Zedde & Alive

In 2008,2Blue,quit as the vocalist for the band Vayu and joined forces with lead guitarist Claver,who used to play for the band Rust Angels. “Claver was someone whom I had seen playing way back,almost 10 years ago,and at that time,I thought he was one of the best guitarists I had ever seen live. So,as you can imagine,joining forces with him in 2008 was pretty incredible.” Later,ex-Rust Angels drummer Trevor and bassist Akashdeep joined them,completing the quartet; hence,Zedde was born.

Zedde like to refer to the genre to which they belong as ‘Dirty Rock ‘n’ Roll’. “We draw heavily from bands like AC/DC and of course,G’n’R. Our lyrics,without using any profanities,are fairly explicit. Initially,when we were just starting off,we were quite hesitant about them and the responses of the audiences. However,two years on,all our doubts have been proved unfounded – the audiences seem to love us,and we have no more fears,” says 2Blue. “However,we specifically do not want to be labelled as classic rock,” he adds as an afterthought.

But what is so special about the songs they are to play? 2Blue explains,“All college,semi-pro and professional bands play songs by bands like G’n’R or Deep Purple. We don’t want to compete with them – they are young and full of energy,while we are all in our thirties now. However,we add a modern touch to songs,to make them slightly different from the original. For example,if we play Highway Star by Deep Purple,then we would insert an electric drill machine solo in the song. But what bands usually do is to perform covers,with the odd original composition thrown in between. We do the opposite – we want to play our own music.” It is perhaps through passion for playing their own music that the band won the prestigious Anthem of the Year title at the Asia Voice of Independent Music Awards (AVIMA) for their single Mumbai in 2009.

(Zedde will be playing a tribute concert to Guns ‘n’ Roses today,at the Hard Rock Cafe at Koregaon Park Extension,8.30pm onwards. Also joining the band for the special concert will be Schubert D’Souza,on keyboards and guitars)