Bamboo Shoots
Encyclopedia
Bamboo Shoots is an American four-piece musical group based out of Brooklyn, New York and suburban New Jersey. They are known for their dueling, two-person rhythm section and their South Asian identity and influence. Their debut album released on September 29, 2009 on Epic Records
.
heritage). When Avir was 12, he got a guitar and within two years Karl got a guitar and the two began playing music together. They began writing songs together soon after.
Avir met Shiv while spending the night at a mutual friend’s dorm in NYU. Shiv, a student in the Stern School of Business, had already heard some songs Avir had made and the two became friends. Avir, Karl and Shiv began playing house parties and writing informally under the moniker Bojangles. Ankur’s brother was a friend of Avir and introduced Ankur to the group at an early practice. Ankur reportedly began playing a dhol
over their songs and became a band member that day.
from Talking Heads on their Epic Records debut. ET Thorngren and Matt Cohen engineered. Recording was completed in March 2008. The album was mixed from May–June at Chalice Studios in Los Angeles by Mark "Spike" Stent and mastered by Brian Gardner
. The album, titled Armour, was released September, 2009.
, 3OH!3
, Secondhand Serenade
, and Tyga
through MTVu’s summer concert series. Bamboo Shoots has also performed with acts such as The Donnas
, The Fashion, Soulja Boy
, Gift of Gab
, The White Tie Affair
, Ordinary Boys, 22-20s
, Hail Social
, Illinois
, Karsh Kale
and Chamillionaire
. Prior to signing, Bamboo Shoots toured with Jimmie’s Chicken Shack.
In early 2008 Avir was selected to appear in Virgin America
's "This is How to Fly" ad campaign. An image of him playing guitar on a Virgin plane surrounded by flight attendants appeared in billboards, magazines and posters in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC and San Francisco. On April 8, 2008, Bamboo Shoots played live in the air on Virgin America’s inaugural flight to Seattle.
On October 14, 2008, Bamboo Shoots was a Featured Artist on Myspace Music.
On February 6, 2009 Avir and Ahmed interviewed Tricky
as part of MTV Iggy’s Artists interviewing artists series.
.
A demo version of "If You Should Die" was featured in the launch promo of MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach.
"Interstate 95" was used in the film Finding Preet.
"Talking to Death" was used in the independent Alaskan documentary Nome Golovin Snowmachine Race.
n descent. Shiv Puri is Punjabi
, Karl Sukhia is Parsi
, Ankur Patel is Gujarati
, and Avir Mitra is half Bengali
and half Parsi
. All members were born and raised in the US except Karl, who was born in the UK and spent his early years in India.
All members went to high school in New Jersey. Avir and Karl are from South Jersey (Voorhees and Cherry Hill respectively), Ankur is from New Brunswick and Shiv is from North Jersey (Parsippany).
where he received a degree in Biology. He was a few months away from commencing medical school when Bamboo Shoots won the MTVu contest. He decided to forgo medical school. Karl Sukhia received a degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park
. Shiv Puri received a finance degree from NYU Stern School of Business and quit a job on Wall Street to be in the band full time. Ankur postponed his college degree in civil engineering at Middlesex Community College
.
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
.
Formation
Bamboo Shoots played their first show at Pianos in New York City in 2004, however most of the members were friends prior to being in the band. Avir and Karl met as young children through the Zoroastrian community in Southern New Jersey (Karl’s parents and Avir’s mother are of ParsiParsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
heritage). When Avir was 12, he got a guitar and within two years Karl got a guitar and the two began playing music together. They began writing songs together soon after.
Avir met Shiv while spending the night at a mutual friend’s dorm in NYU. Shiv, a student in the Stern School of Business, had already heard some songs Avir had made and the two became friends. Avir, Karl and Shiv began playing house parties and writing informally under the moniker Bojangles. Ankur’s brother was a friend of Avir and introduced Ankur to the group at an early practice. Ankur reportedly began playing a dhol
Dhol
Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent and nearby regions. Its range of distribution in India and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Bengal, Gujarat,...
over their songs and became a band member that day.
mtvU Contest
In late 2006 Bamboo Shoots casually signed up for the mtvU Best Music on Campus contest. They soon forgot about it. In March 2007 they were informed that they had made it to the top 50 out of a pool of thousands of bands. Within a few months they were voted into the top 15, then the top 5. Friends and fans from all over the world helped propel the band forward with their votes. The band were surprised when an MTVu camera crew ambushed them at their friend’s apartment in Crown Heights Brooklyn and informed them that they had indeed won the contest. They were informed that they would be playing live on Late Night with Conan O’Brian within a few days.Album Recording
In October 2007 Bamboo Shoots left New York for Sausalito, CA where they began working with producer Jerry HarrisonJerry Harrison
Jerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
from Talking Heads on their Epic Records debut. ET Thorngren and Matt Cohen engineered. Recording was completed in March 2008. The album was mixed from May–June at Chalice Studios in Los Angeles by Mark "Spike" Stent and mastered by Brian Gardner
Brian Gardner
Brian Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner is a mastering engineer. He has worked on countless recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk, and dance pop. He is perhaps best known for his work on hip hop albums and in...
. The album, titled Armour, was released September, 2009.
Pre-Release
On March 24, 2009, Bamboo Shoots announced their first tour of India with stops in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, and Bangalore.Albums
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Armour
|
EPs
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Research and Development EP
|
| 2006 | Blue EP
Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| 2006 | Hey Girl 7"
Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
Mixtapes
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Music for Cotillions
|
Touring and Appearances
Bamboo Shoots performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on May 14, 2007. They have since toured with Plain White T’s, All Time LowAll Time Low
All Time Low is an American pop punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2003.The band consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alexander Gaskarth, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Jack Barakat, bassist and backing vocalist Zachary Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson...
, 3OH!3
3OH!3
3OH!3 is an American electro hop duo from Boulder, Colorado, made up of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte. They are best known for their single "Don't Trust Me" from their album Want, which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100...
, Secondhand Serenade
Secondhand Serenade
Secondhand Serenade is an American acoustic rock band, led by vocalist and guitarist John Vesely. Vesely has released three studio albums to date under the name Secondhand Serenade: Awake in 2007, A Twist in My Story in 2008 and Hear Me Now in 2010...
, and Tyga
Tyga
Michael Stevenson , better known by his stage name Tyga , is an American rapper signed to Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records. He is of Vietnamese and Jamaican descent...
through MTVu’s summer concert series. Bamboo Shoots has also performed with acts such as The Donnas
The Donnas
The Donnas are an American all-female rock band from Palo Alto, California. They draw inspiration from The Ramones, The Runaways, AC/DC, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Kiss. Rolling Stone has stated that "the Donnas offer a guileless take on adolescent alienation; they traffic in kicks, not...
, The Fashion, Soulja Boy
Soulja Boy
DeAndre Cortez Way , better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, and internet personality....
, Gift of Gab
Gift of Gab
Gift of gab is an idiomatic phrase which means the "ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly". Gift of Gab may also refer to:*Irish legend of the Blarney Stone*Gift of Gab , a black-and-white film released in 1934 by Universal Pictures...
, The White Tie Affair
The White Tie Affair
The White Tie Affair is a pop rock/electronica band from Chicago, Illinois. The members consist of: Sean-P , Chris Wallace , Tim McLaughlin and Ryan McLain . In early 2007, the band signed with Epic Records/Slightly Dangerous and released their debut album, Walk This Way in April 2008...
, Ordinary Boys, 22-20s
22-20s
22-20s are an English rock band formed in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The band originally disbanded in December 2005 but reformed in 2008 and released Shake/Shiver/Moan in 2010....
, Hail Social
Hail Social
Hail Social was a rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.A post on the band's on Thursday, June 18, 2009 stated that Hail Social is "no longer an active band and has not been for years now."...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
and Chamillionaire
Chamillionaire
Hakeem Seriki , better known by his stage name Chamillionaire, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Chamillitary Entertainment. Chamillionaire is also the founder and an original member of The Color Changin' Click...
. Prior to signing, Bamboo Shoots toured with Jimmie’s Chicken Shack.
In early 2008 Avir was selected to appear in Virgin America
Virgin America
Virgin America, Inc. is a United States-based low-cost airline that began service on August 8, 2007. The airline's stated aim is to provide low-fare, high-quality service for "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards." San Francisco...
's "This is How to Fly" ad campaign. An image of him playing guitar on a Virgin plane surrounded by flight attendants appeared in billboards, magazines and posters in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC and San Francisco. On April 8, 2008, Bamboo Shoots played live in the air on Virgin America’s inaugural flight to Seattle.
On October 14, 2008, Bamboo Shoots was a Featured Artist on Myspace Music.
On February 6, 2009 Avir and Ahmed interviewed Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
as part of MTV Iggy’s Artists interviewing artists series.
Licensing
In January 2007 a demo version of "Hey Girl" produced by Britt Myers was used in a promo for the MTV’s The Real World: DenverThe Real World: Denver
The Real World: Denver is the eighteenth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. This season premiered...
.
A demo version of "If You Should Die" was featured in the launch promo of MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach.
"Interstate 95" was used in the film Finding Preet.
"Talking to Death" was used in the independent Alaskan documentary Nome Golovin Snowmachine Race.
Descent
Four members of Bamboo Shoots are of IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n descent. Shiv Puri is Punjabi
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
, Karl Sukhia is Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
, Ankur Patel is Gujarati
Gujarati people
Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...
, and Avir Mitra is half Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
and half Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
. All members were born and raised in the US except Karl, who was born in the UK and spent his early years in India.
All members went to high school in New Jersey. Avir and Karl are from South Jersey (Voorhees and Cherry Hill respectively), Ankur is from New Brunswick and Shiv is from North Jersey (Parsippany).
College
Avir Mitra attended Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
where he received a degree in Biology. He was a few months away from commencing medical school when Bamboo Shoots won the MTVu contest. He decided to forgo medical school. Karl Sukhia received a degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. Shiv Puri received a finance degree from NYU Stern School of Business and quit a job on Wall Street to be in the band full time. Ankur postponed his college degree in civil engineering at Middlesex Community College
Middlesex Community College
Middlesex Community College is a public community college with two campuses located in Lowell and Bedford, Massachusetts, USA.-Description:Founded in 1970, Middlesex Community College is a community college in Massachusetts, with campuses in suburban Bedford and the city of Lowell...
.
Interviews and Articles
- The Bamboo Shoots, by The Beav in Rockworms, May 2007
- Bamboo Shoots Meet Their Maker, MTV Iggy Blog, November 2008
- Band Hopes to Shoot to Stardom, by Jason Nark, undated
- Indian Zing to MTV Contest, by Anirudh Bhattacharyya, CNN-IBN, June 2007
- Passion Through Sound, interview by Pauleen Arneja, desiclub.com, 2004
- A Quintet That Rocks, interview by Ranjit Souri in India Currents magazine, September 2008
- Shooting High, from Just Another Magazine, undated
- Sudden Fame a Wild Ride For College Band, by Jay Lustig, The (New Jersey) Star-Ledger, May 2007
- The Ten to Watch: 2008, by Sonu Munshi, East West magazine, December 2007