Thermal and a Quarter - Part 2

As you may have read in comments from part one of the Thermal and a Quarter interview, the boys are okay. That's great to hear. Now, let's refocus on the music.

In part one, TAAQ discussed the political situation in India, the war with Pakistan, and it's effects on the music. The boys also discussed traditional Indian music and their place within that dynamic.

In part two, TAAQ continue their thoughts on the music as well as their progression a a band.

I hear much improvisation in your music. This leads me to think of bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead. I also hear technical prowess. I think of Rush in this instance. Would I be in the right neighborhood?

Bruce:
Oh yes, I think you would be. Phish was not one of the bands that influenced our work as we probably found their music well into our fifth or sixth year of existence. TAAQ is quite a mix-up. I've always been a jazz buff, and still a big fan of bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears. Rajeev started with a lot of hard rock, like AC/DC, Rzhude's been an acoustic fan - JamesTaylor, Joni Mitchell... Sunil is perhaps the only one of us with any serious classical training, but also digs jazz/progressive. I guess the influences where things meet are Steely Dan, Dave Matthews, etc.

Rajeev:
Our songs rarely come out of jams. There's always an effort that's put into creating parts and transitions and grooves. So in that sense we're not a true jam band. Rush is again a very common comparison due to the odd time signatures we play. We've never forced ourselves to make progressive rock music -- odd time progressions happen very naturally to us. It's actually a bigger effort for us to keep it straight. It's painful to categorize TAAQ's music really, the neighborhood we'd like to be in would be more with early Dave Matthews, some Queen, Steely Dan, Yes, etc.

Rzhude:
I have listened to these bands with passing interest, so I can't give you accurate directions to our sound from that neighborhood. People have found us to stray as far away as Led Zep, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and even Steely Dan. While I am aware that others in the band have followed the work of bands like these, I can't put down how much of an influence they have had on the sound we've arrived at in our studio efforts to date. Personally I can state the Beatles, Sting, James Taylor and Steely Dan as inspiration, apart from a great number of Indian artists like Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, T. H. (Vikku) Vinayakram, Kumar Gandharva, among others - though the influence is not upfront in our sound.

You've chosen to make Plan B available for free over the Internet. Explain that strategy.

Rajeev:
The most important thing for any band would be to 'be heard'. That's the primary payment. Plan B was made and recorded with no plan in mind as to how we were going to market the album. We didn't want to get into CD production and marketing it ourselves, like what we had done with our second album, Jupiter Cafe. So when we knew that there was an opportunity of being on air on one of America's biggest radio networks, NPR, we decided to take a gamble and give the music away for free on our web site. A staggered launch of all the Plan B songs over a four to five week period got us really popular on the Internet and we now have more people from across the world listening to our music than ever before. I don't think any record company could have worked this out better for us.

Rzhude:
We put in a good deal of effort (and spend) in recording what we consider an international effort. It wasn't doing us any good to have that effort cooling in the can. Besides the record companies weren't exactly breaking down our doors to get at it. The Internet has exposed several gaping holes in copyright laws and the way record companies and lawyers make their bushels in the West. Bands like The Grateful Dead and Phish have shown by example how it is possible to create a following by allowing and encouraging fans to record and spread their music through personal networks and recordings of live gigs. I believe that if the music is bigger than the sum total of the creators' egos, then it will get around and get heard. And that's the way to go. The Net and the 'free'dom it brings with it asked our good offices to figure what we had to lose (or gain) by doing what we did. We wouldn't be having this discussion otherwise.

Bruce:
As an unsigned band in a country with an industry that isn't really signing bands that make music (per se?!) like ours, the Internet is one heck of a powerful way to get the music where it belongs - in people's ears. We still treat the free download of Plan B as a promotional experiment. And someday soon there will be a CD available.

You've been at this for almost ten years. Do you feel you have the respect you deserve? If not, what will it take to earn that respect?

Bruce:
I personally don't think we're being heard as much as we should be. It'll probably take a few international tours before that happens.

Rzhude:
We always get what we deserve. Maybe not what we expect, but definitely what we deserve - that's about as open-ended as I can leave it for now!

Rajeev:
It's just as Rzu said - we only get what we deserve. I believe in that. We have a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do before getting everything we want out of playing in TAAQ.

Your website claims that Album #4 is in the can. What can you reveal about the music, sound, etc.?

Bruce:
Album 4 is definitely a lot slicker, and more eclectic in some respects. It probably has more sticky tunes, and it isn't as 'heavy' as Plan B.

Rajeev:
The compositions are a lot more mature - some of the songs are more accessible than earlier TAAQ songs.

Rzhude:
We did record 20 songs, which were divided up into what we thought were the ten best and the rest. We had the funds to mix down only ten and chose to leave the best for last. Plan B (as the name suggests) evolved and launched itself as the concept that you know it as. We are just happy to be a part of it! Now we have to see if we can get anyone interested enough in the real thing to pay for it!

You have yet to secure a deal in the United States. Why do you believe a deal has not happened?

Bruce:
We're over here. You're over there. Connections are hard to make, and sustain.

Rajeev:
We have not really tried very hard. We need to get networked soon. I don't see any other reasons...

Rzhude:
We are not Americans. Our music, though it conforms to what the general public in America listen to, is still pretty much open to interpretation anywhere in the world. The way to make money out of it is to do it the old fashioned way - with hard-working performance. We are not yet ready to tour the US for a variety of reasons, the least of them being having a record deal, an agent and a following there to justify such an exercise. We haven't even toured our own country for the most part! The deal has not happened because we are not ready for it.

Two down, one to go. I hope you have enjoyed meeting Thermal and a Quarter. In part three, the band will interviewing each other. We'll bring you the results soon. Stay in touch.