Moving into the TOP league
Founded 11years ago, Zarir Warden’s pop-rock band has recently rolled out an album of original music
The album has 11 tracks of which Warden has composed six. Released on August 21, 2015, the album is available for downloads on itunes, worldwide. The music CD he hands us has the legend "Parental Advisory – Explicit Content” as one track by Zoroastrian guest artiste Shazneen Arethna includes the F word. A version without the word is included in the CD as well.
The band comprises six members (including Warden and Berlie) who range in age from 23 to 65. "The range of ages on offer is the USP (unique selling point) of the band,” says Warden. That way they can appeal to a larger audience. Berlie is the rhythm guitarist, while Gavin Cason who has been with the band for seven years, plays the lead guitar too. Aloysius Henriques plays the base guitar, while Garth D’Mello mans the keyboards. The newest member of the team, Atish Yona who is all of 23, works the drums.
Zarir Warden
The album cover
Recalling the early years, Warden states that he and Berlie first played their ‘major’ event at Bombay’s Not Just Jazz By the Bay in July 2004. "We thought of a name for the band only on the night prior to the show,” gushes Warden. Someone said the band needed a name and he scoured through many books and novels and zeroed in on TOP as it sounded different, he shares.
Calling himself a control freak, the self-taught musician states that he now runs his band like a regular business. Instituted as a regular partnership that is morphing to a one with limited liability, the musician mentions that as a business "we have to be very structured.” It’s a bad world out there, he says, people are waiting for you to fail, he cautions. Playing a gig is the easiest part for the band. Not many realize the efforts that go into the planning, the checking and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes, he reveals. "At the end of a successful gig, if a 100 people are lined up to take pictures with you, you have to oblige them all, however tired you may be,” says this star. Describing his hectic schedule, Warden tells us that the band is to play in Colombo, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Goa and Bombay all in the span of the next 10 days after the interview! Playing at weddings and other events is fun, he says, "You can play your version of other famous musicians and still entertain people of all ages from 18 to 70.” Original compositions have a niche audience in the 26 to 40 age bracket.
People do not take Western music seriously in this country, complains the guitarist. "I get a lot of ‘Oh so you play the guitar, but what do you really do?’ questions,” he says. Hopeful that things may change with the cable television network VH1 trying its best to popularize Western music, Warden is happy that two of their music videos titled Christmas is Here and So Damn Beautiful have been playing on the channel since late 2014. The band’s YouTube channel features about 40 of their videos, including testimonials from celebrities. TOP has played regularly at Blue Frog, the tony South Bombay lounge "once every month without fail for the last six years,” states Warden.
The musician narrates two milestones in the 11 years of the band’s existence. The first was when they were invited to open the India tour of Danish pop band Michael Learns to Rock in June 2010. "That’s when TOP moved from being just another college band into the big league,” he beams. The second was when they were invited to submit an entry for the Pixel Project, a USA based charity that works to stop violence against women. Bands from across the world were asked to submit a cover rendition and music video of Kelly Clarkson’s Dark Side. TOP was chosen as global winners for their entry. The band’s version of Dark Side features in # Dreamers # Believers # Lovers.
Warden envisages taking his band to the Wembley Stadium – a dream venue as he terms it, in the UK, well before 2020. Amongst the arenas TOP has played at, he names the new indoor stadium at Bombay’s National Sports Club of India (NSCI) as top notch, acoustically. An admirer of the American rock band Bon Jovi, he lets on that he flew down to Abu Dhabi for a day just to hear them perform. "What music!” he gushes; "What respect they command, whether it is the USA or the UK or Asia or Europe!” Warden looks for inspiration in the lives of successful artists and sportsmen, whatever be their field. In particular he mentions Simon Cowell, the English television talent judge, music and television producer and music talent scout "because he started out as absolutely nobody, helping around in a studio, and from there pushed and pushed and used his time and contacts and networking skills very smartly and reached where he is today!” Among Indian music makers, he is all praise for Gary Lawyer, the Zoroastrian singer. "I used to go to hear him sing at Jazz By the Bay, and now he comes up on stage and jams with us. What an honor!” he says in awe.
High pitched
A student of Campion School in South Bombay, Warden smiles that he had a very high pitched voice as a child, and was a natural addition to the school choir. "And look at my voice now,” he says, evidently proud of the smoothness! "I was there taking part in all singing competitions in school.” After graduating from Jai Hind College in 2007, he worked with his father Sarvin for a few years before deciding at 25 that he needed to follow his passion for music full time.
Sarvin, who runs an inbound travel agency called Designer Holidays, and mother Kamal (née Vimadalal) attend "every public show of mine,” mentions the musician. As does his 35-year-old brother Rustom, who is a personal fitness trainer. They are extremely supportive of his career and Warden affirms that whenever he has a dilemma he tends to follow the advice of his parents "as they are wiser and know better.”
This Zoroastrian prays every night, irrespective of the time he gets back from gigs or rehearsals, "except when I am really, really tired after a show.” Claiming that he spends as much time communicating with the Almighty as he does on reciting the prayers he was taught as a child, he remembers to ask Him to look after his pet dog Pablo who he lost nine months ago. The young man who generally worships at Cusrow Baug’s Karani Agiary "loves going to churches too, as some have such a lovely vibe to them.”
"There is no downside to being in the music business; it allows me to pursue my dream,” concludes the musician before he rushes off to a rehearsal.