Feature - The Rock Pubs of Bangalore
Harris
Much has been written about the Pubs of B’lore. So I sure hope most of u wont turn away thinking… oh no… not another one of the B’lore Pub write-ups!
But, like the cliché` goes, this is a B’lore pub write-up with a difference!
Making Waves decided to take a tour of the pubs that rock, literally and figuratively. We eschewed all the tourist attraction pubs and decided to look in on the pubs that catered exclusively to rock music lovers. We picked the Saturday, the 16th of December 2006 for this rocking ride. We made enquiries and made up a list of places to visit. In random order, they were 1. Pecos 2. Styx 3. Le Rock 4. Purple Haze and 5. Legends of Rock.
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We started off with Pecos, just off Brigade Road. There is no parking available here and u have to park either on Brigade Road or on Church Street, either one of which is a tuff exercise during all hours. Church Street is relatively free during off hours. We got parking on Church Street and reached Pecos at around 10.30 am. We straight away ordered breakfast. We ordered Appam and Stew and Dosas and a beef puli munji. All washed down with a coupla pitchers of draught. The food was excellent. The place probably has a mallu cook, coz the appams were fantastic. The stew wasn’t really all that great, just palatable. The dosas were crisp and the beef puli munji gravy was superb. They also had an English breakfast consisting of brown bread, hash potatoes, bacon, sausages etc. The cost of break fast was 60 bucks for non-veg, be it Indian or English. The beer in the place is standard KF draught. And was cold n fresh.
But the charm of the place is in its ambience. Built around a spiral fire-escape like staircase, this is a tiny place, with three floors. There is no room at all. But that adds to the charm of this quaint place. The place is filled with rock posters and pictures, mounted all over, including the ceiling! The music is classic n retro rock and blues. While we were there Jethro Tull, Doors etc were played. One of the rare places where u can still see cassettes (not CDs) stacked up behind the bar! We have had lunch from here before. Please do try out the beef fried rice, the pork dry fry and the crab sukka. The food is excellent to say the least and the prices are “rock” bottom too!
We spoke to the person who runs the place, Elango. And he said the place has been in existence for more than 18 years now. So definitely, one of the oldest places in town. The place was packed by evening. The rock pictures n posters are amazing. There is even a small notice board for events round town, 2nd hand stuff for sale, guitar classes etc. The place had custom made Rontek Speakers and the sound was decent. No music videos, just ur cable TV.
A great place to unwind and the cheapest too. Hard core drinkers, pls stay away, they only serve beer here! The ideal watering hole!
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We next went to Le Rock, this is right up the same street. A new swanky place with a tab to match. This is more of a café` than a hard core pub. Everything is so bloody expensive. The barest minimum drink (30ml, mind u!) will set u back by 75 bucks! But the place reeks of class. Spacious, well lit, with autographed guitars mounted all over the place.
I recognized Knopfler’s guitar and signature. The place gleams! It has a vintage bike mounted atop the entrance. It has a guitar logo done up big n bold and u can’t miss the name board on the street. They had classy beer glasses n coasters. The table top too sported a guitar fret pic and the lyrics of stairway 2 heaven.
A classy place indeed and the prices vouch for it! The sound system was state of the art curved panel speakers from BOSE and the sound quality was excellent. They were playing a live album of dire straits. We heard Brothers in Arms and some other song.
Didn’t see any music video set up. But from the looks of the place, that is impossible. But we went in around the same time after we left Pecos but this place didn’t have a single customer but for us, whereas Pecos had quite a few people of both genders.
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We then moved to Purple Haze on Residency Road. Thye have now made the road a one-way, so one has to go round 2 get to the place. The place is on the 2nd floor, opposite the ABN Amro. But since they have made the same side of the road parkable, parking wasn’t a big issue.
On to the place. Unlike Le Rock, this place is dimly lit n u have to get used to the lighting immediately on entering. Which means a few stumbles n clutching at people n tables. The sound system is good and really LOUD. There was a big flat panel screen on which music videos were being played. This place is expensive too, more or less the same prices as Le Rock, well priced above Pecos. The place was packed in the after noon at around 2pm. But I noticed that though the people were cheering and singing along with the really good songs, the DJ was playing the real good ones rarely. We heard/saw sweet child of mine, hallowed be thy name, master of puppets etc in between a lot of nondescript songs.
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We then moved on to Legends of Rock at Koramangala. This place is easy to find. Just get on the 80 ft road where u have the indoor stadium etc n drive down opposite to the airport side and u will find the sign board on ur left side. Can’t really miss it! This is on the 2nd floor. A small place really, with a kind of mezzanine floor where the set up is more like a café`.
The pub portion has a small performing stage set-up. Tight for a 5-piece band. The day we went they had LBG from Chennai playing. And it was a Saturday night. So there was a cover charge of 300 bucks, of which they said that 50 was entry fee and 250 would be adjusted against your bill. We reached at 8pm and the program was due to start only at 9. But the tables in front of the stage were all reserved. So v had 2 sit at the back from where v cudn’t even c the band.
But v had a big screen tv in front and my word, the videos they played were all fabulous! The sound quality was excellent, the same BOSE speakers we saw at Le Rock, not surprising I reckon, as both belong to the same management! The choice of songs played were fantastic, we got Roger Waters, Peter Frampton, David Coverdale/Whitesnake, Scorpions, Dave Mathews Band, Deep Purple… the works in rock!
The video and sound quality was much better than the one in Purple Haze. But what impressed me most was the song selection. Then at 9, LBG got on stage and rocked the house for an hour. A good gig, tight band, great guitar work. They played a set of all originals from their 2 albums. The prices were more or less in tune with Le Rock and Purple Haze, which means, bloody expensive! By expensive, I mean that if 2 ppl go with 500 bucks, u can’t really have anything. The potato platter costs 100 bucks, a drink (30 ml only) costs 50 bucks and so on.
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We went to Styx on MG Road on another day. It is right next to the Brigade road junction and on the first floor. We went at night. The place was packed. And the music was loud. The sound system wasn’t all that great. Just loud. The song selection was horrible, to all of our tastes, but there seemed 2 b lot of heads bobbing up n down, so I guess, the music was popular music. To us it was all mindless metal, sans any melody. The video quality too wasn’t so hot. The place was dark n the costs fell somewhere between Pecos and LOR. We ran out to save our lives from the mind numbing noise. This is just our opinion, as there are lots of Styx pub fans all over. We simply can’t stand these thrash/industrial metal kind!
Sadly all these places are smokers’ paradises and to non-smokers like Althaf n me, it took away some of the gloss. Our shirts still stink of cigarette smoke.
To sum up, we would say, that we would rank Pecos up there at the top, for its old world charm, cosy feel, great grub, great music and cheap prices and the history it has. Walk in with a 500 bucks and a friend and u can eat n drink very well. Its a great place just to walk in for great grub. LOR comes second with its fabulous rock video selections, great sound and their regular live performances. Purple Haze comes in at the third place.
I am told that there is one more Purple Haze at Koramangala, but we really didn’t get time to case that joint. We also missed OPUS, which is not really a PUB pure and simple, but more like an entertainment centre.
We thank Nitin Azeez for the entire day’s sponsorship and great company, Althaf, Nikhila, Vikram and the rest of their gang for the company and inputs.
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