IMR: Hello Arun! First and foremost thing, I would like to congratulate you guys on behalf of Team IMR for the release of your debut E.P; an album that is sure to catch attention. How does it feel to have accomplished that step in such a short duration of time?
Arun(KAAV): Hi Praveen. Even though the band was formed in 2009, Shyam and Shabeer were making music for a long time. They had already composed tracks like DAYA. After I joined, we could materialize so many creative ideas that were in a stale state without the presence of drums. What I feel is that the E.P is a result of collective experiences we had as musicians in our respective journeys. Yes, we are happy to know that people have accepted KAAV as an Instrumental band. And the E.P would have never become a reality without the support and guidance of Baiju Dharmajan(MOTHERJANE).
IMR: Howdy Sidd! How are the things at TOUGH ON TOBACCO's campaign? Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the band? Where did you guys all meet and what brought you together as a collective group?
Sidd Coutto(ToT): We're a band, not a political party. So we have no campaign. Though, if we did, our slogan would be 'mad o vote?'
The ToT bassist Johan played with me in my first band in Mumbai in 1997. We've been friends ever since. We were in HELGA’s FUN CASTLE from 2004 with drummer Jai Row Kavi, who I first met when he offered to be my roadie in Zero. I met guitarist Gaurav when I helped produce a recording for his band Red Cube, 3 years ago. Guitarist Pozy was a Warren/Zero fan and played in its last line-up.
Helga's and Zero folded up around the same time. And I'd been working on the Tough on Tobacco album (at that point ToT was a two man effort between me and sound engineer/co-producer Hans Dalal). The guys came together to take that material on the road.
IMR: Hello Abbas! Thanks for doing this interview with IndianMusicRevolution. Since this is your first interview with us, could you briefly introduce the band and its members? A short history, so to speak, to get our readers up to speed with SKRYPT!
Abbas Razvi(SKRYPT): Hey. Well SKRYPT was formed when Scenic and Ramya met up with Rajiv and Akhil in December 2006. They started jamming and were looking out for a bassist. I moved to India from New Zealand in May 2007 and by June 2007 Scenic got in touch with me and I was in the band. We played our first gig in July 2007 and things have been getting better since then. After about 3-4 months of being together we won competitions like YOUTHOPIA and CAMPUS ROCK IDOLS(Hyderabad). Been gigging hard since then and have played over 30 gigs now. We have had a couple of lineup changes in the 2nd guitarist department. Our current lineup is – Scenic G: Vocals, Ramya Rao: Guitars, Ravi N: Guitars, Abbas Razvi: Bass, Rajiv Kumar: Drums. Ex-members: Akhil Kodamanchili: Guitars (ALMOST SEPTEMBER) & Joel K: Guitars(WRECKAGE)
IMR: Hello Siva! Greetings from Team IMR for the release of your debut release EQUILIBRIUM (E.P). How has your response been so far for the latest effort?
Siva(Crypted): Well, so far we’ve got some good reviews from the people who we’ve sold our CDs to. A few of our friends who have no clue about metal seemed to like the title track a lot. We’re yet to receive extensive reviews with some in-depth comments on the EP though.
IMR: Hi Kishore, thank you for taking time out to do this interview with IndianMusicRevolution. Also kudos for the release of your full-length debut album SNAKEISM!
Kishore Krishna: Well, I have got a lot of time on my hands and thanks.