You play with: Before The Holocaust
You are called: Jahnavi Bhat
You are (role in the band): Guitars/ Backing vocals
YOUR MUSIC
Eight Octaves: What was it like growing up as a girl interested in music?
Jahnvi Bhat: As a kid, I had had vocal lessons in Carnatic music. That didn’t stick though. My taste in music leaned more towards Rock, and later, Metal which got me the ‘weird kid’ tag in high school. But I had a couple of friends with similar interests and honestly, what people thought of my choices, in music or otherwise, did not bother me much.
Eight Octaves: Every guitarist has a story behind his/her interest in this six-stringed phenomenon. What’s yours? Was your family supportive about it?
Jahnvi Bhat: Coming from an orthodox Carnatic background, my family isn’t exactly thrilled about the instrument I play or the genre I’ve chosen. But my brother, though not a huge fan of metal, does support me and even attends some of my gigs.
Eight Octaves: Apart from playing guitars for Before The Holocaust, what do you do? Any chances of you pursuing music as your full time career?
Jahnvi Bhat: I am currently doing an under-graduate degree in Computer Science. Even though music as full-time career does sound appealing, pursuing a regular-paying job as well as music side-by-side seems more practical.
Eight Octaves: Who is your biggest inspiration? Any women you look up to?
Jahnvi Bhat: I do not idolise anybody as such, but one person I admire is Leah Woodward from Aliases.
Eight Octaves: What is your take on Women in the music industry in India? Jahnvi Bhat:
Jahnvi Bhat: In mainstream music, it is not that uncommon now to find a female musician. But Metal is still highly male-dominated. I have to say this though; the support that the few girls in the scene do get from the younger generation is amazing. You have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously and face the occasional that-girl-is-out-of-control frowns, but it is totally worth it.
ON YOU
Eight Octaves: What clothes do you ideally wear?
Jahnvi Bhat: I’m a casual dresser. I usually just wear jeans and throw on a random tee and like any other metalhead, I wear a lot of black.
Eight Octaves: Are you the same person off-stage as you are on or do you have an alter ego?
Jahnvi Bhat: I’m kind of a socially awkward person. But when I’m on stage, with a guitar in my hand, I’m in my comfort zone.
Eight Octaves: What would be an ideal world to you?
Jahnvi Bhat: An ideal world would be one where a person can take his/her own decisions, where women are not expected to stick to stereotypes, where everyone can follow their dreams. And also, everybody minds their own business.
ON THE BAND
Eight Octaves: The band is basically Metalcore, with a slight progressive nature in its sound, a genre popularly called New Wave of Indian Metal. How did this sound develop? Whom would you cite as your biggest influences?
Jahnvi Bhat: We started off playing pure Metalcore. But with the introduction of keys into the set, we began experimenting with ambient and electronic sounds. Our major influences right now are As I Lay Dying, TesseracT and God Is An Astronaut.
Eight Octaves: Before The Holocaust has become pretty popular among college students, especially after participating in a lot of competitions and doing pro shows regularly with the likes of Crypted, I-Borg etc. How does it feel?
Jahnvi Bhat: We’re a 1-year old band and it feels pretty great to be accepted so quickly by the crowd, especially when the scene is filled with funk and alternative rock bands. To know that our music reaches out to people, and the feeling when someone recognises the band outside gigs is beyond description.
Eight Octaves: Please enlighten us with your greatest moment on stage.
Jahnvi Bhat: Most of our shows have been college competitions where the ‘crowd’ is just a couple of metalheads banging their heads up front while the others hang back with a slightly anxious expression on their faces. But the gig at Unwind Centre, Chennai was a totally different story. When I looked out at the crowd during our set, every single person in the room had their heads moving in unison, in sync to the music. Witnessing the ensuing mosh-pit was one of our happiest moments as a band.
Eight Octaves: What do you guys enjoy doing in your free time?
Jahnvi Bhat: The places we stay are rather far apart so we don’t get to spend much time together except when we’re jamming. But when we do hang out, it’s mostly driving around, playing extremely loud music on speakers. Oh, and we also eat a lot of KFC.
Eight Octaves: Finally, what is next on Before The Holocaust’s plate? An EP or a full length maybe?
Jahnvi Bhat: We are currently working on an EP and hope to release it towards the end of this year.
Video link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVUeDEbJGH4
ReverbNation page : http://www.reverbnation.com/beforetheholocaust
