Exclusive interview with Mumbai based melodic thrash band, Devoid
Hi, Greetings from Metalindia! How are things at your end?
Well right now things are a bit dull but all set for a cracking gigging season. We had a mad rush of gigs and never got time to sit back and think bout our new songs or future plans. But now that we have taken a small break (courtesy exams of Arun and Shubham) we now simply plan our future..
Frequent gig attendants haven’t seen much of you in action over last couple of months or so, why is that? Don’t you feel active gigging is very important for young bands?
Yes, indeed. But I guess we have become a bit choosy. We now choose gigs dat are meant for us and most important gigs that pay us.. after all metal doesn’t pay in India and the kinda plans we have we require performance fees! Also we have not performed in Mumbai for over 3 months. our last Mumbai gig was Res.7 since then we are doing mostly outstation gigs.. Lastly I heard Razz is opening up once again so hopefully we see more gigs in Mumbai.
Since you guys are new to scene, tell our readers a brief about your musical background and your musical style?
Well Devoid has been around for over 4 years. Our first song released on ‘we are the scene-vol 1’ but our music style has changed over the last few years.. Earlier we had Ninad from Human Abstract as our bass player.. I (Frank) joined as a permanent bassi 2 years back, it was then that we were satisfied with the current line-up. Arun used to play rhythm for Blood Bath Regiment with Afaque (Infernal Wrath) but his influences are primarily into Slayer and Death/Thrash. Keshav is more into Melodic Thrash. Shubham has been influenced by Maiden in the early years but later on has been looking forward to Slayer. I am the odd one out as I used to play Tabla professionally as a kid and later on was swept away by the punk scene in Mumbai. But now I listen to anything that is musically interesting.. right from Maiden, Sins of thy beloved, Kreator, Slayer!. But speaking on behalf of the band we are heavily influenced by Slayer.
Tell us do you differentiate yourself from the bands of your genre or do you feel the music in your genre is mostly an expansion of what musical greats did to the 80’s /90’s,your opinion?
Frankly speaking we differ a lot in all aspects.. people say we sound like Slayer, Kreator but please go and hear our songs properly first. We are thrashy but we have a hint of melody, which is in a way Indian. We don’t make songs in hurry, we still work on our old songs and try n improvise on it. Most of all we believe in performing live.. Devoid is 3 young boys and an uncle hahaaa!.but when we are on stage we are something else. We love our music and we love playing it.
We have observed the greatest of thrash/death bands slowing down or changing playing patterns as they grow with passage of time, whats your take on Kreator’s phase shift in the mid nineties or Annihilator and Anthrax’s Mercuries Declining in 2000’s?How significant are such changes to the any band’s overall growth? Since you are also fresh/young/raw and loaded, would you venture into experiments of that sort in your early years or would keep that kind of armory for later years?
Yeah, so in a way it might be too soon to tell.. hahaa.. but rather in our case we are doing the exact opposite.. our songs were more melodic before such as Black Fortress, Kali, Devoid of Emotions.. but we are getting more aggressive and shifting towards Thrash/Death with our news songs such as Possessed, Hate Kvlt, A gods lie.. But we are looking forward to something experimental but not necessary slowing down but instead we would like to do something different confide in our Genre. Thrash/Death is a vast genre and we haven’t yet defined ourselves within the genre, but we make sure that our each song is different in terms of music, the message and the way we intend to present this song on stage.
Tell us something about your gigging experience, the shows you have played, crowd response etc? Which has been the most memorable and with maximum attendance? Any current plans of playing outside Mumbai?
Being a Thrash/death metal band we thrive on the energy that our audience feeds us. Our performances have always been a big risk that worked out for us as we have always stressed on our originals than covers, but it worked out for us as the audiences likes our songs. We had a awesome gig in Hyderabad where in people even knew the songs that we have stopped playing 2 years back. Also the one cover that we have played extensively was Angel of Death by Slayer and it always leaves the audience satisfied by our performance. I remember our maximum audience has been at Pune for Campus Rock Idols wherein there was a crowd of 12k.. so far our best gig has been in Shillong. Primarily because people there reciprocated to our songs, they have an understanding of metal. Mumbai has always been and will remain our fav place to perform but hopefully Razz opens up for metal shows again. Till then there are a couple of outstation gigs coming up in Hyderabad and Delhi.
Many of your shows have been remembered for your tightness, what special measures you take to achieve that, who according to you has been the greatest and tightest stage -band ever? Apart from this band what other influences you have?
We jam a lot and we even have overnight jams where we work on our songs note by note. It is very difficult for us to do that because of studies and my job but still we try to squeeze in. also on stage we bond well as we enjoy our songs and we enjoy performing. We don’t even feel like stopping. Internationally we haven’t seen that many bands live to judge their stage act except Iron Maiden who spell bound people by their tightness. But we are proud of Indian bands such as 3rd Sov. , PDV, Kryptos, Infernal Wrath, DR, Cosmic Infusion to name a few. M a big fan of Narsil, hoping to see them live someday.
As you are aware recording and releasing albums isn’t an easy and cheap task for any Indian metal band; in that case will you go the exhumation way to give your music free over the net? Or do you have plans of recording a full-fledged album soon?
We have already planned ourselves and we are working towards it. Arun does our recording at home and he does an awesome job at it. People who have heard Black Fortress released on AIM will agree that it is good quality recording so we are relieved of that trouble but we have signed on to DSR and will be releasing our EP soon and plan to work on an full length Album soon. We want people to understand that its easy to crib bout the scene but they fail to understand that each one of them plays a significant role for the scene, support the scene by buying songs and supporting Artists. We cant rely on music for bread and butter so we cant do music professionally but stop piracy and support the scene by being a part of it.
Out of the current crop of Indian bands, which bands according to you show maximum promise and why? Have you heard any Asian? If yes, name a few you like
There are so many bands that we respect. Speaking on behalf of the band we think bands like Infernal Wrath, DR, Narsil, Exhumation, Cosmic Infusion, 3rd Sov, Kryptos deserve a bigger audience.
Currently thrash/death scene is going through a tough time, with many bands not able to reproduce the magic of there glorious records of 80/90’s,without taking names here, do you think these bands have lost shine or the ear of the listener has had such a beating that he’s not willing to accept that ancient/raw/pounding ferocious sound? Can this be equated to a huge emergence of metal sub-genres and bifurcation of the metal audience?
No ways, its very much subjective. I think that preference changes. Nowadays there are more popular genres of metal which have surfaced and are more famous. Some bands like Slayer and Kreator have changed their styles and still manage to stick to the basics of Thrash/Death with new variations while some bands like Metallica seem confused. Users have accepted the ancient/raw/pounding ferocious sound and its getting heavier day by day.. bands are finding ways by altering their tuning and guitar patches to make themselves sound more heavier.. 80/90’s was old school. Now with the advancement in recordings and instruments it is bound to get more precise and heavy.
India has started receiving a lot more rock/metal bands attention after the Maiden gig in March this year, Sepultura,Aerosmith already through and Maiden are again playing in Mumbai on 1st Feb 2008,what other bands can the Indian fans expect to see in future, any band you are looking forward to?
Hahaa, I wish I cud tell but we had heard lots of romours of bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Deicide etc! but honestly I think only either the rich and popular bands will come or else some kickass underground bands who have no issues with our country will come like Enslaved. I am hoping for bands like Slayer, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse!. The list will go on and on!
Time to choose-
1-Thrash of 80’s or death metal of 90’s?
Thrash of 80’s! anytime.
2.Fast cars or fast women?
Prefer both but not fast women with fast cars! hahaaa. They drive like crazy.
3-‘Metal militia’ or ‘metal meltdown’?
Speaking for the band Metal militia!.
4-Metallica in 80’s or megadeth in 90’s?
Metallica in 80’s . pure thrash
5-Whisky in a jar or beer in a mug?
Beer all the way. \m/
Thanks a lot of taking out time for the interview! Metalindia wishes you all the best!
Thanks.
Interview by Atul Sharma