Fate – the cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events. In that case, fate is what brought Keshav Garg and Aaron Mentos together in the fall of 2011. Like most first-years at Colgate, they were randomly selected as roommates, assigned to Room 411, Curtis Hall. They soon discovered that not only did they both play multiple instruments, but were also vocalists. At that very first meeting, they formed their band, Shav & Mentos, and started creating music. That night they co-wrote Carelessly over an acoustic guitar. With a lot of hard work since then, Shav & Mentos have created a 5 song album titled The Circus Room. The duo have taken responsibility for every aspect of the music presented in Circus Room, including the writing, instrumental performances, lyrics, production, even the mixing of the music. According to a review by Dante Scott of Wat’s Nex.com, “On The Circus Room EP, Shav and Mentos have managed to fuse live instruments, hip hop, smooth vocals and excellent lyrical flow to create a surprisingly good preview of their talents. This is a solid release by this college duo. If they continue at this level, college may soon become an afterthought for this twosome.”
While some may not see creating a band and making music as an entrepreneurial activity, Aaron and Keshav saw participation in the Thought Into Action Institute as an opportunity to help them promote themselves and their music. According to Keshav, “The mentors of TIA have been helpful in guiding the ideas we have for our project. They are also working on putting us in touch with people that can help us get the resources we need to maintain a high level of quality with our music. Going forward we hope to work on gaining more exposure and media for the music that we put out.” A few of the mentors who have worked with Shav & Mentos are Tim O’Neill, Jason Finder, and John Nozell and they have all helped them in finding their brand and furthering their understanding of their project. So far, the biggest challenge they face “is getting the resources to produce music at the quality we want. We write, produce, and perform all of our own music and it takes time for us to go through all these processes. At the same time, this challenge has brought us the reward of having full control of the creativity of our music and has allowed us to create music that truly encompasses who we are.”
The duo plans on releasing their 10 song album this semester. They will work on media (music videos and pictures) as well as the music side of things in order to gain more exposure. Their hope is to make ‘Shav and Mentos’ a full time job in the future. Hopefully, that will be after their graduation from Colgate!
Check us out at Facebook.com/shavandmentos!
Shav (Keshav Garg) was born in New Delhi, India, and has lived in India, Malaysia, and Singapore, and now lives in Scarsdale, New York. His plan is to major in Economics at Colgate going forward. Shav plays the guitar and sings in the group, “Shav and Mentos,” while co-writing and co-producing the music with Mentos.
Mentos (Aaron Mentos) is a dual citizen of the United States and St. Kitts. On top of music and school, Aaron is a member of the Colgate Division 1 soccer team and has played soccer his entire life. He plays bass and is the rapper of ”Shav and Mentos” and co-writes and co-produces the music.