METAL AT NH7 WEEKENDER 2017

Bacardi NH7 Weekender will once again, after quite sometime, be celebrating metal at Weekenders across India this year. With 2 main Weekenders at Meghalaya and Pune, and around 6 Weekender Express shows (one day concerts), they're bringing down some exciting artists besides the metal bands playing too!

Let's take a quick look at the international and Indian metal bands playing Weekender this year.

1. The Dillinger Escape Plan
One of the bands in the lineup on their last world tour, the other being Textures. You would know the band for their legendary stage antics involving burning shit onstage, stage truss climbing and more. Not sure if they're up to it anymore but it'll be fun watching them live for sure.
Where: Pune

2. Textures
They've been here over and over, probably played more shows in India than some Indian bands :P (exaggeration intended) but yes, they're back because they won't be after this gig. But you've gotta fucking love Textures for the prog and tech they've brought into life with sexy albums like Silhouettes and Drawing Circles.
Where: Pune, Meghalaya, Bangalore

3. Steve Vai (Because he's metal AF anyway)
Steve Vai is a legend. I say no more. Steve going 'Getchyo hands off bish' in this picture.
Where: Pune, Meghalaya

4. Skyharbor
They're absolutely killing it in India and the international metal circuit. After having toured with nu metal monsters Deftones, this brainchild of Keshav Dhar has turned into something phenomenal. Really happy for them!
Where: Meghalaya, Bangalore

5. Bhayanak Maut
Oh my. <3
Where: Meghalaya

6. Zygnema
Tearing shit apart. Always. Can't wait to watch them again and again and again.
Where: Pune, Meghalaya

7. Goddess Gagged
The band got back from a hiatus somewhere last year when BlueTree did a comeback tour with the band. It's nice to see them back and I hope they play more shows than they already do.
Where: Meghalaya

8. Kraken
This band was love at first sight for me. If you get to check these guys out, make sure you ask them for their new album. For those of you who don't remember Kraken, you might know they were nominated for the best song category at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards some years ago, for song 'Dance Jane Dance'.
Where: Pune

Other Metal AF artists playing weekender include Khasi Bloodz, Skrat, Mosko, Zokova, and I'm super kicked to see them live. Get your tickets to all editions of Bacardi NH7 Weekender on Insider.

HUEHUE: AN INTERVIEW WITH BLOODYWOOD

Bloodywood has been rocking all your Bollywood and English pop songs with brutal, and some slightly stunning metal versions! Yes, they've not been around for too long, but in their little time they've managed to turn quite a few heads and have them people pushing play for a good laugh. Mind you, they're doing a kickass job with quality, and this is not your regular parody band.

I thought of having a little chat with them to see what they're up to. Who are they? Bloodywood is Karan Katiyar and Jayant Bhadula. Here's Jayant with some answers:

1. Why? Deets.
JB: Why? Well, it all started with me and Karan goofing around but the positive reception made us think about what we do. We realised that this indeed is a good way to get attention and when the time is right, we will drop our originals!

Bloodywood: Jayant Bhadula and Karan Katiyar

2. It isn't very uncommon to do covers of pop songs in a metal way, but something about Bollywood did spark this. What was so inspiring about our childhood?
JB: Just how some Bollywood music sounded (bad, mostly) make us think, 'You know what, this could sound way better' and that's literally all it took to push us into doing this.

3. Your favourite cuisine / dish?
JB: Chole bhature all the way

4. Here's an obvious question you're expecting me to ask - late Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington didn't like your cover of Heavy because yes we know it wasn't heavy at all, but what were your first thoughts when you saw Chester's 'Sucks ass' tweet?
JB: We were sort of expecting this :P

5. Which song really did it for you guys in terms of viewership so far?
JB: 'PPAP metal Version' - And we weren't expecting it to go that big! I mean the numbers were huge; 4 million + views on Facebook. Then some page ripped the video and even they got 4 million views and then some dude uploaded it on YouTube where it got somewhere around 180k+ views, plus a few cover versions to add to it. The feeling is something we can not describe in just words.



6. What other music / bands are you two with currently?
JB: I'm currently working with The Cosmic Truth and Bloodywood.
Karan works with The snake charmer alongside Bloodywood and I'm the spot dada at Archy's shoots! :P

7. Lots of effort into production, composition and all else we see. How are you spending so much time on this, or is it paying back? Patreon and other platforms working out for you?
JB: This is what we do for a living so all our time goes into this. Our main sources of income are Patreon and Spotify. We aren't earning enough yet to sustain ourselves completely off this but with enough support, we are confident we will be able to pull it off.

8. Favourite Indian bands.
JB: Skyharbor, Undying Inc., Demonic Resurrection, Goddess Gagged, The Cosmic Truth (:p), Zygnema, The Down Troddence and obviously BHAYANAK MAUT.

9. Favourite international bands.
JB: There are a lot of bands few of them would be:
August Burns Red
Killswitch Engage
Lamb of God
Thy Art is Murder
Textures
TesseracT

10. A little message for all Bloodywood fans and supporters out there.
JB: We love you guys for your support, stick around with us and we will make you guys proud |m|



Remember to SUPPORT BLOODYWOOD ON PATREON and like them on Facebook! Watch all their videos on YouTube.

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS? (CHAPTER 2)

Hello hi! I'm back. 

Here's a list of some nice Indian Metal bands you may or may not have heard. I've broken up the list into three parts, so for now enjoy, thank me later. I'm really excited to share a bunch of sick bands to you and I hope to do so more regularly. There's definitely no lack of metal music in India!

 1. Tangents 
Progressive Metal from Bangalore

2. Plague Throat
Death Metal from Shillong

3. Sycorax Death Metal from Darjeeling

4. Spine Break
Rap / Nu Metal from Solan, Himachal Pradesh

5. All Seeing Eye
Tech Death Metal from Bangalore

6. If Hope Dies
Progressive Metal from Darjeeling

- - - - - - - -

Discover new bands every now and then! Follow Metalsphere on Facebook and watch out for interviews, videos and more news.

METALSPHERE VLOG: EPISODE ONE

Welcome to the first ever episode of the Metalsphere video blog. I am your host. Duhh.

Morning ka evening ho gaya, so forgive me. Rendering is a bitch.

The Metalsphere vlog features news related to the heavy metal music scene in India, Asia.
The episode covers recent news in India like Cultfest, Indian bands like The Down Troddence, Inner Sanctum who just played in Norway, Planet Radio City's new 24x7 Indian metal radio station, Domination -The Deathfest, etc.
I also spoke to Albatross about their upcoming album 'Fear from the Skies' scheduled to release very soon. I also visit Rock 'n' Roll nights in Belapur, the first of it's kind at venue 'Cult Lounge', a gig featuring Mindshift (Sweden), Hellwind, Albatross, etc.



This is a bedroom production.

Music
My Dying Prayer by Orion
Uncle Sunny at the Tavern by Albatross.

Disclaimer:
The video and opinions expressed in the media or comments on this channel are personal and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions held by this channel's broadcaster. The broadcast is meant for awareness and pure entertainment, with no offence to any viewers intended.
The broadcaster of this channel cannot be held accountable for the copyrighted content. The broadcaster gains no profit from broadcasted content. All materials used in this property are of their respective owners.




Contact me in the column to the right to help me out with some news, features, ideas, feedback, or just to say hi!



Cheers! \m/

INDIAN METAL LYRIC VIDEOS

Songs are not ONLY about that one sexy riff (I like sexy riffs), just that one gut-pounding drum section (drummers <3) or that very innovative bass line the unknown dude came up with (I'm joking. I used to play bass and I am famous and fabulous :P )

There are great stories and some incredible thought given to songs. This thematic representation of concepts, based on our daily struggle, politics, war, fiction, fantasy and other things is one of the major reasons why this genre is so different from all else. Stories and lyrics in particular are crucial and extremely influential in the entire song-writing process. In short, know what the vocalist is saying.

Here's a collection of some Indian metal band's lyric videos. If you do know of any more, please let me know right away. I'll add them to the list. 

1. Inner Sanctum - Wake of Destruction



2. The Down Troddence - Nagavalli




3. Reptilian Death - O



4. Demonic Resurrection - Trail of Devastation



5. Amongst Denied - Nautilus for A Nemo 



6. Primitiv - Lords of Primitiv



7. Midhaven - Seeking the Divine



8. Chronic Xorn - The Great Human Failure

9. Wired Anxiety - Severe Comorbodity




10. Beastial Murder - Kill You Idol




11. Gaia's Throne - Contact





A new look for Metalsphere is coming soon, and I may have another surprise. Watch out. I promise I'll be regular until BIG69 returns! :P

Cheers!

A shot from Inner Sanctum's lyric video for their single 'Wake of Destruction'

GIG UPDATE AND INTERVIEW WITH THE STORMBRINGER TEAM (THE STORMFEST ANNIVERSARY)

Pepsi MTV Indies Live and The Stormbringer present The Stormfest Anniversary, this weekend in Pune! Here's an interview I've done with the organizer that's bringing to us one of the most kickass gigs in proximity on the 28th of September 2014. Man, this Pune scene is killing it. Mumbai, it's time we travelled to Pune for gigs. I'm going for sure!

For you lazy fuckers who don't want to read the poster, here is the lineup:

Ephemeral

Knights & Circles

Orcus (Mumbai)

Ragnhild

Consecration

Providence (Mumbai)

THE DOWN TRODDENCE (Kannur/Bangalore)

Name of organizer (come on come on tell us, don't hide!) 
We’re collectively called The Stormbringer – Tushar Joshi, Utkarsh Golatkar, Kaushik Joshi & Aakanksha Rao

Favourite food 
Tushar - Cinnabons
Utkarsh – Anything non veg. (including the jokes)
Kaushik Joshi -  Dabeli (seriously)
Aakanksha Rao – Wada Pav

Which was the first gig you did in Pune?
Our first gig was 'The Stormfest' on 21st September 2013. We had Virion, Cruoris, Adamantium , Bleeding Edge, Cosmic Infusion and Gutslit. It was at this crappy banquet hall in Wakad but it was one mental gig! All the Pune bands gave a stellar performance and Gutslit & Cosmic Infusion killed the crowd.

What's special about this anniversary edition of Stormfest? 
We've grown a lot over the last year and come a long way from an underground venue, low budget etc. to commercial, ambient venues and high-profile bands. We decided we need to get the best band in the current scene and couldn’t think of anyone else other than The Down Troddence who’ve recently won 8 awards at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards (2014). We’re also getting Providence who have gathered a lot of fans in Pune since the last time they were seen by Pune fans, so we’re really keen on having them both!

What was the initial idea behind organizing gigs?
I’ve (Tushar) been part of the Pune music scene since 2004 performing in a few bands, the likes of Campus Rock Idols and some Mixtape events, Yamaha Roxx etc., doing gigs on a regular basis. We had a lot of gigs until I left the country in 2008. I returned in 2013 hoping to perform again but only to find that there are only competitions and mall gigs where bands could perform with an exception of very few independent gigs. That was pathetic! Bands should not have to compete with each other and malls are no place for a band to perform. Moreover, the bands end up paying up to Rs. 1000 as registration fee just to get 15 minutes of crappy sound from a sound engineer whose forte is Indian festivals, playing to a crowd of Honey Singh & EDM lovers and at the end of it, bands get disappointed because they lose to a band that has been playing for years. They also get into a state of bitching about the other bands, which was really unhealthy for the scene as we’re all in this together and suffering equally. So I realized that something needs to be done about this and decided to get into organizing gigs.
Also, the idea behind doing gigs in Pune was that other organizers were bringing in bands from outside and the local bands were barely getting a stage to perform. I was also told by a very prominent independent event organizer that Pune bands aren’t good. I refused to accept that as we’ve always had some really great bands come out of the city in the past. Currently, in my opinion, we definitely have some amazing talent in the city that just needs to be nurtured and encouraged. However, if I’m being biased and if its true that they are in fact not worth giving a stage to perform, then unless they are given a chance with a fair setup where they can perform, they can’t be expected to improve. It was that simple. So I formed The Stormbringer as an initiative to promote the local bands/artists.

What genres have you been doing gigs in?
We’re involved with bands/artists right from Classical to Extreme Metal. We’re in it to promote independent music so we don’t segregate genres.

Besides this, what is it that you do for a living, or is this your only job?
I (Tushar) do this full time. Utkarsh is a vocalist. Kaushik works in Kirloskar's accounts department and Aakanksha works for AIESEC.

Do you play music? 
I play bass, rhythm guitars (I’m really bad). Utkarsh is a vocalist for Chaoskampf and the only talented musician in the team. Kaushik and Aakanksha, both are professional bathroom singers.

What lies ahead for the Stormbringer!?
We’re planning a lot of things. Next step will be to move into other cities apart from Pune and improve the independent music scene there. So watch out people, THERE’S A STORM COMING OUT OF PUNE!! \m/


RSVP for The STORMFEST ANNIVERSARY EDITION HERE!
Here's the Facebook page for the Stormbringer.. CLICK CLICK!

See you this weekend, Pune!
\m/