Introduction to "The Deep Ends"

The Deep Ends is a document of times spent between friends;
musical collaborations that pass age, experience and formal groups. It is also a document of times spent alone in thought, where we are our greatest friend and our worst foe.

Recorded under tight time and financial conditions, the need to play original music is what drives this unique project to bring together seasoned professionals with weekend musicians. The Deep Ends is also my personal ode to friends and musicians who have inspired me back home. Rarely does one have the opportunity to record music with the very people who have put the love of music in you. The four co-musicians on the record- Rzhude, Bruce, Sanky and Ishan have each in their own way affected my thoughts and actions over these past 6 years in Bangalore.

The Deep Ends is a continuous album that spans 21 minutes and 21 seconds. It has been recorded in the spirit of Free Music that is meant to be shared. If you like what you hear, please do spread the word. Hope to see you in a steamy jam session in Bangalore soon...

- Kunal

Deep Ends


Form mountains of water
deserts of the mind
Deep ends of your mind are running astray
Steal moments of kindness to suit the night
Infinite worlds, in sight...

Counting the leaves counting the nights
Four walls of your mind will be broken tonight
To see the world in the morning light
Deep ends of brown autumn, in sight

Take me away (4)

writted by : Kunal Sen
bass and drums : Rzhude
lead : Sanky
12 string rhythm and vocals : Kunal

Mosquito




Sit and watch her breathing slowly
Cutting through the heavy air I...
Smell her warm blood drives me crazy
Deep reflections in my head

Come down close and sit next to her
Skin is blushed with liquid life I...
Need a fix now little lady
Need your wine to get me high

(mosquito solo)

Gently bite her on her shoulder
Tempest hands they churn the air I...
Slip away into the darkness
Came for life and met with death

written by : Ishan Dasgupta
music : Ishan + Kunal
drums and bass : Rzhude
lead : Bruce
rhythm : Kunal

D is the Colour























I.

D is the colour
I wake up to see you smile
21 faces
dont ever ask me why
Lights in the City
they make me feel so high
I think I'll just leave now
and go somewhere deep inside

II. Where do we go now?
we've run out of ways to hide
why dont you answer?
who's gonna fill in the blanks?
I'm feeling weak now
I'm tired of all my lies
find me a window
escape to the other side...

written by : Kunal
drums, bass and vocals II : Rzhude
first lead : Bruce
second lead : Sanky
12 string rhythm and vocals I: Kunal

What Became Of

Sitting in a coffe house
sipping away brown time
I think of myself and how he's changing

a Fallen shooting star

Changing Seasons
Falling Expectations
leave me dry
I think of this place and how its changing
please dont leave me by

Walking down a memory lane
Look up to the sky
Tell me your name and I'll sing you a love song
look you in the eye

Changing Seasons
Need no reasons
the dog has had his day
And for myself I see a needle
in a stack of hay

A shooting star just fell on you
A shooting star just left the room
A shooting star out of of view
did your dreams come true?

(solo)

Its two in the morning
well past mid-life
tonight too shall pass
Look in the mirror, count the changes
Begin to wonder how

written by : Kunal
music : Kunal + Ishan
drums, bass and vocals : Rzhude
electric lead : Bruce
12-string rhythm : Sanky
rhythm: Kunal


The Final Fantasy



Counting sheep wont help you sleep at night
as we grope each other in the light
of our dreams, and fantasies

tonight


and so my friend, the story ends
times go by, and the feeling lives in your mind

Human beings are what we're supposed to be
Being human is a fallacy
thats hard to see, or meant to be
tonight

and so my friend, the story ends
times go by, and the feeling lives in your mind

(solo)

Walking down an empty street at night
Empty faces pass you in green lights
and then you see yourself in dream

...and then I find
the one inside my mind is me
the dream is done
I am the one I dream of silently

written by : Kunal
drums, bass and vocals : Rzhude
lead : Sanky
rhythm and vocals : Kunal

Deep Ends (reprise)




And so ends this Autumn song
Blue winter will break at dawn
And under a fading moon
We meet in our dreams, I say to you

Take me away (4)

by : Kunal

and so the story goes...

It all started with 'The Magic Dice' back in the day 2004. Ishan, Bikram, Tanya and myself were the first Srishti band, and we did our first and last show at Graduation that year. Thrown out by Umesh uncle from 31, by GN while practicing at college, lets just say things didn't work out too well for us...

(photo credit: Bobin James)

I first met Rzhude at Sunaad, a Hindustani choral group I was a part of in the years 2002-03. I was a big fan of his band- Thermal and a Quarter, and their music till date has influenced me greatly. I was working on a stop-motion animation piece called Still Life, which wasn't going anywhere. I showed what I had to Rzhude, and he agreed to compose a soundtrack for the film. Ever since that day, Rzhude wishes he had never met me!

In a few months, Rahul Bharadwaj and Sankarshan Kini (Sanky) joined Sunaad, and we were part of the group that performed in Bombay, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Next year, graduation time, 'Rearviewmirror' (Ishan, Bikram, Krittika, Tanya and myself) was formed under the guidance of famed jazz guitarist Amit Heri. He was helped by Rzhude, Sanky and Rahul (this incestuous circle of musicians I tell you!) in this workshop that lasted 2 weeks. We learnt a whole lot of theory (which all went out as fast as it came in) and began to write and compose our own songs... We wrote Deep Ends, What Became Of, Boots and Mosquito during this period. Naked Walls was just an instrumental jam that followed Deep Ends. During the course, we'd get feedback and inputs from the 3 stooges, and an informal learning/jamming environment on the roof of the New Campus was born...


'Rearviewmirror' opened for Thermal and a Quarter at Zero G and we had quite a party on stage... Dont remember much of the show, but I've been told it was good. Tanya couldn't make it so Rahul played keys for us. We did a few covers (Glorybox, One Headlight, All Along the Watchtower) and then went on to the original material...

'Rearviewmirror' didn't last too long because of some reson I still havent understood. In a few months I got a call from Sanky and Rahul saying that they were looking for a bass player for their new band... Rzhude was to join in on the drums. Funny... to be in a band with the 3 people who helped form my earlier band. And strange, given our Sunaad connection earlier. The band never got down to ever fixing a name (from 'Scarab' to 'Curious Green'), we did some Dave Matthews, Sting and other cover stuff... part acoustic, part electric. Keeping up with these pros gave me a bit of a complex, but things worked out well in the end... We did a few shows here and there, but never really got a chance to get into the scene as Rahul left for the US to pursue an education in Music.


my first personal 'encounter' with Thermal and a Quarter was something of a story... THEY SAVED MY LIFE! I was on a bike trip (dont ask me why) from Bangalore-Mangalore-Goa, when I got a call from my little sis Niyu (fellow TAAQ fan) who was on-road with them in Kerala. Somehow she convinced me to get there, and I biked all the way down to Kerala, where I saw them play at the New Year gig. Then the long ride back... On the way back I had a accident (dont ask me how, I dont remember...) and Bruce, Rajeev, Nina, PG, James, Umesh, Battery, Leo and Rzhude... YOU GUYS!!! I OWE YOU BIG TIME!!!

(I'm still not wearing a helmet)

a long time passed, and a lot of informal music was happening amongst this circuit (ie. Sanky, Rzhude and all of us) Graduation happened again (this time for me), and it was time to say bye bye to Bangalore. And so the idea for this album happened. To record all this music that was being thought of and played, in a shoe-string budget, in a very short period of time. I went over to Rzhude's place and told him what I had in mind, and he basically took my trip real bad before saying yes...

The musicians who are on 'The Deep Ends' are people who I have both admired or played music with in some form or the other. Sanky is like my second brother. Ishan Das... well what can I say??? Lets just say that we have a lot in common! Bruce Lee Mani needs no introduction in the Indian rock scene... Why he agreed to play on this album remains a mystery to me till date! and Rzhude- mentor, friend and one man army!

The Musicians involved...

'The Deep Ends'

Intro text about "The Deep Ends"...