Concert for Shakti foundation with U shrinivas, U Rajesh and Loy Mendoza.
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Indian Telegraph 06 08

BICKRAM GHOSH & PETE LOCKETT PLAN NEW DRUM CLINICS AND MAKE A BANG WITH AN ELECTRIC ALBUM.

The busiest tabla player around just got busier. While he missed legendary drummer Steve Smith’s India tour in 2007 with the groundbreaking band Vital Information, tabla whiz Bickram Ghosh is all set to host countrywide percussion workshops with Smith, come the year-end. Bickram and Smith will also find some able support in their long-time cohort, composer-percussionist Pete Lockett; resulting in a never-before trio clinic featuring the three drummers.

“I couldn’t attend any of Vital Information’s India concerts last year. But when Pete introduced me to Steve in London in April this time, I was surprised to find that his iPod contains the Rhythmscape album!” smiles Bickram. Indian rhythms have long been Smith’s research subject — a serious student, the ex-Journey drummer is known not just to dabble but go roots-deep in any percussion culture he studies — and he is one of the finest jazz-fusion drummers to fuse this influence with his sound.

The same goes for the 007 percussion arranger Lockett, a diligent student of the tabla for over a decade now. That makes communication easier for Bickram. “Most drummers from a jazz/rock background don’t really know the finer points of Indian music. But Steve knows my music and has a lot of respect for our heritage. Pete, on the other hand, is maturing into as good a tabla player as anyone,” says Bickram. The first step is to form the drummer trio; the next, to make a musical statement with that project.

The three expect a packed tour schedule: Smith is an in-demand clinician for Zildjian cymbals and Sonor drums worldwide, while the UK stage can be handled by Lockett’s agents. “I’ve been composing for projects and films over the past five years. So this is one of the most exciting things to do in the playing mode as a performer, for me. As a tabla player, I’m in good form. I feel I should utilise that to the fullest,” says the percussionist.
Purists who have been missing Bickram’s classical avatar of late will be glad to get their hands on a dozen or so albums to be released in the next few months, featuring him on tabla with top rung.classical maestros. But first comes the debut album from Bickram’s new project, Electro-classical. A “parallel act” to Rhythmscape, this group features Pratyush Banerjee on sarod, Rajesh Vaidhya on electric veena and Amyt Dutta on guitar, along with Bickram on tabla and percussion and V. Suresh on ghatam. “I feel it’s a different sound from my kitty; one where electronica turns a corner with a personal touch, yet the music is classically driven,” he explains. The eponymous album by Electro-classical will be released on Music Today in June.

Arka Das

(India Statesman 06 08)

Pete Lockett takes a break from composing for the James Bond film The Quantum of Solace to visit Kolkata

From a distance he looks like a member of a biking gang in America or Australia and his tattoos make the audience forget his achievements. Pete Lockett has been travelling to India frequently and his last visit was to the premiere show of Incredible Hulk at Inox, Elgin Road. Almost on time, he entered with Bickram Ghosh, both dressed down for the occasion. Soon after his arrival a journalist from a television channel started asking a list of questions she had prepared eating starters ~ ‘How does it feel to be in Kolkata’, ‘Are you planning to score for Bengali films’, ‘Which is your favourite character in Hulk’ and ‘What’s so great about the film’… Attention soon diverted towards the ‘celebrities’ who had already gathered. Lockett is working with Bickram Ghosh but he is also working on several other projects, including the next James Bond film ~ The Quantum of Solace.
He will be playing the drums in the Bond film but the rest is hush-hush. “I have started working on the project but my other commitments keep taking me across the globe. For a month I have worked on the soundtrack and once back, more time will be devoted towards it.”

Lockett cannot be called only a drummer. A small list of instruments he plays includes the tabla, mridangam, kanjira, ghatam, dholak, naal, bhangra dhol, darabuka, bendir, frame-drums, congas, bongos, timbales, berimbau, Nigerian Udu, West African djembe, Japanese taiko, Western drumset and many “weird and wonderful percussion effects” such as waterphones and spring drums, along with many strange percussive objects built and customised by him. He also works extensively with electronics and samplers, both live and in the studio, using samplers, effects units and live electronic looping to create densely alternative percussion fabrics.

The musician has toured and recorded with include a few of the most respected artistes in the industry ~ Björk, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Bill Bruford, Jeff Beck, David Torn, Vikku Vinayakram, Selva Ganesh, Ustad Zakir Hussain, The Verve, Steve Smith, Chris Potter, John Spencer Blues Explosion, David Holmes, Ganesh Kumaresh, Michael Nyman, Natacha Atlas, Texas, Lee Scratch Perry, Primal Scream, Kai Eckhardt, Schlomo, Ed Mann, Michael Shrieve, Edwyn Collins, Damien Rice, George Brooks, Trevor Jackson, Craig Armstrong, John Bergamo, Kadri Gopalnath...
“People know what I do and what I am good at. I generally play solo and execute projects according to my sense of music. Rarely do directors or producers interfere with my work.”

Pete has worked in virtually every field of music conceivable, both live and in the studio, from pop and rock, to jazz and the avant garde, from traditional Carnatic and Hindustani music of north and south India to traditional Japanese taiko drumming.  He has also worked extensively in the film industry. Pete arranged and recorded all the ethnic percussion for the recent 007 hit, Casino Royale and can also count the three previous Bond movies ~ Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough ~ amongst his credits, along with Hollywood blockbusters, City of Angels (Meg Ryan), The Insider (Al Pacino), Plunkett & Maclean (Robert Carlisle), The Bone Collector, (Denzel Washington), Amazing Grace, (Albert Finney), The Quiet American (Michael Caine), Moulin Rouge, (Nicole Kidman), and the Guy Ritchie film Snatch. His stint in the Indian film industry includes Sivaji (Rajini Kanth).

“What I have done need to reflect my integrity as percussionist. I have come from a multicultural background and this makes me look at music slightly differently. When you cook a dish frequently, it doesn’t always taste the same. Similar is the case with music...” He has several projects up his sleeves, one involving Bickram Ghosh and his father. Speaking about Hulk, he says, “I have mixed sound effects quite well and used the kanjira, tabla and the Japanese taiko at proper places.”  He has three albums lined up for this year ~ Taalisman with guitarist Amit Chatterjee, Journeys With The Master Drummers Of India featuring Vikku Vinayakram and Re-Percussion with Bickram Ghosh.

 NDTV Good Times 2008; Pete & Bickram Ghosh

In the world' music stopovers, this duo virtually live on beats per minute. One is a drummer from the United Kingdom and the other is a percussionist from the heart of the United States of West Bengal! Say hello to the incomparable Bikram Ghosh and Pete Lockett!

Frankly, this rip roaring pair needs no introduction. So animated is their musical camaraderie, that they will go to the end of the world, if they must to shift rhythm to an overdrive. Using every part of their body to create what they call – 'beats', is a peak pleasure for their listening audience. Now Pete goes for exotic-looking world instruments that speak like a linguist while Bikram, lets his tabla do the talking. And when they jam, Fusion gets a ‘you gotta hear it, to believe it’ vibe!

A spectacular drummer, Pete says, “Definitely the deepest of all the percussion traditions! I've looked at it and it's immense, the amount of rhythmic development there's been over the centuries with in the Indian sub-continent, certainly more than anywhere else in the world.
For me as a percussionist, it's just such a rich reservoir of rhythmic information.”

His partner-in-arms is the son of the illustrious tabla maestro Shankar Ghosh. In his ten-year career, Bikram has performed with the greats of Indian classical music like – Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Balamurali Krishna, Kadari Gopalnath, T N Krishnan among others.  Says the tabla maestro who played the title track of the late George Harrison's album Brainwashed, “I've always had interestingly a juxtaposition happening musically or culturally in my upbringing.
When I was in school I was part of a band called Satellites. I was playing conga and stuff, after that I would go directly from school to Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's house. Munawar Khan Saheb, a great singer was my mother's teacher, I used to play with them to the great kayals and tumris!.

So this juxtaposition has led me to a lot of work currently which I'm doing, which has led me also to enjoy collaborative work. It has inspired me to check out a variety of music.”  Like his venture with Pete. He agrees, “We've been doing lots of shows together, some big shows in all the cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata. But the two big projects that are on are – Sanef and Repercussion.

On their fantastic chemistry, Pete remarks: “Working with Bikram is really interesting, besides it is a lot of fun. It's an amazing challenge and there are lots of elements to it.  There are certain things that happen where we'll just be improvising and we'll change it at the same time into something completely different for no apparent reason! It is a very common thing when we are playing together.”

Carry on blokes...

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