Spud In The Box Play Acoustic Set at Fundraiser Gig

Spud in the Box. Photo: Parizad D

Rohan Rajadhyaksha knows how to take it one gig at a time. The vocalist/keyboardist of Mumbai alt/pop rock band Spud In The Box, who recently performed in Delhi as part of the Gig Week, says, “Ever since Josh [drummer Joshua Singh] joined [in July], we’ve been working on our fulltime set and not had a second to breathe.”

The band, which last played an acoustic show in April at Blue Frog in Mumbai, is retooling their stripped-down, unplugged set for a fundraiser gig at Mumbai restobar, Bonobo, this weekend. Part of a music-and-art program by fundraising venture company The Smile Project, the gig features Spud In The Box playing a 45-minute set and art by Pune design school FAD [Fashion Art Design] Academy. The event will raise funds for Jal Jyoti, an NGO which aims at lighting underprivileged households in Mumbai by fitting bulbs inside bottles to create “bottled lights.”

While Spud has played a few charity gigs in the past [including You For Uttarakhand last month], Rajadhyaksha says The Smile Project fundraiser was in the works for a couple of months. “They [organizers] got in touch with us after Jared [Creado, bassist with Mumbai alt punk band BLEK] gave me their contact,” says the vocalist.

For their acoustic set at Bonobo, Rajadhyaksha says all six members won’t be performing together during the gig, adding, “But we’ll all be there and we might play in different combinations.” The band will play a mellow version of one of their trippier numbers, “Bullet Points.” Says Rajadhyaksha, “It’s completely different acoustic. We try to make it as interesting as possible,” adding that the band recorded an acoustic version of “Bullet Points” last year for the soundtrack to Indo-Czech film All the Lost Souls. “We played an acoustic set at Mocha Mojo in Bandra in August last year and the director, Ahmed Faiyaz, was there and he liked it and said he wanted to use it,” says Rajadhyaksha. In addition, the band is currently working on new material and reworking existing material with drummer Singh. Says Rajadhyaksha, “When there’s a lineup change, you should be able to hear a new sound.”

Spud In The Box plays at Bonobo, Mumbai on September 29th, 2013 as part of The Smile Project’s fundraiser gig for Jal Jyoti. Entry: Rs. 200. Event details here.

Listen to the acoustic version of “Bullet Points” from All the Lost Souls below