our new album, titled ARMOUR, is being released today! you can download it for $9.99 for all 11 songs from iTunes or at http://www.bambooshoots.com. we've been waiting a long time for this day and looking forward to the next phase of actually having our music officially out in the world!!
thanks for your support!
Tuesday, September 29
Sunday, September 27
Interview of me in THE DAILY RECORD, Northern NJ's finest local newspaper :)
check out my interview from the DAILY RECORD - the local paper in the town that i grew up in:
Bamboo Shoots' major-label debut features Parsippany native
By JENNIFER L. NELSON
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY RECORD
When Parsippany native Shiv Puri, 29, was studying finance at New York University, he had no idea he would one day trade in a lucrative career on Wall Street to play the drums in Bamboo Shoots, an alternative dance-rock band.
Described by Puri as "Daft Punk meets Hall & Oates," the Brooklyn-based band, composed of fellow New Jerseyans Avir Mitra, Karl Sukhia and Ankur Patel, will release its debut studio album, "Armour," on Tuesday.
"I remember leaving work at 4 p.m. to play a show in Boston, taking the bus back at 5 a.m., sleeping for an hour and going back into the office," he said.
That's why, soon after a 2007 performance with his bandmates on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Puri decided to quit his job as an oil and gas equities analyst and pursue music full time.
"I was nervous about leaving the comfort and security of a good-paying job and having my future mapped out," he said. "But I've been playing in bands since middle school ... I've always dreamed of doing this."
Puri had been interning at Goldman Sachs when a friend passed along a demo made by childhood friends Mitra and Sukhia on an antiquated PC with a pencil microphone. Puri found himself instantly drawn to their unique music and songwriting.
"I e-mailed them during my lunch break to tell them I was a musician and asked to meet up next time they were in New York. Lo and behold, they responded, and we clicked right away," he said.
At their first practice, Patel, a friend of a friend and an up-and-coming DJ, arrived with what became a Bamboo Shoots signature — an Indian folk drum — and the band landed its first official gig in New York in 2005.
The Bamboo Shoots' claim to fame turned out to be winning an mtvU contest for Artist of the Year/Best Music on Campus in 2007.
"A friend randomly signed us up," Puri said.
The prize was the coveted slot on Conan O'Brien's show and a deal with Epic Records. That summer, they hit the road with the Plain White T's, and that's when Puri knew it was time to leave the corporate world for good.
"Looking back, I know I made the right choice," he said.
They were embraced by India during a recent tour — they made it into Vogue India, Rolling Stone India and CNN India. They also nabbed a Gibson guitar sponsorship and completed a national ad campaign with Virgin.
Recently, the Bamboo Shoots performed at Six Flags in Jackson and were invited by Parsippany's mayor to perform at the Fall Festival.
"It was a great reason to call old friends and reconnect with my town," Puri said. "We got a lot of love from people who were proud to see someone from Parsippany trying to make it on the national scene."
The Bamboo Shoots have been classified as "DIY pop," with undeniably catchy, upbeat songs like "Hey Girl," the first single. The songs are known for their South Asian influences, as well as their innate danceability and dueling rhythm section. Puri added that there's an electronic element to their music — and everyone has their own synthesizer.
"Our music is accessible, but there's something a little more interesting going on than just your average pop/rock band," he said.
Of course, they did not work alone. Thanks to a couple of cold calls, the band was lucky enough to team up with legends like Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Modern Lovers as producer. Brian Gardner (Jay-Z, Van Halen, Eminem) mastered the album. It was mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, who has worked with such stars as Madonna, Beyonce and U2 in addition to indie acts MIA and Arcade Fire.
"We're not successful yet, but I feel like we've been dealt a good hand so far," Puri said. "Whenever we've just done our best and tried to do what's right — and not cared about what other people think — somehow, things have always worked out."
"Armour" will be available at bambooshoots.com and iTunes. To learn more, visit myspace.com/bambooshoots. They'll be appearing at the CMJ Festival in New York City on Oct. 22.
Bamboo Shoots' major-label debut features Parsippany native
By JENNIFER L. NELSON
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY RECORD
When Parsippany native Shiv Puri, 29, was studying finance at New York University, he had no idea he would one day trade in a lucrative career on Wall Street to play the drums in Bamboo Shoots, an alternative dance-rock band.
Described by Puri as "Daft Punk meets Hall & Oates," the Brooklyn-based band, composed of fellow New Jerseyans Avir Mitra, Karl Sukhia and Ankur Patel, will release its debut studio album, "Armour," on Tuesday.
"I remember leaving work at 4 p.m. to play a show in Boston, taking the bus back at 5 a.m., sleeping for an hour and going back into the office," he said.
That's why, soon after a 2007 performance with his bandmates on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Puri decided to quit his job as an oil and gas equities analyst and pursue music full time.
"I was nervous about leaving the comfort and security of a good-paying job and having my future mapped out," he said. "But I've been playing in bands since middle school ... I've always dreamed of doing this."
Puri had been interning at Goldman Sachs when a friend passed along a demo made by childhood friends Mitra and Sukhia on an antiquated PC with a pencil microphone. Puri found himself instantly drawn to their unique music and songwriting.
"I e-mailed them during my lunch break to tell them I was a musician and asked to meet up next time they were in New York. Lo and behold, they responded, and we clicked right away," he said.
At their first practice, Patel, a friend of a friend and an up-and-coming DJ, arrived with what became a Bamboo Shoots signature — an Indian folk drum — and the band landed its first official gig in New York in 2005.
The Bamboo Shoots' claim to fame turned out to be winning an mtvU contest for Artist of the Year/Best Music on Campus in 2007.
"A friend randomly signed us up," Puri said.
The prize was the coveted slot on Conan O'Brien's show and a deal with Epic Records. That summer, they hit the road with the Plain White T's, and that's when Puri knew it was time to leave the corporate world for good.
"Looking back, I know I made the right choice," he said.
They were embraced by India during a recent tour — they made it into Vogue India, Rolling Stone India and CNN India. They also nabbed a Gibson guitar sponsorship and completed a national ad campaign with Virgin.
Recently, the Bamboo Shoots performed at Six Flags in Jackson and were invited by Parsippany's mayor to perform at the Fall Festival.
"It was a great reason to call old friends and reconnect with my town," Puri said. "We got a lot of love from people who were proud to see someone from Parsippany trying to make it on the national scene."
The Bamboo Shoots have been classified as "DIY pop," with undeniably catchy, upbeat songs like "Hey Girl," the first single. The songs are known for their South Asian influences, as well as their innate danceability and dueling rhythm section. Puri added that there's an electronic element to their music — and everyone has their own synthesizer.
"Our music is accessible, but there's something a little more interesting going on than just your average pop/rock band," he said.
Of course, they did not work alone. Thanks to a couple of cold calls, the band was lucky enough to team up with legends like Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Modern Lovers as producer. Brian Gardner (Jay-Z, Van Halen, Eminem) mastered the album. It was mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, who has worked with such stars as Madonna, Beyonce and U2 in addition to indie acts MIA and Arcade Fire.
"We're not successful yet, but I feel like we've been dealt a good hand so far," Puri said. "Whenever we've just done our best and tried to do what's right — and not cared about what other people think — somehow, things have always worked out."
"Armour" will be available at bambooshoots.com and iTunes. To learn more, visit myspace.com/bambooshoots. They'll be appearing at the CMJ Festival in New York City on Oct. 22.
Tuesday, September 22
Heather Graham: "I love Saddam" @ The Age of Stupid film premier, NYC
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Yesterday Bamboo Shoots and I were invited to attend the premier of the documentary, The Age of Stupid. It's about climate change, the war for resources, the ending of humanity if we continue to consume the way we do etc. It was pretty moving. Here's a link to a decent review in case you wanted to read more.
Upon arriving, we were escorted to walk the "green carpet" and posed for a couple pictures and did some interviews.
And then I met Heather Graham! I've always been a fan of her but when she appeared in my favorites series ever, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, it sealed the deal. I got a quick photo with her, and upon saying goodbye I said "I love Saddam!" (it's a line she spoke in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, Season 1 Episode 14, "Shock and Aww")...she laughed and smiled. And the rest of the night I was glowing. And of course I totally thought she was into me.
Kofi Anan was also there, as well was the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson (whose business card I still have from meeting her at a development conference at Yale back in 2004), the president of the Maldives (Bamboo Shoots tour??), Gilian Anderson, Stephen Baldwin, and one of my new favorite actors, Larry Gilliard, Jr. who plays D'Angelo in HBO'S The Wire.
Wednesday, September 9
Chef Shiv....doesn't exactly roll of the tongue now, does it
Hey hey! Wanted to let you know that today I'll be featured doing one of my favorite things - cooking! There's this blog site about music and cooking called The Young and The Hungry, and I've been invited to showcase some of my favorite recipes for a video shoot. This is a really interesting site by an eccentric guy called Frankie who has previously hosted bands to come in and cook for the show. And in between he does a bunch of weird stuff like this video which is all about cooking a fillet of sole fish -- all set to an original song and video written, directed and performed by Frankie himself. I must say I've never seen anything quite like it before -- there's a part in the middle of the video when the fish is slowly frying and reaching it's point of done-ness that Frankie splits the screen to a raging and building guitar solo which matches the climax of the cooking fish! So I'm pretty excited to be working with Frankie this afternoon and think it'll be a lot of fun to cook for his show.
I figured I'd make what I love to cook for the rest of Bamboo Shoots when we have super long rehearsals at Avir's house. My boys need a high protein, lowfat and tasty meal to keep on rockin! So I will showcase my "Chicken Curry with Lentil Brown Rice and Cucumber-Mint Lowfat Yogurt." I don't know if you're into Indian food, let alone curries, but wait till you see how I'm going to make it -- this aint yo mamma's preparation for sure! I don't know when the video of me doing this is going to be online, but be sure to check back for updates! THIS IS GONNA BE FUN....AND TASTY!!
Shiv with his Mom, the best cook in the world!
I figured I'd make what I love to cook for the rest of Bamboo Shoots when we have super long rehearsals at Avir's house. My boys need a high protein, lowfat and tasty meal to keep on rockin! So I will showcase my "Chicken Curry with Lentil Brown Rice and Cucumber-Mint Lowfat Yogurt." I don't know if you're into Indian food, let alone curries, but wait till you see how I'm going to make it -- this aint yo mamma's preparation for sure! I don't know when the video of me doing this is going to be online, but be sure to check back for updates! THIS IS GONNA BE FUN....AND TASTY!!
Shiv with his Mom, the best cook in the world!
Sunday, September 7
pop rock
i was born in and moved to monmouth county, NJ when i was 6. one of my first memories here was when we were unpacking all of our boxes and sorting stuff out in the garage with the movers who had trucked all our stuff to the condo we had moved into. he was from NJ and when i offered him some pepsi, i distinctly remember his calling it "soda" - and my feeling perplexed cuz i had only ever heard it referred to as "pop" in minnesota.
as the years passed, and of course due to the trivial nature of such a random early memory, i gave up on wondering whether this memory of mine was real even real or not, and whether it mattered.
but i felt a spark when i came across this - i don't even know how i got to googling "interesting maps" but seeing this map is somehow reaffirming, vindictive even.
as the years passed, and of course due to the trivial nature of such a random early memory, i gave up on wondering whether this memory of mine was real even real or not, and whether it mattered.
but i felt a spark when i came across this - i don't even know how i got to googling "interesting maps" but seeing this map is somehow reaffirming, vindictive even.
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