Inception: Humble Beginings - The Tapes

Van Nuys, Los Angeles, 1991.

A small dilapidated studio named “Sound City” is about to become an iconic image in the world of sound engineering,  as 3 young kid from Aberdeen, Seattle record their first record. Later that year, that album would go on to sell 30 million copies worldwide and even displace Michael Jackson on the Billboard top 200 chart. The band is Nirvana and the album is their debut record titled “Nevermind”. Despite the albums mass acclaim, very few people know that the entire album was recorded on analog mixers and tapes.

Watching Dave Grohl’s documentary, Sound City, 22 years later, gave us a fresh perspective on the type of music we would be focusing on. Being predominantly an old school grunge band with Nirvana as a major influence, we wanted a name that would encompass all the attributes this genre possesses.  Hence, “The Tapes” was born as an ode to the lost era when recordings were done via audio tapes.

Everything started off on a fateful Sunday when I met our drummer Rico in a tattoo parlor. We started chatting about music and I was intrigued when he told me he was a drummer. Simultaneously, another local band called “Angst” were relatively well established within the city, performing in numerous colleges fests and other events on a regular basis. However, never having a steady drummer, they were deliberating on whether or not to dissolve the band. The first time I heard of this dilemma they faced, I told them about the tattoo parlour meeting and the fact that I knew a drummer and if they would like me to talk to him about joining. After very little convincing  and a quick jam session, Angst played and came second in a battle of the bands which was held at Park, with Rico behind the kit and with me as an audience member. They played an original called “Tripping on you” which is the first song ever composed with the new drummer.

After Angst finally dissolved, the guitarist left leaving only 3 members of what was Angst and Rico.

 At that moment a new band was formed:  A 4 piece named “The Tapes”, the primary focus of which would be to create music along the lines of Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and Foo Fighters and essentially making Old School Grunge and Indie music. After multiple jam sessions, the band had made almost 6 OC’s. It was nearly 2 months later that I joined.

Not having another guitarist made the band sound dry and in need of adding another layer to the songs. After much thought they decided to get me in and asked me to join. I instantly agreed, having spoken to Rico multiple times in the past about joining. The first song I jammed with them was cosmopolitan and I fell in love with the band, the music and the messy (yet cozy) jam pad instantly. Breaking away from conventional music styles and trying to mould according to the music we were trying to make took a while, but eventually I felt that I had done justice to the band. The first song we composed with the present line up was Mama Told me and remains one of my favorites to this day.

So there you have it, the humble beginnings of our band. We still continue to jam in Hari’s bedroom and Hari’s bedroom still continues to be messy. We wouldn't have it any other way. I’ll wrap up this particularly lengthy post by saying that the future is uncertain but good music and loads of exciting gigs are certain.