1. How did the members of “Kryptos” meet and come together?
Nolan – Kryptos was formed in 1998 by me and our ex vocalist/bassist Ganesh K. We were a three piece back then with Ching Len on drums and then later evolved into a four member band. We we’re all friends and classmates in college and we all shared the same love for metal music so it was pretty natural that we ended up forming a band.
2. Do you think the genre “metal” has been obsoleted? What according to you is the image that it portrays?
Nolan – Metal will never be obsolete. There will always be a huge support for this form of music even though it exists outside the radar of the mainstream forms of media as well as society itself. More than an image, metal is all about being yourself and standing up for what you think is right and to never compromise on values like integrity and honesty. It gives strength to the people who follow it and is often a cathartic way of expressing one’s emotions.
3. What bands inspired you when you were starting out, pre and post-convicted?
Nolan – We have always been influenced by bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as well as other bands like Candlemass, Kreator, Coroner and Paradise Lost.
4. How has “Kryptos” as a band spearheaded the steady rise of Indian heavy metal over the years? What do you think makes you unique as a band?
Nolan – What makes us unique is we don’t worry about what the rest of the metal scene in India does. We do things our way regardless of what people think or might say. That is one of the main reasons why we have gained the respect of our fans, because we have a strong set of ideals that we don’t change for anyone or anything. That is what has kept us going on for so long as well.
5. How does your band feel to be performing at the first ever Bangalore Open Air amidst popular bands like Iced Earth and Kreator?
Nolan – It feels great. Unfortunately Iced Earth aren’t coming because of visa issues but we’re really thrilled to be sharing the stage with Kreator who are one of our big influences. It’s a huge honour for us and we really have to be at the top of our game to put up a show worthy of an event of this magnitude.
6.How do you think the metal scene will improve in India with the coming in of such Open Air performances, the Govt still doesn’t seem to support the initiative to keep the genre alive?
Nolan – The government has never supported music anyway unless it’s something like the creatively deficient song and dance routines that you see in films and things like that. The only way the metal scene in India will improve is if more venues allow metal bands to perform there and also if metal bands get paid for their performances. If these things don’t happen soon and more regularly the metal scene could eventually die out. Sad but true.
7. How do you see Kryptos lyrics? Having more of an aspect of the political, or as being social commentary? What kind of messages do you usually try to bring out in your song?
Nolan – We don’t really have any particular message as such since most of our lyrics are based on mythology, science fiction, the occult, history and things like that. A few songs do have a socio-political bent where we try and convey how bad things are in India with regards to the political and economic scenario but on the whole we deal more with ‘escapist’ topics rather than ‘real’ ones.
8. If you could do it all over again, what would you change about your discography?
Nolan – I’d definitely like to go back and record our last two albums all over again. We made quite a few rookies mistakes while recording both albums, which unfortunately we can’t correct now. Maybe later in the future we can go back and remaster these albums to make them sound even better.
9. “The Coils of Apollyon” was definitely a huge success, what is the next album that you are working on?
Nolan – As of right now, we don’t have any plans on working on a new album so soon. But we will start writing new material maybe towards the beginning of 2013 and plan for a tentative album release for 2014 or so.
10. What future directions do you see opening for people wanting to be like Kryptos?Nolan – If people want to be like us then they better be able to get ready to do it the hard way. They’ll have to really get ‘into’ the music they play, practice hard and try and play as many shows as possible and never give up. Once they do that then opportunities will come their way automatically. No pain no gain after all.
