SHHHH!! Just a day more to go ...

There will be an official press release for the album HIATUS BROKEN on December 2, 2013 (tomorrow!!)

Venue: Malayala Manorama Press Club, Kollam
Time: 4:30 PM

The Press Club President will open the copy of the audio CD and hand it to Mr. Raju Mathew, the chief editor of Malayala Manorama's Kollam bureau.

God's own country / Devil's Land ...

Things like this go on around us all the time. But we live our lives indifferent to them ... until these incidences creep into our own lives.

This is the controversial clip that made the censor board think twice about granting the video of Devil's Land from HIATUS BROKEN the most needed censor board certificate. Things came to such a pass that this clip has been retained in the Devil's Land video with the image of the small baby in blurred format. (The censor board cannot allow images of atrocities done on children.)

But what can we do?... Things like this have already been done and will continue on in the future. SERENE SKY Rock Band can only act as an eye opener to these facts through the album HIATUS BROKEN as well as further albums that are yet to come out!!

So go ahead with your advance bookings of HIATUS BROKEN that will hit the music stores after December 2nd and give your full adherence to the socio-culturo-political stand that the band has set itself in.

The audio cd of HIATUS BROKEN costs Rs. 99/-
Book it or buy it directly!!
Contact: sereneskyrockband@yahoo.com, 9496426087, 9446708305

On one side there is glamour and on the other .....

Wait till December 2nd....

The HIATUS will be BROKEN ... and so will be the facade that we live in, as willing or forced participants ....

This is the voice of SERENE SKY Rock Band!!!

Advance bookings:
The audio CD of HIATUS BROKEN costs Rs. 99/-
Contact: sereneskyrockband@yahoo.com, 9446708305, 9496426087
The CD will be made available in select stores in the major cities of Kerala, to start with.

HIATUS BROKEN Advertisement

Get ready with your advanced bookings.
The audio CD of HIATUS BROKEN costs Rs. 99/-
Contact: sereneskyrockband@yahoo.com, 9446708305, 9496426087

A grand audio CD release in the presence of the press is also being planned.
Wish SERENE SKY Rock Band luck!!

What's all this for??

Is it Devil's land or God's own country?

Wait till Dec 2 for HIATUS BROKEN.

The band's channel on youtube

Just updating things a little bit as the countdown has already set in for the album release.

5 more days to go ... and a lot to do!!!

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNtskTbM5vim16QatbWw5lw

Almost there!!!!!!!

Here we go!

Thought provoking, socially apt and rocking songs!!

SERENE SKY Rock Band is not just another rock band that has simply composed a few peppy tunes and added some sort of lyrics to them. Though most of the band's songs have a deeply personal touch that the singer/songwriter Thomas cannot help but put into them, there is a stark portrait of the social, cultural and religious milieu, which has formed the backdrop for the band's upbringing, in the songs. Rather than taking sides and speaking for or against some of the ever-present social realities, the band takes the stance of a frustrated onlooker or a patient observer of the happenings around him. These happenings sometimes provide a caricature-like picture of people and places that we often see in the newspapers and TV, just as some of the lines in SERENE SKY Rock Band's song called "Save" go: 

Not an isolated happening, every day it's seen
In the papers, on TV and everywhere else, but no one's concerned it seems

This state if affairs is explicitly seen in the song called "Devil's Land" that is the highlight of the HIATUS BROKEN album. The first stanza of the song begins with these lines ...

Devil's land, god's own country
In your hands, there's aplenty

... and goes on into the chorus ...

Sometimes don't you hope that those gasoline pumps would explode
Bringing everything down instead of facin' all this obnoxity!!

The song is a clear portrayal of a state which is beautiful, glamorous and luxurious on one side and evil, dark, violent and dirty on the other, added with the desperate anger of the common man. However, it is not just about one city or state; rather, it is about societies all around the world.

All in all, SERENE SKY Rock Band is fully loaded with a set of thought provoking, socially apt and rocking songs with their debut album HIATUS BROKEN. Wait till December 2nd to get the big picture!!

Humble beginnings of a rock band

Back in those days when SERENE SKY Rock Band was coming into being, there were quite a few hassles that the band members had to tackle. The most daunting of them was the lack of any proper sound system for their practice sessions. The members had to stay put with their acoustic instruments, practice their specific portions at home and then meet up for some rough jamming. With such scanty practice sessions, the actual stage performances were often a hard task for them. But then, fortunately Sooraj had some connections with some sound system providers and one of them was ready to provide an old amplifier and a speaker that was not of much use to the provider. As for the band members, this was the greatest moment in their practice-hungry lives.

Once the speaker and the amplifier were installed in a disheveled room in front of Thomas' house, the band was always busy practicing. Things came to such a pass that most of the times Sooraj and Thomas were missing from the nearby college where they were studying. Friends and well wishers would often visit their jamming sessions in the evenings and comment about the progress that the band was making. In those days, the band had a professional bassist and keyboardist playing for them, but only when there was a live show to be done.

Those were the hard times of SERENE SKY Rock Band. The existing members of the band can never forget the munificence of the sound system provider, which was none other than JP Sounds from Thiruvalla. Interesting fact is that JP Sounds gave the system to SERENE SKY Rock Band on just one condition that it should be returned whenever it was called for -- not much of a strain for the band, since they were not asked for any payment for the system.

Songs List for SERENE SKY Rock Band's album HIATUS BROKEN

As of now, there are seven songs in SERENE SKY Rock Band's debut album HIATUS BROKEN.
These include:

• the heavy and fast numbers titled Devil's Land, Imperfection and Burial Ceremony
• the heavy and deep Stop Now and Look At You
• the lightly heavy and dark Gone Away and Save

If things go well with the last minute mastering work, the album will also include the heavily brooding song called Alien, which is in fact the very first full fledged song that Thomas wrote and composed in hope of making a music album.

In the chronological order of song-making, the songs in the album can be listed as follows, from the oldest to the most recent.

• (Alien)
• Burial Ceremony
• Stop Now
• Imperfection
• Look At You
• Save
• Gone Away
• Devil's Land

These songs evolved during the various phases of the band, from the ideation to the fruition and also in and out through the dormancy. There are many other songs that the band composed from its beginnings in 1998 to the work for HIATUS BROKEN that is happening at present. Some of the songs just sprung up when Thomas sat around idling with his guitar, and some of them were the products of band jamming with Sooraj and Ramesh or whoever else was there supporting the band. The best example of the former would be Alien and that of the latter would be Stop Now.

Rather than go on talking about the songs, the band will soon provide a whiff of all of the songs, just like the Devil's Land ad, in the days to come before the release of the album.

ADVANCE BOOKINGS

The band would also love to invite advance bookings for their album, if you guys are interested. You can contact them directly on 9496426087 (Thomas) or 9446708305 (Sooraj). You can also email them at sereneskyrockband@yahoo.com or thomaspgeo@gmail.com.

Time for a video demo ad for HIATUS BROKEN (Featured song: Devil's Land)

Hi guys!!!

Here comes a demo ad for SERENE SKY Rock Band's album HIATUS BROKEN featuring bits and pieces of the song called Devil's Land. This ad is just to set the publicity rolling since the band's deadline for release of the album is quite close at hand. (You can also see this ad on youtube. Just search for SERENE SKY Rock Band or use this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1P8JjU4KU)

Please do spread word about this happening!! The band needs all your help to gain popularity and to soar high.

SERENE SKY Rock Band's video shoot

Man!! 8/11/2013 really was a hectic day for SERENE SKY Rock Band. That was the day that the band had decided to get their video recording done for a few of the songs in HIATUS BROKEN. Though the shoot was scheduled to start at 8:00 a.m., things gained momentum only by 9:30 a.m., since there were quite a few things that had to be arranged. As planned, the camera crew, Ajmal Taj and AVR Vishu, set foot in Thiruvalla the night prior to the day of shooting and took rest at Thomas' house which was to be the chief locale for the shoot. (Instead of taking rest, they spent the whole night listening to the songs of HIATUS BROKEN and planning the details of the shooting.)

Later in the morning, after a quick breakfast, the camera crew and the band members converged to the courtyard of Thomas' house. Added to the gang were Ramesh's friends Rajesh and Jidin of the dance group called Footloosers. They supported Ajmal and Vishu in directing the whole video session.

The band soon set up their instruments in front of the car porch and rendered the song called Devil's Land, which was to be the highlight of HIATUS BROKEN. The camera kept on rolling and captured SERENE SKY Rock Band in action from various angles. Once Devil's Land was done with, the band performed an instrumentless version of the song called Imperfection, doing some simple air-guitaring and air-drumming. After that came the two soft but heavy numbers called Gone Away and Save, played in and around Thomas' car and near the mango tree in the courtyard.

Then came lunch and the cruising around Thiruvalla town for some random shots to make up the story of Devil's Land. Thanks to the cooperation of the cool drinks store guy near the veliya ambalam in Thiruvalla, the band was able to get some simple visuals to develop the story. Thomas' very own cruiser bike also played an active role for the visuals.

Since the band and the crew were in a hurry, the shooting was wound up by around 5:30 p.m. Contrary to what was planned, the band did not proceed to take any night visuals. Ramesh and the Footloosers were the first to leave the scene. Ajmal and Vishu were later seen off by Thomas and Sooraj after getting the video clips and the pics arranged for editing purposes.

Then came Sooraj's and Thomas' long discussion of the day's activities and future plans. As the night closed in and Sooraj also left, it was time to call it a day and upload a few pics here in this blog.

Thanks to Ajmal's editing, the basic video for Devil's Land is now complete and ready to be advertised, with a lot of additional effects to be added. SERENE SKY Rock Band hopes that everything will turn out fit and fine, as far as the videos go. Anyways, Devil's Land is already looking heavy enough to match the metal sound of the song.

SERENE SKY Rock Band - Finally!!

SERENE SKY Rock Band - Playing live for the video shoot ...

Right in front of Thomas' house! (which will soon be the band's HQ)

A few casual/posing shots of SERENE SKY Rock Band

On location for the video shoot of the songs titled Devil's Land, Imperfection, Gone Away and Save

Thanks to Ajmal and Vishu!!!

SERENE SKY Rock Band

(file pic)

Back then ... in the old days

Those were the days when the band did gigs for marriage receptions, flower shows, small stage audiences and the like. The trio was really doing their best at that time. They were also supported by guest guitarists and keyboardists for some of the shows. Not to mention the many changes in line ups that the band had to carry on with. Though there were many artists that played as members of SERENE SKY Rock Band, two of them were there from the very beginning of the band as a competition-loving college rock band. These two steadfast members are Sooraj (Drums/Vocal) and Thomas (Vocal/Guitar). At present, the twosome is supported by Ramesh (Bass) who joined the band a while before it went on to be dormant and has been constantly improving his own skills as the band slowly regained its stature.

To put in a bit of reminiscence here, the other guys who were part of the band at some or the other time included Femin (Keyboards), Jinu (Drums), Riby aka Abraham (Lead Guitar), Anato (Bass), Anush (Vocal), Senti (Lead Guitar), Bichu (Keyboards), Jacob (Bass), Chinnu (Bass), Suraaj (Drums), Kurisu (Keyboards), Lincoln (Guitar/Vocal), Shiva (Bass), Benjamin (Bass) and Fr. Lijo (Vocal/Guitar) -- not to mention Thomas' stints with a few other bands back at college.

A month's time for the hiatus to be truly broken ....

If it seems that the wait till Dec 2 is a little too long for the Hiatus to be Broken, then just think about the time span between the years 2000 and 2013. Moreover, SERENE SKY Rock Band has a lot to do before the scheduled release date of HIATUS BROKEN. Here's a list of this month's activities for the band.

• catch up on the long lost practice sessions
• get maximum publicity
• do at least a few gigs in and out of town
• stay put for a few photo sessions
• make videos for a couple of the songs
• get the audio recording as perfect as possible
• build a dynamic online presence
• attract a few TV channels

Well, with that much and even more to be done, the long wait will be really hectic for the band. The band will surely be adding a bit of their music and image profiles to this blog in a few days' time. We sincerely hope that all you fans out there will get the publicity wheel rolling for SERENE SKY's HIATUS BROKEN. The band is grateful indeed for all the support that you have already given.