
Thermal and a Quarter
Musicians at Thermal and a QuarterThermal and a Quarter (often abbreviated as TAAQ) is a rock band from Bangalore, India, that describes its music as “Bangalore rock”, rooted in a classic rock idiom while Indian in “subtle, inescapable ways”. Founded in 1996, TAAQ had released seven studio albums by its 20th anniversary in 2016. In 2001, when Deep Purple played in Bangalore, TAAQ opened the show. The band also opened for Guns N’ Roses in 2012.
The three members of TAAQ are Bruce Lee Mani (guitar and vocals), Rajeev Rajagopal (drums) and Leslie Charles (bass). By 2016, the albums released by the band included Thermal and a Quarter (2000), Jupiter Café (2002), Plan B (2005), This Is It (2008), 3 Wheels 9 Lives (2012), The Scene (2015), No Wall Too High (2015), A World Gone Mad (2020).
Mani won Guitarist of the Year at the Jack Daniels Rock Awards in 2009 and 2012.
In 2010, TAAQ opened a music school in Koramangala, Bangalore, called the “Taaqademy”. A branch in Whitefield was opened in 2014.