Formed in 1986, Millennium are the big daddies of Indian Metal. The legendary band, who opened for Megadeth and toured with Deep Purple, are back in their denim and leather to teach us how it’s really done. We caught up with their vocalist Vehrnon Ibrahim for a quick interview after their come-back gig at Impending Doom 3
Eight Octaves:Starting off with the most common question, how did it all start? Back in 1986 there wasn’t a respectable scene in India for any genre, leave alone Metal. So what was that thing that made you say “No, we want to be a Metal band”?
Vehrnon: CHICKS(ever since I heard Alex Lifeson say that I wanted to copy it, now you gave me the chance, cheers J )
Eight Octaves:“Peace Just in Heaven”, the song that put you guys on the radar. You got the “Skull Crasher of the Week” award from MTV for this song. How big was it for you as a band? How much change did you see in the crowd response after that?
Vehrnon: It was fucking huge for us. We tried to underplay it but it was a big deal for us. We were the first metal band on Asia MTV ever, that’s saying something. Oh, and more chicks came to our gigs 😛
Eight Octaves:You have gone through some changes in the band line-up from 1988-1996. Did that have any effect on your style of music? Every musician has a different style, so did you ever had to consider changing your sound just to make them comfortable?
Vehrnon: In reality all our material, for the first 3 recordings were writtenbetween 1991 and 1996. Andduringthattimetherewasastableline-upthat definedtheMillenniumsound.Of coursewithnewmusicianscoming in, newideashavealsocomewiththem. Andthat’sagoodthing.We played a brand new song at the ID3 gig last week. The song is called Fear The Fire and is about a village that has lost the fire and have to fight a knight to get it back… lyrically it’s pretty Dio but musically it 100% Millennium. I have always written lyrics and melodies very quickly, I don’t dwell on words or phrases and just let them flow. The song went down great with the crowd and I am especially happy with it as it’s the first new song for over 15 years and because it was written by the whole band with every one contributing.
Eight Octaves: Your views on underground bands and their contribution to the music scene. How much impact do they have on sculpting the scene and spreading the music?
Vehrnon: Heavy Metal was always an underground movement until March 17TH2007; when DNA Networks got Iron Maiden to India. From then on Heavy Metalclosely followed by Thrash and Speed Metalbecame mainstream. Manynew bands around the countryare again breakingthe boundaries of Rockmusic by going deeper underground with genreslike Death, Black, Gore, Doom Metal, etc.It’s great to see this. Millennium were always I hope we always will be an underground band. I don’t want to be recognised on the streets in the way perhaps UdayBenagal is. That’s just not my thing. Bands like Parikrama who rule the college circuit especially in the north, are very much over ground and have a right along with other bands like Indus Creed and maybe Pentagram to be there. They are great bands all of them. But I think it’s the underground bands that lead the way to new directions and ideas. Also it’s the underground bands that are not afraid of being mocked by doing something new. A band like Kryptos are always breaking new boundaries and breaking the mould and that in effect influences us to do more experiments also and that’s a good thing. Sometimes however I’ll be on the street and a girl or guy would look twice at me and then come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you’re Vehrnon right?’ and I’ll go like “Yup”. So maybe we are not as underground as we think we are. Still it’s nice to be trippy and break down walls of conformity and tread where no one has trodden before.
Eight Octaves: You guys took a break from music and then came out with a bang by opening for Megadeth. You being predominantly a Thrash/Heavy Metal outfit, how was it to open for the legendary band?
Vehrnon: Well it was thrilling on the one hand but depressing on the other. Dave has so much sold out philosophically that his songs contradict what he believes in now. Dave was once blabbering about finding God and Kerry King said – “Great! Introduce us”. Dave had nothing to say. So yes it was a special day but could have been better if it were the Dave Mustaine of folk lore. Don’t bet me wrong, ‘Deth are as heavy as ever musically but the angst of the old days is gone for good. I am happy he is off heroin and I think that’s a great step just that he seems to have replaced one crutch with another. I have seen this many times with friends who were hard core junkies and then flip over and embrace a God of some denomination. Doesn’t work for me but then again I have never been addicted to heroin so what do I know. Yes ‘Deth were and will always be a huge influence on my life and career but not nearly as much as Iron Maiden for example. That’s a gig I would have liked to have done. One mega bonus of the ‘Deth show was discovering Machine Head a band which I have put right up there in my top 5 all time thrash bands next to Anthrax, Slayer etc…
Eight Octaves: Your views on Old School and New School Metal rivalry? Is the discrimination necessary, can’t we live in a happy metal brotherhood?
Vehrnon: There was ayounger girl who loves Millennium, she asked me the same question. I looked puzzled at her and asked what is she talking about. She said maybe no one messes withus because there is too much respect, a commodity that I value, and hence no real rivalry. I know that many bands share musicians, Deepak and Rohit both play for other bands too. But so far it’s been very healthy and the camaraderie at the ID3 gig was outstanding. I think at the end of the day we are al in the same prison or beach depending on yr POV so we face the same issues so we come together just like at the ID3 show.
Eight Octaves: Does the current Indian scene look promising enough to give India a world-class act?
Vehrnon: Yes I think so, can’t see why not. The world especially Europe and the UK are looking for the next thing, they always are. The US is far more conservative. All the best rock festivals are in the UK or Europe. I have an incredible belief in India and that we can and will lead the world more than the US which is running out of moral steam and more than China which lacks imagination so I see a future where Indian Metal is not only accepted but is leading the rest of the world. This may not happen now but in a few years it will. We did a gig in ’93 I think playing covers from Slayer, Megadeth, Metalica, Maiden, Priest, Sabbath etc. If anyone had said that one day these bands would come to perform in India they would have been laughed out of the room but now look. So I think the future is very very bright for Indian Metal.
Eight Octaves: When Millennium was formed, there was no internet or social media, just the radio and the television. Compared to current scenario, how hard was it back then to promote your songs and make people listen to them?
Vehrnon: That’s funny you should ask that. Yes I come from a different generation that had tapes and records not CDs and mp3s. But the yearning to hear new music was the same as it is now. I think looking back we treasured our music more than some one who has copied a few gigs of metal from a friend’s Hard Disk because we had to work much harder to get at it. When we made our own music, all on tapes, we knew it would sell, we moved about 40,000 copies in the first moth of release of Millennium back in ’95 after we toured with Deep Purple. The thing is times have changed and instead recoding records that we sold to make money at our shows etc now its merchandise and gigs that draw revenue for us. So making a record is not so important now as it was then. Youtube has changed things irreversibly also. MTV and Channel V and VH1 etc wont play new songs on high rotation, why would they? It’sa business after all, they are not there to do us any favours and will only play hits, and they will not make the hits. So a great song and great video on Youtube can reach many many more people than TV can. Radio is also an avenue for promotions and stations like Indigo and One etc are actively promoting new music though not to the extent that could but there again why should they? They are slaves to an absurd rating system that means they have to play only the hits. But that won’t stop them from interviewing us and helping promote a show…
Eight Octaves: Impending Doom III – you went live with Dying Embrace, Kryptos and Bhoomion the 19th of January, 2013. The craziest line-up I’ve ever seen. How was the experience and how did it feel to perform after so many year?
Vehrnon: Well the gig is over now and was fucking great. The vibe was very positive. All the bands were outstanding. Bhoomi have one of the best singers have ever heard anywhere. DE have a killer sound and attitude and a great show presence. Kryptos killed it. They are the future (apart from Millennium of course J ) and know it. So yes it was a special come back gig for us. We played all the old material that we used to do live and as I said we did a brand new song also.
Eight Octaves: Finally, what are your plans for the future? Can we expect a new single release or an EP soon from you?
Vehrnon: Well we have plans shaping up right now but the focus is getting as many gigs as possible across India and outside too. I keep saying, many people have heard of us but not too many have heard us. We have to fix that and play in far flung corners of the globe like we used to in the ‘90s. I want to get our old stuff re released and am talking to the labels we worked with on the albums. I would also like to get better copies of the 7 videos we made. Actually I would like to see them all, I don’t have most of them… why? That’s for another interview J
