Rock group Traffic Jam gigs on home ground

Jyaneswar Laishram *

New Delhi-based rock group Traffic Jam, which is formed by four musicians from Manipur, are touring the state with five scheduled gigs in Imphal, Churachandpur and Senapati, singing covers of a handful of classic rock songs as old as Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley and all-time hits from the nineties like Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69.

Three out of the five gigs have so far been performed at Spoon (Imphal); Sangai Continental (Imphal); Mini Stadium (Senapati) and the remaining two gigs will perform at Public Ground (Churachandpur) on June 23 and Iboyaima Sanglen (Imphal) on June 25 marking the last leg of the fortnight-long tour.

“Performing on home turf is totally a different experience. We are quite elated with the way crowds at home reacted with full of fervor to our music,” says Jimmy Thang, frontman and lead vocal of Traffic Jam.

The four-piece rock group Traffic Jam has a current lineup of vocalist Jimmy, Kennedy on guitars, bassist Mung and Steve on drums. The band has been playing in big music festivals as well as landmark annual events of corporate biggies like Reebok, Radisson and many others in New Delhi and other metros.

Some of the regular pubs in New Delhi where Traffic Jam has regularly been playing since the band’s inception around a decade back are Striker, Phenomenal, Soi7, Coopers Grill & Bar, to mention a few.

In every concluded concert on their ongoing five-gig Manipur tour, the band had enthralled audience in tune of a string of timeless songs from rock legends like Pink Floyd, Bryan Adams, Guns N Roses, White Lion, Extreme, among other old marvels.

“We cover anything or everything of rock under the sun—right from those songs of the seventies, up until the contemporary hits from bands like Avenge Sevenfold, Maroon 5, Lamb of God,” says Jimmy, adding that everything depends on the profile of crowds that gather in concerts.

Traffic Jam even went for Bollywood hits, but in their own way in accordance to the nature of the audience. In every gig in their ongoing Manipur tour, the band dedicates a song to Chris Cornell, the Soundgarden vocalist, who died recently at 52.

Besides covers, Traffic Jam boasts some original singles of their own—worth mentionable among them is ‘Here I Stand’ that has been aired on VH1 and the song is dedicated to Mary Kom, glorifying the never-give-up spirit of the Manipuri lady boxing champion.

Other singles of the band are Lung Hel Na La (Feeling The Blues), The Peace Song, and My Sorrow. On the card for Traffic Jam is a full length studio album they are planning to cut soon.

“So far, so good, we are blessed with everything we have done and achieved. Most of all, playing in Manipur where we were born and brought up is yet another achievement. These gigs will remain as reminiscence in our days to come,” says Jimmy.