In 1998, when the Unwind Center started to slowly unfold its vision to promote music there was expectantly very little support. JRO was conceived and executed in JUNE 1999 and was the first rock festival of its sorts. 8 Chennai bands performed through the month of June and Chennai's very own rock festival was born.

JRO 2000 -The next year, Hindi film music director Sandeeep Chowta launched JRO 2000 and even had a great jam session with some of Chennai's top musicians. That year there was an outstation band from Mumbai, 'Zero' and the Chennai bands like 'Mercury Rising', 'Funky Bodhi' and 6 other bands placed JRO as a reckoning force for the Nation.

JRO 2001 - The year after that the festival became a landmark for India's music calendar and with crowd's crossing over 600 head-banging rock maniacs, everyone was surprised. With more outstation bands and bands doing original music, the maelstrom had been unleashed.

JRO 2002 - The next year featured a large-scale inaugural by the 'godfather of jazz in India' Mr. Louis Banks. His appreciation for the music community in Chennai and for maintaining an event like the JRO, really cemented vision and purpose. JRO went out to an outdoor venue, which gave it that 'big concert' feel, and the crowds loved it. Even some rains didn't deter the audience from flocking every Friday to the venue.

JRO 2003 - With the whole country talking about it more and more bands considered it prestigious to perform at JRO. The first Indian to be on 'MTV Unplugged' - Mr. Les Lewis of the 'Colonial Cousins' fame came to inaugurate the event. From 8 bands a week, the number of participants jumped to 12 and there were 2 finales! With a total of 16 bands performing and the festival extending from July to August, JRO was firmly established as 'India's Mega rock Festival'!

JRO 2004 - JRO is the only performance stage in India and band promotional activity commenced as early as May with a huge outdoor curtain raiser concert. The 45-day interim was used for promo events like interviews with the press, FM radio channels and the TV media. These promos were on air and creating enough heat even as the iron curtains opened with 16 bands performing through July-August. This was the year that JRO opened up to international bands like 'Red Rain' from New Zealand and 'Junoon' from Pakistan.

That did it! There was no denying it, JRO was and is the undisputed Mega Music Festival this side of the Himalayas!

Some of the big names that have rocked the JRO stage range from the professionals like Pentagram, Junoon, Moksha, Parikrama, Silk Route and Orange Street and the famous other bands like Zero (Mumbai), Strange Brew (Pune), PDV (Mumbai), Medicis (Pondicherry), Thermal & a quarter (Bangalore) and lots more. The festival became a national landmark where the quality of music was never doubted and also the stage charisma of the bands, were the best in the country.

The bands got the best publicity possible as this was their event - it was for the musicians, by the musicians and to the nation at large.

RESPONSIBLE ROCK - THE CAUSE

CENTER FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - Mahabalipuram
Community service is the backbone of the Unwind activities and 'Acts of Mercy' (since 1998) is the in-house NGO that serves the community through 'Small things done in great love'. The tsunami disaster created tremendous needs for the fishing communities living along the coast and AOM swung into action immediately. Over the course of 45 days, AOM help repair 60 fishing boats and motors. 10 villages were adopted as the geographical area for the program, which incorporated free medical camps and hospital references.

Presently, a Center for Community Development has been opened in Mahabalipuram. The focuses at the center are:

• Educational programs for children: Spoken English & Computer Classes
•   Child labor eradication initiatives: Reinstating to School
•   Widow rehabilitation: Tailoring & Cottage Industry training
•   Medical Rehabilitation: Referral to Specialist Hospitals

With the backdrop of community service, JRO seems to prove one eternal fact that should be etched into sociological studies of the present times; "Music without a cause is boring and will not stand the test of time!"