The Other Side of Gary

Gary Lawyer’s your man if you’re in the mood for an evening of well-delivered Morrison numbers (he bristles at the word ”˜cover.” “If a western classical pianist does a Beethoven piece is that a cover?” he rants). He’s also the man who will face hard-assed I-Rockers who chew and spit out anything or anybody that doesn’t taste like metal and belt out ”˜Another Brick in the Wall’ in his signature tenor vocals as if it were his own hit. Mumbai audiences love the man. Maybe because they all know that he’s paid his dues.

This month, EMI Virgin releases a compilation of Lawyer’s music. He has had five releases till date: This Cannot Wait (his debut), High Standards (straying into jazz with Louis Banks), his breakthrough album The Other Side Of Dawn, Arrow in the Dust and Unbelong. It was the third album TOSOD with hits such as ”˜Nights on Fire’ that turned the spotlight onto Lawyer. “Most of my music is introspective and philosophical in nature,” he says. Several pirated ”˜Best of Gary’ have hit the stands but this latest release is the only original, says Lawyer showing us some some bootlegs. The compilation includes tracks such as ”˜Island of Dreams,’ ”˜Nights On Fire,’ ”˜Indian Summer,’ ”˜The Other Side of Dawn’ and a new track called ”˜Save The Tiger.’ Lawyer who has been following the campaign against poaching tigers closely for a long time decided to do his bit with the song. “Saving the tiger seems like a losing battle. What we don’t seem to realise is that extinction is forever,” he says, when we meet him at his South Mumbairesidence.

Lawyer’s career unravels like a film plot. “I’m not like some band, which went into the bedroom and recorded eight songs and put it on the net. I’m really proud of what I’ve done till date,” says the singer. He did the round of clubs and theatres in America in the Eighties, before returning to settle in India. A record label producer in Mumbai happened to be at an audience where Lawyer performed by accident. “It was a friend’s show at Birla Auditorium and I was just asked to sing some Doors numbers during the interval. It was just my luck an EMI representative was in the audience,” says Lawyer, who was signed on immediately to record This Cannot Wait.

“My debut had the ”˜who’s who’ of the industry on it ”“ Karl Peters, Zubin [Balaporia], Ehsaan [Noorani]”¦ everybody. Who was releasing albums then? So musicians were only too happy to be a part of it. It was released only on tape and I was told it sold out.” Says Noorani, “His first album had a lot of soft country rock sort of music. I had just begun freelancing as a guitarist at studios and got a chance to do a lot of solos on the album, so that was good fun.”