Eight Octaves: Tell us about your early days a bit. How was Xanadoo formed?
Zak: We started out when we were in secondary school and in 2006 it was just me and the drummer started a band just playing cover songs and it took about a year or two played our first show and then also it was small shows and things like that.
Eight Octaves: Your songs have a distinctive sound, something like Metallica’s sound in Kill ‘em All. Take us through your song writing and composing process a bit.
Zak: Nowadays I’m in Canada. The other two are in Singapore. So most of the time, I record a riff and email it to one of them or Shiva would write something and send and we end up jamming and then structure it down. We get to jam once a year!
Eight Octaves: When composing a new track, do you prefer to stick to a theme and write something on it? Or is it a random thought that hits you and then the lyrics come out along with the music?
Shiva: We get stoned a lot.
Zak: the only theme we write about is fast and we try to not be totally serious with the lyrics. Nothing like fuck the police or any kind of message.
Eight Octaves: How is the music scene in Singapore? How easy or hard is it for new bands to get noticed?
Zak: The music scene in general is good. There are a lot of famous and popular rock bands like observatory. In terms of the metal scene, it has its highs and its lows. A few really big bands like Rudra have an entire sub genre in India. Back in the 90s, if a band released a cassette, they could easily sell 10000 of them. The internet came and changed a lot and now it’s a lot more organic. Few organizers would come and a few bands would release an album. Also because of the national service in Singapore, people lose out on the most creative parts of their life. It gets in the way of the bands.
Asia still has to come together to have a really good market for this type of music. So you see one or two bands from Singapore signed to overseas records and It’s still really difficult for them to get shows. So you basically have to see where it goes. Even bands like Rudra are doing self released albums. I Don’t know what the future holds but I think if you persevere, something can happen.
Eight Octaves: Coming back to the band, what would be the most memorable or weird gig/moment for you as a band?
Zak: The most memorable performance would have to be the Philippines. When we just started off with the first chord, people started stage diving. But the weirdest concert would have to be in Spain, where a guy came up to me and said, “just let it be man” and I was like WTF! We are going to release a live album of that show and you would probably hear that guy.
Mahesha: there is a place in the south of France, where we played our first show and there about 150 people who went crazy and they didn’t let us get off stage. We ended up bringing up songs that we never thought we would play and half an hour later they made us go back on stage.
Eight Octaves: If given a chance to open for an international band, for which band would you like to open for? (Answers from all band members would be appreciated)
Mahesha: Metallica! Because that’s what we started out with. But I listen to anything from classic rock to contemporary.
Zak: I would love to open for Whiplash and Zeke.
Eight Octaves: How has been your experience in India so far? Had any chance to go sight-seeing?
Mahesha: We didn’t do much of sight-seeing, we just went to the Iskcon Temple. The main thing for us is the food. It’s absolutely brilliant. You get Indian food in Singapore, but here it’s another level. And the prices! We get to feed our fat asses and not pay too much.
Eight Octaves: When not touring or jamming with the band, how do you spend your free time?
Zak: Basically just listening to music and wasting time on Facebook and YouTube. Maybe read a book now and then and play some soccer.
Mahesha: Pretty much the same thing and sitting and talking to friends for hours about absolutely nothing and wasting our lives away.
Shiva: The other day I saw a guy twirling his moustache, so I think I’m gonna spend time twirling my own and try and get it pointy.
Eight Octaves: What are your future plans? A new album in the making or maybe an international tour in the bag?
Zak: The live album from the show in Vigo, Spain. Hopefully we will release it within a month. We are planning to do a few splits with a couple of local bands from Singapore. We will be doing one with the oldest band in Singapore – Global Chaos.
Eight Octaves: Is there a message you would like to share with the up and coming metal bands in India?
Shiva: Stay out of my way! 😛
Zak: Just have fun, That’s the basic thing for a band. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it’s just pointless.
Mahesha: Don’t think about the pay offs. Having fun comes first.
https://xanadoo.bandcamp.com/album/thrashing-in-the-east-split-w-fastkill-jpn
