As has now become something of an autumn tradition, I went back to India with the Bollywood Brass Band in autumn 2011 to play a couple of fun Bollywood gigs. The trip was much shorter than our trip earlier in the year but was still lots of fun, and I managed to tack on a few days at the end to have a little explore along the west coast, where I've not really spent much time.
This time I went down to Ganpatipule, a short 13 hour local bus ride away from Bombay... Was nice to have a bit of space and managed to get some composing for HCB done and also had a thing about a few changes that I'm going to make to my show for the January 2012 dates at Leicester Square Theatre.
Had an ace time performing with the Bollywood Brass Band at the Rio Loco festival in Toulouse. They really know how to look after you at festivals on the continent; no having to have a 12-minute argument to get your 3 cans of tepid Carling here, wine, beer and great food flowed like, well, wine, beer and great food.
Oh yes, and the gigs were good too.We did a street set and a really fun stage set as the sun went down (in our eyes). Look, here are some photos and videos using my new improved Trumpet-o-Vision:
By a lovely coincidence, it was also the night of the lunar eclipse, so we sat by the river and watched it accompanied by the soothing sounds of a 20-minute version of La Bamba.
Still somewhat bleary-eyed from getting back from Poland the night before, I played at the March for the Alternative with the Bollywood Brass Band. It's a cause very close to my heart so was nice to be able to fight The Man the only way that I know how: through the medium of brass-based Bollywood music. Take THAT, the man!
We were leading the parade with the TUC lot which was pretty cool; certainly the only time that I've helped to lead 400,000 people on an angry guided tour of the West End whilst trumpeting Bollywood hits in their faces. Well, the only time so far, anyway.
Apparently we were on the BBC and ITV news quite a bit until the journalists got bored with it being all good natured and decided to go off and film some idiots chucking paint at a Past Times or something.
Had a couple of great gigs with the Bollywood Brass Band to promote the new album.
We sold out Komedia in Brighton and also Rich Mix in London, which got a great four star review from Jane Cornwell in the Evening Standard.
This is the first time I've played with a singer in this band, and also the first full 'stage' gigs (with electronic percussion, video projection etc) that I've done with the band for a while as most of the recent gigs have been mobile street sets.
Really enjoy playing with this band, and got a lot more gigs coming up. Check their website for details.
In January/February 2011 I was on tour with the Bollywood Brass Band in India (again!). As is now becoming the norm for these tours, we played some enormous weddings, including one in Udaipur which took place in both the City and Lake Palaces.
I also took the opportunity to have a bit of a break before the Spring was properly sprung and work got too hectic, so I popped over to the Lakhshadweep islands to do some scuba diving. And by 'popped', I mean, of course, took a night bus, 24 hour train, 20 hour boat and then minibus. Such is the way in India. It's safe to say that the diving was totally unbelievable, and fulfilled my need to be 30m underwater face-to-face with massive sea turtles for at least a few weeks.
The trip was also an excellent chance to get some research done for this year's show, which meant that I was lugging around a small library with me for the whole time. Got lots of useful stuff done though, and the show is beginning to take shape. Watch this space...
OK, that's enough watching, just come back when there's more news.
In January I played at the unveiling of Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan's waxwork at Madame Tussauds. Was quite an odd morning, and certainly the only gig I've done that starts at 7.30am for a while.
Hrithik made an amazing speech in which he thanked 'all the fans, not just my fans, but all the fans in the world', which is a pretty extraordinary sentiment, since it presumably includes fans of unnecessary cruelty and fans of intolerance.
Still, was a fun gig.
Here's Hrithik looking awkward while we're playing:
In November 2010 I was on tour in India with the Bollywood Brass Band. We played some frankly insane weddings, spent a lot (and I mean a lot) of time travelling and waiting for baggage, explored Jaipur a bit, ate some incredible food and generally had a great - if utterly exhausting - time. A radio producer was on this trip with us, and there we'll be featuring on a Radio 2 documentary sometime this year. Will post more info when I have it.
Here's me with a security guard with a gun. Nice.
One of the unexpected benefits of having a producer with us was that we visited another band. The Jaipur Kawa Brass Band is run by tabla player Amrat Hussain and is one of the best-known Indian brass bands in the world (there are more than you might think…). We spent a great afternoon at Amrat’s house in the outskirts of Jaipur and sat in on a band rehearsal, which was really fascinating. They rehearse in Amrat’s idyllic garden, meaning that lots of local kids come and watch and it has a community kind of feel to it. The music can sometimes sound almost improvised, but it’s absolutely not – every little twiddle and inflection is carefully learnt and practiced.
The producer interviewed a couple of the band members, and we were treated to an impromptu solo concert including an amazing indianised version of Tequila which felt somewhat incongruous played by a turbaned bloke in full Rajasthani costume, but was ace.
Ate a huge volume of superb food, played some music, met some other musicians, learnt some stuff, had a great time.
Quick tip: if you're flying Air India, do NOT drink the coffee. It's on the right in this photo (the other's tea). And that is true.
Did a few other bits with Robin Ince over the summer, including a School for Gifted Children where myself and some other musicians improvised a soundtrack to Phil Jupitus' reading of erotic poetry. Pretty much the usual, really.
Both HCB and the Bollywood Brass Band performed at the Durham International Brass Festival in July, which was superb. Bands from all over the world converged on Durham for some loud blowing down bits of welded plumbing. It was a heavy weekend of playing, with a total of 12 sets between the bands and jam sessions until 4am. Great to see what other brass musicians are up to all over the world; the answer is: lots of spectacular stuff. Which makes me feel both good and bad.
In July, we performed Segue at the National Theatre as part of the Hide & Seek Festival, which was hot (a word which, in this context, can be used both in its literal and ‘something to shout during an impressive jazz solo’ sense).
In June I did a frankly ridiculous trip to Mumbai with the Bollywood Brass Band where we played one gig and were on Indian soil for less than 36 hours. Was fun, though arguably not for my grandchildren, who will be blaming me when London is underwater due in part to my carbon footprint.
