Dagger

One of the best things about the internet for me is the ability to discover bands from around the world. The Asian music scene is a trove of metal and hardcore bands. I was recently listening to a split between Hong Kong hardcore act Dagger and Singapore sludge act HRVST. Dagger is a relatively new band, members have previously been a part of bands like King Ly Chee, Yau Dong and FightxClub. I spoke to the band about the split, the music scene in Hong Kong and Asia and also their upcoming shows.

Read the interview on The Metal Wanderlust

Irreversible Mechanism

Recently I have found the current lot of technical death metal bands sounding sterile. One band that has stood out for me is Irreversible Mechanism from Minsk, Belarus. On their recently released album, Immersion the band mix tight riffage with a post apocalyptic atmosphere. I’m going to be listening the album often in the coming weeks/months.

I spoke to guitarist Andrie Parmon about Immersion, Dan Presland performing drums on the album and also their future plans.

Read the interview on The Metal Wanderlust

Steve Dickson (Mammothfest)

A first on the blog, an interview with a festival organizer. Mammothfest is an annual metal festival in Brighton, UK. The 6th edition is less than a month away and features a few big acts. I spoke to the man behind Mammothfest, Steve Dickson about the origins of the festival, memorable moments and what attendees this year can expect.

Hi Steve, how are preparations going for the 6th edition of the Mammothfest?

Overall very well thank you. This year we decided to reign things in a little as 2017 was arguably the biggest extreme metal event Brighton has or will ever see and it took its toll both financially and emotionally on us all; so we wanted to scale back a touch to make things more manageable. This we have achieved so its been far easier to put together.

How and when did you decide to start Mammothfest?

Mammothfest came about as a result of my promoting metal events in Brighton under the name “tactical whore” promotions over 10 years ago. Having a considerable taste for promoting metal events, doing well at it and wanting to upscale I decided to create a Brighton metal festival. This was created with my business partner Rik Mosquera who very sadly passed away of a brain tumour a few years ago. He and I wanted to do our bit for metal locally and I have simply carried the flame forward partly in his honour.

The festival features heavyweights like Decapitated and more. How do you select the bands that will perform at the festival?

Decapitated are one of the bands I have been into since they started so to book them is quite frankly a true honour and dream come true. Their music continues to inspire millions around the world and with such a strong back catalogue it was only a matter of time before they were to headline our festival. It is our aim to bring all the biggest bands in the world to Brighton one day so as we grow as a brand and financially we look to step things up a notch and after their awful USA experience it felt right to reach out and be the first metal festival in the world to book them (as we were) and show our love and support for them, and here they are!

What has been the most memorable show you have organized so far?

Tough one as there have been so many incredible moments so rather than pin it on one I would like to mention a few.

When we interviewed Venom Inc back stage at Concorde 2 and the legend that is Abaddon sat on my leg for the whole interview and almost gave me “abaddonitis” nearly breaking my leg sitting on my leg for 20 minutes throughout the interview as you can see here 

but of course most importantly the fact we have Venom perform at Mammothfest, this was one of the biggest moments of my career!
Welcoming to the stage Fleshgod apocalypse who to me are one of the best and pioneering bands in the world
Amenra were simply stunning live last year too
Onslaught were an honour to work with, in 2015 as the first large band we booked after our return
Rotting Christ were an honour to welcome to our stage also last year
But also its not just about the big bands, it’s about giving the emerging bands the opportunity to support these inspirational legends and create magic memories and moments that none of us will ever forget. This to me is where it is at because we can’t take money with us but we can sit back and smile at all these moments and be the wealthiest people in the world.

Do recommend 5 bands that the readers should check out.

Asides from the headliners of course…
1 Ascaris – 3 piece extreme metal band that are so intense you forget to breath. They have a new album coming out soon THE RAISED HAND which is utterly brutal and beautiful
2 Kill all the gentlemen have an incredible melodic death metal edge with a new album THE LOSS AND THE RAPTURE which is simply stunning
3) Rectal smegma are an absolute must… I wont even say why, just be there…Sat 6th.
4) King leviathan will perform for the last time ever in Brighton as headliners on Sun 7th Oct and this will be quite simply a very moving end to their career….
5) i’m going to be selfish and suggest people come and see my band MAGNA CARTA on the main stage Friday 5th… electro metal, slightly different, think prodigy but metal and you are there…

What should people expect at this year’s edition of Mammothfest?

More of the same in many respects, why change something that isn’t broken? Heavy metal all weekend with a diverse range of bands from emerging artists that are incredible live to some of the heaviest world renowned bands like INGESTED and more and most of the weekend it’s at the ARCH venue actually on Brighton beach. Metal on the beach… yes!

Do you have any more shows planned for this year?

Actually yes, we are proud to be working with Rob Holiday, The Prodigy / Marilyn Manson guitarist’s band SULPHER for a show at the HAUNT on Fri 21st Sept 2018 with my band MAGNA CARTA as main support. We are doing less shows but the ones we do come with a real spirit so we of course invite everyone to be there for that as it’s going to be a really special event.

Thanks for answering all my questions. Do you have anything else to add?

By the time of everyone reading this we will have sold out of weekend tickets but day tickets are still available for the Friday and Saturday so come down and support the bands, they are the ones keeping music alive and we merely offer a platform for them to continue their incredible work, after all imagine a world without music? … Fuck that
Thank you for your interest in Mammothfest, see you there we hope!
Steve

False Flag/Neck Deep in Filth

False Flag and Neck Deep in Filth are two of the most politically outspoken acts from the Indian subcontinent, hence it would make sense for them to team up and put out a split. I was quite excited when the split was announced and the singles released from it so far sound great.
Find out more about the split, the inspiration behind their tracks in the interview with Shaunak Phadnis (False Flag) and Vishal Rai (Neck Deep in Filth)

Read the interview on Unite Asia

 

Khôrada

13th May, 2016, was a tough day for metal fans around the world as Doom/Folk metal act Agalloch announced that they were breaking up. One of the bands formed in the wake of the Agalloch split was Khôrada. The band sounds unlike Agalloch or Giant Squid (Aaron Gregory is the vocalist). I really enjoyed their first release Salt and spoke to Don Anderson about starting over, the album and also his thoughts on the current metal scene.

Read my interview with Don Anderson on The Metal Wanderlust

 

Shashank Bhatnagar (UnBolly Inc)

Continuing from the last post on gig promoters in Delhi, the next person being featured is no stranger to the metal scene in India. Known as the vocalist in Undying Inc and Soul Inclination, Shashank Bhatnagar has in the past year started donning the hat of a gig promoter with Unbolly Inc. He is taking HEAD Party down south to Bangalore this weekend after working on over 40 shows in a short period.

Find out more about the origins of Unbolly Inc. what he is currently listening to and also future plans in my interview with Shashank Bhatnagar below

Hi Shashank, you are gearing up for the first edition of HEAD Party in Bangalore. How are preparations going?

Preparations are in full swing. We know pretty much all the songs from both the bands, kinda instilled in our muscle memory. It’s almost like a badass training regime (all thanks to our jampad commander-in-chief, Shashvat Pandit) but a lot more fun. Nothing beats the feeling of educating the masses on Heavy Metal & delivering power to the classics we have grown up listening to. Our team & artists are super excited for this.

How and when did you decide to start Unbolly?

I started Unbolly with my better half, Avi Bu. Got a dear friend and a veteran in art & music, Raj Das for creative. Got introduced to the lovely, Mr. Gaurav Soral, Loveleen Anand & Vishal Saini of Cafe Turquoise Cottage for the venue by another dear friend, Pranav Sehgal of Crooner’s Collective. Called up another old buddy from the industry, Manu Saksena to help me out with the production. And boom, first Headparty!

Now that we look back, birth of Unbolly has been pending since aeons.I personally, have been doing small scale Metal/Rock events since 2005, on & off. Giving our new team a name and a stronger direction came as recently as October 2017 though. But I never wanted to be an event organizer post 2010, have spent majority of my life being a musician, water boring/rain harvesting plants, selling homes, & personally training people for their fitter selves, wanted to keep it that way. Felt we had to come back, primarily because of the downfall Delhi faced in 2017, with the number of original Indie shows, venues, dropping to almost nothing. Overflow of Hindi Bollywood bands calling themselves Sufi and whatnot. Practically killed off every form of music, sense of belonging to the small community we had, or even basic respect for musicians around. To a level that we barely had any Rock/Metal bands left in this city. And yes, we hate everything Bollywood, or pretentious. Hence, Un-bolly.

How do you select the bands that will perform at shows?

We prefer working with professional bands who believe in promoting themselves on priority, have recent releases, and are downright Badasses when it comes to deliverance. Not only in aspects of financial dealings, but also reliability of the performance. We do try our best, to work with the best in business. We don’t do this for everyone, we do this with everyone. If we are on the same page, you’re on.

What has been the most memorable show you have organized so far?

Far too many to mention here. But the last #HEADPartyV7 at Café Turquoise Cottage in Delhi, definitely was something that gave us the confidence to take our style of Metal to a brand new city, Bangalore. We had the legendary “Demonic Resurrection” from Mumbai, held a Delhi debut for Jaipur’s “War Cry”,& our own little tribute to Vinnie Paul (Drummer of Pantera/Damage Plan/Hell Yeah). Needless to say, there were a hell lot of flying sweat, blood & bodies. Our heaven of 250+ monsters.

What are 5 bands that the readers should check out?

Highly suspect, Blue Saraceno, Hozier, Avatar, Kaleo

You are the vocalist of Undying inc as well as Soul Inclination. How you manage between your bands and organizing shows?

It’s extremely tough. Hence, trying to pull back on the events a bit and start writing music with both already.

Do you have any more shows planned for this year?

As of now, for Unbolly; 30th August, 2nd September, 14th September, 24th September, 11th October, 26th-28th October, 9th November. More dates to be added. Follow our page on Instagram (@unbollyinc) & Facebook to stay updated.

Thanks for answering all my questions. Do you have anything else to add?

Indian Rock & Metal will rise again. To all who abandoned it? You’d feel sorry soon.

Rudra

Veteran Singapore metal act Rudra are pioneers of Vedic Metal. I discovered the band when I was just getting into extreme metal. The first album I heard by Rudra was their 3rd album, Kurukshetra. The album has been described by the band as their “heaviest and most ruthless in both music and lyrical content”. Last month, Rudra released The Blackisle Sessions which features tracks from Kurukshetra.

Find out more about the Blackisle Sessions, Kurukshetra and also their upcoming releases in this interview with frontman Kathir.

Read the interview on Unite Asia