Getting to see Carlos Santana is a very humbling experience. Over 4 decades in the Music Industry and still going strong, he has only good things to say about his life and his passion. Here is how the press conference went down (Note: we have questions from Eight Octaves as well as from the fellow media)
Santana: Firstly, I would like to say that I am very grateful to God. He allows this grateful opportunity to visit this great country. The real connection for me to this country come from the 60s where musicians like Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar showed the musicians in America that there is another way to represent spirituality in music. I was introduced to the beauty of spiritual principles. Today I am able to see with my own eyes and I want to connect from my heart to your heart and remind you that we are one.
Q: You have shared the stage with some of the finest musicians across continents. Could you share some of those moments with us?
Santana: Well I think that one of the highlights of my life is playing on stage with the supreme genius Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Mclaughlin, Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King because I am a child of multiplicity, not just a one trick pony. We love all the colors of the rainbow.
Q: Starting out in the days of Woodstock 69’ how do you feel your music has changed over the years?
Santana: I think today, because of the advantage or you could day disadvantage of technology and computer, music has lost some of its charm. I hear about people here who play music with such discipline. Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar were very disciplined and focused. This is the difference. Musicians from the past, were more focused. When you are more focused, you become a genius. A person who makes music with computers, well, that’s not genius. You know, just because you sell a lot of records and know computers, that does not mean you are a music genius. A genius musician is like Bob Marley. You connect with your heart. You make people dance, make people laugh and uplift them. Such people today, are very few. There are a lot of entertainers and business men, but not musicians. Music is something completely different.
Q: Who are your favorite artists?
Santana: Oh, lets see. John Coltrane, Bob Marley, Miles Davis. Ali Akhbar Khan, Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain from India.
Q: Would you like to collaborate with Indian Musicians?
Santana: My heart is open, to work.. no not to work. What we do is not work. It is sharing. I am open to collaborate and share.
Q: Would you consider music to be your form of spirituality?
Santana: Yes. Music is harmony and unity. There is a balance of male and female in music. Melody is female. Rhythm is male. What a wonderful combination.
Q: Tell us about music that helped you shape up as a musician.
Santana: The music that I listened to while I was growing up was my father’s music. When I was a child I just wanted to learn the blues, you know… John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, B.B king because I felt that the Blues is a very honest and pure way to connect. For example, John Lee Hooker’s Mmm, mmm, mmm… and everybody understood.
Q: Are you still definitive on your stance that “Drug use damages musicality”?
Santana: Well, there’s drugs and then there ‘s medicine. Humans make drugs in a laboratory which, imprison men for example, heroine, crack, cocaine. But nature, through photosynthesis tells the plants what color, flavor and aroma to spread. When these plants dry and you turn them into tea and tea is not a drug, it’s a medicine. If you drink the right tea, it helps your kidney, liver and heart so, I always say that there’s a big difference between drugs and medicine.
Q: In 1975, you said that, “guitarists bore me to tears”. Do you still believe that or is there someone in the current soundscape who has caught your attention?
Santana: I’d like to crystallize that statement. When a person plays piano and makes it sound like a piano, I don’t like it. When a person plays guitar and makes it sound like a guitar, I don’t like it. When a person plays piano and it sounds like life, I like it!
When a guitarist makes the instrument sound like a woman singing, or even life, I like it! I just don’t like a bunch of chords or scales. I wanna hear life not just notes. That’s why I say that I don’t listen to guitar players, I say that I listen to John Maclaughlin, John Hart or Gypsy guitar players because they don’t make it sound like a guitar, they make it sound like life!
Q: It is an honor for the fans in Bangalore to see a performance by someone who has played in the Woodstock of ’69. What are your comments on this?
Santana: Well, thank you for asking that question. We play for over three hours sometimes so we go over the songs of yesterday, today and tomorrow and we do honor the widest song range that people find memorable.
Q: What was the first guitar that you picked up?
Santana: I played my first electric guitar in Tijuana (Mexico) when I was twelve and someone said that they had a “hot” guitar. In other words, it was stolen and it was really cheap but solid guitar. A Melodymaker.
The year was 2008. It is said that Satan had some lust on God, they had sex and Satan was prone to multiple orgasms, there was a big bang. And that’s how Workshop was formed. Hailing from the city of dreams – Mumbai, we caught up with the Heavy Mental band for a quick chat before they launch the new album
Eight Octaves: Take us through the journey of being just a backing band for Demonstealer’s ESP guitar workshop to being India’s first full-fledged Comedy Metal band.
DS: Workshop was formed differently than DR was. This was more of the involvement of 3 people namely Riju, Raj, Hamza and myself. I didn’t expect that we’d have line up changes and tough situations but it has all come our way. We’ve been around for close to 5 years now and it’s been a rollercoaster ride. The last 2 years have been particularly hard dealing with the changes in line up and getting this album written and recorded and finally released. It’s been a huge work load for us. The sort really was we got together, wrote and album, played every show we got till Raj got paid 44lakhs P.A at his job and quit after which we slowed down and then Riju had a sex change operation and became Dr.Hex and quit Workshop and then we struggled for a year with recordings, got Devesh Dayal and Aditya Kadam to join us on lead guitar and bass and completed recorded the album and here we are now, ready to conquer the world.
HK: Sahil, your last sentence has 83 words. I’ve read stories with lesser words than that. Our band’s journey is very similar to the journey of the protagonist in every Karan Johar movie. Sahil was a loving, handsome yet lonely young man. He longed for companionship. He met Riju and Raj on www.metalshaadi.com. When they required a drummer, I joined on the condition that they’d keep a distance of 3 feet from me at all times. We became friends and decided to go back to college in the UK at the age of 76 (sahil) and 42 (the rest of us). We won a few Grammies whilst competing in the local college scene and then we realized that our motherland wanted us back. We came back to India and formed Workshop. After which Raj and Riju divorced Sahil and unfriended me on facebook. Sahil tried cloning them, got it wrong and created Devesh and Kadam, including fake memories of their childhood. We now, occasionally release albums.
Eight Octaves: Haha! What made you choose Comedy as the main theme of our songs? According to most people, Metal and Comedy are simply two opposite things and taking into consideration that all the members of the band are involved with some pretty serious hardcore bands.
DS: I think the comedy just came naturally to us. When Hamze, Riju and myself hung out it was pretty much a mad house to say the least and that just kind of set the tone for the band itself. When it came to writing the music I pretty much only know how to play and write metal music so obviously metal was kind of the base genre for the band and when you put us all together it just became heavy mental. The new album is more ‘rocky’ and ‘groovier’ but has a lot of the ‘metal’ as well.
HK: It was an obvious decision. We dealt with it mathematically. There were 4 of us and collectively we’d watched 24,756 comedy movies and 2 horror movies. We calculated the popularity of Adam Sandler and Mr. Bean, against the popularity of the bald guy from Hellraiser, the one with needles in his face. So the options were Humour Metal or Black Metal. We chose the latter, got sued by Mayhem and went with the former option.
Eight Octaves: I’m surely gonna have some stomach cramps after this interview 😀 From day one, your music has been appreciated by everyone. With the funny lyrics fused with headbanging riffs you have created a league of yourself. How did it feel to see such a crowd response? Did you expect that when you started the project?
DS: Well to be honest some metal fans took this the wrong way (probably from behind) and we did get some flack but the general feedback was fantastic and we’ve loved it since day one. Especially at gigs we feed off the positive vibes and energy from the crowd. I had no expectations when we started the band and it was great that we got such a superb response.
HK: Day One is the company that runs Live from the Console and they haven’t asked us to play at their event yet. Sadly, the crowd response we got was definitely better than the fake response of the crowd on “Pastonji’s Cone banega crorepati” TV show where they get a really dumb crowd so you’re sure to lose in the audience poll lifeline option.
Eight Octaves: Hahaha! Coming to your album released in 2009 – KhooniMurga. It is the most innovative album ever done by any Indian band. While recording or writing the songs, what was your mind-set like? Was the scene like serious band rehearsals and composing stuff or were you more interested in having maximum fun while working on the album?
DS: It was 50% having fun and 50% jamming and I think with all bands in general they have fun while jamming even in my more serious projects (and when I say serious I only mean that I have to sing with a straight face) we have fun while jamming people will do funny things during the jam just suddenly play a whole part on the toms or higher octave or some random stuff and that happens with us as well. We are all actually extremely hardworking and dedicated musicians. The idea was to have fun doing what we do but that doesn’t mean we are serious about having fun. If that makes sense. It’s like a professional stand up comedian he’s serious about being funny.
HK: First of all, there was no mind, and even if there was, it was definitely not set. Our jams had some serious music happening but it was laced with insanity. That’s evident in our blogs, though most of the really insane stuff was too offensive to upload on youtube.
Eight Octaves: Ever thought of making a parody song on social issues? With the fan following you have, I guess that would help spread some awareness too.
DS: It is funny that you mentioned that because I very strongly believe in spreading awareness and making this country a better place to live in. To educate people, to open their eyes and to bring some kind of change, even if it’s small. Our album is underlined with some of the things I wanted to say and fans will hopefully discover those messages when they read the lyrics.
HK: For a change he’s actually serious about that. In light of the current situation our country has faced, we hope that people will look through the humour and realize that there’s a message that we’re trying to convey. Not cause we want to ride on the social wave but because we genuinely mean it. Like our humour and insanity, even our patience has its limits.
Eight Octaves: So the top priority after getting the album is reading the lyrics carefully, check. Okay now the new album – Made Love to the Dragon. What can we expect from it? Judging by the artwork, we are in for another round of rib-tickling madness I presume
DS: It is 110% Workshop. We’ve gotten groovier, funkier, funnier and more melodic even. We’ve kind of gone back to the basics of song-writing and just written some solid songs. I think there is a balance in this album and I think the fans will be the best judge of things.
HK: We can tell you what not to expect. The dragon on the cover is not going to come alive and jump in bed with you in case you’re looking at this as the only way to live out your hentai fantasies. Riju tried it. He failed. He contacted Blind Guardian and King Diamond for voodoo consultation and all he managed was to get some red stuff soil his pants. Quite similar to the album cover actually. But no… no dragon coochicooing happened.
Eight Octaves: The last album had everything; Garba, Pop, Bhangra, etc. Songs like BuntyaurMallikaSherawat and Kothae Doro Chho being my personal favourites. Any similar crazy stuff on the new album?
DS: Definitely we’ve obviously pushed the bar on this album and we’ve got everything from songs about property prices in Mumbai to songs like ‘She Came’ and ‘Naagin Ki Nazar’. I think we’ve definitely got a more cohesive sound with this record.
HK: By cohesive sound he means that all our songs are disco and djent at the same time. We took disco, which has to potential to make even Mithun famous and djent, which is currently ultra hip, and fused that together in order to become more famous than Mithun.
Eight Octaves: Any upcoming tours for Workshop after the album release? Maybe some shows in different cities?
DS: Yes we are indeed working on these but right now we’re only scheduled to play Blue Frog in Mumbai on the 10th of Feb along with Arquebus and What Google Can’t Find. It is going to be a really fun gig.
HK: Apart from that Sahil is now organizing Tour de Demonic Kitchen, 2 daily tours of his kitchen, the land from which amazing dishes like the Demonic Omelette and Meatzza have originated. If you pay 1,000 bucks more, you can also watch him cook something. No touching, only watching. Brought to you by Watching Powder Nirma.
Eight Octaves: Damn HK, you do know how to fool around 😀 What are the future plans for the band? Any videos or play-throughs coming our way from Workshop? Or maybe some collaboration for a single release?
DS: We just released a guitar play-through for the song ‘Made Love To The Dragon’. We already released a whole bunch of studio blogs. We also are working on tons of shows all over the country because we really want to get out there and just play for the fans and also make new fans along the way. I think Workshop is a band to experience live because it’s so much FUN!! We also have two music videos in the pipeline so lots of stuff coming your way.
HK: Somehow, I’m getting the feeling that Sahil has asked himself this question. How is it possible for you to know that we were going to release a guitar play-through?
Eight Octaves: Well HK, I am a journalist, I have done some homework on this 😀 Finally, any message for the maniacs who listen to your music?
DS: Well keep those funny bones alive. Don’t be a noodle, be a smoodle. Cheers and Stay Robotic.
HK: Haha you can’t keep bones alive man! Funny boners though, are probably possible. Why so sexist? We have messages for maniacs and womaniacs alike. Buy our album and feel the warmth and goodness grow inside you for having done some charity.
Workshop – Made Love To The Dragon guitar playthrough –
Welsh Rock bandSkindredis all set to thrill Pune at The Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2013! We caught up with them for a quick chat about their new album, ‘Kill The Power’, expectations from the Indian crowd, and more. Read on!
Skindred: It’s our first time in India so we’re excited to see what the crowds have to offer us! I hope you guys are ready to jump, dance and do the Newport Helicopter! We know that the music fans of India are hungry for live music so we’re psyched to be bringing our flavour to your door!
Eight Octaves: What’s your set going to be like, for the day? Perhaps more songs from your new album?
Skindred: We’ll be doing a few live favourites, a few new ones. We try to give a good spread of what Skindred is all about, and with 5 albums worth of songs, that gives us a lot to choose from! Rest assured it’ll be the show of the decade that’s sure to get people talking.
Eight Octaves: What’s your new album, ‘Kill The Power’, about? How is it different from your previous works, in terms of the lyrical theme and music?
Skindred: We really wanted to make a varied, dynamic album that wasn’t just a couple of singles at the front and a load of fillers, so we really put a lot of thought and care into making every song as good as it could be. There’s a few songs that are gonna be instant Skindred jump-the-fuck-up crowd pleasers, but we also created some huge rock anthems; collaborating with Russ Ballard (who wrote “God Gave Rock N Roll To You” and “Since You’ve Been Gone” amongst others) on a couple of songs was a life changing experience. We really believe ‘Kill The Power‘ is our best record to date, and truly shows the bands wide versatility. Lyrically it is some of Benji’s best work to date, he really pushed himself to visit places he’d never been, it’s an exciting, honest, and heartfelt album which we think our current fans and new fans are gonna be really excited about.
Eight Octaves: You used a lot of dubstep, hip hop and drum and bass elements in your last album ‘Union Black’, as compared to the others; will we be seeing those elements in ‘Kill The Power’ as well?
Skindred: Being fans of a myriad of styles keeps Skindred fresh & different to a lot of other bands out there – whether we’re doing crushing guitar riffs, pulsating reggae baselines or frantic electronic stuff we have tried to make every element of our music as cutting, aggressive, and meaningful as possible.
Eight Octaves: You guys fuse a lot of elements to create a unique musical style, which you call ‘Ragga Metal’; Benji Webbe refers to your musical style as ‘nu-reggae’. Would you like to elaborate on this?
Skindred: Terms get thrown around on the Internet a bunch, to be honest we don’t brand ourselves as anything too heavily, as long it sounds like Skindredwe’ll get behind it. Ragga and Metal are just 2 parts of a large equation that makes us tick. We draw from a wide pool of influence and we’re all into different things, we’re not 4 scene kids who all dress the same or listen to the same copycat bands, so when we make music together all kinds of stuff comes out. It’s really rewarding to be part of something truly unique.
Eight Octaves: This will be your first time in India; how do think you’ll like it? What’s on your to-do list (not counting the gigs!)? Is there any place in particular that you’d like to check out?
Skindred: I hope we get to do a bit of tourist stuff, things like the Taj Mahal. I’m hoping we get to see all we can in the time we have. India has been on everyone’s checklist of places they’d love to visit so you’d better believe we are very, very excited. We hope it’s the start of a regular thing! We love taking our music everywhere.
Eight Octaves: Have you listened to any Indian artists lately?
Skindred: I love that India has a rich cultural heritage musically and artistically, and that so many of our biggest inspirations were influenced heavily by all of it. We can’t wait to have our own taste, and learn more about current stuff evolving from the country. As we travel to new places we learn that there’s much to be gained from local and current music scenes – I know that India has an exciting underground of talent that deserves real exposure, I’m looking forward to experiencing that first hand.
Eight Octaves: What’s next on the cards for Skindred?
Skindred: We have a ton of shows lined up to support our new record, including a European and UK headline run. Summer festivals next year are falling into place as we speak, plus a US tour is currently being planned. We wanna go everywhere! We are also making videos for the upcoming singles from ‘Kill The Power‘. It’s gonna be a ride!
Eight Octaves: Finally, what would you like to say to your fans, and the many young up and coming bands in India?
Skindred: To all the young musicians and bands, stay true to yourselves and do what you do! Perfect your craft and give it your best, every time. Be original and set your sights on the skies! We would love to thank the Indian fans & promoters for believing in what we do and inviting us to your country. We are honoured to be headed your way! On a personal level, we are massively excited to visit, let alone perform for you. I know that the Indian crowds give it their all so I can’t wait to see the Indian people show other countries how it’s done!
Textures are all set to make their third visit to India and this time they’ll be performing in two cities: Pune and Kolkata, at Bacardi NH7 Weekender fests. We caught up with Stef Broks, the band’s drummer in a nice and long chat about the Indian tour, the band’s ongoings and Stef’s life outside of Textures. Read on!
Eight Octaves: Hey Stef! How’re you doing?
Stef Broks: I’m fine! I’m having lunch! Pasta, salmon and spinach!
EO: Wow! That sounds good!
SB: Yeah! I have to be strong, get more muscles. Like Popeye!
EO: Haha, alright! So what’s your schedule for the day?
SB: Well, after lunch there’s some work, then some scheduling, bookkeeping, making invoices. Actually Thursday is my day off; so I can do my own business. So yeah, that’s kind of a relaxing day for me!
EO: Okay! Talking about the tour, this will be your third time in India in four years. So, I can just go ahead and assume that you people are in love with the country!
SB: (Laughs) Yeah we do! It’s always special. It was really special to just go there at first, but now even after the two gigs, I guess it will continue to be special to go there for us. So yeah, we love the country!
EO: That’s good to hear! So, how was your experience the last two times in Bangalore and Delhi?
SB: Well! It was really really really good; the crowd was really enthusiastic and it seemed like it was all really new to them. I thought we were playing like maybe in the first underground metal festival there in India. The thing is that I thought only Iron Maiden and all those big bands went over there and not much of underground bands, like us. So the crowd was really enthusiastic when we took the stage and so were we! We never had even thought of going there. It was so funny that this one guy had put this fake flyer on the internet with us on top and so many responded to it that in the end that we got invited to a real metal festival and we ended up being on the real flyer.
EO: That’s awesome!
SB: Yeah! So the Bangalore and Delhi trip was kinda amazing! Especially the experience! I mean going to the other side of the world, seeing people that are so enthusiastic and you can make people happy with your music; you can go the very core of what music is all about, you know! You can go into what rock ‘n roll is all about! It’s good to see how people can gain inspiration in whatever form out of your music; well all that was really happening I guess!
EO: Well, then you’ll be a bit happy to know that the scene has actually improved in these three years. And Pune is one of the heaviest cities of India and Kolkata is known for its rich music and arts culture. So you’ll be going to the most welcoming venues in the country!
SB: Yeah! That’s great! I’m really curious that how the Indian people feel like the scene has actually improved, but has it actually improved?
EO: Well yes! The fanbase has expanded, more number of people now visit the concerts, more number of concerts happen. So yeah, that’s how it has got better in a way!
SB: Well that’s great! I can imagine that here in Europe, we have that sort of infrastructure for metal. We have the venues, we have the magazines, we have television, we have good webzines and we have a shit load of bands; we even have education for metal for students and stuff! So, we even started a study here in Holland especially for metal musicians. So we have that infrastructure here in Europe. But in India, you guys have to start from scratch it seems, you know. You need to have specialized venues, special programs. But I guess it’s all exploding now, right?
EO: Yes, I hope we develop a similar scene here in the next five or six years.
SB: Yeah, that’s great! But it’s a lot of work! (Chuckles)
EO: Well, of course! So what’s your setlist going to be like for the shows? Would you perform more songs from ‘Dualism’ or would it a mixture of old and new songs?
SF: It’s going to be a mixture of everything; but not very focussed on ‘Dualism’. It’ll be a mixture of ‘Silhouettes’, ‘Drawing Circles’, a bit of ‘Polars’ and a bunch of ‘Dualism’ of course. Yeah, it’s not very special in that way but we try to play the heaviest songs that are most cool for live performances.
EO: Indians are in for a lot technicality and heaviness in the music, so I guess you’ll know what to play…
SB: Definitely! Textures’ music has always been eclectic, you know; eclectic sound, eclectic style! We always try to mix the best of thrash metal, death metal and math metal; you know it’s all sorta combined in Textures, even in the softer part. So if people wanna go for a nice, well… (Chuckles) well nice concert with a lady, then they can go to a Textures show, and if they want to go to a show with real fat moshpit, then they can also go to a Textures show, you know it’s all there.
EO: Haha! Well that’s true! So… The departure of Jochem came as a bit of shock to the fans around the world. He was the founding member of the band, along with you and Bart! How close were you with him?
SB: We were very close! We’ve been in the band together since 2000 and even before that I knew him, since he was 16 years old. So we were sort of friends, not very good friends, but you know… but especially when we started Textures, we became really really close. We spent 10 years really close to each other doing shit loads of stuff like building studios and making songs and all that things that happen in a band. But we also share the interests; we were very much interested in the World War II, history and all the different cultures and stuff. So we were close to each other, we all over, but since Bart, Jochem and I are there from the beginning, we have this special touch!
EO: Well, it must have been pretty shocking when you must have heard the news from him.
SB: No, not really shocking! We saw it coming and Jochem was very open about it. He was like, “Guys, we have doing this for 10 years now. My interests are going that way (points in one direction) and you guys wanna go that way (points in other direction).” Yeah, at some point he just had to cut it and that’s what he did it, in last December; almost been one year now. But yes, for the band, it’s a big loss.
EO: Well of course! But I read somewhere that he’ll be involved in the production side of the next album.
SB: Yeah! But with a different role I guess because he’s not in the band anymore and we also have another producer in the band because Bart has been running a studio now for a few years now and he has become quite experienced in it. So I guess he’ll probably share the job with Jochem, with him doing the recording mainly and Jochem giving the final touch. But it’s a really long way to go. We first have to write the songs by the way! (Laughs)
EO: Ohh! You haven’t started that yet?
SB: No! It’s kinda going very slow, especially with the new guitar player (Joe) and the other two members, Daniel and Uri, who really couldn’t contribute a hundred percent of what they can do to the last album. So we want to be sure that it isn’t that way this time.
SB: He’s doing fine! He’s a really quiet guy though. Sometimes we would play some old songs and then in the middle of the song, he’s doing some different kind of solo and we’re all like “Ohh yeah! Let’s put it in.” but he’s a very modest and he says like “No, the old stuff is good”. So… But yes, he can play really good and that’s nice for the band. He will surely have a lot of input to the next album. We’re actually really curious about the whole process of writing songs and being in the studio with him. It’s all new for him and for us too but the characters match so that’s the best you can get.
EO: Yes, of course! So in the new album, would there be any notable differences in the sound?
SB: I don’t know! Right after Polars we evolved into a band which produced music which was more song-based. Every song had a specific tempo and specific kinda vibe, you know but maybe for the next record, we’ll have more in-your-face kinda songs, maybe not so much mid-tempo, but more diverse in tempo and I guess that’s a good thing.
EO: Well the fans will love it surely! So Stef, you’ve worked with Exivious on their debut album; how was your experience in working with them?
SB: Well, it was great! You know, for a lot of musicians, it’s kinda hard getting one band together and finding the right musicians and when Tymon (guitarist) asked me to come and form this band, I found myself in two really nice befriended bands. It was just amazing!
(Pause)
But there was this problem I had, I was in two really great bands that I wanted to continue in but then it was just not possible to do it anymore because Exivious wanted to tour in Europe constantly and Textures was also happening. It wasn’t really working out. So, in the end I wanted the guys to have a band that really can push forward and can do whatever they want. I was like “I’m holding you back and you need a new drummer, so just do it because if we keep on doing this, it would be just making it complicated for two really nice bands.”
So, now they found a drummer, Yuma (ex-Pestilence). He’s great and I’m really happy that a very cool guy can do it. The guys at Exivious are really satisfied with him, so we’re all happy.
EO: Do you have any other side projects currently?
SB: Well yes, I have this weird side project, which is not actually really weird! (Laughs) In Holland we have this tribute band for Iron Maiden called Maiden uniteD. It was founded by Joey Bruers; he’s from the south of Holland. They play with a lot of different kinds of musicians, which come from various scenes. So we play with various famous musicians that come from all over Holland and one of them is Ruud Jolie from Within Temptation. But that band is just for fun; I’m totally not into Iron Maiden, I have to admit, I’m sorry! (Chuckles) I’m totally not into Iron Maiden, I mean give me some Sepultura or Morbid Angel, I dig that! But it’s fun hanging around with these guys and doing cool shows.
And besides that I have Cube X, but that’s more like free jazz improvisation and we just play in small cafes. It’s all improvisation and it’s totally weird, I can say! (Laughs) You know, we have a saxophone, a guitar player and sometimes a bass player and drums and we just start the gig like, “Ok guys, what are we going to do!?” “Well I don’t know” and then I start playing something like this (makes drums noises)! Then the guitar player plays something and then we just start jamming there! Well that’s really fun but that’s not really like a band with a record label; it’s just a freak show (chuckles)!
EO: I see you’re into jazz?
SB: No, not really! I like more fusion kinda bands or progressive rock bands. I was raised with a bit of jazz and Pink Floyd and after that came Meshuggah and Tool and that kinda stuff. I like jazz but it’s not really the kinda stuff I play. I like music to be more hyped up with way more energy than jazz. Well some jazz artists have that, of course, like Buddy Rich! That’s kinda like hyped up, you know, high speed is what I like. So that’s what we also do with Cube X most of the times; and also with Exivious and Textures. So you know what I’m all about – energy!
EO: Have you heard of any Indian artists lately?
SB: Haha! Yeah a lot! Actually we get so many emails from Indian bands that we have to stop it! (Laughs) But yeah I had a guy from Inner Sanctum; he’s a friend of mine. I got in touch with him since India and I know that band. They’re nice! But for the rest of the bands, I really had to stop it! (Laughs) Right now, I have 5000 friends on Facebook; I guess that’s the maximum. 3000 of them are Indian people and they’re always like “Hey Stef! You have to hear this!” Every day there are like five to ten people and it goes totally over a top. I mean it’s crazy but it’s nice! It’s nice that something is going on there and it feels like you have to go there to experience it! There’s a lot of work here and I cannot do it; I cannot get back to each one of them. But I appreciate it and I really try my best to give a reply.
EO: So, what plans have you got when you come here to India? Maybe some sightseeing?
SB: Well, last time I came here, I went to the Himalayas and before that we went to Goa. I don’t know what we’re going to do this time because we still have to read about stuff that we can do in Pune or in Kolkata. I don’t what’s happening there, your country is so big and for every city or part of a country needs a different guide. So if you have got some tips for us, like “You have to go there or you should visit that place”, bring it on!
EO: Well I could just start but that would take me a long time and this interview would turn into the great Indian tour guide, so maybe we can discuss it after wrapping this thing up!
SB: Haha, well yeah it’s a large country! It becomes a little hard for us to decide where to go. There are so many places that we can visit. So somebody has to help us; it can be a good job for you, you know!? (Laughs)
EO: Haha! Well of course! So let’s wrap this up first? Do you have any message to give to the young fans and musicians in India?
SF: Well yeah, I would just like to say that the Indian people/bands really have to be aware of the fact that they are in the booming phase. We have seen that phase here in Europe, with The Beatles maybe or with the punk revolution but there would still be many people who are not aware of the scene or some who will be like “No, the bands in Europe are more cool!”, but you have to be proud of what you are and what you have because this is the time when everything is settling and this is the most pure and cool time you experience because in 20 years, it will all be different! Be happy with it and be proud of all the bands that are so happy and proud to play in each festival and each gig. It’s a really great enthusiasm which comes from Indian people. In Europe, it’s almost dead. People are not that excited to go to gigs, whether bands like U2 or Iron Maiden are coming or any underground band like Cannibal Corpse, you know, there’s a lack of enthusiasm. But for Indian people, it’s still very fresh, so make the most of it!
The man behind Sound Tree Media, Ashutosh Bhattacharya opens out to Amrutha Ananth of Eight Octaves about the initiative, how it has grown and what they intend to do in the future.
Eight Octaves: You brought in a French touch to India by celebrating World Music Day (tracing its origins to Fete de la Musique) at the capital city this year. Howeasy or difficult was it to bring together various big names together. Tell us how it all happened.
Ashutosh: Fête de la Musique or World Music Day as it’s popularly known has become an international phenomenon today. It was only inevitable that this festival that first started in France almost thirty years ago was embraced by the world considering how important role music plays in our lives. We at SoundTree have a vision to create a thriving alternate cultural ecosystem in India; hence for this day we thought that the idea of seeing key Indian musicians coming together to collaborate and perform would be the ultimate expression of the celebration of music. We intend to make it bigger in the times to come and who knows we might take the Indian talent to global audiences in the next edition.
The idea behind this event was to celebrate independent music and to bring together multiple genres. The World Music Day was the perfect opportunity to create a musical extravaganza for music lovers. We wanted to present an exhilarating music experience infused with the inimitable talents of the top musicians. I want to summarize by saying that it was all about collaboration for a common cause and the cause was music. I am confident SoundTree World Music Day 2014 will see a lot more action.
Eight Octaves: How do you see Indian music scene positioned on a global scale, both in terms of Classical music scene and emerging western trend in the country?
Ashutosh:There is a lot happening in the Indian indie music scene. The biggest change for the indie music scene has been the tremendous growth in the number of concerts/festivals and venues. People today are willing to experiment with new genres of music and have many choices besides international artists. But the sad part is the lack of recognition that Indie artists are still facing. Some brilliant musicians are trying to make their mark out there, but their voices are getting lost. We at SoundTree intend to work as a channel to create an environment where it is a win-win situation where the talent gets its respect and long due recognition and the industry sees this sector as a booming business prospect. I would definitely like to add that talent and music would always be supreme.
Eight Octaves: How did the idea of SoundTree Media crop up? How do you usually plan promotional strategies for artists who approach you?
Ashutosh: SoundTree Media has been founded with a clear objective to promote Indian independent music. India possesses a rich culture and talent here is abound, which is unexplored and awaiting its due recognition nationally and globally. This is where SoundTree comes into picture, to develop strong partnerships and create an ecosystem where alternative independent music is respected and recognized. For us an individual artist or band needs to be seen as a product that needs strategic placement and positioning. We also advocate artists to treat themselves internally as an enterprise that creates music products for consumers. This will not just allow them to think like an enterprise but also function in a more structured and professional manner.
Eight Octaves: Your Company majorly focuses on Indian independent music. What kind of changes do you think SoundTree media has helped bring in for various Independent artists? How do people usually react when you talk about ‘Music Marketing’?
Ashutosh: SoundTree is still in the early stages of achieving what it has aimed for. We will consider ourselves truly successful once the indie music industry transforms into a culture, a culture rich with independent music, true to its art form. The indie music scene today is operating in silos however it has arrived at a place where it is no longer completely unrecognizable. The potential for indie music is huge for both artists and promoters and 2013 promises to be even better. Currently, our areas of operations include Artist Management, Festival and Events, Music Marketing, Video Production and Programming. With a dynamic and passionate group of individuals working behind SoundTree, we aim to create more platforms for exposure for indie music artists that will complement the growth of the industry. It is still an uphill journey as the wide spread recognition of artists as well as indie music is needed over the popular Bollywood music. Today brands are realising that music is a great tool to reach out to the young Indian population, which is most of time, the mass consumer base or an influencer for a buying decision in a household.
Eight Octaves: We think that there is suddenly a profound interest among the youth for homegrown music. If you had to attribute this to something, what would you attribute it to? Better infrastructures for talent promotion? Better coverage/presence because of the advancement in the wide range of media?
Ashutosh: Independent music talent in India is in abundance. Today, the Indian youth is getting more and more instrumental in determining what direction the industry takes. Similarly, the infrastructure changes we see in this industry today are as a result of how the consumer wants it and that’s how we see sponsors and strong partnerships emerging to bring forward Indian indie music.
We also cannot ignore the westernization of Indian music. This maybe an evil but a necessary one, where if executed meticulously can do wonders for the industry. India by its very foundation has never blocked a new way of thought, rather embraced it and localized it successfully and even delivered better results than the originator in some cases. We need the same for indie music, where western music is introducing the alternate form of music to the masses. There is a need to take the route of globalization to integrate Indian music even classical fused with the new sound. This is the only way when truly homegrown music will make its way.
Eight Octaves: Tell us about your collaboration activities in the past, present and also what you have in mind for the future.
Ashutosh: In the past, we’ve organized projects like ‘World Music Day 2013’ and many along with the most recent ‘Sing Swaraj’.
We as an organization are driven by causes and concepts; Sing Swaraj was also a first of its kind celebration of the Mahatma. There are still people who govern themselves on the principals of Mahatma Gandhi and our industry is full of young talented indie (independent) musicians, creating music on their own and struggling to promote it in this highly Bollywood-influenced market. These talented musicians practice ‘Swaraj’ and stand by it. Given the fast-paced Americanization, we felt that Mahatma has been lost somewhere, and revival needs embracing the present and new way of thinking – that’s what prompted us to come up with this amalgamation of Mahatma Gandhi and Music to promote the Gandhian values and attempt to make this day more than a mere national holiday. We are hopeful to create such concepts in the future and there are some futures plans which we will share with you at the right time.
Eight Octaves: Given a chance to solely manage the entire Indie Indian music scene, what strategy would you propose to maintain the cultural ecosystem of our country? How effective do you think it would be?
Ashutosh: Wow! That would be something.
We would first of all have to look inwards and fix the problems and challenges we have internally. The change has to start inwards and the biggest aspect would be professionalism. If we don’t respect ourselves as a professional industry we can’t expect people on the outside to. Today the organizers, venues and artists face the same problem ̶ that is of scale and revenue models. If we as an industry take along all the stakeholders and create a robust ecosystem, we can achieve a lot in a short time. We can even urge the government to support this alternate form of music and help in easing a lot of restrictions that make business very tough or impossible.A very important aspect is to preserve the classical art form, which can only happen if we involve the youth. Today world over projects are been executed and there is a heavy influence of Indian percussion instruments and artists. We will have to take everyone forward. Also, having an independently run central body to represent music in India would be something we will try to bring to life. There is a lot more that can be done.
Eight Octaves: We heard that Sound Tree Media is coming up with a satellite station to promote the music scene in the North East. Tell us more about it.
A: There is a lot of untapped talent in the North East and we want to be instrumental in bringing them to the forefront and hence our satellite office in Shillong. Recently we had a chance to be a part of Meghalaya Icon 4 – a brilliant unification of two great causes – encouragement of young talent and HIV and AIDS awareness. At SoundTree, we are always excited about the prospect of employing the power of music for social change and impact. Needless to say we are proud to be associated with Meghalaya AIDS Control Society and Lelangki.I firmly believe that power of music can be used to boost tourism and the economy of a state. Today every second person in Meghalaya is a musician but they are unheard and unknown, if that talent comes on the national stage and similarly, talent across the country goes into the region to perform, not just music but also people to people exchange, tourism in NE, local businesses etc. can get a boost.
Eight Octaves: What else has SoundTree Media planned for the second half of this year in terms of Artist Management/ Talent promotion? Any other events as well?
A: At SoundTree we work with multiple venues where our role goes beyond music programming. We strive to bring the venue/organizers/sponsor and the artist community together to both offers ̶ the right platform and the right content. Artists and the stakeholders need to understand each other better. This is where we come in and bridge the expectations. We have been trying to bring quality music content and talent to venues/events and aim to expand our presence wider in this emerging industry. In the long run we also plan to undertake a regular music property, collaborating with unique and much sought after music content for the Indian audience. I wish I could further detail some of the projects we are working on at the moment but I will be able to announce it only once they are finalized.
Slow Club, an English indie pop/folk rock duo, can’t wait to get the crowd dancing during the NH7 Weekender at Pune. We caught up with them for a quick chat. Read on!
Eight Octaves: Greetings from Eight Octaves! You’ll be performing in Pune at The Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2013; what are your expectations from the crowd? Slow Club: We are so excited! We have never played in India so we don’t know what to expect. I hope everybody is up for lots of dancing and fun!
Eight Octaves: What’s your set going to be like, for the day? Will we hear more songs from your albums and EP’s, or more of your singles? Slow Club: We will play lots from our second and forthcoming albums, we haven’t played much this year as we have been recordings so it will be loads of fun to get out there and show everybody what we have been working on.
Eight Octaves: Your latest album, ‘Paradise’, has received Universal Acclaim on Metacritic; how is it different from your first album, ‘Yeah So’? Slow Club: Paradise was a general progression from the first album. We had to branch out and explore sound more and different lyrical themes.
Eight Octaves: The music video for “Beginners” features Daniel Radcliffe, who is a Slow Club fan himself; how was the experience working with him? Slow Club: So lovely, he is amazing! Such a professional.
Eight Octaves: How would you describe the overall musical and lyrical theme of your songs? Slow Club: Everything comes from an experience either of us may have had. We can tell you the story behind every lyric. Musically we both adore beauty and drama in melody.
Eight Octaves: Name one track from your works which is especially close to your heart. Slow Club: There is one song called “You, Earth or Ash” on our second album that is special to me, mainly because it is one of the only songs not about a horrible ex-boyfriend of mine!
Eight Octaves: You guys have started work on your third album, expecting to release it in early 2014; what’s this one going to be about? Slow Club: This album is mostly about how bizarre and difficult it is to be in your 20s.
Eight Octaves: This will be your first time in India; how do think you’ll like it? What’s on your to-do list (not counting the gigs!)? Is there any place in particular that you’d like to check out? Slow Club: I can’t wait to come to India! I am spending a few weeks out there and I am so excited. I want to explore everything!
Eight Octaves: Have you listened to any Indian artists lately? Slow Club: No, but I am hoping to catch some artists at the festival.
Eight Octaves: Finally, what would you like to say to your fans, and the many young up and coming bands in India? Slow Club: Keep going! Never stop playing or getting better at your instrument! Sing as loud and as wildly as you can!
British Electronic Music Production duoChase and Statusis all set to rock the NH7 Weekender at Pune this October. We caught up with them for a quick chat about their new album, ‘Brand New Machine’. Read on for more!
Eight Octaves: What’s your set going to be like, for the day? C&S: Our DJ sets are a mix of our own music and also great electronic music that we’re feeling at the moment – this set will include lots of new tracks from our new album ‘Brand New Machine’ which is out now.
Eight Octaves: You’ll be releasing your third studio album, ‘Brand New Machine’, in a few days; how is it different from your previous works, in terms of musical themes and structure? C&S: This record is a real nod to the early 90s and the music and culture that inspired us when we were first getting into making music. Bands from the Bristol scene like Massive Attack and Portishead were all a big influence on the record, and we’ve tried to bring these influences into 2013, working with a lot of great new talent and bringing the early 90’s sound up to date.
Eight Octaves: You guys love drum and bass! Will we have more of that in ‘Brand New Machine’? What other surprises do you have in store? C&S: There are definitely some big Drum & Bass anthems on this album that work brilliantly in DJ Sets and hopefully in clubs all over the world! We’ve got a real mix of genres on the album, from Drum & Bass, to hip hop, to soul to old school jungle sounds – hopefully there’s something in there for everyone.
Eight Octaves: You’ve worked with a huge number of artists, like Snoop Dogg, Plan B, Kano, Tinie Tempah, Digga, Delilah, LiamBailey and others; what’s it like, working with artists from various genres to create a new kind of music altogether?C&S: We love collaborating with other artists, they all bring something different to our production and it’s great to work with people who are really talented. It’s also great being able to give new emerging talent a platform and a chance to have their voices heard through radio, or on our tours.
Eight Octaves: This will be your first time in India; how do think you’ll like it? What’s on your to-do list (not counting the gigs!)? Is there any place in particular that you’d like to check out? C&S: I am actually going to take some time after the gig and head to Goa to spend some time relaxing – we’ve been promoting our album pretty heavily and head out on a big UK tour at the end of the month so I’m using the opportunity of being in India to go and have some time on the beach! I’m also really looking forward to eating lots of Indian food.
Eight Octaves: What’s next on the cards for ChaseandStatus? C&S: We’re constantly trying to push boundaries and never want to rest on our laurels. Now the album has been released, our next big thing on the horizon is our UK arena tour and then we’ll be heading out to Australia at the beginning of next year for Future Music Festival and continuing to release music on out record label MTA.
Eight Octaves: Finally, what would you like to say to your fans, and the many young up and coming bands in India? C&S: We can’t wait to come out and play for you and hope that you enjoy the new album.
Danish band, Cold Night For Alligators, was in India to headline Pronite, Dhanak, the annual cultural festival of IIST, Trivandrum on September 22. We caught up with the band for a little question-and-answer round before the concert. Read on!
Eight Octaves: Greetings from Eight Octaves! You’ll be performing at Dhanak ’13 in Trivandrum. I believe it’ll be your first show in India. What are your expectations from the crowd?
CNFA: This will be our first time performing outside Europe, and we are really looking forward to play the show for our Indian fans because we always wanted to come here, so of course, we are extremely honoured being able to play this show. We can’t wait to get on stage. Well, we usually hear crazy stories about the Indian crowd, so we really don’t know what to expect. But of course we hope they like the show, and join the party we have on stage!
Eight Octaves: How would your setlist be like for the day?
CNFA: Well… We’re playing the songs we know how to play, and that’s like 50 minutes or so.
Eight Octaves: Your music offers us quite an insane amount of technicality along with some amazing groove laden melodic punches, all played on 8-string guitars. What artists would you say influenced you the most into shaping your sound like this?
CNFA: Bands like Between The Buried And Me, Born Of Osiris, and Meshuggah have all played a big part in shaping our sound, especially in our first years. Obviously we still enjoy these artists but as of late we have kind of “allowed” ourselves to find inspiration in different places and genres.
Eight Octaves: How was the response to your last EP, ‘Singular Patterns’, both locally and internationally? Should we be expecting a full length anytime soon?
CNFA: The response was pretty great everywhere! One thing that people noticed was that the record seemed more complete and focused, which we appreciated, because we thought that ourselves as well.
Eight Octaves: Tell us about the early days of formation of Cold Night For Alligators.
CNFA: A few of us (Kristoffer, Jack, and Roar) merged from another band because we all wanted to play more heavy stuff than the grunge we were playing at that time. Since then we’ve had to replace a couple of members but our current composition seems like a perfect fit. From the initial thoughts on what music we were going to play we’ve evolved quite a bit, but we love everything about it.
Eight Octaves: Cold Night For Alligators is quite an interesting name for a band. What is the story behind it? Has it got anything to do with the famous song by Roky Erickson?
CNFA: As some may know, we got the name off a font online. We weren’t that into the font itself, but we liked the sound of it. But most of all we wanted a name that wouldn’t instantly label us or put us in a box, for which this seemed like a perfect fit. It wasn’t until after we decided on the name that it came to our attention that Mr. Erickson had made a song with the same name.
Eight Octaves: How is the local metal scene in Copenhagen nowadays?
CNFA: It’s really alive. There are a lot of bands in Copenhagen, and in my opinion, every band has their own thing going for them, it’s really interesting.
Eight Octaves: Besides metal, what other interests do you have?
CNFA: Perhaps we don’t have any common interests all of us together! Some of us like football, some cars, some cooking, some working out, some mixing other peoples music. Hard to say really!
Eight Octaves: Have you given a listen to any Indian artists lately? If yes, do you have any favourites?
CNFA: I only know Chaos and Skyharbor. But Skyharbor is a mixture of many members from different nations; so i don’t know if people consider it an Indian band.
Eight Octaves: Finally, besides the concert, what other plans do you have when you come to India? A little sightseeing maybe?
CNFA: We really want to see what India is about, and how things are going down, so we are surely going to check out some amazing places in Trivandrum. And definitely a trip to the Beach!
Shepherd is one band that has taken the Bangalore underground scene by storm. Debuting in 2011, the band didn’t waste any time in making themselves get noticed in the scene with their music. Building on confidence with each performance and after some very successful gigs, Shepherd will be performing in the inaugural Echoes From Beneath. Here is Bangalore’s very own virtuoso drummer Deepak Raghu talking about the band and more:
Eight Octaves: Greetings! How have you been lately?
Deepak: Greetings! I’m doing alright. Namit is slaving away at work, so is Michael. Mahesh is getting ready to go to Swarnaboomi Academy of Music for their 1 year vocal training course. I’ve been filling in for local boys Mad Orange Fireworks since their album launch. Apart from that, just going to Premik’s studio whenever we’re tracking and making sure everything’s going smoothly.
Eight Octaves: Your studio updates say your songs are almost finished. When can we expect the release?
Deepak: We’re hoping to put it out sometime around Oct/Nov. There’s no real pressure, so we’re just going to wait it out and make sure everything’s sorted before we decide on a date, launch gig etc.
Eight Octaves: Tell us a bit about the band. How did it all start?
Deepak: Namit, Mahesh and I had been toying with the idea of starting a band since 2008 or something and we were planning to go by the name Thornweaver. Which sounds slightly lame now when I look back at it. But the band really came together in 2011, once all of us were finally in the same city for one and also we had a better understanding of the sound we were going for.
Eight Octaves: What is the story behind your band name?
Deepak: Three of us were tripping and someone suggested ‘Shepherd’ and we just went with it. No deeper meaning or anything but I’m a fan of simple band names that sound cool like Slayer. SLAAYYERR! If you’re gonna start a metal band, half the battle is won if you have a cool sounding name. The rest is just writing music, which is fucking easy right?
Eight Octaves: Something that really impressed me when I first saw you guys live was your cover of Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar”. Tell us a bit about the composition and ideas that go behind these covers and your original compositions/
Deepak: We don’t really think about re-arranging covers so much. A lot of it just happens in the rehearsal room. Our version of “Have A Cigar” was modelled after the Foo Fighters version; we just slowed it down a bit and changed some bits here and there.
Our writing process is pretty simple. Put together riffs to make some kind of compositional sense. Despite all the weed that gets consumed among us, we get bored easily so we try to keep our arrangements a little busy and short (for the most part) so it’s not just mind-numbing repetition all the time.
Eight Octaves: What would be your most memorable incident as a band till date?
Deepak: There have been at least two instances of Namit’s gear getting lost/misplaced/stolen. The second time we got it back. That was a relief. Going to Madras and playing with Escher’s Knot, Eccentric Pendulum. Trend Slaughter Fest III was epic.
Eight Octaves: When not jamming or performing with the band, what do you guys do individually? (All of us are always online on Facebook/Twitter, that doesn’t count 😛 )
Deepak: I’m trying to do this music thing full time, so I play for a lot of different bands/musicians on a session basis. Namit works for a corporate. Michael does… I don’t know what he does. Mahesh is unemployed for most part of the year, but now he’s going to S.A.M. in Madras for singing lessons.
Eight Octaves: Coming to the gig now, what is in store for the crowd from your side? Any special covers?
Deepak: We’ll be playing most of our material plus a couple of covers we haven’t attempted in a while. Maybe put together a new song. Let’s see.
Eight Octaves: Lastly, any words of wisdom for the budding young musicians out there?
The black metal patrons of India, Solar Deity, recently released their third EP titled ‘Devil Worship’, which is being well received by fans all over the country. We caught up with the frontman/founder of the band, Aditya Mehta, for an in-depth conversation on the album, their music and their insight on cult black metal rituals among many other general things. Check it out!
Eight Octaves: Greetings from Eight Octaves! So, not even 2 years have completed after the formation of the band and you guys have already released three EPs and one single. How did you guys work that out?
Aditya Mehta: Greetings! We were getting tired of bands only playing shows and not making any music, so we decided to pump the underground with the real stuff.
Eight Octaves: ‘Devil Worship’ is out and creating havoc among the fans and critics with three new and downright vicious tracks. How satisfied are you personally with it?
Aditya: 100%. Devil Worship turned out even better than I expected it to, mainly because everyone involved in the making of this EP worked incredibly hard on it.
Eight Octaves: ‘Devil Worship’ possesses a clear and well-produced sound rather than a rusty setting like the first two EPs. Would you say that this change is due to the production team or was it something that you had to incorporate for this album?
Aditya: All I wanted for this release was a darker guitar tone and a sharper, stronger overall sound, because the compositions on Devil Worship are darker than the stuff we’ve done before. Solar Deity’s ‘Devil Worship’ is the result of hard work the five of us put in.
The songs I wrote would have sounded very ordinary had it not been for Animesh Das, Aakash Dwivedi, Ashwin Shriyan and Daniel Kenneth Rego. Animesh has done some solid bass work, and together with Ashwin Shriyan programmed the drums. Aakash Dwivedi has been managing us pretty much from the start and delivered kick-ass artwork as usual. Ashwin Shriyan is a fucking genius who went crazy trying to find the perfect guitar tone for this EP, and being a bassist, he also made sure Asmo’s bass was audible. And then he made me sing like that. I’m the kind of guy who’ll be okay with 2-3 takes, but Ashwin extracted that vocal performance from me. A few days before the release, Ashwin said he was sending the final mixes to Daniel Kenneth Rego for mastering, and from then it was Daniel and Ashwin doing everything.
What people hear when they listen to Solar Deity’s ‘Devil Worship’ is the work of five minds working on the same level at one point of time.
Eight Octaves: It has been stated that ‘Devil Worship’ is a sequel to ‘In The Name Of Satan’. Can you shed some light on the lyrical background of the two releases?
Aditya: ‘In The Name Of Satan’ was one story divided into three songs, whereas ‘Devil Worship’ doesn’t have a storyline. On ItNoS, you can hear the story flow even if you listen to the music and don’t pay attention to the lyrics. Devil Worship is as proudly dark and overtly Satanic as ItNoS, and our ‘Satan’ trilogy will be complete two years from now.
Eight Octaves:Supreme Evil, a song about a demon goddess, contains quite an interesting section of intense… let’s just call them ‘moans’? What’s the idea behind the song?
Aditya: Oh, it’s about five priests who go to a black temple in the middle of a forest to seduce a virgin demon goddess. Since she’s not into getting gang-banged, she has to pick one lucky priest who will get to sodomize her from midnight till dawn. The five priests are Daniel Kenneth Rego, Ashwin Shriyan, Animesh Das, Aakash Dwivedi and I, and I’m the one she selects! I’m the f*cking priest who gets to ass-f*ck her… yay!
Eight Octaves: Hahaha! Well, lucky you! So, this question has always been on my mind. You guys work hard on your albums and make them sound so brilliant and uncanny and eventually give it away for free?
Aditya: If we’re giving music to people, why make it harder for them by getting signed to some bullshit label and get everyone to pay for our CDs and shit? We want people to listen to the music, so we keep it as uncomplicated as possible. We share download links, people enjoy the music, and then they buy CDs anyway. Y’know, I don’t understand bands who have one song streaming somewhere and expect people to come running to buy their shit. Would you ever buy a painting without looking at it? How many of these musicians will buy a vehicle without taking it for a test drive and checking everything out? If you’re selling your music, people have every right to treat it as a commercial product.
Eight Octaves: Very true! The band, after a few line-up changes over these months, ended up being a two-man band again. What exactly led to Yash and Akash leaving the band?
Aditya: Yash is like a brother to me, he’s family, he’s always been my drinking buddy. He’s been with me when I was in Demonic Resurrection, he was with me in Exhumation, and then he started Solar Deity with me, but we had to let him go this time.
As for Akash… as much as I want to say a lot of things, I’d rather enjoy the EP’s success than talk about him.
Nobody likes line-up changes… not when a new release is due in two weeks, and certainly not three weeks before a show. I look like the prime asshole of everything because I’m the one who executes the decisions the whole band takes. Animesh Das and Aakash Dwivedi know why the line-up changes happened, and we’re relieved and happy to have found new band members who can play the new songs and can keep up with the band’s increasing momentum.
Eight Octaves: Black metal has always been known for its notorious acts like the church burnings in the early 90s, murders, onstage animal slaughter, burning of The Holy Bible and what not. How do you perceive these acts?
Aditya: I don’t think killing an animal or burning a book is an act of bravery. If these guys had the shit in their ass, they’d burn The Koran, because the Muslims would slaughter them in seconds. However, I do think the sight of a church burning in the distance would be amazing.
Eight Octaves: Sadly India hasn’t had many black metal bands over the time. But the current scene does have a few black metal bands and I believe they are doing well. If you had to pick any one band which you believe really has the drive to stand out in the international scene, which one would it be? And please don’t say Solar Deity. 😛
Aditya: Haha… do you think I’m shameless enough to name my own band? To be honest, I have only seen these bands live and have no idea what their music really sounds like.
Eight Octaves: Metal music in Mumbai is known for its modern, groove-packed sound, which is a direct influence of the kind of lifestyle the people in the city lead. What kinda response does a black metal band like Solar Deity gets when performing at shows?
Aditya: We have our audience and it’s growing. In fact, there are a lot of people who don’t listen to metal but like our stuff.
Eight Octaves: What made you go with the robes instead of the regular black metal trend of dawning corpsepaint and animal blood?
Aditya: Animal blood is more brutal death metal and goregrind than black metal, I think. And corpse-paint will wreck my skin, man. The secret of my youthful looks is alcohol, drugs and late nights, and I don’t want to age any faster! The robes suit us onstage infinitely more than a jeans-and-t-shirt look would, right? And who knows when a virgin demon goddess might come along!
Eight Octaves: Finally, the most common question asked in an interview. What are your future plans?
Aditya: We’re just going to keep at it. We all have other interests as well, but this band is what has brought us together, so we’re going to keep making music and playing shows. Since the other bands think the underground needs support, I have chosen to become its strength.
