The Beards’ ode to the blues

Kanchan Daniel has always held Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin as her inspiration. Her band Kanchan Daniel and the Beards is all set to perform a tribute to the two legends next week.

While the band has been inspired by several rock and blues artists and bands like Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Johnson, the two names which mean the most to the band are Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. “I’ve been listening to Jimi Hendrix since I was a kid,” says Anand Kamath, the bass guitarist for the band, adding, “He’s been a huge influence on our lead guitarist Kush Upadhyay and the way he plays.”

It isn’t just Janis’s voice that serves as an inspiration for Kanchan. She maintains that the singer has helped her sail through trying times in her life. She says, “I look up to Janis for the person that she was. There were many roadblocks in her career but she never really let them pull her down. It helped me get through my own ups and downs, like when I was diagnosed with cancer at 17.”

After her recovery from the deadly disease, Kanchan went on to begin her career as a singer and their band was formed in 2012, at which time it was called Kanchan Daniel and Friends. She says, “I just go up on stage and give myself to the audience and I identify with her (Joplin) when I do that.”

The band is going to be performing soulful numbers like Piece of My Heart and Summertime by Joplin and foot-tapping covers of Jimi Hendrix’s Red House, Purple Haze and All Along the Watchtower. They will also be performing a song written by Kanchan, called Highland Garden, which she composed with Joplin in mind.

On May 12, 9.30 pm onwards, At Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel (W)