some of the more prominent jingle/Indian film music producers. This started with “free” work but with experience and hard work over the years, the money started to flow and became quite lucrative. I had found my career…..
Did you learn under a teacher or did you study somewhere?
I studied drums at PIT (Percussion Institute of Technology), Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, California in 1985. This was a year’s Diploma course and was very intense as it was literally a four-year curriculum crammed into a year. Never played so much drums in my entire life . . . was in school from 7am and only wound up the following morning at 1am most days, but it was a fabulous learning experience, meeting and sharing music with students from all over the world. Also got a chance to see all the top drummers who came to the school quite regularly to do clinics and concerts.
How did Rock Machine get together?
The band came together in 1983. I was playing in another band called Crosswinds which was the ‘in’ band at the time. I knew Mark Selwyn, who was my neighbour and band mate when we played at IIT together (mentioned above between 1980-81) who was instrumental in putting RM together with Mahesh Tinaikar and Jayesh Gandhi. They had requested me, but I was committed to Crosswinds who were well established. They recruited Suresh Badricha. They played a few gigs over the years and I filled in from time to time when Suresh could not make it.
After returning from Music School, Mark Selwyn approached me once again as they were doing a series of Elvis Concerts with Gary Lawyer and being an Elvis fan. I agreed. A few months earlier the band recruited Zubin Balaporia on keyboards and Uday Benegal on vocals and this was the successful line-up that made RM/Indus Creed (circa early1987).
What was it like playing with Rock Machine?
The band started as most bands do with humble beginnings and a lot of hard work and dedication. When the final line-up was in place in 1986 all band members decided to give up all other activities, jobs, college and we worked full time at the band rehearsing at least four hours a day, trying to improve and imitate bands from the West. The band worked on choreographed moves on stage, lights, sound and invited sound/light engineers in for rehearsals etc. Then improved the stage setting by involving friends who helped as backstage crew, tuning guitars, setting up drums etc.
The touring bit was icing on the cake and though it was extremely tough in the initial years traveling second class on trains, crappy buses between cities, fighting with corrupt officials to get our gear loaded, sleeping in between gear at railway platforms and bus terminuses. It all paid off eventually moving into five-star accommodation, flying everywhere . . . roadies doing the work, in short: getting pampered!
Recording the first album was a thrill and though it had great songs (as suggested by fans) our inexperience made itself felt on the recording. We learnt from this and the second album was a bit better but once again we lacked the necessary budget for a high end recording, plus the studios did not have the relevant facilities to record ‘Rock’ as we wanted to express it. The third album was eventually recorded in LA but again with a lot of constraints as the band found out after arriving there, that they were duped and there was no contract and desperately had to find funds to get the recording made. Maybe there is still hope that the band will reunite one day and actually record an album with no budget restraints and in a great studio. It’s almost 15 years since the third album and the recording industry has come a long way since then and band members also have a lot more experience.
When did Rock Machine get its first big break?
The big break came when the band was asked to perform for The Festival of India in the USSR in 1988. This was the first time an Indian rock band was representing the country overseas and the band did make a small but pleasant impact on the unsuspecting Soviets with their brand of Indian rock. The MD of CBS (India) was present at one of the concerts in Moscow and immediately signed the band for their first album on returning to India.
Who are your drumming influences? What music do you listen to?
In the early stages it was Ian Paice (Deep Purple) Stewart Copeland (Police) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) but over the years have grown and enjoyed Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham and more recently Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colauita, Steve Smith. No preferences for music styles when it comes to listening . . . really enjoy all genres and love to play them all, from Rock to Reggae, Blues and Country, Soul and Funk and even Big Band and Musical theatre.
What's your funniest drumming moment?
Being asked to play Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) at a concert in Delhi by a drunk and adamant gun toting security personnel . . . much to the amusement of the rest of the band. Funny in retrospect but not at the time. I was sweating profusely (and not from the heat) as at the end of every song, this drunk moron would jump up behind me, poke the gun in my face and scream “PLAY DANCING IN THE DARK”. The band ignored my futile request, thought I was insane, can’t blame them. We did NOT know the damn tune and more importantly it was NOT in our (never to be changed) setlist.
What's your best drumming moment?
There have been a few memorable moments over the years. One was opening for Europe (Final Countdown fame) and Nazareth back in 1989 in Mumbai and playing our 1st Stadium gig with “ball rattling” sound, followed by other concerts with Deep Purple and Bon Jovi , later being part of the house band at the Jazz Club in Hong Kong and performing with Blues greats like Duke Robillard, Elvin Bishop and Carey Bell (Muddy Waters harmonica player) sharing the stage with The Pointer Sisters in Thailand and the Three Degrees in Hong Kong.
Any worst drumming moment?
No “worst” experiences thankfully.
What happened to Rock Machine? Why did you quit?
In 1992, a decision was made to move to Hong Kong as I was married for four years and was living in Mumbai, while my wife was living and working in Hong Kong , so was offered an ultimatum: be a star and share my butt with five other blokes or move to Hong Kong and make a start to live with my beautiful wife. I chickened out and went for the latter!
What is it like living in NZ? What's the music scene like in NZ compared with Hong Kong / India?
NZ is far too quiet after living and working both in Mumbai and Hong Kong. It has a great music scene but I have not explored the possibilities as yet. A bit older now, so really don’t want to jump into anything that may not be fully satisfying. Currently have been teaching drums to school kids and have a full load of students signed up, touching 50 students a week. Have had quite a bit of experience in this line as I got into teaching at international schools in HK in 1997 and taught nearly 300 kids there over a period of five years. It’s an immense blessing to have the ability to teach and extremely rewarding.
Have played drums in local Community Music Theatre shows like Grease, Titanic, The Buddy Holly Story, Guys n Dolls etc, over the past two years around Auckland. This is a challenging change from playing rock n roll over the past 25 odd years and requires a lot of discipline, reading skills, experience in playing various genres and styles and working with orchestral musicians. A whole new ball game and another learning curve . . . so it fits in with my plans to constantly challenge myself, strive to learn and extend my limits.
Any advice for those keen to learn drums and wants to take it up?
If you have the inclination for the instrument, GO FOR IT. Most students are mesmerised by the instrument, like I was, but it isn’t for everyone. Everyone thinks they can just get on a kit and bash away but often it’s just aimless thumping and a lot of noise. It requires a lot of co-ordination skills and this in turn requires determination and patience. If you don’t have these qualities and you don’t have a natural gift for the instrument it’s time to call it a day and move onto something else.
Be passionate, self motivated and focused and you will succeed.
Click here to view the Indus creed website
What attracted you to the drums as an instrument?
Hmmmm . . . don’t know . . . I was seven years old at the time . . . could be that I was quiet, shy and introverted, and that a monstrous sound may just get me some attention . . . hard to decide, but whichever way I look at it, I loved the instrument but was deprived until I started work at 19 and then chipped in with my first salary. Mom and Dad gave in and contributed the rest - finally got me a brand new “second-hand’ kit, hit the stage at Mood Indigo – IIT a month later and the rest is history.
What is it like for musicians in India when you started - was it easy for you to take up drums as a career?
Musicians have it tough the world over and India is no exception. Starting out in the early 80s and with the age of the 60s and 70s just behind . . . it was a world of sex, drugs and rock n roll, flower power, hippies, Woodstock; I don’t think any parent would be thrilled to have their kids partake of this pie. So it was a major ‘No no’ anyway, at this stage it was just a total high to be on stage and play to an audience and enjoy the moment. No thoughts on making it a career. Musicians who made it a career were either in the Indian film industry or doing the wedding circuit . . . the ‘Nankatai’ bands and were disrespectfully referred to as “bandwallas”. We were ROCKERS . . . in it for the love of music that we enjoyed.
There was and still isn’t any infrastructure in place for anyone doing “western” music to want to make a career of it in India but with Rock Machine/Indus Creed we chipped at this WALL in a small way and eventually did get the recognition and respect from a young adoring yuppie population around the country . . . and this brought us to the attention of MTV. Having five videos aired on MTV Asia and winning the MTV Asian Viewers Award in 1992 was an eye opener for Indian musicians doing “western” music and played a significant part in contributing to opening the door towards blending Indian/Western music and getting it accepted, which is what you see with Indian pop and Bollywood music today.
When did you realise you wanted to take drums up as a career?
Taking the drums as a career was not a realisation but was necessitated from the fact I used up my Dad’s life savings to go and study music overseas in 1985. On returning to India, I had no choice but to venture into the unknown world of “professional” bandwallas and got involved in doing jingles with some of the more prominent jingle/Indian film music producers. This started with “free” work but with experience and hard work over the years, the money started to flow and became quite lucrative. I had found my career…..
Did you learn under a teacher or did you study somewhere?
I studied drums at PIT (Percussion Institute of Technology), Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, California in 1985. This was a year’s Diploma course and was very intense as it was literally a four-year curriculum crammed into a year. Never played so much drums in my entire life . . . was in school from 7am and only wound up the following morning at 1am most days, but it was a fabulous learning experience, meeting and sharing music with students from all over the world. Also got a chance to see all the top drummers who came to the school quite regularly to do clinics and concerts.
How did Rock Machine get together?
The band came together in 1983. I was playing in another band called Crosswinds which was the ‘in’ band at the time. I knew Mark Selwyn, who was my neighbour and band mate when we played at IIT together (mentioned above between 1980-81) who was instrumental in putting RM together with Mahesh Tinaikar and Jayesh Gandhi. They had requested me, but I was committed to Crosswinds who were well established. They recruited Suresh Badricha. They played a few gigs over the years and I filled in from time to time when Suresh could not make it.
After returning from Music School, Mark Selwyn approached me once again as they were doing a series of Elvis Concerts with Gary Lawyer and being an Elvis fan. I agreed. A few months earlier the band recruited Zubin Balaporia on keyboards and Uday Benegal on vocals and this was the successful line-up that made RM/Indus Creed (circa early1987).
What was it like playing with Rock Machine?
The band started as most bands do with humble beginnings and a lot of hard work and dedication. When the final line-up was in place in 1986 all band members decided to give up all other activities, jobs, college and we worked full time at the band rehearsing at least four hours a day, trying to improve and imitate bands from the West. The band worked on choreographed moves on stage, lights, sound and invited sound/light engineers in for rehearsals etc. Then improved the stage setting by involving friends who helped as backstage crew, tuning guitars, setting up drums etc.
The touring bit was icing on the cake and though it was extremely tough in the initial years traveling second class on trains, crappy buses between cities, fighting with corrupt officials to get our gear loaded, sleeping in between gear at railway platforms and bus terminuses. It all paid off eventually moving into five-star accommodation, flying everywhere . . . roadies doing the work, in short: getting pampered!
Recording the first album was a thrill and though it had great songs (as suggested by fans) our inexperience made itself felt on the recording. We learnt from this and the second album was a bit better but once again we lacked the necessary budget for a high end recording, plus the studios did not have the relevant facilities to record ‘Rock’ as we wanted to express it. The third album was eventually recorded in LA but again with a lot of constraints as the band found out after arriving there, that they were duped and there was no contract and desperately had to find funds to get the recording made. Maybe there is still hope that the band will reunite one day and actually record an album with no budget restraints and in a great studio. It’s almost 15 years since the third album and the recording industry has come a long way since then and band members also have a lot more experience.
When did Rock Machine get its first big break?
The big break came when the band was asked to perform for The Festival of India in the USSR in 1988. This was the first time an Indian rock band was representing the country overseas and the band did make a small but pleasant impact on the unsuspecting Soviets with their brand of Indian rock. The MD of CBS (India) was present at one of the concerts in Moscow and immediately signed the band for their first album on returning to India.
Who are your drumming influences? What music do you listen to?
In the early stages it was Ian Paice (Deep Purple) Stewart Copeland (Police) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) but over the years have grown and enjoyed Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham and more recently Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colauita, Steve Smith. No preferences for music styles when it comes to listening . . . really enjoy all genres and love to play them all, from Rock to Reggae, Blues and Country, Soul and Funk and even Big Band and Musical theatre.
What's your funniest drumming moment?
Being asked to play Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) at a concert in Delhi by a drunk and adamant gun toting security personnel . . . much to the amusement of the rest of the band. Funny in retrospect but not at the time. I was sweating profusely (and not from the heat) as at the end of every song, this drunk moron would jump up behind me, poke the gun in my face and scream “PLAY DANCING IN THE DARK”. The band ignored my futile request, thought I was insane, can’t blame them. We did NOT know the damn tune and more importantly it was NOT in our (never to be changed) setlist.
What's your best drumming moment?
There have been a few memorable moments over the years. One was opening for Europe (Final Countdown fame) and Nazareth back in 1989 in Mumbai and playing our 1st Stadium gig with “ball rattling” sound, followed by other concerts with Deep Purple and Bon Jovi , later being part of the house band at the Jazz Club in Hong Kong and performing with Blues greats like Duke Robillard, Elvin Bishop and Carey Bell (Muddy Waters harmonica player) sharing the stage with The Pointer Sisters in Thailand and the Three Degrees in Hong Kong.
Any worst drumming moment?
No “worst” experiences thankfully.
What happened to Rock Machine? Why did you quit?
In 1992, a decision was made to move to Hong Kong as I was married for four years and was living in Mumbai, while my wife was living and working in Hong Kong , so was offered an ultimatum: be a star and share my butt with five other blokes or move to Hong Kong and make a start to live with my beautiful wife. I chickened out and went for the latter!
What is it like living in NZ? What's the music scene like in NZ compared with Hong Kong / India?
NZ is far too quiet after living and working both in Mumbai and Hong Kong. It has a great music scene but I have not explored the possibilities as yet. A bit older now, so really don’t want to jump into anything that may not be fully satisfying. Currently have been teaching drums to school kids and have a full load of students signed up, touching 50 students a week. Have had quite a bit of experience in this line as I got into teaching at international schools in HK in 1997 and taught nearly 300 kids there over a period of five years. It’s an immense blessing to have the ability to teach and extremely rewarding.
Have played drums in local Community Music Theatre shows like Grease, Titanic, The Buddy Holly Story, Guys n Dolls etc, over the past two years around Auckland. This is a challenging change from playing rock n roll over the past 25 odd years and requires a lot of discipline, reading skills, experience in playing various genres and styles and working with orchestral musicians. A whole new ball game and another learning curve . . . so it fits in with my plans to constantly challenge myself, strive to learn and extend my limits.
Any advice for those keen to learn drums and wants to take it up?
If you have the inclination for the instrument, GO FOR IT. Most students are mesmerised by the instrument, like I was, but it isn’t for everyone. Everyone thinks they can just get on a kit and bash away but often it’s just aimless thumping and a lot of noise. It requires a lot of co-ordination skills and this in turn requires determination and patience. If you don’t have these qualities and you don’t have a natural gift for the instrument it’s time to call it a day and move onto something else.
Be passionate, self motivated and focused and you will succeed.
Click here to view the Indus creed website
Rohan DeSouza chats with Mark Menzes, former drummer of Rock Machine – the biggest rock band in India in the 90s.What attracted you to the drums as an instrument?Hmmmm . . . don’t know . . . I was seven years old at the time . . . could be that I was quiet, shy and introverted, and that a monstrous...
Rohan DeSouza chats with Mark Menzes, former drummer of Rock Machine – the biggest rock band in India in the 90s.
What attracted you to the drums as an instrument?
Hmmmm . . . don’t know . . . I was seven years old at the time . . . could be that I was quiet, shy and introverted, and that a monstrous sound may just get me some attention . . . hard to decide, but whichever way I look at it, I loved the instrument but was deprived until I started work at 19 and then chipped in with my first salary. Mom and Dad gave in and contributed the rest - finally got me a brand new “second-hand’ kit, hit the stage at Mood Indigo – IIT a month later and the rest is history.
What is it like for musicians in India when you started - was it easy for you to take up drums as a career?
Musicians have it tough the world over and India is no exception. Starting out in the early 80s and with the age of the 60s and 70s just behind . . . it was a world of sex, drugs and rock n roll, flower power, hippies, Woodstock; I don’t think any parent would be thrilled to have their kids partake of this pie. So it was a major ‘No no’ anyway, at this stage it was just a total high to be on stage and play to an audience and enjoy the moment. No thoughts on making it a career. Musicians who made it a career were either in the Indian film industry or doing the wedding circuit . . . the ‘Nankatai’ bands and were disrespectfully referred to as “bandwallas”. We were ROCKERS . . . in it for the love of music that we enjoyed.
There was and still isn’t any infrastructure in place for anyone doing “western” music to want to make a career of it in India but with Rock Machine/Indus Creed we chipped at this WALL in a small way and eventually did get the recognition and respect from a young adoring yuppie population around the country . . . and this brought us to the attention of MTV. Having five videos aired on MTV Asia and winning the MTV Asian Viewers Award in 1992 was an eye opener for Indian musicians doing “western” music and played a significant part in contributing to opening the door towards blending Indian/Western music and getting it accepted, which is what you see with Indian pop and Bollywood music today.
When did you realise you wanted to take drums up as a career?
Taking the drums as a career was not a realisation but was necessitated from the fact I used up my Dad’s life savings to go and study music overseas in 1985. On returning to India, I had no choice but to venture into the unknown world of “professional” bandwallas and got involved in doing jingles with some of the more prominent jingle/Indian film music producers. This started with “free” work but with experience and hard work over the years, the money started to flow and became quite lucrative. I had found my career…..
Did you learn under a teacher or did you study somewhere?
I studied drums at PIT (Percussion Institute of Technology), Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, California in 1985. This was a year’s Diploma course and was very intense as it was literally a four-year curriculum crammed into a year. Never played so much drums in my entire life . . . was in school from 7am and only wound up the following morning at 1am most days, but it was a fabulous learning experience, meeting and sharing music with students from all over the world. Also got a chance to see all the top drummers who came to the school quite regularly to do clinics and concerts.
How did Rock Machine get together?
The band came together in 1983. I was playing in another band called Crosswinds which was the ‘in’ band at the time. I knew Mark Selwyn, who was my neighbour and band mate when we played at IIT together (mentioned above between 1980-81) who was instrumental in putting RM together with Mahesh Tinaikar and Jayesh Gandhi. They had requested me, but I was committed to Crosswinds who were well established. They recruited Suresh Badricha. They played a few gigs over the years and I filled in from time to time when Suresh could not make it.
After returning from Music School, Mark Selwyn approached me once again as they were doing a series of Elvis Concerts with Gary Lawyer and being an Elvis fan. I agreed. A few months earlier the band recruited Zubin Balaporia on keyboards and Uday Benegal on vocals and this was the successful line-up that made RM/Indus Creed (circa early1987).
What was it like playing with Rock Machine?
The band started as most bands do with humble beginnings and a lot of hard work and dedication. When the final line-up was in place in 1986 all band members decided to give up all other activities, jobs, college and we worked full time at the band rehearsing at least four hours a day, trying to improve and imitate bands from the West. The band worked on choreographed moves on stage, lights, sound and invited sound/light engineers in for rehearsals etc. Then improved the stage setting by involving friends who helped as backstage crew, tuning guitars, setting up drums etc.
The touring bit was icing on the cake and though it was extremely tough in the initial years traveling second class on trains, crappy buses between cities, fighting with corrupt officials to get our gear loaded, sleeping in between gear at railway platforms and bus terminuses. It all paid off eventually moving into five-star accommodation, flying everywhere . . . roadies doing the work, in short: getting pampered!
Recording the first album was a thrill and though it had great songs (as suggested by fans) our inexperience made itself felt on the recording. We learnt from this and the second album was a bit better but once again we lacked the necessary budget for a high end recording, plus the studios did not have the relevant facilities to record ‘Rock’ as we wanted to express it. The third album was eventually recorded in LA but again with a lot of constraints as the band found out after arriving there, that they were duped and there was no contract and desperately had to find funds to get the recording made. Maybe there is still hope that the band will reunite one day and actually record an album with no budget restraints and in a great studio. It’s almost 15 years since the third album and the recording industry has come a long way since then and band members also have a lot more experience.
When did Rock Machine get its first big break?
The big break came when the band was asked to perform for The Festival of India in the USSR in 1988. This was the first time an Indian rock band was representing the country overseas and the band did make a small but pleasant impact on the unsuspecting Soviets with their brand of Indian rock. The MD of CBS (India) was present at one of the concerts in Moscow and immediately signed the band for their first album on returning to India.
Who are your drumming influences? What music do you listen to?
In the early stages it was Ian Paice (Deep Purple) Stewart Copeland (Police) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) but over the years have grown and enjoyed Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham and more recently Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colauita, Steve Smith. No preferences for music styles when it comes to listening . . . really enjoy all genres and love to play them all, from Rock to Reggae, Blues and Country, Soul and Funk and even Big Band and Musical theatre.
What's your funniest drumming moment?
Being asked to play Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) at a concert in Delhi by a drunk and adamant gun toting security personnel . . . much to the amusement of the rest of the band. Funny in retrospect but not at the time. I was sweating profusely (and not from the heat) as at the end of every song, this drunk moron would jump up behind me, poke the gun in my face and scream “PLAY DANCING IN THE DARK”. The band ignored my futile request, thought I was insane, can’t blame them. We did NOT know the damn tune and more importantly it was NOT in our (never to be changed) setlist.
What's your best drumming moment?
There have been a few memorable moments over the years. One was opening for Europe (Final Countdown fame) and Nazareth back in 1989 in Mumbai and playing our 1st Stadium gig with “ball rattling” sound, followed by other concerts with Deep Purple and Bon Jovi , later being part of the house band at the Jazz Club in Hong Kong and performing with Blues greats like Duke Robillard, Elvin Bishop and Carey Bell (Muddy Waters harmonica player) sharing the stage with The Pointer Sisters in Thailand and the Three Degrees in Hong Kong.
Any worst drumming moment?
No “worst” experiences thankfully.
What happened to Rock Machine? Why did you quit?
In 1992, a decision was made to move to Hong Kong as I was married for four years and was living in Mumbai, while my wife was living and working in Hong Kong , so was offered an ultimatum: be a star and share my butt with five other blokes or move to Hong Kong and make a start to live with my beautiful wife. I chickened out and went for the latter!
What is it like living in NZ? What's the music scene like in NZ compared with Hong Kong / India?
NZ is far too quiet after living and working both in Mumbai and Hong Kong. It has a great music scene but I have not explored the possibilities as yet. A bit older now, so really don’t want to jump into anything that may not be fully satisfying. Currently have been teaching drums to school kids and have a full load of students signed up, touching 50 students a week. Have had quite a bit of experience in this line as I got into teaching at international schools in HK in 1997 and taught nearly 300 kids there over a period of five years. It’s an immense blessing to have the ability to teach and extremely rewarding.
Have played drums in local Community Music Theatre shows like Grease, Titanic, The Buddy Holly Story, Guys n Dolls etc, over the past two years around Auckland. This is a challenging change from playing rock n roll over the past 25 odd years and requires a lot of discipline, reading skills, experience in playing various genres and styles and working with orchestral musicians. A whole new ball game and another learning curve . . . so it fits in with my plans to constantly challenge myself, strive to learn and extend my limits.
Any advice for those keen to learn drums and wants to take it up?
If you have the inclination for the instrument, GO FOR IT. Most students are mesmerised by the instrument, like I was, but it isn’t for everyone. Everyone thinks they can just get on a kit and bash away but often it’s just aimless thumping and a lot of noise. It requires a lot of co-ordination skills and this in turn requires determination and patience. If you don’t have these qualities and you don’t have a natural gift for the instrument it’s time to call it a day and move onto something else.
Be passionate, self motivated and focused and you will succeed.
Click here to view the Indus creed website
What attracted you to the drums as an instrument?
Hmmmm . . . don’t know . . . I was seven years old at the time . . . could be that I was quiet, shy and introverted, and that a monstrous sound may just get me some attention . . . hard to decide, but whichever way I look at it, I loved the instrument but was deprived until I started work at 19 and then chipped in with my first salary. Mom and Dad gave in and contributed the rest - finally got me a brand new “second-hand’ kit, hit the stage at Mood Indigo – IIT a month later and the rest is history.
What is it like for musicians in India when you started - was it easy for you to take up drums as a career?
Musicians have it tough the world over and India is no exception. Starting out in the early 80s and with the age of the 60s and 70s just behind . . . it was a world of sex, drugs and rock n roll, flower power, hippies, Woodstock; I don’t think any parent would be thrilled to have their kids partake of this pie. So it was a major ‘No no’ anyway, at this stage it was just a total high to be on stage and play to an audience and enjoy the moment. No thoughts on making it a career. Musicians who made it a career were either in the Indian film industry or doing the wedding circuit . . . the ‘Nankatai’ bands and were disrespectfully referred to as “bandwallas”. We were ROCKERS . . . in it for the love of music that we enjoyed.
There was and still isn’t any infrastructure in place for anyone doing “western” music to want to make a career of it in India but with Rock Machine/Indus Creed we chipped at this WALL in a small way and eventually did get the recognition and respect from a young adoring yuppie population around the country . . . and this brought us to the attention of MTV. Having five videos aired on MTV Asia and winning the MTV Asian Viewers Award in 1992 was an eye opener for Indian musicians doing “western” music and played a significant part in contributing to opening the door towards blending Indian/Western music and getting it accepted, which is what you see with Indian pop and Bollywood music today.
When did you realise you wanted to take drums up as a career?
Taking the drums as a career was not a realisation but was necessitated from the fact I used up my Dad’s life savings to go and study music overseas in 1985. On returning to India, I had no choice but to venture into the unknown world of “professional” bandwallas and got involved in doing jingles with some of the more prominent jingle/Indian film music producers. This started with “free” work but with experience and hard work over the years, the money started to flow and became quite lucrative. I had found my career…..
Did you learn under a teacher or did you study somewhere?
I studied drums at PIT (Percussion Institute of Technology), Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, California in 1985. This was a year’s Diploma course and was very intense as it was literally a four-year curriculum crammed into a year. Never played so much drums in my entire life . . . was in school from 7am and only wound up the following morning at 1am most days, but it was a fabulous learning experience, meeting and sharing music with students from all over the world. Also got a chance to see all the top drummers who came to the school quite regularly to do clinics and concerts.
How did Rock Machine get together?
The band came together in 1983. I was playing in another band called Crosswinds which was the ‘in’ band at the time. I knew Mark Selwyn, who was my neighbour and band mate when we played at IIT together (mentioned above between 1980-81) who was instrumental in putting RM together with Mahesh Tinaikar and Jayesh Gandhi. They had requested me, but I was committed to Crosswinds who were well established. They recruited Suresh Badricha. They played a few gigs over the years and I filled in from time to time when Suresh could not make it.
After returning from Music School, Mark Selwyn approached me once again as they were doing a series of Elvis Concerts with Gary Lawyer and being an Elvis fan. I agreed. A few months earlier the band recruited Zubin Balaporia on keyboards and Uday Benegal on vocals and this was the successful line-up that made RM/Indus Creed (circa early1987).
What was it like playing with Rock Machine?
The band started as most bands do with humble beginnings and a lot of hard work and dedication. When the final line-up was in place in 1986 all band members decided to give up all other activities, jobs, college and we worked full time at the band rehearsing at least four hours a day, trying to improve and imitate bands from the West. The band worked on choreographed moves on stage, lights, sound and invited sound/light engineers in for rehearsals etc. Then improved the stage setting by involving friends who helped as backstage crew, tuning guitars, setting up drums etc.
The touring bit was icing on the cake and though it was extremely tough in the initial years traveling second class on trains, crappy buses between cities, fighting with corrupt officials to get our gear loaded, sleeping in between gear at railway platforms and bus terminuses. It all paid off eventually moving into five-star accommodation, flying everywhere . . . roadies doing the work, in short: getting pampered!
Recording the first album was a thrill and though it had great songs (as suggested by fans) our inexperience made itself felt on the recording. We learnt from this and the second album was a bit better but once again we lacked the necessary budget for a high end recording, plus the studios did not have the relevant facilities to record ‘Rock’ as we wanted to express it. The third album was eventually recorded in LA but again with a lot of constraints as the band found out after arriving there, that they were duped and there was no contract and desperately had to find funds to get the recording made. Maybe there is still hope that the band will reunite one day and actually record an album with no budget restraints and in a great studio. It’s almost 15 years since the third album and the recording industry has come a long way since then and band members also have a lot more experience.
When did Rock Machine get its first big break?
The big break came when the band was asked to perform for The Festival of India in the USSR in 1988. This was the first time an Indian rock band was representing the country overseas and the band did make a small but pleasant impact on the unsuspecting Soviets with their brand of Indian rock. The MD of CBS (India) was present at one of the concerts in Moscow and immediately signed the band for their first album on returning to India.
Who are your drumming influences? What music do you listen to?
In the early stages it was Ian Paice (Deep Purple) Stewart Copeland (Police) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) but over the years have grown and enjoyed Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham and more recently Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colauita, Steve Smith. No preferences for music styles when it comes to listening . . . really enjoy all genres and love to play them all, from Rock to Reggae, Blues and Country, Soul and Funk and even Big Band and Musical theatre.
What's your funniest drumming moment?
Being asked to play Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen) at a concert in Delhi by a drunk and adamant gun toting security personnel . . . much to the amusement of the rest of the band. Funny in retrospect but not at the time. I was sweating profusely (and not from the heat) as at the end of every song, this drunk moron would jump up behind me, poke the gun in my face and scream “PLAY DANCING IN THE DARK”. The band ignored my futile request, thought I was insane, can’t blame them. We did NOT know the damn tune and more importantly it was NOT in our (never to be changed) setlist.
What's your best drumming moment?
There have been a few memorable moments over the years. One was opening for Europe (Final Countdown fame) and Nazareth back in 1989 in Mumbai and playing our 1st Stadium gig with “ball rattling” sound, followed by other concerts with Deep Purple and Bon Jovi , later being part of the house band at the Jazz Club in Hong Kong and performing with Blues greats like Duke Robillard, Elvin Bishop and Carey Bell (Muddy Waters harmonica player) sharing the stage with The Pointer Sisters in Thailand and the Three Degrees in Hong Kong.
Any worst drumming moment?
No “worst” experiences thankfully.
What happened to Rock Machine? Why did you quit?
In 1992, a decision was made to move to Hong Kong as I was married for four years and was living in Mumbai, while my wife was living and working in Hong Kong , so was offered an ultimatum: be a star and share my butt with five other blokes or move to Hong Kong and make a start to live with my beautiful wife. I chickened out and went for the latter!
What is it like living in NZ? What's the music scene like in NZ compared with Hong Kong / India?
NZ is far too quiet after living and working both in Mumbai and Hong Kong. It has a great music scene but I have not explored the possibilities as yet. A bit older now, so really don’t want to jump into anything that may not be fully satisfying. Currently have been teaching drums to school kids and have a full load of students signed up, touching 50 students a week. Have had quite a bit of experience in this line as I got into teaching at international schools in HK in 1997 and taught nearly 300 kids there over a period of five years. It’s an immense blessing to have the ability to teach and extremely rewarding.
Have played drums in local Community Music Theatre shows like Grease, Titanic, The Buddy Holly Story, Guys n Dolls etc, over the past two years around Auckland. This is a challenging change from playing rock n roll over the past 25 odd years and requires a lot of discipline, reading skills, experience in playing various genres and styles and working with orchestral musicians. A whole new ball game and another learning curve . . . so it fits in with my plans to constantly challenge myself, strive to learn and extend my limits.
Any advice for those keen to learn drums and wants to take it up?
If you have the inclination for the instrument, GO FOR IT. Most students are mesmerised by the instrument, like I was, but it isn’t for everyone. Everyone thinks they can just get on a kit and bash away but often it’s just aimless thumping and a lot of noise. It requires a lot of co-ordination skills and this in turn requires determination and patience. If you don’t have these qualities and you don’t have a natural gift for the instrument it’s time to call it a day and move onto something else.
Be passionate, self motivated and focused and you will succeed.
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