Krosswindz…. The band

Hailing from Calcutta, these guys and gal are an extremely talented bunch. In their twenties.. the band is more than 10 years old! They already have a full-length album in English, One World to their credit. They also have an EP in English and an album in Bengali.

The founder members who still remain are Vikramjit Banerjee (Tuki) and Chirodeep Lahiri (Chiro). They had an amazing vocalist in Bonnie Chakraborty who has left the band. Their former Guitars/vocals Neil has also left with Bonnie and have come out with an album together, Parchayiyan, an excellent effort.

But Krosswindz is Tuki. An amazing guitarist, highly talented composer and a good singer to boot. The stick work by Chiro is excellent. 

Krosswindz… the shows
1995 ... This time the venue was outdoors. 1995 August. The Beach Hotel Lawns. A small and compact venue. We built a small stage. Reynolds did the sound and lights, yet again. Like Kurt Kobain sang…but it rained. Rained through the sound check… through everything. Rained till the start of the show. And then it stopped raining. This time, we had an opening band, The Renegades, from Calicut. The Taj Residency house band. They did a decent gig but for the main vocals. Couple of numbers were outstanding, especially Crazy Little Thing Called Love. The lead guitar/vocals, Pramod Reynolds was excellent in both departments. On to Krosswindz…..

Great performance. Is this Love, Live and Let Die, Eat the Rich, Two Princes, Comfortably numb, Black Magic Woman, Satisfaction songs by Police, Bryan Adams and their own originals made up the rest of the show. Halfway through the show it rained, but by that time the crowd that had come in had gotten into their groove and the rain only added to the ambience!

Not much money there, but again, more than break even.

The line-up… Bonnie Chakraborty on vocals and percussion. Vikramjit(Tuki) Banerjee and Neil on lead/rhythm guitars and vocals, Chirodeep Lahiri on drums, Dwight Pattison on bass.

CD-FX, a local music shop, was the main sponsor of the show. Malabar Palace and a few others chipped in.

2002
7 years later (we had somehow maintained contact over the years!) we got them down again. Line up had changed. Neil Adhikari was the new vocalist. Micki was the keyboardist, Nitin was bass and Chandrani, Tuki’s wife, was also on vocals. Chiro and Tuki remained from the old line-up.

Gujarathi Hall was the venue again. September 2002. Under the banner of Rotary Club of Calicut Metro. Reynolds the sound n lights again. Again, a wonderful performance. The sound was somehow not at the best. We did miss Mike at the controls.

The played The Only thing that Looks Good on Me, Sweet Child of Mine, Purple Haze, Long Train Running songs by Police, Cranberries and their own originals made up the rest of the set.

The show was sponsored by Chakolas Fairness Oil. Premier Chappals, Asma Towers,  VNM etc helped with the rest.

The line up has changed yet again, Chiro and Neel leaving to form a band called SPAN.

Check out www.krosswindz.com for details and songs and pictures.