Confused, eh? Don’t know what the title wants to tell you? This is what aptly describes Manipal’s own and beloved band, Zehen!
Looking back at their Facebook page, this is how they describe themselves…
Zehen, a Rock n Roll band, likes to experiment with their music involving various instruments with a unique blend of Rock, classic riffs, psychedelic effects, metaphorical lyric writing and…..A CRAZY STAGE ACT!
2009 is when it all started and today in 2011 it has numerous gigs and winnings to its name including Ground Zero(Proshow MIT Manipal), Chaotic Symphony(Manipal), Bandish(NITK), Mantra(IITB), Riviera(VIT) and CEC(Mangalore) to name a few.
| Disha Carnival 2010 |
Awesome, right? I remember walking down during Pre-Revels, walking down towards the Innovation Center, MIT to withdraw some cash from a nearby ATM. The Kamath Circle ATM sucks, and hence the walk. Anyways, on looking at a large, well, LARGE crowd nearby, we joined in. Standing in the middle were five normal looking students with musical instruments. I never knew they were that awesome. I never knew of Zehen. People looked enthusiastic, I was kinda bored. And then it began….! Their rendition of the famous song Nayan Tarse was unbelievable astonishing and mind-blowing! OMG! Yes, that was exactly what I thought then, these people were professionals! And no kidding, AWESOME!
For those who are still apprehensive, you just need to come down to KMC Greens and catch them live in action!
When? 12th March, 2011
Time? 1900 hrs
Where? KMC Greens
Why? Because they are amazing, and by now, you should know it!
Alongside will be playing two other famous Indian bands Faridkot and Them Clones and you can catch up about them here: Them Clones and Faridkot in Manipal!
See you at KMC Greens tomorrow. I’ll be there, so should you!
PS. To rectify, Zehen has seven members and not five. The previous title ‘The Five Weird-ass Nerdy Rockers m/’ was in accordance with Zehen’s Facebook page. Thanks for noticing this and if you do not know what’s happening here, check out the comments below. Sincere apologies. 🙂
<Images from Zehen(Manipal) Facebook page>
Hope the Show is as Awesome as your writing 🙂
Do not wish to boast much, but it definitely was! 😛 m/..m/
Are you kidding? Zehen suck.
@Critic: Everyone has their opinions 😛 , we at ManipalBlog.com feel, the performances of Zehen as a band at Ground Zero was Awesome !!
i personally didnt go fr the show. but i think Zehen was quite a hit!!!
I was standing right in the front during G0. The crowd went crazy when they started playing…they do have quite a fan following. Although they did play great renditions of popular songs, 'Zehen suck.' can be applicable to a minimal extend considering they did not have any original songs. We've got 33 likes to this post as compared to one dislike . Just saying!Cheers!
@Anonymous: Thanks for letting us know that you feel, Ground Zero needn't have been covered. However we do think that you are in the minority :)… Considering the fact that we have been receiving a good response to this post and also the other one!Ground Zero Photo Feature. And we do hope to get better over time, considering that we are a growing blog!!
You have got to be kidding me… I had a ripe little laugh reading this article. Music in Manipal has grown in leaps and bounds over the years and I think bloggers should be spending a little more time covering the acts that actually deserve a mention.
There are 6 of us, 7 if you include Navendu… A few members have changed here and there but the musical direction hasn't.
-Anup
-Also, more than half our songs played that night were original.. lol, and the picture in this article itself has the 6 of us, right under the title "The Five Weird Ass Nerdy Rockers". A little proof reading and fact finding goes a long way =) I appreciate the article though,
-Anup
It was that description in your Facebook page that amused me. Anyways, thanks for notifying, I never noticed while writing the article. Also, I saw five of you playing during PreRevels…and that song was all I knew about you guys while I wrote this. Shall rectify.
Also, I wasn't speaking of original music direction. I meant that whatever you played that night were renditions of popular songs. (To point out, one or two of your songs were better than the original, in my opinion) As it is, I seldom listen to Hindi songs…some of which I had heard, I found them being played at KMC Greens. Anyways, if you could please point out your original songs during the concert, I could put them up. And my apologies. 🙂
And thanks for your appreciation. 😀
– Aditya
If Zehen are so awesome, why didn't they compete in the battle of the bands and EARN that slot at G0.
And Anup, a little birdie told me you and Navneet were the biggest zehen haters around. Almost saddening that you went and joined them. Your choir at MIC was so much better than Zehen could ever hope for…
The only reason Zehen are so popular is because they throw their weight around. They go to all the competitions (and lose), they get 1 hour slots when everyone gets 10 minutes and they open for Them Clones just because by some great misfortune they are the organisers.
It's disappointing because no one has seen the other bands in Manipal. The average Zehen fan has only heard Zehen and nothing else.
Alright I don't know whether you guys have a review system or the site just decided to screw me over but my previous comment didn't show up so I'm writing this again. Don't blame me if this shows up twice.
Moving on…
If Zehen are so awesome, why didn't they compete at the battle of the bands and EARN their slot at ground zero. Let's face it, the only reason Zehen is so popular is because it throws its weight around and gets 1 hour slots where everyone else gets 10 minutes and gets fastracked to events like ground zero because MIT let's them organise stuff.
And Anup, I'm told you and Navnet were once the biggest Zehen haters around. It's a pity that you went ahead and joined them after all that time badmouthing them. I heard your choir when you came to MIC and quite honestly, it was far better than Zehen could ever hope for.
But probably the biggest disappointment is the fact that most Zehen fans aren't even aware of the existence of other bands.
Honestly, all I see is a pathetic attempt to hijack music in Manipal.
@Critic?, you might be right. Zehen is the almost the only MIT band I have heard. I quite liked their music but there might be better musicians out there.
Also, I do not quite comprehend the politics that run behind these fests, but you might have a point there. Thanks for your opinion on their same…cheers!
I am least interested in this shit but being the manager and to get Mr. Critics facts right i thought of posting this.
1. Zehen WON THE LAST TWO REVELS Battle of Bands to EARN a SLOT in the last Pro-show. [Is dat fine by your rules and regulations sir?]
2. Zehen recently won NITK.
3. We reached Nation No. 7 on Revebnation's Rock charts by posting just one badly recorded song.
4. The only two competitions we took part in and did not win was IITB and VIT coz We Sucked. Yes being a part of it, I atleast have the balls to accept that we did!
5. And now we don take part in competitions anymore is becoz we think that instead of wasting time battling out and playing the same old songs AGAIN and AGAIN like most bands do, we need to develop our act and sound and concentrate more on recording our material.
Secondly I'll like to bring this to your notice that few of us started a company to helpout all the struggling musicians here in manipal and oraganized gigs like The Big Gig, The Bigger Gig, Big 4 and Rush, where we had almost each and every band in Manipal play becoz there was no other scene happening! Now dat is wat we like to do for our fellow bands, and all you can do is point fingers at us. This explains your mentality.
We do feel bad but nevermind we can't have everyone supporting us. And whoever does, we're highly obliged! Thank you!
And Mr. Critic, Yes we don play Metal. No we don wear black t-shirts and raise horns to show how BRUTAL we are. And NO we don have long hair and ugly beards to show that we are THE Rockers! LOL!
I being a metalhead and playing in metal bands now play hindi becoz thats wat I like now.
Appreciate/support whichever bands u like! And aleast grow the balls to post with your own name and stop bitching around! 😛
And Aditya Kamath, Thank you again! You deserve a treat for your support!
I am least interested in this shit but being the manager and to get Mr. Critics facts right, I thought I should post this.
1. Zehen WON THE LAST TWO REVELS BATTLE OF BANDS to EARN a Slot in the last Pro-show.
2. We recently won NITK.
3. Zehen reached Nation No. 7 on Reverbnation’s Rock charts by posting just one rough recording of a song.
4. Few members of Zehen have already started composing soundtracks and songs for short films.
5. The only two competitions where we took part and did not win was IITB and VIT coz We Sucked! Yes being a part of it, I atleast have the balls to accept that we did.
6. And now we don take part in competitions becoz we think that instead of battling it out and playing the same OLD songs AGAIN and AGAIN, we should be working on our sound, our act and recording our material.
Also I’d like to bring to your notice here that we started a company to helpout the struggling musicians here in manipal and oraganized gigs like The Big Gig, The Bigger Gig, Big 4 and Rush where we had almost all the bands in Manipal play. Now this is wat we like to do for our fellow musicians and all you can do is point fingers at us! This explains your mentality.
So Mr. Critic. YES we don play Metal, NO we don wear black t-shirts and raise horns to show how BRUTAL we are, and we certainly don have long hair and ugly beards to tell the world that we are THE ROCKERS! And if u play in a band, I surely can understand why u hate us!
Atleast grow the balls and post all the shit with ur own name!
I being a metalhead and playing in metal bands for most part of my life as a musician, I now play hindi music coz that is wat I Like and it defines me.
And Aditya Kamath, Thank you Sir for all your support. You deserve a treat!
And for all Manipal bands……Get ready to play a full set for LivingStone’s next gig!
Peace out!
This is nothing but a simple post telling people about you and my acknowledgement that your songs were great! Gee, I'm flattered. 😛
Zehen didn't win last time. You guys were second. And even that doesn't qualify you for a slot at THIS year's proshow. Neither does winning NITK.
There are other bands that have done fairly well in competitions. Stage Theory went to Pune and did well. Drop 3 did well at Revels. Monkey Skull went to NITK. Technical Difficulties is doing great here. In my opinion, even new bands like Derelict and Sane Asylum are playing well.
Agreed, most of these bands play metal. Agreed, you are the only band playing Hindi music. In fact, that's another reason why you have mass appeal even though critics dismiss you as "ear-ache". And no, I have nothing against Hindi music. It's just you.
I'm not surprised you didn't win anything at IITB or VIT. Those competitions are respected, and, in fact, it is a source of some amusement to me; thinking how you would have made fools of yourself in front of such great crowds; but at the same time, embarrassment as well; that YOU represented Manipal.
No.7 on reverbnation, huh? Well, I know the guys who are No.1 on the same list personally and, buddy, I'm sorry but that doesn't mean you make quality music. It only means that you send ten thousand annoying e-mails on facebook, persuading innocent people to listen to you. What an attention whore. That's why you play hindi music, isn't it? So you can be popular? Despicable.
I agree with you. You shouldn't play competitions. Obviously you believe that you're the greatest thing to ever happen to music in Manipal and losing a competition with that mentality would simply shatter your ego beyond repair! In that sense, yes, I think you're doing the right thing by giving your mental health priority 🙂
I was there for all the shows you mentioned. As organisers, I feel you did a great job. And it's only fair that you play the show you're organising.
But not when you're organising it for someone else (read: Ground Zero).
I can safely say, and I'm sure everyone else who was there will agree, that StoneCraft really didn't meet the standards set by some of the other bands (read: Drop 3; Apocrypha; Exiled), low as they might have been. You were closer to Animus but those guys just seemed confused, which had its own charm. And I would like to believe that they aren't as arrogant as you.
I honestly don't care what genre you play. You do it well, I'll tell my friends and I'll give them a good review. You play bullshit, I'll make sure I point it out to any of your "fans".
Hope this serves as a reality check more than anything.
Awaiting your carefully worded reply.
-Critic?
P.S – Grow the balls to compete and I might just tell you my name.
Ok! We have enough of the accusations, counter accusations and name calling! Critic and all the others, please keep the tone of your comments and accusations to a polite level! You guys can argue as much as you want without being rude and calling names. If there is another of such wild comments, we will close down/not publish any more comments on this post!
Chief Admin
ManipalBlog.com
Sincerest apologies to the administrator. We appreciate you letting us off with a warning and not deleting our posts. If it wasn't for this platform, I would not have been able to voice my opinion so clearly. As you can see, it is a bit of a sensitive issue.
Rest assured, I will keep your warning in mind, as I'm sure will everyone who posts here henceforth.
Hey, this is Anup. I'd really like to know who you are Critic, just so I have a better idea about where your comments are coming from. Every band has its faults, and the reason I'm pointing that out is because there would be complaints about any non-pro band playing on the Ground Zero stage, be it because of bad sound, unfair judgement at the competition, or having "connections" to get on stage. What you might be fine with, others may not. There aren't too many bands out there with as many original songs as we have, at least not from the battle of bands at Revels this year. I'm not baiting an argument here, but these points are valid, though you may have some others.
Navneet and I were Zehen haters? We remember what we thought of our band and other bands at the time, and our whole point of even forming a band then was to do something different but do it well. Zehen has changed a lot over the years, and is beginning to stabilize quite nicely. We get called for gigs and have pretty good sound, considering Anirudh, Navneet and I are pretty much the only sound engineers in Manipal and are all on stage at the same time.
I guess I'm starting to feel the same things my bandmates are have been feeling: No matter how much you do for others, people will still blame you for getting anything back. Doesn't matter how many gigs were organized, how many bands have had us do their sound, or how many instruments and amps have been fixed by us, we will remain selfish and arrogant… This wasn't just written for you Critic, this is pretty much my statement to all recent backstabbers and people I thought were my friends,
-Anup
How does fixing amps justify you bullying every other band? What do you expect people to call you if not selfish and arrogant?
don't think you understand. I'm trying to say that Zehen didn't deserve to play at Ground Zero.
Playing events like the proshow gets you huge publicity. Zehen hogged that just because they have connections.