City Block Video Shoot - Day 2

So we began the journey from Jagan's aunt's house at 8am; we were heading to the location for the shoot. We discovered we had a new make up artist - the first one obviously gave up on us and probably wanted to share the pain of making us look decent with someone else!

The new location was in a village so we had breakfast at a teashop... unfortunately, the owner only had appam and egg roast.

We were surrounded by paddy fields and greenery. Again, we needed to set up all the sound equipment. After setting up came the make up - and the make up artist requested Sunil to go first. Bad move! Everyone including Tom asked the make up man not to do that but he was very insistent... maybe he was speaking from experience! A couple of hours later (!) the make up man began complaining about all his make up being utilised on just one person. This meant the rest of the band faced the camera without any make up... This WAS a waste of time and make up - Sunil looked no different than 2 hours earlier!

Shooting commenced and by 1pm, we needed a lunch break. Jagan's aunt had very kindly prepared a good, old-fashioned home cooked meal - Kerala rice, fish curry and other accompaniments. The house helper, Rajappan, bought some toddy from the toddy shop - Anish and Saji had beaming smiles stretched across their faces! Jagan's cousins, Joe and Jubin, were also helping. After lunch, as tradition goes, we took a nap - Sunil was over the moon!

After awaking, we began shooting again. Usually we would get a lot of onlookers, comprising of the local villagers, but because of a village funeral, visitors were few. But soon, children began returning from school and stopped to get a view of the shoot - for them, it was a first to see a band performing. They were so excited, they wanted to get a feel of the drums and strums of the guitar. Anish and Sunil entertained the children and showed them how to play their instruments.

The days shoot was over.. Jagan's aunt was ready and armed with tea and snack (tapioca and fish fry!) We packed all our stuff after eating and prepared ourselves for the journey back to Cochin..

Unfortunately, nobody remembered the issues we previously had with the accelerator cable. The driver of the vehicle was sleeping the whole day so on our way back, we had to stop once to sort out the same problem as before.

Eventually we got back home. We dropped off Tom and his assistant in Fort Cochin (he was planning to go shoot a boat race in Allepey the next day). He said he would shoot some additional footage without the band members.

Now... we are awaiting the pre-edited version of our video for City Blocks but in the meantime please enjoy this promotional video clip of the days' shooting!

City Blocks Video Shoot - Day 1

Camera Direction: Tom P
Shooting Location: Godown, Cochin

Picture this... a place full of dust and mess. This was to be our shooting location for the new video, City Blocks. It was so messy that Jagan and Arun had to go get their vacuum cleaners to tidy up the performance area.

This was the first time we used a make up artist - someone had to make us look presentable! Actually, aside from this he had to make us look slightly fairer skinned than we were. Arun and Saji thought they were Snow White - the fairest of them all but it took an hour each for them. Jagan and Anish's make up took half an hour. As for Sunil, the make up artist gave up after ten minutes as he knew he had no hope in hell of making him any fairer!

It was now time to take the drums, keyboard and all the other music equipment from the practice room to the nearby godown.

Tom had planned on shooting the video using only natural light. But after playing around with the camera, he asked the band for more lighting, which Sunil paid for cos it was needed just for him :-)

Jeffin (a friend and well wisher of the band) was also on hand to help; he was handling both the digital camera and the photo camera - a few times, trying to imitate Tom..

The shoot finally began at 12.00pm. The doctors at the ENT hospital nearby complained about the noise made by us - patients having had ear surgery that day were not so pleased about being at that particular hospital. So one doctor sent an assistant to ask us to reduce the volume - perfect time for a break!

Shooting resumed after the break with no more complaints from the hospital, as we reduced the volume. But before this, the make up artist insisted we all had a touch up and make ourselves look decent for the continuation of the shoot.

By 6.30pm, the day's shooting was over - Tom's words were 'pack up!' The same day, we travelled to another place to continue the shoot, Thiruvalla (Central Travancore), 100km from Cochin. The usual journey time is 2 hours but we went one step further and took 5.5 hours - we were helped by the failure of the accelerator cable of the vehicle in which we were travelling.

Everyone stayed at Jagan's aunt's place, really exhausted from the shoot and the nightmare journey so we went straight to bed (Sunil's first love!) but none of us were ready to miss out on dinner first!

Keep reading to find out about Day 2 and to see an exclusive footage of the video shoot, which will be posted soon...!

The new single... City Blocks by Evergreen...

Today, we received the premix version of our new single from our next album, Singularity. The song is entitled 'City Blocks.'

This time, Evergreen are working with Rex from Avial. The song is entirely different to all the songs from the first album, namely due to a new drummer and the style of music we have chosen to go for.

All the band members are excited about the uniqueness of the new sound!

A few friends have also listened and the feedback is extremely promising - they all really enjoyed the catchiness of the song. The comment that was universal amongst them all was the energetic vibe they got from it.

Keep reading... and we'll post it soon!

Evergreen working on 'From Here To Clarity' - Chilled Out Version

After the extremely positive feedback gained from the chilled out version of Sublime, Evergreen began working with Sam, a very good friend and talented musician, on their hit song 'From Here to Clarity.'

As it stands, the drums, guitar and bass parts of the song are pretty much complete... The next step will be to merge these sounds with the keyboard; the song will be complete with Jagan's vocals.

As you all know, the chilled out version of 'Sublime' is very different in terms of it's style and sound when compared to the original version.

'From Here to Clarity' is also very different - remember, it's a chilled out version... But again, very different to the chilled out 'Sublime.'

Sam is going out of his way to maximise the potential of Evergreen and take them to higher places; and Evergreen are working hard to utilise his capacity to their advantage.

Here follows a jamming session with Sam....

Evergreen @ Hard Rock Cafe, Delhi

After two rocking performances in the space of five months at Hard Rock Cafe in Hyderabad, Evergreen are getting ready to work their magic with the crowd at Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi...

Fans should prepare themselves for the original and unique compositions of their own, as well as covers of tunes that Evergreen know will satisfy the rock enthusiasts amongst you!

Be sure to party with the band at Hard Rock, Delhi on Thursday 30th September 2010 from 9.30pm onwards... See you there and stay tuned for all the post-performance details!