Vik Bansal
Here's everything published by this contributor on musicOMH.
THE BEGINNING:
1. A Cambridgeshire Hospital on a cold February morning in 1975.
2. A few days later, a drive up North to the land of George Formby, Tim Curry, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Evans, Rick Astley and, er, Kerry Katona.
THE EARLY YEARS:
1. First band obsession (1981) - Adam And The Ants.
2. Second band obsession (1982) - Duran Duran.
3. First record bought (1982) - Depeche Mode's Everything Counts on 7".
4. The development of what would turn out to be an unconditional but frequently frustrating love - Everton FC.
THE AWKWARD TEENAGER:
1. Gets fat, gets anorexic, gets appendicitis, gets better.
2. Spends lots of time swotting for exams (what can he say - he's good at it).
3. Meets Yahweh, the best friend a person could have.
4. Decides that heavy metal, punk and hardcore speak like no other forms of music, a view that remains unchanged.
5. Packs his suitcase and ventures to London in search of fame and fortune (okay, a Chemical Engineering degree).
6. Becomes music editor of a London University newspaper and realises how much poverty there is in journalism while working during holidays at The Warrington Guardian.
THE 20s:
1. Vik: "I met a girl, cute as can be." Caz: "I met a guy, crazy for me."
2. They wed in a secret ceremony in Surrey but choose not to give any magazine exclusive rights to photographs.
3. Publishes numerous academic papers - this one is in the top 100 most cited ever in its field.
4. Completes a PhD with a thesis called the "Analysis, Design & Control Optimization Of Process Systems Under Uncertainty". To date, this is the only book he's published and with titles like that, we're not surprised.
5. Decides to become a drummer and gets taught by one of Ozzy's former band mates. The cut-off T-shirts go down a storm at the church services he plays in on Sundays.
6. Overcomes the trauma of school PE lessons by doing triathlons, half-marathons and marathons.
7. Continues writing for chemical engineering magazines and music web-sites in all that 'spare' time.
8. Eventually decides that sleep is overrated and accepts the offer to become editor and then editor-at-large of musicOMH, while holding down a day job playing on the stock markets.
THE 30s:
Not so fast! They've barely started... But having now broken three and a half hours for the marathon, he's on course to break the world record in the year 2046.
Articles by Vik Bansal
Killing Joke – Killing Joke (Album Reviews)
Third Eye Blind – Out Of The Vein (Album Reviews)
Electric Six – Fire (Album Reviews)
Poison The Well – You Come Before You (Album Reviews)
The Mars Volta – De-loused In The Comatorium (Album Reviews)
Evanescence @ Astoria, London (Live Music + Gig Reviews)
Chimaira – The Impossibility Of Reason (Album Reviews)
Waterdown – The Files You Have On Me (Album Reviews)
The Donnas – Spend The Night (Album Reviews)
Air/Baricco – City Reading – Tre Storie Western (Album Reviews)
Rebelski – Thanks For Your Thoughts (Album Reviews)
Anthrax – We’ve Come For You All (Album Reviews)
The Sleepy Jackson – The Sleepy Jackson (Album Reviews)
Stylophonic – Man Music Technology (Album Reviews)
Asian Dub Foundation – Enemy of the Enemy (Album Reviews)
Hell Is For Heroes – The Neon Handshake (Album Reviews)
Electric Six @ ULU, London (Live Music + Gig Reviews)
Radio 4 – Gotham (Album Reviews)
Lifehouse – Stanley Climbfall (Album Reviews)
Taproot + Pulse Ultra @ Mean Fiddler, London (Live Music + Gig Reviews)
-
Metric – Formentera 7 Jul 2022
-
Laura Veirs – Found Light 6 Jul 2022
-
Viagra Boys – Cave World 6 Jul 2022
-
The Turn of the Screw is pitch perfect at Garsington Opera 5 Jul 2022
-
The Rolling Stones @ BST Hyde Park, London 5 Jul 2022
-
The Yeomen of the Guard brings the Tower of London to The Grange Festival 4 Jul 2022
-
Jack White @ Hammersmith Apollo, London 4 Jul 2022