This story is from July 7, 2011

Rock becomes the cause

Kaushik Chakravarthy / TNN / Updated: Jul 7, 2011, 12:19 IST

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The Mighty Riff is a DIY Indie music fest with a vision to be a rock 'n' roll NGO

This may not quite be charity, but it’s a cause that a bunch of Bangaloreans are willing to go that extra mile for. After years of event organizers, clubs and middlemen ripping bands off, bands like Inner Sanctum and Bevar Sea have taken up the cause of hard rock and metal, and started The Mighty Riff.
Abhishek Michael from Inner Sanctum says that the idea is about bands taking control.“As players, we’ve wanted shows to be done in a certain way and it has never happened. So we decided to get rid of everyone in the middle. It’s just the bands and the fans now,” he says.
Ganesh Krishnaswamy, the vocalist of Bevar Sea, has been on the scene long enough to have witnessed the highs and lows. “Today, the average metal concert has turned into a 40- or 50-people show. Our biggest audience, the college kids, cannot afford tickets, the food or drinks at these shows. The Mighty Riff aims to bring the kids back,” he says.
From the venue and sound, to promotion and the actual performance, the bands will do it themselves. The first of The Mighty Riff shows is scheduled for July 16 at Alliance Francaise, with a four-band line-up. And from the concept to the actual show, The Mighty Riff has taken four months.

The Mighty Riff will not be a one-off event. The bands have a series of smaller shows planned in cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad. Srikanth of Bevar Sea says, “We’ll be like a Rock ’n’ Roll NGO and a travelling music circus. We plan to do big The Mighty Riff shows twice a year and a series of smaller shows The Mini Riffs.”
Members of both bands reckon that the concept will be sustainable and practical because all the talent required to organize the concerts is available in-house. Michael says, “This is our 6-to-10 job every evening. We have designers, web developers and what have you, amongst us. Otherwise, it cannot be possible.”

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