Tonight, Delhi-based band Half Step Down will cover the best songs by the legendary Alternative Rock band at a tribute gig at Blue Frog

Tonight, Delhi-based band Half Step Down will cover the best songs by the legendary Alternative Rock band at a tribute gig at Blue Frog

The lead vocalist of Half Step Down, Dhaval Mudgal is trying real hard to get his grungy voice to sound as close to Eddie Vedder's 'golden baritone'.

It's a tough task, he knows, but when his band gets on stage to perform the most memorable numbers by Pearl Jam, comparisons to the baap of all singers are inevitable.

"To sing just like Eddie Vedder is nearly impossible but I'm a huge fan of Pearl Jam and I shall try to model my voice on his, for this particular gig," Dhaval says.

The tribute gig will include a couple of songs from almost every album by the band over the years. "There'll be stuff from Ten, Vs, Yield, etc.

But not from the latest album because we want to keep the nostalgic element throughout the gig," says Dhaval.

HSD will try to cover as many songs as possible but they will be biased towards their own favourite numbers. "The songs will be personal and crowd favourites," Dhaval assures us.

The band has a changed its set up a bit for the tribute gig so its sounds are in sync with original Pearl Jam numbers.
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Dhaval, Srijan Mahajan (Drums) and Carl Abraham (Bass) from the original band will be joined by Rahul Sainani (Guitars) from Indigo Children and Joint Family and Rohan Kale (Guitars) from another Delhi-based band, Cyanide.

Though the guys are excited about tonight's gig they'd prefer to get back to performing their original numbers soon.

"With a band like Pearl Jam it's really difficult to re-interpret their music because their drums and guitars are played completely by the book so there isn't much scope to experiment," explains Dhaval.

He also adds that the 'by the book' quality of Pearl Jam's music makes it even more challenging to perform.

"May be, we'll continue playing covers once in a while but they will only be for Pearl Jam songs," he adds, on second thoughts.

Catch HSD celebrate Pearl Jam tonight, 9.30 pm onwards at Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. Call: 61586158 / 40332300 Entry: Rs 300 per head

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