Eight Octaves: Hello and congratulations on releasing your debut album “Groove Sandwich”! You guys were pretty scattered for 3 years till 2012, because of studying in different cities; how excited were you to finally releasing the album?
Anthracite: Hey! Thank you so much! Yeah, we were all over the place from 2009-12 when Abhishek Nair was studying in Chennai. We weren’t really a band back then. More like an idea that existed online between the emails of song ideas that we used to keep exchanging. Nair came back last July and since then we were only focused on getting the album out there. So yeah, when it did release we were extremely excited for everyone to hear our music.
Eight Octaves: So how have you been? Getting good gigs?
Anthracite: We haven’t gigged since the release of the album mainly because we spent the better part of the last two months on the music video which should be out very soon. However, just a week ago, we got Pratika Prabhune to manage us who is helping us to line up some really exciting prospects.
Eight Octaves: How did Anthracite start off? Any particular reason regarding the name?
Anthracite: In our bio, we say that Anthracite was a high school joke that became serious. Back in 2008 or so, Sahil and Abhishek used to randomly cover songs and they got together with some close friends to make a ‘band’. They called themselves Gravity Pulse at that time. The name change came up from Pranay who was the other guitarist along with Sahil. He was really into environment friendly products and anthracite, being the best form of burning fuel; he changed the name to that. Nair did leave for Chennai soon after that and even though we got Siddharth to do guitars once Pranay left, we never really were a band. As we said we were an idea that existed solely in those emails. However, our proper lineup formed when Nair returned to Mumbai for good and Dev and Deep joined the band and that’s what we count as the proper formation of our band.
Eight Octaves: Tell us about your song writing process.
Anthracite: The 5 of us all have varied musical interests ranging from Punk rock to melodeath to Nu metal etc. However, Nair has had a clear idea of what our sound has to be so with the first few songs, he was the sole person to compose the rough ideas which were then polished out into a proper track by the rest of the band. It has pretty much been always like that with each new song we write, taking us to a more mature sounding Anthracite along with newer ways we write the songs. The one fixed thing is that we write the lyrics much after the song structure has been made which makes each song unique in that the sound of the track decides the lyrical theme.
Eight Octaves: Your singles ‘No Fear Left’ and ‘Found My Way’ are 2 of your most popular tracks. What’s the story behind them?
Anthracite: Those two songs were demos back when we were experimenting with our sound. Both were recorded during the time Nair was in Chennai and he took a week off to come and record these tracks. However, we have changed our sound a lot lately and the above mentioned tracks aside, we believe that Facts and Offtune tend to get a lot of attention from our listeners.
Eight Octaves: How do you go about making music that appeals to all kinds of audiences, without deviating from the metal roots?
Anthracite: Simple songs, great riffs, catchy vocals and insane groove are what we combine well to create our tracks. To appeal to the masses, we have generally looked at the way our influences have appealed to their fans. Everyone has at some point heard Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit. They took heavy music and made it appealing to a massive audience! We also keep in mind that our tracks are not just about audio. They HAVE to contain a large visual component too. Every track we compose is made with the sole purpose of first playing it live and then releasing it as a recording. We have got comments like: “I’m not a metal person but you guys absolutely killed it yesterday. I loved loved LOVED the energy. Keep at what you’re doing, because it’s obvious you guys are loving every second of your time on stage, and I envy that. 🙂 Best of luck!” which pretty much prove that we are making music that a large section of music lovers will enjoy.
Eight Octaves: Who are your biggest musical influences? Are there any Indian artists you look up to?
Anthracite: Our biggest influences in terms of sound have been without a doubt Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park along with System of a Down and the likes. Nu metal plays an important part in our songs and many artists are who we draw inspiration from. Apart from Nu metal, we also look up to We Came As Romans, Slipknot etc. Indian artists we look up to are The Down Troddence, Limit Zero, and Skyharbor. Mainly because they sound so damn good.
Eight Octaves: Was there any particular gig which turned your luck around and gave you the required exposure?
Anthracite: Strawberry Fields 2012 without a doubt. There was also a show at Army Institute of Technology, Pune which was another level of crazy with the crowd going berserk during Offtune. It was madness.
Eight Octaves: The teaser of your Inner Voice music video is out; how was the experience, working on it?
Anthracite: The main part of the shoot was done in one day, and that day was excruciating to say the least. It was 10 hours of non-stop shooting with a really dedicated and talented crew. We were exhausted to the point that all of us were in pain over the next 3 days. The final product looks really good and the pain was more than worth it. A shout out to the guys who helped us on it, Raunak, Nishq, Nikhil, Karan and our bunch of friends who helped us out that day, you guys were amazing!
Eight Octaves: What’s the current music scene like in Mumbai?
Anthracite: The current scene in Mumbai seems to be doing really well with major local bands like Workshop, Demonic Resurrection, Scribe and Pangea having regular shows. We love that the fans are coming out to watch and support their favourite bands. Our scene will just keep progressing forward.
Eight Octaves: You guys have a good momentum going on, playing in various colleges, qualifying as finalists at Strawberry Fields, winning the finals at Rhythm ‘13. So any plans of a multi-city tour?
Anthracite: A Groove Sandwich tour is in the works with a lot of logistics still to be planned out.
Eight Octaves: Lastly, what are your future plans?
Anthracite: We are looking to release the music video first and foremost. We have written some new material and are looking forward to a proper Groove Sandwich tour. We are also looking to be signed on by a label.
