Although formed recently in 2011, Sycorax with their ‘Pavitra’ gorkha metal style have emerged runners up at the Wacken Metal Battle held recently in the country. All the nerds of IIT and IIM would have definitely seen their performance as Sycorax have conquered them all as well with their music. Read further as the band opens up more about their “Pavithratha” to Eight Octaves. 😉
Eight Octaves: How did ‘Sycorax’ happen? Take us through your musical journey.
Sycorax: Sycorax came into existence when the two guitarists decided to get together and form a band and were later joined by the rest of the band members. Ever since the formation of the band in early 2011 there has been no looking back playing contest gigs and shows here there and almost everywhere we could get.
Eight Octaves: Tell us about a favourite composition project you guys have done.
Sycorax: We love making new songs and we treasure each and every song we have composed till now equally, but composing ‘weapon of choice’ was challenging and fun because we were trying to put a lot of traditional nepali beats and patterns into the song for the first time and create something that we call pavitra gorkha metal.
Eight Octaves: You guys emerged 1st runners up in Wacken Metal Battle India 2013 (finalists). Sycorax: How was the preparatory journey? How does it feel having reached the finals?
The preparation for Wacken Metal Battle India was like usual, we take every gig seriously and want to give our best be it a small college fest or a national contest. The experience at BOA was okay, it was sad that most of the crowd could not catch our performance due to entry into the venue getting delayed but being in the finals and to be one of the three Indian bands opening for bands like Iced Earth, Dark Tranquility, Animal As Leaders etc was thing in itself.
Eight Octaves: How would you incorporate ‘world music’ into the band curriculum?
Sycorax: We have been combining a lot of nepali elements like traditional nepali beats rhythm patterns and also lyrical themes into almost all our songs which is influenced by death/thrash/extreme metal and have been terming it pavitra gorkha metal.
Eight Octaves: If you wanted to rework on any one of your albums, which one would that be and why? Also what would be your favourite if asked pick one amongst your compositions as a band?
Sycorax: We don’t have an album as of yet, and to be honest we would not remake any of our songs as well some things are better left as it is to remind us how we started and how far we have progressed musically. We would rather make a new song more powerful, rawer and more challenging. The favorite song would be ‘Ruins of the Forgotten’ because the song has a lot of variations and at the same time we have been able to put a lot of nepali rhythm patterns and beats
Eight Octaves: What is the kind of gear you use on stage and for recording? Having won most of the competitions happening all over India, which ones do you enjoy more?
Sycorax: On recording studio we are yet to discover what we shall be using but on stage both our guitarist use ESP Guitars and Boss ME 70 Processors combined with Boss Metal Zone Analog pedals. The bassist uses Boss Bass Equalizer with Boss Overdrive. Our drummer uses Mapex Falcon Double Bass Pedals and our vocalist uses just his throats! We would definitely give the awards to Strawberry Fields (NLS Bangalore) and Thundermarch (NIT Silchar) because of quality sound and lights and equipments provided on stage and not to forget insane crowd!!
Eight Octaves: How much does the audience involvement influence your performance?
Sycorax: We as a band always try to give our cent percent on any given show however audience involvement is very crucial for us, the bands energy level always exceeds once people start to head bang, mosh and get the pits opened! We have witnessed insane moshing, circle pits, wall of death during our sets throughout India from north to south east to west and we are really glad that people appreciate what we do. Thank you Indian metal heads!
Eight Octaves: What do you think is your strength/weakness as a band?
Sycorax: The strength of our band would be that since we are all childhood friends it is easier to communicate within the band and weakness would be our location since there are few gigs happening in the area bands do not get the exposure and outstation organizers hesitate to call us due to the expenses they would incur having us play in their city.
Eight Octaves: Can music ever be ‘taught’ or is it for someone to just ‘discover’? What is your opinion?
Sycorax: Be it music or sports or just anything, you need to have a passion and determination. One can be taught to some extent after that it is upto one to discover the passion within and have the determination to learn more and to excel.
Eight Octaves: What can we expect from ‘Sycorax’ in the near future?Sycorax: We have just signed in under a new manager Mr Hengul Dutta and have set some targets for ourselves for 2013; taking out an EP by this year is one of them along with some band merchandize.
