Scratch Card Winners is a punk band from Bangalore. And unless someone is willing to correct me, I believe they're the only punk rock band in Bangalore, and they're on a mission to bring back punk rock, or at least Zoe is. So that alone makes them worth checking out (that and the fact that the music is good of course.)
I'm not sure what the exact band line-up is, cause it appears as if they're going through some changes right now. So just make do with this artwork, cool?
So I'm not sure about what the situation is currently. They're definitely not defunct though. Zoe Hass is still very much affiliated to the band. I heard they might be shifting base from Bangalore to North East sometime. Not a great idea. Lots of punk bands already there. Not so many in Bangalore. Monopoly of punk and whatnot.
They have four songs on Reverbnation. I remember when I'd seen them live back in the end of October, they only had two songs, and that too live, that didn't help the preparation part very much really. I also remember asking them about Free Pay, cause I'd liked it live. Great to see they subsequently recorded and uploaded the song.
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| Credit Sachin Banandur, okay? |
So as I said, there's four songs on Reverbnation, and as I indicated, two are live, and two are studio recordings. Unfortunately, the problem with the live recordings is that the quality is utterly horrible. So you can't tell much. But if you're a resilient listener, you'll know the song is good, and you shouldn't be prejudiced. That said, I realise it'll be hard to listen to the live stuff more than once. So just take my word for it, and try to catch them live, you'll know I was right. Anyway, fuck it, form your opinion about the quality. Let's dive in then.
1.) Apple In The Pie (Live)
This song is live, and the quality is really bad, so I'll understand if you want to move on after like 30 seconds or something, but still stick around okay?. Starts off all slow and stuff. But the slowness sort of fades out, and we have a very typical punk riff. The chorus (or what I understand to be the chorus) is typically punk too. Music stops, and dude keeps singing, you know? Hear it once with patience, you'd realise it's a good song, which just deserves more justice w.r.t. sound quality. So I suggest going for a live show. There's a good guitar solo in here, joint with the opening riff. You can tell the band has crazy amounts of energy though, that's something live recordings display best. The energy, and SCW is definitely doing well in that department.
2.) Devil's Own Company
I think I remember Zoe saying this song was about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, before playing it live. Which is cool I guess, considering I grew up mostly in Bhopal. Just hits home, you know? Good instrumental opening, high-energy verses, look out for the drumming, that's called energy, fuck. The lyrics "Poison poison in the air" sort of do reflect the Bhopal connection. Another song to be really enjoyed live, the energy in it is immense. And it is so undeniably punk. It's great. Listen to it once at least.
3.) Time Pass Suicide
This song was featured in the World Horror Networks' horror punk compilation. And right from the beginning you can see why. The riffage is very punk. As is the singing. The drumming is like pretty quick. Although the overall tempo of the song is slower than I'd thought it'd be. Zoe's voice is so goshdarned punk, that it's hard to imagine him doing anything else. Pretty sweet guitar solo in it. Not heard too many punk songs with guitar solos. But this is where the slower tempo of the song helps, goes extremely well with the solo. Great job done. It's not live, it's a studio mix, so the quality pretty good too.
4.) Ki Be Free Pay?
"This song is about the past misdeeds in bangalore like ban on live music, no smoking in a public place, no eve teasing (:P) and more importantly the lack of public places to perform then, and the monopoly of the earlier pub guys giving little or no money to performing bands. Things have changed now but just a reminder anyways because facts will not cease to exit because they are ignored."
Another studio mix, with good sound. it actually kinda sounds like Zoe's voice has been worked upon a bit in the mix, doesn't sound entirely natural. Starts with a guitar solo only. That is so cool. Stays short, at 2:20. True to the punk genre. Short and destructive. I'd love to hear the lyrics actually. They sound pretty pissed off.
That was SCW, with two songs for listening purposes, and two live recordings purely for demonstrative purposes. Just to let you know that these songs are there, and they're very likely to play them the next time you see them live. Which is highly recommended.
General Links:
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/scratchcardwinners
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