 |
If you are new to this site please check out the Music page and preview all the songs on the debut album, "Songs That Won't Sell". 1st January 2008 Happy New Year to all!!! It's been a long time since I wrote over here. For much of last year I was writing on my personal blog at AmitabhChandra.blogspot.com because I didn't have much to report on the music front. Although I have been accumulating some decent new songs over the past couple of years other things have taken precedence over the music. You can check out my blog to find out what those things are. You might be interested to know a video for "Time Well Spent" from the last album was submitted to Hitz.tv a couple of weeks ago. The video was shot quite a while ago but the editing and post-production took ages to be completed. A friend of mine did it for free. We shot it on the east coast of Malaysia in a rustic setiing away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I have no idea when it will be airing or if it will be airing at all. Anyway, better late than never. I am planning to play a few gigs in the new year to test out some new songs and play some old ones as well. Will let you know the dates and venues when they are finalized. Have a great year ahead and may all your resolutions be fulfilled.
July 29 2006 Been writing songs on the acoustic guitar and going back to square one like when I was a teenager experimenting with odd tunings and weird chords and song structures. I'm eschewing simple three chords stuff like on most of the songs on "Songs That Wont Sell". The new stuff is heavier, funkier and bluesy and all done on one acoustic guitar. I tried jamming a couple of the songs with the band using my Gibson electric and it sounded super heavy and funky. The funny thing is that it sounds as good solo with me playing the acoustic guitar and singing. The lyrics are leaning towards the absurd rather than the usual existential angst or love. No more love songs I'm afraid. Love is a fleeting thing. Not feeling it much at the moment. Albert Camus' "The Outsider" is influencing me immensely at the moment. I just re-read the book again after a decade. Reminds me of my days when I was a deluded student studying philosophy in Buffalo, New York almost ten years ago. I realize I haven't changed at all. I'm still lost and trying to find myself. December 14 2005 We will be playing at JamAsia on Friday 16th December. The show starts at 9pm and it will be a rock show with the full band. The following week on 23rd December from 8pm onwards there will be an acoustic set at the Starbucks Cafe at SS15 (near Inti College). We'll be trying out new material and just having a good time after not playing for a while. September 18 2005 New songs are slowly accumulating for the second album. I am very excited about the new stuff. It sounds great live. Big guitar riffs and funky rhythms. The new direction is a breath of fresh air. You won't recognize this band from the first album. I want to reinvent the music from one album to the next without losing the hooks that make it worth listening to. I'm gonna spend the next two years writing and recording until I'm happy. It's about making myself happy. Sluggish album sales hardly makes it worthwhile to release another album in the near future. Perhaps in the distant horizon... September 13 We'll be performing at Berjaya Times Square this Saturday 17th September. Gonna premiere some new songs. Mostly riff driven guitar rock. Different direction from stuff from the debut album. Depends on the mood of the evening. We might just play it safe and stick to stuff that people already know. The new songs still need to be polished. They're still pretty rough but very promising. July 28, 2005 On August 26 & 27th from 10pm onwards we will be doing a set of at least 8 songs at the Alexis Bar, Great Eastern Mall along with Nitrus and hopefully a host of other great singer/songwriters. It's gonna be a fun night so please come and join us. It's gonna be more of an acoustic vibe than anything else. July 9, 2005 July 17th at 8pm, the band and I will be playing a full set at the Troubadours show at Labodega, Jalan Tong Shin. It's in the Bukit Bintang area on the other side of Jalan Alor. We'll try to cover as many songs from the album as possible. Shelley Leong and a bunch of other talented musicians will also be playing. You owe it to yourself to check it out. June 20, 2005 Our next gig is at the Esplanade in Singapore on July 1 at 7:35pm & July 2 at 10pm. I am really looking forward to it. Can't wait to rock out with the band. June 6, 2005 The video shoot for "Great New Life" went well. I hope it ends up looking good. The band and I only play a small part in the video. The main character is a tragic old clown performing on a street corner trying to make some change. We happen to be the band busking opposite him and competing for the crowd's attention. There's a whole lot more to it than that but we'll see how it turns out. It's meant to be both funny and sad. Hopefully you'll get to see the end result soon. May 23, 2005 We will be shooting a video for "Great New Life" in early June. There's quite an interesting concept behind it. I will tell you more about it later. The song is getting massive airplay on Xfresh.fm and they are even using it in a promo for one of their chart shows. The fact that they mention "Tragicomedy" in the promo is always good because a lot of people know the song without knowing it's us. Format radio has a way of playing songs back to back without mentioning the band names. Anyway I hope other radio stations start playing it too. May 15,2005 The Tower Records instore acoustic performance went well. We played our hearts out and conned a whole bunch of people into buying our cds. Actually, Tower had sold out their initial stock even before we played. Apparently they didn't order that many cds coz we're a new band and they're not sure if we can sell. It's a good thing I was able to arrange backup stock on short notice. I guess that's what happens when you name your album "Songs That Won't Sell" and people start underestimating you. Thanks to all who came and witnessed us in all our stripped down acoustic glory. Cheers!!! May 7, 2005 We will be doing an acoustic showcase at Tower Records KLCC at 2pm on Sunday, May 15th. Please come and support us and buy a copy of the album if you haven't already done so. They put it in the International section under T and New Releases. Ask the dude at the counter if you can't find it. April 21, 2005 I was told a few shops have already sold out their first consignment stock including one in Mahkota Parade in Malacca and Penang. Make sure they order more if they're out of stock. In KL you can get the cds at: Rock Corner- Bangsar Village & One Utama, MusicMagic in Central Market, Victoria Music- Bangsar Shopping Complex, Sungei Wang, Amcorp Mall, Kota Raya and Campbell Music in KL. Other states should also have it. Email me at Chandra_Amitabh@hotmail.com if you can't seem to find it anywhere. April 20, 2005 There's a lengthy article and interview with TragiComedy in Malay Mail today. It was an honestly written piece about my labour of love. Thanks to Adly for chatting with me for more than two hours for the interview. I enjoyed it. April 11, 2005 TragiComedy's album "Songs That Won't Sell" will be available in stores nationwide this week. Eastern Records will be sending the cds out for distribution today. I was told Tower Records should have it by Wednesday. If your favourite cd shop near you doesn't have it by then please ask them to order it through Eastern Records. Most shops will only order cds that they know they can sell. So let them know you would like a copy. The retail price is RM25.90. -Tabh Chandra March 12 & 13, 2005 We did two shows with the Musiccanteen Charity Tour. One in Malacca and the next day in JB. Had a great time playing to a different crowd and hanging out with the other bands. -Tabh Chandra- February 28 2005 The album will be released in April. We'll be getting an intial 1000 copies of the album pressed and distributed. I am not sure if it will sell initially but hopefully it will start moving after we do some promotions in the mainstream press. It also has a lot to do with how well the new single "Tomorrow's Yesterday" does on the radio. Please vote for it at Hitz.fm and help us get more radio airplay for it. We also have another single "Great New Life" on X Fresh.fm. They started playing the song independantly without me knowing. I think it's great that I have different songs playing on different stations. Nothing like this would have happened a few years ago. It shows that local radio has realised that our bands here can come up with stuff that is just as good as whatever's playing internationally. -Tabh Chandra- January 20 2005 TragiComedy's album "Songs That Won't Sell" is finally in the can. All the 11 tracks have been mixed and mastered. I am now fiddling with the track listings to see how it runs best. Chee Meng and I have spent a little over a year labouring over these songs on and off but it was a labour of love for me in particular. I wrote a lot of songs but the ones that made it to the album were the songs that stood the test of time. It's good to let the songs breathe and have a life of their own by stepping away from them and then revisiting them again after a break. If it still sounded good to us we kept it. I wanted this album to be able to withstand repeated listenings because it's all about love and life and catchy choruses. I'm sure when you hear the final product you will agree it was worth all the time and effort we put in. The next step is designing the cd cover and inlay. Posters are also in the works. Bringing this website up to scratch is also a priority. -Tabh Chandra- December 24 2004 Made an appearance on Latte@8 on 8TV. Played an acoustic version of "Never Lonely" with Chee Meng on lead guitar and me on vocals and rhythm. It was ok but I was nervous as hell, it being my first appearance on national TV. Chee Meng was cool but I knew he was nervous as hell too coz he didn't say a word during the whole thing. -Tabh Chandra- September 29th 2004 TragiComedy is currently in the studio recording a full length album called "Songs That Won't Sell". So far 7 songs have been recorded in addition to three instrumentals and alternate versions. There are 4 more songs to be recorded. Eventually it might end up being a 13 track cd. The first single "Never Lonely" has reached number 1 on the Hitz.fm Malaysian Top10. It is also doing rounds on the Top 30 evening charts. Getting regular airplay is a pleasant surprise. It gives us a little hope and encouragement. No point writing a song no one will get a chance to listen to. As musicians, all we ever want is to reach people with our music. It's not about making money. It's more important to justify our lives by making the most of our talents and giving our music to the people. We are taking our time to make sure the album is as good as we can make it. -Tabh Chandra-
Copyright © 2005 TragiComedyMusic. All rights reserved. |
|