Monthly Archives: December 2016

John Halo: Strings and Things

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On this episode, John Halo of the hard-rocking NYC quartet Downtown Equipment is here to work on his Les Paul Standard, while our host, Patrick Grant, changes the strings on an old friend, his sea-foam Fender Jaguar. 

We’ll find out how many guitars John actually owns and how he names them, and of course, he and Patrick will boot up and plug in for a special year-end jam.

John handles guitars, composition and vocals in Downtown Equipment, and the band is working on a follow-up to their most recent EP, Calls for Chaos, which you can listen to right here:

By day, John molds young minds as a program coordinator in the New York City public school system. He creates courses and projects for junior high students in the science and the arts, from 3D printing to aeronautics to producing musicals. He also teaches a lot of math and music theory, which was the focus of his post-graduate studies.

This is our last episode of 2016! A huge shout-out to all of the guitarists who have joined us this year and a big thank you to all of you who have stuck around and listened to the show.

Happy New Year!

Sudeip Ghosh: Strings and Things

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This time on the Strings and Things podcast, super-shredder Sudeip Ghosh is here to change the strings on his Dean Zelinsky guitar while our host, Patrick Grant, works on his trusty Les Paul. Sudeip grew up playing and singing Indian classical music, but a chance encounter with a hard rock mixtape ignited his dreams of power chord glory.

Sudeip will tell us how a one-string acoustic and a scarcity of guitar magazines tested his determination, and how he’s come into his own as a metal guitarist, a film composer, and a Bollywood musician. As always, we’ll put the new guitar strings through their paces when Patrick and Sudeip plug in to record some rollicking riffs.

Let’s take this opportunity to check out some of Sudeip’s many musical projects. First off, he is the lead guitarist for the band Meaxic, a progressive rock/metal trio which also includes Jeet Suresh Paul on vocals and guitar, and John Stallings on drums. Here’s a video for their song, “Back On”:

Next up is Akramon, Sudeip’s instrumental project with band-mates Hirak Sen on lead/rhythm guitar, and Rishabh Natarajan on bass. The band’s name means “attack”, which describes their approach to taking metal styles and techniques and adding some Indian classical or eastern musical flavors. Here’s a piece from them called “Graviton”:

And here’s the great video for “Stay” which Sudeip talks about in the podcast. Manas & Sudeip is more of a rock/grunge project with Indian influences, and their new EP, The Remote Collaborations, is available on iTunes:

To find out more about what Sudeip is up to, find him on Facebook or visit his YouTube page for more music!