Bamboo Shoots to victory

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p>Earlier this week the band Bamboo Shoots, and unsigned college band out of New Jersey (finally, something good about Edison), won an MTVU sponsored contest beating out over a 1000 other bands (thanks for the tip Anmol):

Propelled by votes from college students nationwide, the foursome from New Jersey emerged as the top choice of the more than 1,300 unsigned college acts registered on mtvU’s BestMusiconCampus.com. Bamboo Shoots – fusing upbeat, danceable rock, electro and South Asian/Indian sounds – was announced as mtvU’s inaugural “Artist of the Year” via a network debut performance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” a platform which has helped launch countless up- and-coming bands to superstardom. The band will now set out on an unprecedented journey that will see them record a full LP with Epic Records, premiere two music videos on mtvU/mtvU.com, perform on tour dates with top national artists and collect a $50,000 cash advance – all of which will be documented in an original mtvU series premiering in the fall. [Link]

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p>Even though word was out that the group had won the MTVU contest, the official announcement came during their live performance on the Conan O’Brien Show:

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p> These guys have been playing New York/NJ for a few years now. Here is a bit more about their background, including a connection to Karsh Kale:

Bamboo Shoots started out as the collaboration of singer-songwriters Avir Mitra and Karl Sukhia in late 2002 as Avir was finishing a stint as the guitar player for Tabla Beat Scientist Karsh Kale (Six Degrees Records), performing regularly at venues such as Joe’s Pub and SOB’s in New York. From their home based studios they set about writing and recording their debut EP, finding drummer Shiv Puri, bassist Phil Dehoux, and guitarist Quinn Raymond along the way. Now, Bamboo Shoots sets out on their most ambitious project yet: to bring together their diverse musical influences into a cohesive and original whole. [Link]

There are a few cuts you can sample from their MySpace page and some additional YouTube clips here, and here. My take on them is that they have a great sound but could use a bit more juice on the lyrics side of the house. Still, being the best college band in the nation is a pretty amazing accomplishment! Gots to support.

29 thoughts on “Bamboo Shoots to victory”

  1. thanks for sharing, abhi! i actually liked the other 3 featured songs on their myspace better than “hey girl.” i could see them drawing a huge crowd out in austin.

    btw, nice work on organizing the houston meetup!

    cheers.

  2. Good stuff. This statement on their CD baby page is quite funny.

    Research and Development EP hypnotizes the listener like a snake charmer

  3. Nice to sing at you last night dude. Do you think that if I practice long enough I can be as awesome as these kids?

  4. Do you think that if I practice long enough I can be as awesome as these kids?

    Practice the killer dance moves you learnt yesterday and success is guaranteed ;p

  5. i dunno.. i really didnt like that song.. dont think they’er that good.. especially to win that contest out of 1500 bands

  6. Practice the killer dance moves you learnt yesterday and success is guaranteed ;p

    However I think the routine must expand significantly in order to complete an entire song…be my backup dancer when I make it big?

  8. I’m trying to imagine the conversations around New Jersey as the band members’ parents and grandparents take in this astounding news and begin to brag. Will MTVU and Conan be enough to erase any residue of shame over the time their sons spent jamming in one of their garages?

  9. The singer likes to stomp, don’t he. Song’s quite funky. Don’t really know what to make of them, they seem ok, a little bloc party. Their research and development EP is worth I listen, me reckons.

  11. How many of them are desi ? Looks like 3 of em.. There name, Bamboo Shoots, makes it sound like they are chinese..

  13. I am not trying to be a hater, but is it just me or the lyrics incredibly cheesy and cliched? Not to mention that the music sounds like thousands of other generic, overproduced songs?

    Beh, what do I know. I am not hip.

  15. band pulls off some exceptional riffs– singing/lyrics not so great, at least on this song.

  16. Guitar seems to be influenced by RHCP. I think they’re trying to imitate Strokes et al a bit too much. You’re from Edison, pronounce your Rs damnit!

    The second drum kit (was that a dhol) seemed like a sideshow, but the regular drums were awesome.

  19. laughably bad band.

    i always found the jam band circuit most evocative of the improvisational bent in Hindustani and Carnatic music. If you’re looking for virtuosity and technical skill on a given instrument, the jambandy set is the way to go. However if you’re trying to sell your music, with neat little copy-righted bows from the RIAA, as these fellows are attempting, you cannot afford to be as brilliant as those lovable neo-hippies jamming the night away.

    you must conform to a saleable genre (poppy/punky/fresh) and not confuse the teenage ears who will be your main consumers.

    I don’t see the appeal of this music, but then again it would never sell if they looked like Fareed Haque and company.

    now if they sounded like them, this would be a truly momentous occasion. But brown people making McMusic for McConsumers? Not stirred in the least.

  20. @muralimannered: fareed haque and co group seem pretty good.

    whatever be the reason, this above group—bs–sucks in my opinion. i’m with builder.

  21. the voters for this contest were allowed to vote as many times as they wanted, no hate to the guys, but…come on.
    at least it says something about desis and their ability to rally behind a fellow desi in a music contest which doesn’t sound familiar at all so stop looking at me like that.

  22. at least it says something about desis and their ability to rally behind a fellow desi in a music contest which doesn’t sound familiar at all so stop looking at me like that.

    what? that kinda sucks. why when a desi band wins it has to be because all the desi’s flooded the voting to rally behind them? do you think bamboo shoots got call centers to help them too? i don’t totally dig their sound but it is possible that other people did. if it was a white person who won, we wouldn’t be here saying that all the white people must have rallied around them? we’d be saying that sucky music fans must have rallied around them.

  23. mam,

    I meant nothing foul. Just reporting what I know. And whether they’re desi or not is of less consequence than the fact that I don’t believe in contests that allow spam style voting, desi band or not. The Sanjaya tie-in was a poor attempt of a tongue-in-cheek closing statement.

  25. Hope their other stuff is better, but I couldn’t actually go through the whole track.

  26. I would agree with the previous comment about the cliche lyrics. These guys look too old to be singing corny poppy teenager lyrics. The 2nd drummer did look a bit out of place. I bet this band and all their friends voted for themselves multiple times. They seemed like they did not have very much going for them prior to this contest. I als o heard that for this contest all the band competing could vote for themselves multiple times. This contest is rigged and appears to be a bit of a joke. Sorry shoots you just dont do it for me and I dont trust your so called “win”.

  27. I dont quite get them either. But it could be cause their music is too poppy and Mtv for me. I prefer music with more depth than what these guys offer. I wish them all the luck though and I hope the label treats them well. Cause Im suspecting this is just a publicity stunt for MTVU.

  28. hey there’s actually a reference to these quotes in an article about bamboo shoots in the 12/21/07 issue of INDIA WEST out in cali…check it out. i think it’s worth reading and hearing what the band has to say in response…