A beat that keeps them young

CHENNAI: Salt and pepper hair keeping a beat on the drum, eyes with crow’s feet singing into a mike, and a gentle smile strumming the steel strings of an acoustic guitar is the scene that welcomes you when you see The Worst Case Scenario perform. The average age of this young band is 51-years-old, which consists of six Chennaiites who feel that life isn’t too short to skip your dreams.

Without a word, PS Venkatesh begins to play the first few bars of one of their 25 original songs on his acoustic guitar, and Chandrashekar Shivaraman chimes in by picking the strings on his electric guitar. The base, played by Kevin Reuben Daniel, begins to hum deeply, followed by the steady beat of the drums by Naresh Vasudev as the two lead vocals, Sujatha Jaishankar and Mimi, stand by the mike and wait for their cue.

The band was started in 2008 when PS Venkatesh, better known as PS, and Chandrashekar, known as Chandru, first met at a school event and soon began jamming together. “We had the same interest in The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and so the band started as a stress-buster during the weekends. From then, a lot of band members coming and going, but it was only in January this year did we settle down and seriously produce music,” said Chandru.

It was on a two-and-a-half hour flight back from Calcutta when PS wrote his first original song, Getting Through. As his boss began to painfully re-review a review meeting, PS scribbled the words on a napkin that came with his drink. “We were discussing the same points over again, and I began writing the lyrics while pretending to listen to him, and he thought I was taking notes,” said PS, laughing.

“I was so excited when the song was written that as soon as I got home, I began to try to set a tune to it on my guitar,” he said, and Chandru followed in suit and began writing music. Their music is heavily inspired by 70s rock hits and focuses more on the lyrics and their meaning, rather than their style of playing. Of all the members, the youngest member, 30-year-old Kevin, is the only one who works in music full-time as a teacher in Blues Music School in Choolaimedu. Naresh, PS and Chandru all played music in their respective college bands and Sujatha studied Carnatic music for 12 years. They began looking for gigs in the city but had no contacts, no full set, nor any knowledge of the current market, and so they turned to Kevin for help. “The second I heard their music, I fell in love with it and wanted to play with them. They keep it simple and clean, and that is what drew me to it,” said Kevin.

For the six members, music has been and will always remain a way to connect with their emotions, or as a way to alleviate stress after a long day. “I can attribute music to an event or people I’ve met,” said Chandru. He says he has finally figured out the messaging system, so you can contact the band at https://twcs.band/