Sophomore drums in student band

In a flurry of motions, sophomore Rohil Taggarsi deftly executes a perfect drum roll, carefully maintaining a steady rhythm and paying close attention to the beat of the bass. A final hit on the crash symbol, he knows his band has successfully recorded another original song in the studio.

Three years ago, Taggarsi and his friend gathered three other members to perform at a family friend’s sweet sixteen party. Today, the band Vertical Limit has created four original singles, each touching upon a different musical genre.

Inspired by the alternative band Linkin Park, Taggarsi and his friend Sagar Kalbag, a guitarist from Leland High, originally created Vertical Limit to play covers by Linkin Park and other alternative and nu-metal music. The band quickly grew to five members when the guitarist recruited vocalist Ahon Mukherjee, bass/keyboard Samir Dutta and guitarist Oomung Varma from Leland High. Since growing in size, the members have recently expanded their playlist to include other genres of music, and they are currently considering changing the name of the band in order to complement the change.

“As we started getting newer members, our sound started to change as well,” said Taggarsi. “We recently started to play progressive and hard rock music—music with more time changes and complexity to it. This just makes it more fun to perform in front of an audience.”

Although the band often struggles to book performances, they promote their music through events such as Battle of the Bands, a music competition open to all local bands, and taking any opportunity to play gigs. Vertical Limit rehearses for months in preparation for Battle of the Bands contests and has placed in the top five on several occasions. The experience is both nerve-racking and rewarding, said Taggarsi.

“Over the past two years, we have also been booking gigs at convention centers with bigger audiences,” said Taggarsi. “That has been giving us more exposure to the performing aspect of the music industry.”

In addition to performing covers, Vertical Limit continues to create more original singles every year, each with a different sound and genre. Last year, the band made about five singles.

“One of the best parts of being in a student band is that there is more creativity in each member so it is a lot easier to write music quickly,” said Taggarsi.

Taggarsi meets with the four other members of the band bi-monthly to practice for their next gig or compose an original single. Through creating music together, Taggarsi has built strong relationships with each of the members that further enrich his band experience.

“We all get along very well,” said Taggarsi. “It makes the band practices so much more memorable.”

The band displays their music at www.myspace.com/theverticallimit.