Scorpions out to sting again!!

They stung the world in 1972 with Lonesome Crow.But India felt the lash of their tail for the first time only in 2001,when they performed in Banglore.Now they are ready to sting the country once again mid-december.Scorpions,the legendary Rock band of the 70's, is in all set to ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE, fist Shilong on December 12, then Mumbai on December 14.
The german band which gave us hits like still loving you. winds of chang. Always somewhere, send me An Angel, Rhythm of love and under The same sun will wind up the indian leg of their world tour in Bangalore.The man with the 'god-gifted' vocals Klaus Maine will belt out rock ballads album - humanity hour 1.
Now the tracks to watch out are game of life, We were born to fly, THe future Never Dies you're loving Me To death (Which had a lron Maiden feel) and the sweet -dripped ballad love will keep Us Alive.
The album cover is also a departure from their trademark font, It is only their third album after lonesome Crow (1972) and fly To the rainbow (1974), where the famed 'Scorpions' font is missing. Either ways , brace up for some Big City Nights!

Rock bands Skrypt and Cake Dilemma in South India final

The ‘Skrypt’ and ‘Cake Dilemma’ emerged as the city’s two best student rock bands in a National wide hunt for best college amateur rock music bands competition held on Saturday night at Durgam Cheruvu in city. In a close comeptition fought by eight bands viz Caution, Delay 456, Mephistopheles, Pash, Ensigns, Modusvivendi, Cafe Dilemma and Skrypt, Skrypt emerged as winner and Cake Dilemma as runner up.

The band members of the Skrypt, the winning band include Ravij on Drums, Scenic on Vocals, Akhil on Guitar, Abbas on Base. Ms. Ramya Rao, a second year student of Biotechnology was the lead Guitarist. She is the first lady lead guitarist of any band in the history of Hyderabad.

The members of the ‘Cake Dilemma’ the runner up band include Adnan as lead Guitarist, Classics by Naren, Key Board by Rohit, on Base Sandeep and Drums Ancoosch. The highlight of the this band was Ms. Yaminoi Vocalist. She is the first female vocal singer for any rock band in twin cities.

Another highlight of the comeptition was it saw a live wire drummer in the form of Venkatesh Potluri, a fifteen years old tenth standard student of Meridian School. He received the accolades from 1500 and odd audience and the judges for his firebrand performance. Despite of handicap of being visually challeneged, Venkatesh Potluri took everybody by surprise with his amazing performance. Incidentally the band Modusvivendi in which he peformed stood at third place. And judges made a special mention of Master Venkatesh Potluri’s remarkable performance.

Speaking immediately after the results Venakesh said it’s an achievement we have got together as a team. When asked whether visualled impaired comes as a handicap to perform to be the best drummer he said, he is as normaly any human being and doesnt find any difficulty. I don’t do rehearsal everyday. When i decide to do, i fix up a target and try to live up to it. No body taught me drumming. I am a self learner. I have picked it up on my own. I have already given six performances so far. And would like to give more, Venkatesh said in the presence of his parents.

These two teams will compete with winners of Regional Contest from Bangalore and Mangalore. Best two out of the six bands competing at Mangalore will fight for Rock Idol title nationally to be held in Delhi on 2nd December, 2007

Over 30 bands that participated in Hyderabad Regional Selections, the short listed bands get ready to rock their way to victory. With hundreds of supporters from their college fraternities, participants vyied for the winning positions that hasl qualify them for the next round of the event.

The Natioinal winner of this year’s Campus Rock Idol will perform alongside an International Rock Iconic artist. The first runner-up & second runner-up receive cash awards apart from the winners.

CRI 2007 Regional Selections begin in Hyderabad and Jaipur on the same day. After Hyderabad, next in queue to host the regional selections are Bangalore, Chandigarh, Manipal, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune and Delhi respectively. The South Zone comprises of Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Manipal for the music fest while the West Zone encompasses Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Jaipur, Delhi and Chandigarh form the cities in the North Zone and In the East Zone, the event will be held in Kolkata and Shillong.

Since its inception, Hero Honda Campus Rock Idols has seen a steady rise with regard to awareness & participation among College rock bands. Compared to the previous year where 300 bands participated, 500 bands are expected to participate in Campus Rock Idols 2007. The finals will be held in Delhi on Sunday, 2 December 2007 at University Polo Grounds, North Campus. It is organised by DNA Networks.

Metallica to Rock Rock Band

They had 10 albums that sold more than 90 million copies over their 26 year long career; then they came up with one of the crappiest album ever – St. Anger. If that album pissed you off as much as me, this piece of news will definitely make you love them all over again – Metallica will be one of the featured bands in Electronic Arts and Harmonix’s upcoming game – Rock Band. At E3 2007 today, Harmonix announced that Rock Band will include 'Enter Sandman' amongst the songs you can rock out on; they even mentioned that almost all of Metallica hits will be available somewhere after the game releases, through the PlayStation Network! Here's what Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of Harmonix, had to say:

"Metallica is one of the best loved bands in the world and their albums redefined hard rock and metal. Its one of the bands we had to bring to the Rock Band experience.

Rock Band will allow gamers to jam with the guys through their long, successful career, from young, raw talent to mega stars, playing the hard-rocking sounds that the band is known for."

'Eclipse' band aspires to rock the world of melody

Beatles were five, they are four. Beatles started their career in an era of rebellion and socialist revolution; they are starting in an age of crash capitalism in an atmosphere of acquiescence.
No doubt there are world of difference between Beatles and the Assamese rock band group "Eclipse". But what is similar is the spirit to do some thing different and to conquer the world no matter how difficult is the journey.
The members of the rock band, "Eclipse"-Twinkle, Sunny, Mihir and Rahul - are all in their early twenties. They nurture a big dream to make big in life. Every evening they gather together and practice, once they are through with their daily work.
What started as a hobby is gradually becoming passion and profession. They want to break free from the confines of limitation and show to the world their talents.
"Of course North East has always been the rock capital of India. Talents are there in the North East; most of the bands outside are from the North East. North East has been lagging behind just because there is no platform, no exposure and no sponsors," said Kundan Goswami, vocalist and guitarist.
"Compared to the last five years now it's changing, future is great for rock bands; sponsors are organizing rock shows in other parts of Guwahati," said Twinkle Das, drummer.
The rock band played some of the famous numbers for this reporter. They also played some of their original compositions. Some of group members are trained in classical music also. They are awaiting support to establish themselves.
"There is much potential in North East but they lack platform to showcase their talents. The talents are curtailed. Rock shows have become frequent in the last ten years, but still more exposure is required," said Mihir, a guitarist.
"Bands from the North East region are amongst the best performers in India. As we can see Bangalore, North East is also coming into the limelight as far as rock shows are concerned," said Rahul Kausik, base player.
Eclipse rock band is gaining popularity in Assam. They create waves among crowd with their performance. There are many bands like Eclipse in the region that are doing well in different parts of the country.

Wanna be a rock star?

Having your own platinum record might be far-fetched, but you can record and mix music at home, thanks to audio-editing software. Anjali Thomas gets into the groove

When he has time, copywriter Rakshit Doshi, 25, composes and records his own music on his PC at home. All he uses is a microphone and an audio-editing software. “I got interested in the idea of making my own music while I was in college, where I had a band called Brake Dust,” says Doshi. “We started playing covers, but later began composing our own music, and that’s when I started editing songs at home.”

Brake Dust may have broken up, but that hasn’t stopped Doshi from continuing to experiment at home. Once he composes the lyrics and basic rhythm on his guitar, he uses Adobe Audition — a simple editing software used to record vocals and guitar chords — and then spends about three hours whipping it into shape. “To pad up my sound, I use drum synthesisers, a software that allows users to emulate an actual drum kit,” Doshi adds.

The idea of making music on a PC was unheard of even a decade ago. But thanks to technology, today even a person with limited experience can put together a passable composition at home. There are many audio-editing programs available for both pros and amateurs, and these can be broadly divided into recording and composition software. For instance, Adobe Audition (which Doshi uses) has basic recording functions, while with Fruity Loops Studio 6 (FL6), one can compose a piece.

“Finding the right software and learning how to use it is not easy initially, but it’s worth the effort,” says 29-year-old ad-scheduler Ninad Bhise, who spent a month familiarising himself with the programs. He composes music on FL6 (Fruity Loops), a software that allows users to experiment with different sounds. It has a bunch of virtual instruments that you can use to create tracks. He also records and mixes on Steinberg’s Nuendo, a program that lets him record not just vocals and guitar, but also keyboards and synthesisers (MIDI). If you’re a newbie and don’t know where to begin, start with the basics. Ranjit Menon, a 27-year-old interface designer who plays the keyboard, recommends Sony’s Sound Forge, a simple recording software. “You can compose on FL6, and then record on Cubase or Nuendo, both of which are complicated but give you better options when mixing,” he says. Mac users can opt for Garage Band, a software favoured by amateurs, and graduate to Logic, a more professional program

The range of editing software available today caters to beginners, amateurs and pros. The software manufacturer Cakewalk, for example, has programs where anyone can create songs just by dragging and dropping sound files. At the other end of the spectrum is industry-standard software such as Protools.

Claver Menezes, 32, a freelance musician who composed the title tracks for a number of television serials such as Bombay Talking and Khul Ja Sim Sim, has set up a home studio. “I can record a hundred takes, if required, at no additional cost,” he says. “So, instead of charging my clients Rs2 lakh, I can bring down the cost by about Rs50,000.” Sahil Makhija, 25, lead guitarist and vocalist with the band Demonic Resurrection, edits, mixes and masters his songs on his PC. “I use Nuendo and Adobe Audition. We hire a studio only when we’re recording. This saves us a lot of money,” he says.

For professionals like Menezes and Makhija, technology has given them a lot of creative freedom. But for Bhise and Menon, who are happy to make music at home, the end product is not what matters. They either upload their music on the net or burn it on a CD to share with friends. And feel like a great rocker.