Earthy

‘We love trees, that’s why we made a shop with one inside.’  This is what the Earthy team had to say when I asked them about their new shop in Kupondole, with remarkably creative earthy interiors.  Their brand name is Earthy and this team comprising of Srijana Limbu, Julian James and Subin Shakya are a team of young and creative trio with diverse backgrounds.  Srijana with her love for environment, Julian with his artistic imaginations and Subin with his presentation and marketing, synergize to create original designs for their hemp T – Shirts.  But Branded Nepali t-shirts are not all you find in their shop.  They have a section for handcrafted leather belts, exclusively designed and custom-fitted for individual customers.  They also have Earthy Craft, a collection of creative handicrafts built by the team themselves, and collected from other Nepali brands like the awesome Masala Beads along with various Hemp accessories.  So they are a couple of enthusiastic Nepali ‘ketos and keti’ trying to differentiate their Made-in-Nepal products, so go check them out to find out if they did!

ktmROCKS e-mag

Not only does ktmRocks organise concerts but also they also release an e-mag at regular intervals. And that too is very popular among people. The e-mag focuses on different themes in every issue, and in the current edition (published August 2012) they have focused on local drummers.  They interviewed different drummers from the local scene and some from Bangladesh, Srilanka and Germany. The team asked the drummers about their influences, how they started, their current playlist, their kit shell, etc. The team also managed to know about their practice routine, which I think has certainly helped some struggling drummers. Some of the drummers that were featured were ‘Surya Pun (Antim Grahan/Define Mental), Kiran Sahi (Jindabaad),  Mike Parker (Ayurveda, USA), Lille Gruber(Defeated Sanity, Germany). I would recommend any music lover to download the e-mag via internet from different locations. (Facebook, ktmROCKS website).  The drummer special issue also features drummers/bands from Hetauda and Pokhara too. The e-mag, however did not just cover everything about drummers. It managed to pull off an interview with John Gallagher (Guitarist for Dying Fetus) one of the biggest death metal bands right now, thanks to its team. The mag also covered some interviews  with some other bands/guitarists too. And yes, one name that no one ever forgets to mention when talking about ktmROCKS is Mr. Umes Shrestha, who has been there since the very beginning. Many thanks to him for what he has done till date and wish him luck to continue his great effort.

House of Music Birthday

To mark its second birthday, House of Music shared the love on 4th August hosting one of Kathmandu’s newest music sensations, Lyrics Indy alongside established rockers, Albatross. Lyrics Indy kicked off the night with a remix of ‘Spit Your Game’ by Notorious b.i.g. followed by Triumph, an original composition.  While rappers, Gaurab Subba, Yanik Shrestha, Aidray and a brief appearance from 15 year old Dougie Adhikari, maintained a tight set, Abhisek Bhadra on keyboard/synth provided the music to get the crowd going.

Kiran Shahi joined in on drums as B’boyin acts rightly stole the show at the front of the stage. Albatross then hit the stage with some of their originals Chaina, Khase kaa tara and Timi Bhane, before the artists collaborated with some Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine inspired riffs such as One Step Closer and 99 Problems to bring the night to an explosive end.

Final Step of the Stairs

As a tribute to their drummer Prabin Lal Manandhar, who is leaving for India to pursue his further studies, Stairs Of Cirith performed a farewell gig at House of Music, Thamel on 29th July. It was the last gig for Yuskey K.C (vocals), Bhavin Pradhan (guitar),Nikhil Sikarmi (guitar), Prabin L. Manandhar (drums) Kritagyan Shrestha (bass) and Yuvash Vaidya (keyboard), to be playing together as Stairs of Cirith for a long time to come. They entertained the house-full crowd with their original numbers like Annunat, Niskarsha, Hamile hideko Paila, Madhyam, Ek raat harek raat and Yak Cheese. Also they covered songs like Highway Star, Perfect Stranger and Open Car with Bijent Bikram Shah on the bass guitar and Shailesh (Haku) on Keyboard. The band, along with Anjesh Shrestha, performed a humorous song ‘Laley’ to show their affection for Praveen, aka Laley.  Towards the end, the band members of Jindabaad- Sunny Tuladhar, Abhisek Bhadra, Rajan Shrestha and Kiran Shahi surprised the crowd by performing together after a long time.