Eight Octaves: First of all, tell us the story behind the band name and why the change from Forsaken?
CT: Counterplot Theory simply means a hidden, or a conspiracy theory. The purpose of the name implies the kind of music we have matured to play and our emphasis on lyrical content, which dig deeper in to the ways of so called society, question what is right, and what really should be right. It is not merely a re-branding from Forsaken, but is also the fact that as people we have grown up and matured, and so have our ideas and music. The predecessor focused on music as an experiment, but now we want to continue that experiment, but at the same time give the listener something to ponder on with wider lyrics.
Eight Octaves: Your biggest influences would be?
CT: Our influences have always been the same. Spreading from a wide range of thrash gods like Megadeth and Slayer, as well as keeping our music open like we always have, with elements of progressive and even death metal.
Eight Octaves: I jammed with you guys a couple of times, during that time you were looking for a clean vocalist. And your compositions had a more Progressive sound. Why the decision to stick with Thrash then?
CT: The idea with CT remains to create what we always have, hard hitting music with slow passages of melody. Since lyrical content got heavier, at the time we were considering a clean vocalist. Having said that, we tried clean and it was somehow not what we wanted. It took more away from the song than it added, but then some tunes fit the bid, our final decision is that our ideas remain open to clean, with a bit of growls and the typical ‘snarling’ style. Each song is written with a reason and a certain emotion, and it is at that stage we decide what singing style will work. With Vishesh joining us, there is no vocal limitation to us; I guess as we progress it will become clear as to why we chose not to just stick to clean.
Eight Octaves: Did Nakul’s departure from Forsaken leave you guys somewhat crippled in terms of ideas? Which may have forced you to stick to a Thrash sound rather than experimenting further?
CT: About Nakul, we have always been aware that we would be subjected to change and knew that he would not continue with us forever since early 2012, We were clear on one thing since day one, Forsaken would stand only, and only with the founding members without which it would not be the same. And we stuck with our agreement. We are grateful to Nakul for some of the songs we have been able to achieve but, crippled on ideas post keys? The answer is no. We have never been short of ideas and considering even the predecessor of CT, thrash always was the key driver to our music, and will remain in our genes, we cannot move away from it, in fact were never away from it. This does not mean we are going to be the typical thrash metal band, the four of us work very hard on the stuff we do, and ideas were never short and will never be. Rather, the departure gave us new insights and an even more individual style of thrash which will soon be evident, we now access special effects on guitar with Bharat, a talent that was long hidden, and with Vishesh and Akshay having a multi-talent ability to play guitar & bass, the sound is totally new. Bass lines have been touched upon more than ever, and give us a new, much fuller yet groovy and heavy feeling, and as a bonus we can exploit different playing styles in different songs with the same four people so clearly our experimenting has not stopped, and has in fact increased.
Eight Octaves: Tell us something about the song writing process. How does it go? Is it sort of a group discussion, or is it like – someone composing some stuff and then others contribute to it?
CT: Well, it’s a bit of both, but considering the thought process put into songs, each song is achieved differently. Some started off as a little riff from one of us, and we build on them, some started as just lyrics and music built around them. ‘Condemn the Rapist’ actually started off as an experiment with Akshay on the bass, just to see what would happen, but events in and around India (You know what we’re talking about) led the song to build with a lot more anger and speed as well as emotion adding complexity. For those thinking the song was written because of the rape incident, it was not, it was pure co-incidence. Considering our approach to music has matured, the idea of the song writing process differs, it is important that it goes with the song, or Vic-versa. Answering the question, there really is no process to song writing, we go where our thoughts and hearts take us, I (Akshay) say that there is no better way of making music but to just follow your heart, rationalize the emotion into thought, and just roll with it. It’s cleaner, purer and I think it’s the music should be done, straight from the heart.
Eight Octaves: The new song – Condemn the Rapist, has a lot of similarities with your first EP – Disengage, which in my opinion was better than Hemispheres. So can we expect the new EP to have a sound similar like that?
CT: Not sure how its classified as similar, but there is the main factor that makes it similar, it’s just four guys doing their thing as I mentioned earlier – ‘Straight from the heart’. We wrote this song like how we wrote stuff in Disengage, we did what we thought is right, no feedback, no opinions except our own, and since we are going to stick with that theory, I’d say yes, you will hear the next level of Disengage from us.
Eight Octaves: 2012 was a very quiet year for Forsaken; you guys hardly played a gig. Any plans to hit the stage in early 2013? Any plans for the debut gig yet?
CT: Oh yes! Considering the re-vamp, and the stuff we got going now, we really look forward to playing live, the four of us have got the bond, and a new tightness to tune and dedication. We will definitely look to do gigs as and when possible this year once we finish up the E.P (probably go live before its release). We love music, but we are also four regular human beings working our butts off to make ends meet and have to strike balance there to go hit the road, also ensure we are able to fend for ourselves. Poor Vishesh actually travels from Chennai to Bangalore every damn week, to jam and make CT happen. Really respect the guy and his dedication to music for that. CT will be live, sooner that you expect!
Eight Octaves: What are your opinions on the current music scene in Bangalore? How hard is it to get a gig and promoting your materials?
CT: Bangalore has slowed down since late 2011. Gigs are difficult to get, but not impossible. One thing I (Akshay) personally don’t like is how things work here nowadays, so much like a govt. office. None the less, we are confident we have material that has and should be heard out there, I guess with the right perseverance we will get there. With respect to promotions, we are doing what we can, Owais our key person here who helps with everything, and has always helped with that. We are working with a couple of people for our artwork, and some of it now has been amazing! Of the little we have done, we have managed to have a reach like never before, and we can only but hope things will go in the direction we want soon enough.
Eight Octaves: If there is that one band you would love to play with, who would it be? Indian or International doesn’t matter.
CT: We never really thought of that, I mean be it any artist international or even our own giants like Kryptos, Inner Sanctum, Theorized or even D.R, we would be honoured to share stage with them. Personally (Akshay) if I have to share a big stage with an international giant, it has to be Megadeth.
Eight Octaves: When can we expect the new EP? Any surprises in it?
CT: We are working on completing the E.P and having it released sometime around Feb/March considering mastering and artwork. We have finished recording two songs (one already released), have 3 or 4 more to go. Surprises? Yes, expect a lot of that from us.
Eight Octaves: Last question, where do you see yourself as a band in the next 5 years?CT: Known, heard, understood, respected, and a key influence to upcoming bands, that is what we want to be, and someday touring India with what we do. It’s more important to us that our message is spread through our songs we make, and that they should make a difference to peoples thoughts and lives. Anything else, if deserved will follow. We are who we are and will not change, 5 years or a decade, we will remain the same down to earth f***ers, maybe doing the same sh*t on a bigger platform, that’s all.
