CD Joint?

From today onwards, when Juhu’s beach bar Aurus calls it a night, you’ll still hear the music in the air: faint vocals backed by catchy guitar riffs and mean drum beats, sometimes punctuated by a metallic scream.  Follow the rhythm down the street to Rajput Bakery, and behind will be rock bands practising for their next gig; groupies quoting Dylan and Morrison; and amateurs pretending to know which guitar pick to buy.

This is 3rd Step, a 24 hour music quarters that houses an instrument and rock accessory store (3rd Step Music), a jam room (The Jam Room) and a record company (3rd Step Records). Take note: It makes its musical debut this evening.

Menage a Trois

3rd Step is run by the Veigas brothers (Jordan is the bassist for Channel [V] Launch Pad winning band Reverrse Polarity and Caleb plays for Oktober Soil) and Kaamna Rajput, who knew that they wanted to run three different music businesses ever since they were in college. “So we each took one step – Kaamna towards the music store, Caleb headed for the jam room, and  I, for the record company. Together we made three steps, hence the name of our venture,” explains Jordan.

Selling the Band

While musical instruments from brands like Ibanez, ESP, Parker, Godin and Sabien will dominate the store space, 3rd Step Music will also feature rock band tees, Goth neck pieces, box pack CDs, cables and guitar picks. What’s cool is that the merchandise won’t just feature foreign bands, but also Indian ones like Demonic Resurrection and Reverrse Polarity. Also, If you’ve been pining for a guitar that you can’t find anywhere in the city, chances are these guys can locate and order it for you.

Practise What They Preach

The music store exits into a fully tricked out 350 square feet jam room (creatively titled The Jam Room), complete with 150 watt stack amps, a mean eight-piece double bass Tama drum set and enough space for a nine-member band to get comfortably strummed. The idea behind the large space - Jordan claims it is the biggest jam room in the city – is to allow bands to feel like they are performing on stage, with lighting and acoustics designed accordingly.

With heavyweight bands like Pentagram and SHKABANG already practising at the Veigas brothers’ Bandra jam room, we ‘re pretty sure you’ll get to rub drum sticks and guitar picks with some talented musicians here.

Music Rights

In addition to running a jam room and store, Jordan also works with sound engineers and producers to record tunes and make demo CDs for bands, even if they’re fresh out of college. A few weeks down the line, the Veigas brothers also plan to start Sunday school at their new establishment , with one day music workshops, professional three month courses and even lectures by big names in the music industry.

Viva Las Veigas!

Getting there: 3rd Step, lane opposite Sea Princess Hotel, Kishore Kumar Ganguly Road, behind Rajput Bakery, Juhu, view the Facebook group here, Rs 200 an hour for the jam room, opens this evening.