Control Alt Delete 9.0 Lineup Announced

The Superfuzz. Photo: Pranab Doley

When crowdfunded gig series Control Alt Delete traveled to Pune earlier this year in April, they hosted an exclusively electronic music lineup to a packed house at café venue The High Spirits. It was the first time the pay-what-you-want show was taken outside its Mumbai home since 2011, when it was kicked off by event producers Himanshu Vaswani, Rishu Singh and Nikhil Udupa. To kick off the new year, the trio venture out of Mumbai once again, hosting nine bands at Bengaluru’s venue The Humming Tree on January 16th.

Udupa says one of the reasons they are moving is because of nation-wide interest from venues. “CAD succeeds because the people involved in it believe in it and want it to work. Khodu [Irani, from the High Spirits] and Nikhil [Barua, from the Humming Tree] are venue owners who believe in the power of good music and have created genuine music destinations iconic to their city. Their support and interest was what made us comfortable moving cities,” says Udupa. Of course, this doesn’t mean there won’t be a Mumbai edition of Control Alt Delete. He adds, “We definitely want to try and do one in the coming year.”

Until then of course, Mumbaikars might want to sort their travel plans out, because the ninth edition features nine bands from across the country, with varied levels of experience ”“ from newbie to veteran. This year features Delhi gypsy/psychedelic rock band Peter Cat Recording Co., Chennai rockers Skrat, Delhi rock band Superfuzz, alongside post-rock acts such as Thrissur Kerala-based Mushroom Lake and Ahmedabad/Mumbai act Aswekeepsearching. Emerging artists making their Bengaluru debut include Mumbai punk rockers Punk On Toast and fusion/world music artist Achint, who both had releases out earlier this year. Representing south India are Chennai punk three-member band The Broadway Addicts and Bengaluru’s alt/indie rock band RushLed.

Achint Thakkar, who last performed in Bengaluru in 2010 with his prog/psych band Rosemary, says he wanted to play in Bengaluru to promote his new album Shalimar. He adds, “We’ll play more energetic songs from the album, since there are a lot of rock and punk bands on the lineup.” Aswekeepsearching’s frontman Uddipan Sarmah says they’ve been aching to play Control Alt Delete ever since he attended the last four editions. Although their album Khwaab is just months old, they will debut two new songs at Control Alt Delete 9.0, which he praises for their “well-balanced combination of newcomers and well-known bands.” He adds, “It’s a dream to play here. It’ll be madness.”

Control Alt Delete 9.0 Lineup

Superfuzz

Peter Cat Recording Co.

Skrat

Aswekeepsearching

Achint

Punk On Toast

Mushroom Lake

The Broadway Addicts

RushLed

Control Alt Delete 9.0 takes place on January 16th at The Humming Tree, Bengaluru. Contribute to the event here.