Kick the butt

Tough On Tobacco is a band doing a gig on thursday with a cause

Tough On Tobacco is a band doing a gig on thursday with a cause

A band from Mumbai is here to spread the anti-smoking message, but is finding it hard to kick the habit.

"We used to smoke way too many cigarettes," says singer-songwriter Siddharth Coutto. So, the band members say, "Don't start smoking! It's hard to quit once you start. And it's just not worth it. Even if one young adult says no to tobacco because they heard us, we'll be justified in our cause".

"I don't think Bangalore has seen us playing, so everything is new on that front." Sid says adding, "Bangalore seems like a fun place to me." They will play all original songs from their first album like 'Happy' and the 'Taxi' song. This year has been a busy year with the band composing over 40 songs. They will also sing new ones such as 'Wonder' and 'Play it some other way'.

Originally beginning as a two-man production group, the band was only formed in January this year. But, how did the name come about? Sid chuckles, "The name came from the movie, 'Thank you for Smoking'. In one scene, a person in authority says in exasperation, it is time to get tough on tobacco."

The band does not stick to one genre. "We don't really pinhole our songs in any genre," he says adding, "If I would qualify my genre, it would be a mix of rock, pop and reggae."

On the Bollywood scene, he says "I produced the album and did the background score," for Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, which won an award recently at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) and also the background score for the movie, The President is Coming, November December 2008.

Sid began his music career way back in 1996 with a band in Bangalore and then shifted to Mumbai. There he played with erstwhile bands Zero as a drummer and also with Helga's Fun Castle before forming Tough on Tobacco. Johan Pais and Jai Row Kavi played with Sidd in Helga's Fun Castle (HFC) while Gaurav Gupta and Pozy Dhar played with Sidd in Zero.

Work on their first album began in January 2008 and Sid quips, "we are finally done with that now." In the meantime, the band has another three albums worth of material in the pipeline and will be recording a teaser EP shortly.

At: Hard Rock Cafe, St Marks Road
When: November 26, 8.30pm
What: Tough on Tobacco Live
Call: 4124 2222
Entry: Cover charge of Rs 250

The Band
Johan Pais on bass
Jai Row Kavi on drums
Pozy Dhar and Gaurav Gupta on Guitar
Neil Gomes on violin, cello, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, trumpet and sax
Sidd Coutto on vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion, drums and computers