It’s a Sunday afternoon and front man Ameeth Thomas has just woken up to my call. “No problems dude, I’m just a bit high that’s all” he says as he follows it up with trademark laughter. That’s how he is and has always been. Loves whiskey, hates cover bands, is adored by the Junkyard Groove faithful and is deplored by those who hate his guts.
2011 has been an important year for Junkyard Groove so far but November promises to be the most eventful yet or so they hope. “We have finished recording four songs and there’s four more to go. We might just add another couple of tracks too, but I am not sure about that” says Ameeth as he speaks about their latest chapter. The second album.
Junkyard Groove’s first album 11:11 was extremely well received by those who heard it and propelled them to heights they wanted to always achieve. Songs like ‘It’s Ok’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Folk You’, ‘Feel Like a Knife’ and ‘Hold’ from 11:11 was a coming together of not just the thought process of those within the band but perhaps also of their listeners who devoured these songs. People only knew they wanted something unheard of, and many an alternative rock band tried to fill in the void. However, in hindsight, only one band has managed to do that successfully in recent history. At a time when the Independent music scene was crying out for something fresh, JYG had delivered. “People call us a pop band too, but I couldn’t care less. The album got us 30,000 fans you know! (laughs) For me when you create a song, it has to be catchy. That’s the f*****g idea.’
When you have thirty thousand fans, there’s bound to be a few hassles when people recognize you, as has been elaborated upon here, “It’s satisfying but also extremely weird at times because last night I was at this local nightclub and this guy goes ‘Ameeth Thomas! Ameeth Thomas!’ and I had to ask him to calm down and my friends were laughing their ass off. Other musicians get jealous about it though!” he can’t resist adding that.
“A lot of people around here hate me because I am doing my own thing. I don’t do film music or anything but I make money doing what I do and its going pretty good. Recently, this guy calls me up and asks if I could listen to their tracks and mix it in my studio. Hey now who thought I’d be making money out of my studio too?!” he asks mockingly. He is very proud of everything JYG has achieved and speaks at length about how satisfying it has been to follow the path that he has loved all his life, but there is more than a hint that there is a method to all of his easy going madness. “I am not where I want to be” says Ameeth as he gets serious for the first time. “I’d love to travel a lot more as I play for crowds. Money is important alright but only because without that I can’t buy gear (more laughter)!”
Junkyard Groove started off in the summer of 2005, after Ameeth decided to give his friends Craig Maxworth (on bass) and Siddharth Srinivasan (on guitars) a call after quitting his previous band. Drummer Jerry John came in to complete the quartet. One of the reasons why they also started to play together was people raving about bands that weren’t good enough. Their sense of superiority wasn’t misplaced at all though. “My previous band came third in NLS strawberry fields and people were saying ‘oh man f*****g awesome!’ and I was thinking ‘Really?’. In our first year, we won every competition we participated in. The entire lot” he says, smugly.
The line up as of late October 2011 is Ameeth Thomas, Shanky (Shashank), Sajit Satya and Naveen Thomas (of Galeej Gurus). Yes, that list is minus 75% of what Junkyard Groove used to exist as. From the summer of 2005 to the summer of 2011, there existed a journey which helped them all achieve the highest of highs but it wasn’t without its low points. Junkyard Groove have admitted in many an interview that fights were part and parcel of their continued existence. However, none could have predicted that it would lead to a break up except for the ones who were in the band or close enough to its members. Even those people certainly could not have anticipated the manner in which it was about to happen.
On a warm summer afternoon of April 2011, Ameeth Thomas logged in to his Facebook account as he routinely did and saw this on the band page – “Ladies and Gentlemans…We love the 6 years that u have given us, and we love you all. Although Junkyard Groove is a part of us, and will be a part of us, we have to bid farewell…This is not the end, but the start of something new…stay tuned…Love…Siddharth Srinivasan, Jerry John, Craig Maxworth!!!!”
“I was f*****g pissed off” states Ameeth as he speaks further about the break up. “We had a show to do in Singapore and I was trying to contact them, obviously my calls were being ignored. I had to let go of the show and my parents thought I was losing it. Eventually I had to calm myself down with a few drinks and think about what I could do.” All three members were replaced within 48 hours. “Probably that got under their skin too!” he says.
Despite the extremely acerbic atmosphere during the break up and Ameeth’s determined and swift response to the entire situation, I am tempted to probe further to know what led to it. “I wasn’t too happy when Jerry got back into the band. I didn’t want him back and once he got back there were rifts all the time and he created groups. Beyond a point I began to take things personally. They had threatened to quit the band before and they knew that upset me a lot. We had solved these issues before but then it happened and I could smell shit coming from a mile away, so I got ahead of the game (laughs) and registered the band under my name, the songs under my name and I started doing solo work because I wanted something to keep me going. They even asked my new band mates to not play with me because ‘Ameeth is an asshole’” he says.
The new lineup is settling in just fine according to Ameeth. “Sajit is a killer bass player and he’s a kid but I met him at one of our shows and he goes ‘Dude I can play all your songs’ and he just nailed it. He’s something else with the bass really. Shashank is a tight drummer and he is basically a raw talent and I like that because I can mould him they way I want! Naveen is just Naveen really. I can say that the new lineup is more technically proficient than the old one.” If you’re thinking, no wonder this guy (Ameeth) gets hated all the time, we doubt he cares too much about that, or you.
Right now, JYG’s focus remains very clear. They intend to release the album and tour around the country. They have already released two new tracks called ‘Beautiful Crime’ and ‘Speed of Love.’ Beautiful Crime is a departure from JYG’s previous sound. There is especially a very strong electronic influence in the sound and the song has generally been received very well. Speed of Love is a simple sounding song with Ameeth on the acoustic guitar. This track however has been criticized by a few. “Yeah yeah we did get a bad review on a site from this guy who thought it sounded somewhat like a Jack Johnson or a John Mayer song. Funny because he can’t differentiate between them both” says Ameeth. “Listen I do know it’s a f*****g cheesy track okay? But even while playing it I think ‘I am going to get laid!’ because a lot of them do like the song. And since that review we received more hits on the video too! So thanks.”
People can expect to listen to the old Junkyard as well as the new Junkyard from this second album. Ameeth has been the driving force behind this album as he has done most of the songwriting on it. “Great thing is I am the song writer but these guys are very honest about how they feel about a song. If its shit, they’ll say it’s a shit song or it’s a shit part in a song. I have been experimenting more with the new album, even with the mixing. Beautiful Crime has a completely different mix in the album. I’m excited about this one!” he says.
Junkyard Groove is here to stay, that much we all know now. A good many feared for the band post the breaking up of the original line up. However it has been ensured that six years worth of hard work and music doesn’t fade away into oblivion. The old line up will no doubt be missed not just because of their musical talents but also because of the vibe they exuded whether on stage or off it. The new lineup will have its fair share of challenges trying to match up but having heard Ameeth speak about Junkyard Groove with all that passion leaves one with a feeling that it won’t be too long before Shanky, Naveen and Sajit firmly entrench themselves within the minds of those who follow the band. So here’s to more drunken JYG gigs and plenty more success. Good luck we say!
- Vignesh Iyer