Interview with Mumbai based groovy deathgrind act, GUTSLIT.

Hey Gutslit! How are you doing sickos? Your sick band name leads to the first question- why- Gutslit?
Hey Atul, we are doing good bro! Well I remember the long hours spent on phone or messenger when we wanted to decide the band’s name. We shortlisted a hell lot of names but it always happened that someone in the band would disagree with a particular name the others liked. The name GUTSLIT came into Nikhil’s sick mind first and eventually all of us liked it a lot as it best described what we wanted to do as a band and what we sounded like! This band was formed to belt out the sickest swansongs in India and bring Brutality, Perversion and Gore to the sick maniacs who had never witnessed it out here. The name Gutslit had a very sick ring to it, as if a sharp edged knife has slit through a fat Gut spewing out intestines and blood! I’m sure one would feel the same if they would witness us Live!

You guys are relatively new to the scene! And we haven’t seen many bands of your kind/genre emerging out of Mumbai, any particular reason for it? The biggest names I can think of are-Blasphemy/Gruesome Malady/Arcane ritual/Gorified, which aren’t from Mumbai, your perspective on such a history?
Well first of the genre that we play is Groovy Deathgrind which is a mix of complex fast paced riffing with fast drums and Groove laced patterns of vocal variations ranging from pig squeals to gutturals and slow chugging slam breakdowns. This Extreme form of music is not easy to digest and is definitely an acquired taste. Hence you would not see too many bands in this genre out here. Another reason is that it requires the musician to be really skilled with their instrument and stuff; you just cannot be just another guitarist, drummer, vocalist or bassy trying your hand at some extreme music! People who do not have the balls to play this music will always pass it off as noise.

Mumbai’s only extreme music support is provided by Resurrection festival, do you think scarcity of such events keeps most of the sick bands in the basements?
Yeah well that could be the case for others but for us at Gutslit we never thought about any kind of limitations. We always knew we had the capability to play at bigger stages and we never narrowed our vision down to the local scene in Mumbai. You only need to have that passion and dedication for this music and if your music is good and connects with the masses you automatically are elevated to the big stage!

As most of our readers I assume haven’t heard your music before kindly describe your music for them?
Groovy Deathgrind which has complex phrases with intense riffing structures similar to bands like Disgorge (Usa) and Dying Fetus as well as slow chugging groove laced slam riffs and drum patterns and a bass tone which hits you in the face! On this we have a very diverse form of vocals ranging from Brodequin, Devourment style pig squeals to low gutturals like Disgorge to dirty and infected purulent Nikhil signature style vomit vocals and high screams like Putrid Pile. Drums which relentlessly keep blasting and supporting the groove. On the whole its gut wrenching groovy at times and brutally complex and fast at times! It’s better if you listen to it, you will know what we’re
talking about!

Drawing influences plays a major role in shaping of a band’s music, talk us through your influences? What is the closest thing you derive from your influences-lyrical inclination, ideology, attitude, dressing, playing style?
It’s true that influences play a major role in shaping every bands music. For us our greatest influences are Disgorge(USA),Brodequin, Devourment, Vomit Remnants, Disavowed, Desecration, Sikfuk, Last days of Humanity, Misery Index, Insidious Decrepancy, Cephalic Carnage, Condemned and Dying Fetus. Our lyrical content is probably the most obscene and offensive you would ever read in India and our songs talks about murder, torture, perversion and gore! Our attitude is down to earth and humble and we only show our aggression and perform our mutilation activities through our music!.yes we are sick in the head and perverse as fuck but otherwise we are normal folks with regular jobs and studies.

Do you think acceptability for your kind of music is set to grow in India? What draws a normal metal fan to this sicker creed, explain this transition process of a metalhead to an extreme metalhead? Also tell us, is it easy?
Death metal fans usually tend to start liking brutal death/grind by getting attracted initially by the lyrical content, the heaviness in the sound and the uniqueness of vocals because it’s so different from the regular growls and screams! Also as musicians we would like to say that every human is sick in the head how much ever saintly they might act. What we do is portray this sickness through our instruments which we think is extremely difficult as you are expressing a state of mind and emotions via music!  Metal heads would lap up this genre of music unless and until they are open to it. Some fags always keep saying that this music is noise and its shit and stuff, But we would not like to bother about them as we are happy playing real metal, we don’t need their fucking advice!
The best part is that not everyone listens to this genre of music hence we don’t have a lot of posers to worry about. In a pure extreme metal show like Bangalore’s UNDERGRIND there is not a huge turnout of people but we and all the bands playing out there like it that way as we know each and every one of those in the crowd know their shit well!
And we have a huge international underground scene which has accepted Gutslit’s music with open arms. And as far as the transition from a normal metal fan to the realms of vile music goes I would like to say quote-“Blessed are the Sick”! You can only understand and like this music if you are destined too and it’s a honor not given to everyone.

Brief us about the shows that you have played inside/outside Mumbai? What festivals are you targeting in the days to come?
Mumbai we have played for the eliminations of IIT ,Bangalore we have headlined a gig at Sphaira where really good bands like Slain played too! Also Bangalore’s extreme show the UNDERGRIND which was a crazy experience. Besides that we headlined a show in Ahmedabad called Metacracy.
In the coming days with the release of our split cd in the end of January 2009 we plan on touring more across India to promote our music and desecrate the masses! We have a lot of surprises and great plans which we would talk of in the days to come. You can keep a tab on our sick activities on www.myspace.com/gutslit

We got to know that you are coming out with an EP, tell us more about that (release date/label)? How can the fans access your music and buy the EP eventually?
It’s a split cd with one of the best international goregrind acts from Europe (name will be revealed soon) and it’s called Contorted Mutilation. it has totally 8 sick swansongs and it will be released under European record label Cataleptic Remains Productions. It will be a worldwide release on 31st January 2009 at RAIT college gig called Unchained. People in India can directly contact us for purchasing a copy of it! More details and surprises will be unleashed soon on our MySpace address www.myspace.com/gutslit.

What Indian label/fanzine support are you expecting? Have you approached any local labels for the EP distribution?
As far as India is concerned we would like to have direct interaction with the listeners. We not only consider selling our CD’s important to our fans but also the reviews and feedback they give us after giving the CD a couple of spins and that is possible best with a direct link with them. So we are not taking the help of any local labels for distro purposes as far as India is concerned.

Moving on, tell us are there any Indian/Asian metal bands you like/look upto?
Well we dig Exhumation from Mumbai, Abandoned Agony, Perforated Limb and Gorified from Bangalore. Except that I don’t think there is any band worth mentioning as far as brutal death/grind is concerned in India.
We also like Malaysian slam band Human Mastication,  Siksabur, Jasad from Indonesia,
Singapore’s WTN as well as Vomit Remnants from Japan concerning the
overall Asian scene.

What’s been the most satisfying moment during this 1 year of your existence? Have you managed some local fan support/base? And what can these fans expect in the days to come from Gutslit?
Every gig we played so far has been a very satisfying experience for the band as people have enjoyed our music and we have had a fun time playing for them too. Also we love the stream of letters from listeners which keep pouring in our inbox from all over the world telling us that they enjoy listening to our stuff and how surprised they are that India has extreme bands like us!
As far as local fan support goes we do have a lot of musicians and listeners into our stuff from Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Delhi, Chennai and east India. But the maximum support we get is from the capital of extreme metal in India that is Bangalore. That place has a sick bunch of crazy people into this kind of music and that is why we love playing out there! With the upcoming album promotion tours we hope to make our base in the local scene stronger. Fans can expect more sick, groovy, fast, technical and brutal stuff in the days to follow! There is no stopping now!

Any dream project/venture you have in sight?
Well, a dream venture is already in the pipeline for Gutslit which should materialize within the span of a year and it will definitely make a lot of people envious of us once they come to know about it. :P.

Thank you so much Gutslit for your time, Team Metalindia wishes you the best! Any messages you have for the fans?
Hey Atul thanks a lot to you as well for taking this interview and we appreciate Metalindia’s support to the band. We’d like to thank all those Gut sluts who have stayed with us all this time and supported us. Make good use of your time and go eat some Emo-Kids for breakfast and Fuck the mainstream!
Cheers and keep grinding the Cadaver \m/
Cheers!

Interview By-Atul Sharma