I’ve long had the pleasure in knowing Townsman Hrrundivbakshi in real life. He’s got the sort of whiz-bang mind I imagine it would take to work in a presidential administration. An even remotely functioning one with an even remotely empathetic leader, that is. He’s a great musician, one who combines chop, theoretical knowledge, and balls. And he’s nice. Like “bring him home to meet your folks” nice.
A few people have written me offline since the start of our pandemic-relief resumption of activities in the Halls of Rock to ask why we haven’t seen more of our beloved HVB, one of the undeniable white hats around here. Well, the man’s been hunkered down in Dallas churning out a dozen (and counting) new songs. His latest one, “The Niceness of Rock,” dropped just the other day, as I was finishing up my own new song. I waited until I was done with my work to watch it, because I feared I’d get intimidated by my friend’s latest work, no matter how nice he is. Well, I finally listened to it, and the first thing I thought was, “That sounds like the new theme song for Rock Town Hall!”
The next thing I thought, ignoring the graphic he posted with the track, was “That’s mighty presumptuous of me! Why would he have been thinking about Rock Town Hall why writing about the niceness of rock?”
What do you know, about 30 minutes later, I got an e-mail from my friend with the subject line “New RTH Theme Song for a New Decade!” He did have us in mind! That, my friends, is nice!
Without further ado, here’s “The Niceness of Rock.”
Gulp. Those are some seriously kind words, Mod. Are you just angling for more jerky?
Let me take a moment to explain what’s going on here. This pestilence struck us just as I was entering fundraising mode on an entrepreneurial venture — so when it hit, I became 100% unemployed, and 100% bored. So I decided I’d use my ample spare time to finally learn my mothballed home studio software (Reason, for all the musicians out there). Anyhow, I had to write something in order to record it, so I bashed out a bit of dance fluff. I had a ball! No pressure to achieve great things, or even really good ones. I’d wake up, write something, start recording/learning, and three days later, I’d share on FB. Speed Rock!
This is the same kind of thing, and it’s imperfect. The backup vocals sound like Up With People or something. Oh well. It’s heartfelt, and no worse than the RTH Theme I wrote — what, 15 years ago? As always, it’s a huge honor. Rock Town Hall is one of the smartest, funniest sites on the Internet. I love you guys.
On the off chance that anybody wants to hear the other trackssssss in the series — they can be found here: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC7X-hPN_Z4B0sEV9UBaO5cA
I look forward to the day we can travel again and we break jerky!
Nice one HVB, greetings from our pestilence-ridden land over the pond.
Lovely bit of work. The spirit and mood reminded me of the Lightning Seeds, whose music always lifts me to a happier and kinder place no matter where I’m at.
I’ll check the others out later. Spare time is something I grab as and when I’m able, I’m still working and our house is seriously overpopulated, but I’m determined to emerge from this a better and more creative person. I’m trying to put the finishing touches to a book I’ve been writing for eight months (not music related). Having the Hall open again and saying hi to old friends after all these years has been very reassuring.
Bummer for the impetus for this, but excellent results. Bass playing sounds like it’s inspired by Steppenwolf!