The room is congested and messy. Yet the blue wall with the posters of bands such as AC/DC, Metallica, Guns N' Roses along with musical instruments and speakers stacked on the floor let’s you know it’s a practice room.

This room belongs to the band ‘Hole in the Jack’ at Naxal, Kathmandu which has the vibe of a vintage-looking ambiance of rock and roll band. Then, like many 90s rock bands, this band too have covered both windows of the room with egg crates for soundproof.  

Sanjeet Tuladhar—the drummer of the band has been using his basement room as the practice room since the early 2000s.  For the past few months, the band is jamming up for the new project— ‘AC/DC - TRIBUTE SHOW’ which is scheduled to be held at Lord Of Drinks, Thamel on November 23.  “We’ve been preparing for the tribute show for a few months now,” says Sanjeet. “Since we’re planning to make it a grand show, we’re practicing hard.”

Along with Tuladhar, the band comprising Jigmee Wangchuk Lepcha on vocals,  Deepak Pradhan on bass, Dev Lama on guitars and  Hari Kunwar on guitars.  Jigmee,  Dev and Sanjeev had represented the ‘ The Mid Night Riders’ on tribute show of  AC/DC  in 2016  held in Purple Haze, while Deepak and Hari are playing for the first time with them. 

Beginning of tribute show

Jigmee is widely known for covering AC/DC’s songs in Nepali musical realm.  And he has been performing AC/DC’S music with his former bands: ‘String’ and ‘The Mid Night Riders’ at Kathmandu’s pub and bar. “People love his voice while covering AC/DC’s numbers,” Sanjeet shares. “At the same time, CEO of LOD Rabin Shrestha suggested us to make it grand. So we formed the band and decided to pay a tribute show to the band.”

Adding Sanjeet’s view, Jigmee shares that to restore the rock and roll culture in Kathmandu’s bar and pub, “we’re hosting this show”.  “I think rock is almost dead in Kathmandu’s bar and pub. And the new generation is more inclined toward pop and electronic music. So, we’re organizing the show to give a real taste of rock music,” he informs.

Besides reviving the rock music, the show is also giving the tribute the late Malcolm Young—rhythm guitarist of AC/DC. Marking the 2nd death anniversary of Malcolm, the band is organizing the event, says the band manager James Shakya. “Malcolm died on November 18, 2017, and we are hosting the event in his memory,” he adds.

They are playing 22 tracks like ‘TNT’, ‘Highway to Hell’ ‘Black in Black’, ‘Thunderstruck’ among others that will go on for three hours.

The tickets for the event are priced at Rs 700 (General) and Rs 1,000 (VIP) for early bird tickets and Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 at door sale.