Click here to view the embedded video.

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IRMP3 : Hey Rahul, Thank you for taking time for the interview. What’s the latest at Camp Cassini’s? Flags raised, ready to march?
Rahul Guha Roy : Thank you for featuring us as the band of the month for September. Our debut album is just around the corner. We’re planning to take our music to new places we haven’t played at before. We’re also playing at the Nokia Music Connects conference in Mumbai. The Division is on marching orders. All-in-all life’s good.

IRMP3 : Let’s rewind a bit in time, for your new fans, briefly .. ‘the story so far’…
Rahul : Briefly, all this information is available on our cool Wiki page.  It’s fairly simple really; we’ve been in this lineup since end-2004. We started life as a rock band making music that was unique and had elements that turned us on. It’s also a band where change is the only constant, musically speaking, and I think that will continue to define us.

IRMP3 : Your debut album ‘Ringside view’ will be out soon, what took this long? I mean these days new bands are out with albums within no time. What held you guys back?
Rahul : We think that releasing an album has a certain degree of seriousness to it. In today’s context there are certain quality benchmarks that need to be met such as production values, a hands-on producer who translates a band’s live sound into the recorded medium, etc. Also, it is important to have a label that has the capacity to distribute the album throughout the country and beyond, if possible. Come to think of it, the new bands you’re talking about are surfacing at time when all of this is just becoming available. As for our album, we felt this was the right time – the stars were aligning, as Ludo says.

IRMP3 : Tell us about the making of The Ringside View; how hard / fun it was recording with someone like Simon Henderson?
Rahul : Making the album was a great experience and Simon Henderson made all the hard work seem like a lot of fun. He’s crazy too, of course. That helped. At the same time, he’s excellent at what he does and had a natural empathy for the band’s music and objectives. As for the recording itself, we kept most of it organic, live and fresh, so that it is an accurate picture of the way we perform the music on stage.

IRMP3 :  How do you guys plan to promote the album?  Any tour plans?
Rahul : Saregama (HMV) is the label we’re signed with. There is a music video on the cards and various promotional activities. We plan to tour as extensively as we can to promote the album and take the music to a space that is larger than the niche we occupy at the moment. I think the music on the album will also help do this. Apart from Indian cities, the immediate objective tour-wise, is to reach out to Southeast Asia and possibly later, the UK and US.

IRMP3 :  All bands evolve over time. You guys have also incorporated a lot of electronica and hip-hop elements in your music, which is a far cry from your grungy alternative start. How do you define the current genre of music that CD plays? And what inspired you guys to shift to a different sound altogether?
Rahul : As you’ve pointed out, evolving musically is a natural process for any band. We’ve never really incorporated any electronica – it’s all organic. We have borrowed certain ideas that come from EDM as well as hip-hop, especially in the form of spoken word and rapping. At heart though, we are just a rock ‘n’ roll band. We don’t think of ourselves as being representative of any sub-genre. It’s all music and it’s there because we like it. We call our current music hybrid because that’s what it is. We don’t intellectualize the process of how we go about making music at different periods of time. We try and let the music play the band instead of the other way around.

IRMP3 :  Channel V Launchpad III showcased you guys on national level, although the show itself was a failure, how was the experience?
Rahul : As to whether the show was a failure or not, I don’t think we know, because none of us really watch all that much TV. The experience was a mixed one. Got to know a lot of bands fairly well and had a great time, generally, hanging out with them and the crew. The question about whether the format of this particular show should have gone the reality TV way is an academic one – but on the sunny side, being finalists, we’re a lot better known now. It took us to a lot of people and places we had not earlier reached.

IRMP3 : You guys were also the finalists at Sutasi 2009 in Singapore. How was that experience competing with international bands?
Rahul : Sutasi, of course, was a different ballgame from LP III. It was interesting to see how the musical trajectory and emotional narrative of rock music has evolved in such different ways in different countries. Chinese rock, for example, is wholly and vastly different from the sound and scene in India. It was less of a competition and more of a festival to take Asian Rock to an international audience. We were popular choice finalists from our region (Southasia) and we’d like to think of that as an achievement we’ll always be proud of, considering the fact that the quality of music from all the countries was simply superb.

Click here to view the embedded video.

IRMP3 : Despite fame, you guys have not made it big on the national scene, what keeps CD away from social networks?
Rahul : As the old adage goes, fame and money don’t always go hand-in-hand. However, I know what you’re getting at, and the answer is simply that certain realities, like geographical location, a strictly original live set, and the fact that our music isn’t stereotypical, have at various points of time worked against us. Now, with the album, the video and the tours, we intend to rectify that. An indication of a free social network’s choice would be our holding out at No. 1 on the local chart, and consistently among top 3 on the National Alternative Charts on Reverbnation. But that is obviously because it is listener and fan-weighted and not controlled by a few.

IRMP3 :  Day jobs, different bands, local gigs, how do you guys manage to pull it off? And how promising is Calcutta Scene?
Rahul : None of us hold day jobs or play in other bands. There are 2 projects that individual members are involved in, but they are not bands in the conventional sense of the term. We play at a couple of places in Cal every month as well as outstation. I’d like to think we manage our time fairly well and nothing else is ever done at the expense of Cassini’s Division. Calcutta’s scene is growing not just statistically, but also in quality and originality. The city is also becoming a magnet for talent in the region, so I think it’s getting better.

IRMP3 :  This is your space. Anything you want to say to fans, friends, foes… anything at all.
Rahul : It’s been a trip so far. A big shout out to our fans and friends for all the support and encouragement over the years. Buy and enjoy the album. We promise to bring you more good music in the future. A big shout out to our foes as well. We’d never have made it this far without you. Though I must point out that it is difficult to understand enmity in the context of music.

IRMP3 :  And the “famous last words” are…
Rahul : We have what it takes!!!

*IRMP3 would like to thank Prasanna Singh and Kaushik Barua for the precious input given by them to prepare this interview.

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Sam Dunn started an epidemic. After A Metal Headbanger’s Journey in 2005, a lot of people started taking media representation of metal seriously. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of subjectivity. The line where I come from, we see at least two movies which walk on its path every semester. ‘Capital Metal’ is the latest installment to this trend.

*Akhila Shankar is an undergraduate student studying mass media in Mumbai. She is the designer and co-editor of TFS E-Zine and also words with TFS Rockcast. Besides TFS, she is a freelance photographer and graphic designer.

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Name – Arsh Sharma.

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Although I wholeheartedly support all Indian bands, having one of my own, I see a very bleak future for Indian rock,It will remain so until someone decides to work for the common good and not just individual profit.. – Ex VJ, Actor,Critic, and Musician Luke Kenny writes about the future of current indie ’scene’ on  Hindustan Times.

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V Km (Scribe) : Hey drunk chicks *waves his mic*. You having a good tttiiiiiimmmmmeeee?
Drunk chicks : Yeaaa hhh *waves some ..*
VK : Your parents must be proud of youuuuuu ?! *ishmyle*
Drunk chicks : Yeaaa hhh *raises hands*
VK : Do you know what heavy metal iiiiisssss??
the crowd: woooooo, hey haha!!!

If the casting couch fame Paresh Rawal would have told me , “Main hun teja, mark idhar hai“, I would have pointed him to the mark on every metalhead’s map for the weekend , The Mezz, Pubrockfest , for Bombay was knocking on us and we love pav bhaji.

The gig started dot at 8:30, something the rednecks didn’t expect, while they were busy slowing things down (and literally) as a sweet smell of grass and rain engulfed me as I reach outside the pub. Then some burgers, greeting fellow pseudo intellectuals and a minus 150 bucks later we enter to find Arcane Deception playing their last song.  All I remember them saying was to visit their myspace page. (I certainly would recommend.)

Then entered some totally new, melodic, unexpected, band and Gavy(with his spartan hair on mic) started of with a real soft tone

” Hum hain Nigambodh , Hindi bhashiya band, rajdhani dilli se “

They started of with real groovy tunes and the bassy Tushar , was real पटाखेदार !!! Since these tunes were not one expected, some of ‘em rather turned away. But suddenly then, they delivered the ‘This Is Sparta’ kick and the subtlety yet heaviness of their sound blew the corners away! Metalheads gathered in a jiffy and their song ” भागो पागल आया !!!” was some shit. It totally rocked the house with everyone banging up to the brim. The double meaning of their lyrics is something to be noted. Manish growls like a bear and can hit those strings till u bleed, but I’d credit him most for the lyrics.

” बुद्धि ख़तम , असुर भसम , पंख लगा उड़ गए कदम …”

Must I tell you that the band was playing ‘Budhi Khatam’ at IIT-g when fucking ‘Eluveitie’! came out and clicked them!! Singing about Shiva (Stuti), Baiju (the peddler??) they are some trip you need to get on.

Next up is ‘Rabit is Rich‘. Boy, they have been in the scene for some time now and have made a name and a die-hard following for themselves.

(after 6 some songs)
Sethi (R is R) : Guys, We ain’t fucking play Lamb of god no more.

Sethi has a clean guttural voice, that displays the power of his stomach to push the diapragm air (not that he has any lack of that area though!). People love them and if I may quote them

“…when you mosh we feed you and you fuel us, we find absolute calm in the chaos we unleash…”

For the drummer , let me tell you , don’t be deceived by his looks. He may look like a school boy, but with the talent he displays, he must be banging a class load of chicks at a time.

But for the cool factor, no one can beat the Akshay, their man guarding the bass. he gives a shit how the rules play, he’d play, dance, drink (Victoria Bitter) and manage to pull of some real low pitch.

If you haven’t heard them, search for the song ‘Kaboom’, and your neighbors shall hate you forever. They have an EP out, but really ‘kaboom’ is the only one for an inclusion in your playlist. For me, they started of good, but then became repetitive. But as they say, “rabbit is rich and will be”.

Now Ladyboys and Ungentlemens, we have for you the “Metal song – Tip of the day”

Start a metal song song with a scream!

Yes, there you have it. Frustrated college boys like (yours truly), jump straight up into that headbanging zone, once a sound beyond a certain decibel is heard. Besides, even Scribe did it. In every song.

V Km (Scribe) : blah blah…
Crowd : fuck you
VK : This bunch here loves to say “fuck”!
Crowd : Yeahhh
VK : And they also love to say “yeah”!
Crowd : hey, yeahh
VK : Lets try it together then ..
Crowd : Fuck yeahhh

Before I introduce you to some Chowpati ‘ खड़ा Pav-Bhaji ‘ , and a clean shaven bassist , lets us get to a little serious stuff. Its the secret behind their new drummer Virendra Kaith – aka – ‘Viru’ (ofcourse the Demonic Resurrection one, and khiladi etc etc) who was introduced to the crowd as Doctor Dan (if I heard it right). Now hear this. Viru’s facebook profile is called facebook.com/pdvirus . Here is the mystery. I hear his introduction and what comes to my mind is Dr. Dan burisch of Project lotus. Dr Dan is a well known man and was heavily covered by media in 2004 for his findings of extraterrestrial life on earth (Fucking real ALIENS !!) in the form of certain PD Virus!!! If u haven’t you should read about it here. I till date believed it stood for ‘Pin Drop Virus’ as he played for Pin Drop Violence.
I stand with my hanging jaw.

I don’t need to tell you about the band, do I. Still if you have been in a coma lately and haven’t heard Scribe buy ‘Mark of Teja’ or even ‘Have hard : Will core’ or ‘Confect’ would do (and join the 3 ppl whom the band invited on stage for a song!!! ) , Or I’d say head to their reverbnation page first ; open the lyrics before you play a song, because Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy has had this long name since birth and hence had a lot of practice speaking long sentences swiftly. So swift, even the rappers would eat their shit. But that’s cause his voice is gold. Pure malleable. He sings as he like. He even makes music out of his mouth, tongue, neck and all the spaces in between. For a quick demo listen to their superhit ‘Pav Bhaji’ where there is a part he sings ( rather raps-growls-electronicates ) the recipe of pav bhaji. Tell me if u can catch him, doing that.

I went to the show with an aim of streaming the event live, but I forgot to switch to high quality and then suddenly I was sucked into a moshpit. Don’t blame me. Blame the Scribe. Torchbearers of Indian hardcore.The Gig Rigger : Facebook - Twitter – gigrigger@gmail.com

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Progressive death metal as a genre doesn’t have really amazing bands to talk about in India. I myself being a huge fan of bands like Opeth, Cynic, Atheist and Dream Theater etc, have often wondered when there will be bands with musicians who will be able to pull something like that off on stage. After listening to The Cynic album by the Delhi based Guillotine who call themselves melodic progressive death metal, maybe I don’t have to look any further.

The album’s first song The Alchemy ; Tears of Despair starts off with a very subtle intro with a slight folk feel and spoken words about whether religion brings order to chaos, whether it is something that will give humans the direction that they have lost or has it just brought about more division? This is something that people should really think about – the hollowness of religious or blind faith.

This is when I noticed the names of the songs and started reading the lyrics. I realized that the band has woven a nice thread around this concept of a person who is fighting his beliefs on religion and that person is “THE CYNIC “ and if you also notice the album cover art, he does look pretty angry!!

Musically the album will hold any progressive metal fan spellbound to their seat. It has some really great hooks and grooves and as many people say it is full of the “Feel” factor. The lead guitarist and the keyboards are just annihilating in each and every song by producing some memorable riffs and symphonies that provide a solid foundation. Upon my return – the second song starts like a typical black metal song and goes into a thrash bit, which later becomes a catchy groove. Most of the compositions are like that; the band shows influences of heavy and power metal in their music as well. As I said the keyboard and the guitar parts will catch everyone’s attention and make them fly with them but the part that comes very subtly and holds down the fort is the bass guitar, very well toned and completely showing how important its patterns are in the overall feel of the song. The drums are programmed and they do sound good but I didn’t quite like the way the cymbals are treated in the song. There are times when u kind of miss listening to the crisp sound here and there unless you are searching for it.

Vocals in the album are something that caught me off guard at first. The vocal delivery is perfect but the tone of the vocalist Karan Nambiar while he growls at times gets a boost of mids and that, at times doesn’t go well with the feel of the band (I thought he was sounding like Akshay De of Joint Family. Weird eh??), but after a few spins of the album I kind of forgot the strangeness of it and started liking the growls. The clean vocals are just perfect and remind me of Steven Wilson at times. Brilliant job with that !

To see Karan pull of the clean parts in songs like The Alchemy, Dystopia and Revisiting faith live will be something to appreciate for sure.

Well, it’s not a surprise at all that the band is sounding brilliant in the album. They had a master behind the console to mix it out for them. With proper recording guidance from Keshav ‘Hydrodjent’ Dhar and the album mixed and mastered by none other than Anupam ‘Grey’ Roy, this is a huge benchmark for many other bands in India to look up to. Each and every instrument is crystal clear and the mix is something that people should experience first hand when they listen to the whole album. The recordings have the perfect set of vocal harmonies to make some parts sound very epic like the haunting bass tone and the sweet keyboard sound! Man, it is just magical! The best part is the guitar ownnage tone that has been set; they have almost been able to replicate the infamous Gothenburg guitar sound.


Brilliant Songwriting + Brilliant Recording = a badass album. A MUST for all the progressive metal fans!

With just seven songs in the album the album leaves you wanting more, but we hope that more comes with the bands live shows and other compositions in another album / EP soon.
I cannot thank the band enough for giving me the opportunity to listen to this before it releases and reaches the masses. It gets 8 out of 10 and the rise of the quality in Indian metal comes to a ripe age.

*Ashwin Sharma , Editor of Indiarockmp3.com, A Sound Engineer by profession, he works for Grey&Saurian Records as Manager.

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Plenty of bands in the Indian scene today, have hooks and good songs. Loads have retro-garage sounds- but none of that can ever even come close to being compared to the musical luminosity that Shaair n’ Func deliver in their art. Their latest album is an exercise in pure Electro/Indie brilliance and arguably their best release to date.

It all begins with a quiet pulsate. Tremulous sounds grow until inconsistent wave outlines shake your thoughts loose. And just when you’re about to settle down, head-shaking percussion lines fill the space ragged loose in your torso, creating a headspace ready for amazement. This is the world of S&f- an amalgamation of musical extremes- guitar improvisations and soundscapes. The undulating feel of their songs reminds me of my first Gorillaz cd Tomorrow Comes today- something that was through and through gauche yet inevitably catchy. As such, most people might not obsess on this- because most might fail to understand before they realize the true depth of S& F’s extremely mature sound.

However, If you are looking for something new and something that’s extremely abstract- there is plenty here to engage you. At turns brooding and hyper, Mantis (Download album)  is a very fascinating hour of sound- and perhaps one of the the best most moments of the scene since Pink Noise’s Dance of Diaspora release.

Monica Dogra reminds me of Alanis Morisette- during her early years (not like – I was around!) And her Gnarls Barkley-ish approach to execution only adds to it all. She builds up the songs on very strapping lyrics ultimately adorned with powerful melodies and hig-flying guitar work by Randolph Correia.

There are blatant assortments and parallels interspersed onto the album like the polish of a dancer swaying to his most treasured piece. They’ve poured their entire heart into this album; each moment designed with utmost attention and skill. Its extent, its facets, its arrangement, its premise, its pitch; everything that I ever wished for from this album- has been delivered – in fact, it’s all coming up rainbows.

Intricate instrumentation- especially guitar- patches elevates a few tracks and makes “Take it personally” -a beautiful standout. It’s not making me wonder, it’s just tempting enough that maybe it will one day. Win

I can’t really pinpoint what it is that makes it all this special and amazing- it just feels futile. I guess it’d probably have a lot to do with how impressively all of their influences might have come together or how cherished it all sounds while delivering a spotless vision, or even that it’s outstanding fine art. But whatever it is, Mantis is nothing short of extraordinary; it’s S&F’s moment of clarity where everyone will have to stop and take notice and be blessed by it’s charisma- because in the most honest of terms, this is a masterpiece- one that’s bound to set the cat’s amongst the pigeons..

Amen.

S&F -MANTIS
4/5

Kaushik Barua is a freelance journalist and musician from Guwahati. He also plays in a band called Reciprockals.

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