IMR: SKRYPT is a Progressive Thrash Metal band with some Death Metal influences adding to your style of music. Were you guys clear with the musical style that the band had to achieve or was it something that evolved gradually?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Well initially we started off as a straight up Thrash Metal band. But there’s so much good music out there and we’re all influenced by so many different bands that it started creeping up into our music. We just compose our music and don’t try and stick to any specific genre. We’re quite open to experimenting and we apparently happen to fall in a genre called Progressive Thrash Metal.
IMR: Musically, what inspires you the most when it comes to the creativity aspect of your music, such as what bands are you really into or do you look up to the most? Also, what are some of the strengths that each member of the band brings to the altar with respect to their major musical influences?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Initially the band that influenced us the most was PANTERA. Them followed by bands like DEATH, SLAYER, OPETH, TEXTURES, GOJIRA etc. I guess this shows a bit in our music too. We try and bring together all our influences and put it together while composing. Ramya has completed 8 grade in classical guitar so we tried to add that experience and influence in some of the songs along with the whole progressive metal thing. Scenic is a huge fan of Phil Anselmo (PANTERA) and Eric Kalsbeek (TEXTURES) so he tries to bring that out. Rajiv is a fan of Dave Lombardo (FUCKING SLAYER), Tomas Haake (MESHUGGAH) and Mario Duplantier (GOJIRA). And some bassists that influence me are Rex Brown (PANTERA), Martin Mendez (OPETH) etc.
IMR: As far as songwriting and the originative process is concerned, is that a co-operative exertion or does somebody takes the lead over the other and writes the majority of the material? Are the songs delivered from traditional rehearsals – or do you guys write a lot individually?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): We don’t really have a fixed method of composing songs. But everyone usually has an input in the song and likes every detail before it is a part of the song. We usually put riffs together at home. Everyone works separately. We send across riffs that we’ve composed so the others can add to it or edit it. So we do this till we’ve completed the song. The riffs now are being written by Scenic(yes, the vocalist writes riffs too), Ramya and me. The biggest difficulty is that Scenic and I live in Mumbai and the others are based it Hyderabad. So most of the stuff is done over the internet now.
IMR: Recently there has been a new addition into the bands line-up with Ravi.N, what made you guys think about adding a new guitarist into the band? How does he add to SKRYPT's music (in general)?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): SKRYPT has always been a band that had and needed a second guitarist. We started off as a 5 piece and then Akhil had to leave. We immediately found a replacement in Joel who brought in a new dimension into the band and with his experience helped us all grow as musicians. But after his departure from the band we found it a bit hard to find a replacement and finally decided to continue as a 4 piece and continue playing live and composing new music. After we got comfortable it seemed like the perfect time to bring in the much needed second guitarist. Ravi is a very tight rhythm guitarist and also plays lead. We jammed with him for a few months before confirming him as the ideal second guitarist. He has always loved our band and the music and it suits his style of playing as well. He has all the freedom to add to the band already existing songs and be a part of the new compositions. It has only been a week since he joined so we’ll just have to wait and see how the fifth person input works on our music.
IMR: With the bands upcoming album, what has been the approach of the band? Have you guys tried to experiment more or the ingredients remain the same?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): This is our first EP after over 3 years of playing. The experimenting with the song has just been just the general experimenting while composing. We didn’t really sit down and think that we’re going to compose music for this EP in particular. It’s just a collection of songs over a period of time. Some songs we haven’t put on the EP because we felt they weren’t up to the mark or just songs that aren’t are style or sound anymore. But we’re quite happy with the final output on the EP. Looking forward to releasing it soon.
IMR: So, let’s gets more specific about the band’s new album DISCORD, where does the title originally root from and how would you describe the general feeling and atmosphere on DISCORD that can be felt by an individual?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): We decided to name the album DISCORD based of the main concept running through most of the song and some of our old songs. It’s about the human mind and what goes on through it and how it perceives things. But this is about us personally and not someone else. It’s what we see around us and how its just a Dog-Eat-Dog world with hypocrisy and lies everywhere. It’s about two minds in one head. Anger, aggression, violence, but looked at in a different way. Supremacy is a very simple “take no shit” kind of all out aggressive song. Anathema was about this dream I had. I saw the world splitting in half and chaos and destruction everywhere. People running around to trying to save them and there I saw the real truth of how people were and again the whole recurring theme of our songs seemed to come up. I remembered this very well when I woke up the next day and decided to write a song about this one day. The rest of the songs were written by Scenic. Constructing the Absolute is the only song that has a different theme. It’s just a story of the journey of the band. What we’ve been through. How we almost broke up because we were at a dead end and then how we picked ourselves up and came back and are on a path to achieving this vision we have of the band. Yes, Cheese and Corn but every song is very personal to us and the album has a lot of emotion in the songs.
We never really had a concept for the album but most of the songs just happened to fit around a similar theme. The songs flow quite well into each other and the mood of the EP won’t let you get bored. Its aggressive, groovy, dark and even mellow at times.
IMR: The cover-art looks to be quite impressive, who is the man behind the designing? Is he an established artist or just a friend of the band?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Yeah we wanted to pay a lot of attention to all aspects of this record. The cover was done by this artist based in Germany call Kim Crosland from CHAOSART. She’s done work for a lot of bands. Her style of work is quite different compared to what were looking for. But she’s brilliant It was about 2 months of constant emailing each other, tweaking the picture and getting on her nerves until we finally got the picture just the way we wanted it.
IMR: One thing, I would certainly like to admit is the band enthralling stage presence, something which many of the bands lack on-stage. What is the band's secret that drives them insane lively or is it something that you have worked on from the past?
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Its nothing planned or practiced. It’s just the energy fed off the crowd when we get on stage. When we feel the music and get into the groove it just makes you wanna go crazy on stage. And it’s all about having fun as well. We wouldn’t have lasted this long if we didn’t enjoy it.
IMR: How are the tour plans in support of DISCORD shaping up - any single gigs or festival appearances all over India? You guys must come to Mumbai; we would love to wrench our necks onto your music!
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Things are shaping up quite well in fact. We’re in talks with organizers from different cities and are planning on starting off with Hyderabad and then following that up with gigs across major cities in India like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore. Mumbai is one place we’re looking forward to playing at. It’s like my other hometown now so it’s about time we played a few gigs here.
IMR: Thanks for the interview! Good luck with all your future endeavors. I would like to extend my praise for your debut E.P. If there's anything I've forgot to mention, here's the space!
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Thanks a lot for the interview man. We’d also like to thank all the people that have supported us over the years and all the friends that we’ve made and the bands that we’ve played with and gotten to know. Get hold with one of the band members to pick up a copy of our album. Check it out and let us know what you think. Our first song from the EP is up now so check that out!
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!!!Beers!!!
Pravin Prajapati(LordMessiah)
