Ioish and Celestial Teapot Announce Joint Tour

Delhi post-rock band Ioish. Photo: courtesy of the band

The year gone by has been exceptionally good for the ambient/post-rock genre [Ahmedabad/Pune/Mumbai act  Aswekeepsearching will vouch for it] and it looks like 2016 has a lot of good things in store too. Next month, Delhi post-rock band Ioish and Pune instrumental rock band Celestial Teapot, will go on a five-city tour starting February 17th in Pune.

The ‘We Move the Big Sky’ tour will have  Celestial Teapot promoting their debut album One Big Sky, alongside Ioish, who will play material from their second EP We Move the Sky. The two bands are also roping in local bands to play in each city.

Originally meant to be Ioish’s launch gig with Celestial Teapot supporting, the bands worked together to book more dates in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Nashik. Says Celestial Teapot guitarist Nishant Karve, “Ashwin [Naidu, drummer] was in touch with Abhinav [Chaudhary, Ioish bassist] and Vaibhav [Bhutani, Ioish guitarist] about planning this tour together, after we got our first gig at Blue Frog Pune, we started approaching other venues.”

Chaudhary, who also plays bass for experimental rock band The Circus and electro-rock band SundogProject, adds, “We’ve never done anything like this before so it’s a cool experience but also really stressful.” The bassist’s idea was to have a show in each city geared towards instrumental, ambient and post-rock. While they’re being supported by prog band Riptide in Pune, Bengaluru post-rock band Farfetch’d is on the lineup on February 19th, Delhi post-rock band Zokova provides support on February 24th and Mumbai instrumental rock band A Mutual Question joins the billing on February 25th in Mumbai. They’ve added a final at on February 26th, taking post-rock to Nashik with local ambient/prog band Mount Infinite.

Both Celestial Teapot and Ioish are playing in new territories on tour, with Celestial Teapot venturing out of Mumbai and Pune while Ioish head out of Delhi. Karve adds, “We’re going to have to be on our absolute best as we’re going to roll under the scanner for the first time in places like Bengaluru and Delhi.” While Celestial Teapot will play the eight-track One Big Sky in its entirety on tour, Ioish will include the EP and earlier material such as “The Essence of Being” and a possible cover of songs by electronic/post-rock band 65daysofstatic and UK prog band Oceansize.

We Move the Big Sky Tour poster. Artwork by Harsh Patel

We Move the Big Sky tour ft Ioish and Celestial Teapot

February 17th ”“ Blue Frog, Pune w/Riptide

February 19th ”“ Indigo Live Music Bar, Bengaluru w/Farfetch’d

February 24th ”“ Summerhouse Café, New Delhi w/Zokova

February 25th ”“ Blue Frog, Mumbai w/A Mutual Question

February 26th ”“ Big Bang, Nashik w/Mount Infinite