Indian Music Revolution - Latest News, Reviews, Interviews, Gigs, Downloads

IMR (Pravin): Hello "KASTADYNE”! At last you people are out with your debut album “ELEVEN COMPLAINTS”. So how is the feeling?
TEJAS (TJ): It's awesome! It took us almost 4 years to create this album and it feels fantastic to see it in stores and on the web.
SHELDON: It feels good... we've got a lot of good response.

IMR (Pravin): First of all, let us know what does "KASTADYNE" mean? Give a brief introduction about all of them and how did the project came together?
TJ: This is one of the first questions people ask when they come to know about us. We wanted a unique band name. So one of our friends played around with words and came up with Kastadyne. Just sounds cool, lol!
SHELDON: Its just an array of words scrambled together in order to form an extremely unique word. When you log on to google and type ‘kastadyne’ you get about 1800 links all directed to us.

IMR (Pravin): Never heard "KASTADYNE" performing in any of the gigs, is it just a studio project? Why?
TJ: The band actually started out with just me and Sheldon. He wrote and I composed. The entire first album was recorded at my home studio. After releasing it, we decided to go live. But we played a couple of shows only to return to the studio. The songs we make have many instruments and often up to 5 guitars playing at the same time. This coupled with the fact that sound systems at local gigs are pathetic, we decided to remain a studio project for now while having a good presence on the web.
SHELDON: We do perform occasionally. Big & small gigs. But we love what we can do in the studio, man. We get OUR sound - the way we want it.

IMR (Pravin): Give a brief introduction about your debut album "ELEVEN COMPLAINTS"
SHELDON: Eleven Complaints speaks about revolution at a personal, social & political level.
TJ: As I said, it took us 4 years to make the album, so some of the material in the songs actually changed as time went by. We had so much fun making this album because we experimented with so many different sounds and song styles. I think the most radical of them would have to be the last track, "Rat Race" since we recorded vocals and made it sound like a reverse flute. You'll find that none of the songs have anything in common, they're all different and we love this album for that.

IMR (Pravin): Lyrically, you people are just out of the world. Who writes lyrics for the project and how do you focus yourself to write such beautiful and thoughtful lyrics?
SHELDON: I write about what touches me the most. Hence they are songs I have something to speak about. I started writing when i was in the 9th standard :)
TJ: Sheldon writes all the lyrics. He's a genius. Many times when I am laying down a bass track and I find that the lyrics are too short, Sheldon can add more lines to verse or chorus without losing meaning or making it muddy. Crazy talent!

IMR (Pravin): "ELEVEN COMPLAINTS”, the debut album is all about political issues, awareness etc, but not what our Indian Bollywood crowd is addicted. What do you think - how many hearts you will able to reach by these complaints?
SHELDON: We're trying our best to reach out to everyone, across india and as well as the world. The web makes this possible today.
TJ: Neither of us were ever interested in anything to do with Bollywood. Our songs are about what really happens in everyday life, all the hardships and happiness. Indian Rock has always had a relatively small audience, and we are carving a niche within that for ourselves. The support and interest is growing, though. So it's only a matter of time.

IMR (Pravin): Let us know, if you people are planning to release a video for your album as it would boost the album promotion. If yes, for which track you will make a video and what it would be like?
SHELDON: Yeah, in fact, we already made a music video for ‘Victim of my Anger’. It will be aired soon. We are working on some more vids in the meanwhile. Basically we intend to reach out to many people as possible & fulfill our producer’s desire to dominate the world with quality music :)
TJ: Our video for ‘Victim of my Anger’ is set in the lush hills of Karjat (outside Mumbai). It should be out on TV soon. It’s quite intense. Just another way to reach out.

IMR (Pravin): Which are the instruments that “KASTADYNE" uses for their sound production?
TJ: Kastadyne records in Studio B, with all the latest equipment.

Ibanez SA series Guitar

Ibanez BTB Bass Guitar

Samick Guitar

Ovation OP30 Semi-Solid Guitar

Samick Bass Guitar

Fender Rumble Bass Amp

Line6 Spider Amp

Line6 X3 Processor

Protools Software

Digidesign 002

Presonus Preamp

Dynaudio Monitors

And mics by Shure, Rode, Brauner, M-Audio and Sennheiser

Not to mention, the countless software plug-ins from Waves, McDSP, Massey, URS, etc.

IMR (Pravin): List down some of your major Indian/Foreign influences from whom you draw inspiration?
SHELDON: Tool, Porcupine Tree, LimpBizkit, Perfect Circle, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rage against the Machine, Korn, Audioslave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. etc.

IMR (Pravin): Which is the Record Label that you people have signed up for releasing “ELEVEN COMPLAINTS”? Is that true that the album have been mixed and mastered mostly in Germany?
SHELDON: We self-released the album. Yes the songs were mastered in Germany but mixed here by Da Producer (Narayan Kumar).
TJ: The album is an indie effort. All the tracks have been recorded and mixed in Studio B. Only the final stage of Mastering was done in Germany by XARC to bring the songs to commercial quality.

IMR (Pravin): Which was the first track that you people recorded along with your project, how was the feeling?
SHELDON: The first track that we composed & recorded was ‘I Don’t Know Why’.
TJ: ‘I Don’t Know Why’ is a very simple song with a hook and has a special place for us because we have discarded a lot of songs and this one has always stayed.

IMR (Pravin): Most of the Indian bands go out for Death/Black/Heavy metal bands that are what the scenario demands. What made you choose Nu-Age as your musical genre?
SHELDON: Why be like most bands and do the usual stuff... we're mainly influenced by alternative & nu-age rock. So we tried our best to come up with some thing truly original that falls in these categories.
TJ: Both of us always liked music that could make a band stand apart from the crowd. And we never found this in death metal. We never decided what genre to play. In fact it took us a long time playing before we could figure what our genre was.

IMR (Pravin): List out some points, why are we lagging behind in the music scenario even though we have plenty of well deserving bands?
TJ: There are tons of good bands in India! It's just that people are used to certain heavyweights in Indian Rock, so it's tough to find a good gig to play at. There are always many gigs for upcoming bands and they really don't get the best of equipment for such shows.
SHELDON: It’s the audience that they reach out to. We should know no borders and try our best to reach out to the whole world.

IMR (Pravin): So, until now how is the review for the debut album "ELEVEN COMPLAINTS” and are you planning up for the next full length album . What it would be like?
SHELDON: Eleven Complaints received spectacular response & still is... we're currently working on our second album and will keep on making music for ever... our second album is even more power packed.
TJ:  It's been received very well. We've already sold many of the songs online and one of the Planet-M shops Mumbai actually ran out of stock. We've already started work on a second album, and the songs are more clear in terms of what we want to convey.

IMR (Pravin): Any message that you’d like to give to Team IMR and all your fans out there around the globe?
SHELDON: We'd like to thank team IMR and all our Kastadyne fans for all their support & their faith in our music. To all who've not been anointed Kastaholics yet, go get your self a copy of Eleven Complaints.
TJ: Thanks for supporting Indian rock! Do keep in touch with us and write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Your feedback is really important to us. We read each and every e-mail we receive.

 
BAND’S WEBSITE: WWW.KASTADYNE.COM


Thank you "KASTADYNE", Team IMR wishes you good luck for the future . Rock On!!!

IMR:  How did the project "BLIND IMAGE" come up together? Would you like share something about your beginning days?
BlindImage: Yes, Krishna (Drummer) met this young guitar genius during a show when "Prashant" aka "Demattio" was playing comfortably numb by "Pink Floyd" after which they had a talk about music and got to know each other. Later "Krishna" gave a call and then "Prashant" and "Krishna" jammed "Master of puppets" by" Metallica" and "Tornado of souls", which felt good. Then during the search for other band members they jammed with many people and after many line up changes they found a bassist "Shricharan" who was Krishna’s friend for 4 years and the most committed member of the band since he left his house in Mumbai and decided to stay in "Chennai" for the band. After trying out many vocalists the band found the "Whako" aka "David Simon" who completed the thrash identify of the band. And then the blind image line up was stabilized. Since then they have been burning every stage on which they play, with their heavy stuff. Presently they are working on an album which is expected by the year end or latest by Feb. 2008. Mean while they will be playing more live shows.

IMR: What is the concept behind the name "BLIND IMAGE”?
BlindImage: An image being a portrayal or a replication of things that we hear and see around us within our hearts and minds, things that are sometimes too real for comfort, facts that are too hard to swallow. And hence once in a while we tend to purposely hide such uncomfortable images away, blinding them from our vision to satisfy our own sense of vanity. These images become our blind images, representations of the devil within us all.

IMR:  If I am not wrong you guys are about to release an album somewhere in June. Let us know when it is going to be released, I am really very much excited about it and I think so is everybody? Would you like to tell us something about the album?
BlindImage: Yeah, the albums are metal with experimental touch and thrash bass and groove bass. We have aimed to make the sound of the album really dynamic. All the songs have come out will. The album will be having a ballad also. And a small interlude called SAY NO MORE. The songs in the album are:Skin, Psycho babble, Shit happens, Read my lips, MOB Anthem, Effigy, Say no more and Kiss of anarchy.
The album had title, but then we have decided to change it... so we will soon, update u guys with the title.  .. The album is very contemporary and unique. The lyrics are like from sex to politics to about life to girl friend dumping... The song effigy is about, a guys standing in the twin tower during the crash and analyzing how to die, either jump off or get burnt with the building... it has turned out very well... and skin is about sex.. lol. Well sex is an important part of life...lol... psycho babble is about, a random promise by politicians, kiss of anarchy is about “Let me go, set me free, kiss of anarchy” (girlfriend) u get the concept J….. Say no more is about life again... read my lip is also philosophical. So lyrics are pretty interesting... all the songs are catchy.

IMR: You guys sound to be more like legendary bands Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica etc. Nodoubt many of the metal-heads like heavy metal stuff, but why not something original?
BlindImage: Well, We are not like our influence. am sure of that... That’s the opinion ppl had when we just started because initially all bands play like their influences...  Now its original contemporary sound. Every note played composed is original, contemporary and carved out like a sculpture... We are very confident about that... Megadeth is our influence... that’s all... but We don sound like any of our influences... Am sure the Blind image has evolved to give a new sound a real fresh and GROOVY ONE.  So Its blind image the original and contemporary now… J u will be seeing that in the ALBUM.

IMR: Let us know how is the metal scene out there in “CHENNAI any more underground bands around your local circuit in the black/death/heavy metal genre, which are much, appreciated by the crowd?
BlindImage: Metal scene in Chennai is Little bad only... but its increasing. There are ppl who takes effort to improve the scene... but right now it’s bad in chennai. But many other bands are coming up now... More death metal I must say… But crowd here is bad and still slowly improving.

IMR: I still remember the first time, when I saw you guys performing live at the "MUSICIANS MALL"(Mumbai). You guys almost had the crowd with the way every one of you was involved and hats off to your energy level. What you would like to say about it how was the experience?
BlindImage: Oh, Musician mall is like an evergreen memory. We can’t forget that day... We played for an Awesome and energetic crowd. I must accept that, it’s one of the best gigs that we have played for sure... It was so awesome and a fabulous gig. Crowd sang along for every original and covers. What can make a band more happy than to see the crowd singing there originals. Mumbai crowd is crazy and we love it... We love to play in Mumbai as many times as possible. It’s a wonderful place with wonderful crowd. Mumbai rocks. We will come there and release the album soon.

IMR: List down some of your Indian/International major influences that really inspired you to enter the music stream?
BlindImage: Megadeth, Metallica, Freak Kitchen, Pantera, Slayer, Lamb of god, Pink Floyd, rush, The WHO, Dave Mathews band, Queensryche, Meshuggah. Jazz artist like: Frank gambale, Dave weckle, Chickorea, Ron thal, Shawn lane, Guthri govan , Guitar Prasana , Steve Vai , Joe Satriani.
Indian bands we like , Moksha, Joint family, Zero, Pentagram.

IMR: Recently, you guys had shared the stage with one of India's famous band “METAKIX”. How was the feeling?
BlindImage: Yeah it was good. It was a nice gig. Had loads of fun.

IMR: Have you guys participated anytime in any of the talent hunt shows (Yes or No)? Why?
BlindImage: By Talent show you mean  COMPETITION ? Well we ve participated in very few competiton and won like underground 07 etc. The main point is , we don believe in the concept of competition. We feel that , its absurd to judge bands which are different.. every band is different. U cant really judge, all are good in their own way. I think instead having  competitions , they should have more open festivals in which all bands can play , that will be a great platform for all bands and its awesome fun.. We find the idea of competition , really  stupid.. so we don participate in competition. We concentrate on Professional shows only.

IMR: What do you think, do we have to adapt ourselves into the western culture to step in the Rock and Metal music?
BlindImage: Not really , WE can be ourself. Music dose not belong to any one.. its for all.. Just because , we play music which was originated in west, it dose not mean that we have to force our self to the culture.Its jus my opinion. and NOTHING WRONG IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THE WESTERN CULTURE ALSO> Its ones wish.. Every one has their life to life. And they live the way they want to . WE are no one to say anything about it.

IMR: Which is the record label that you people are going for, and are you making video for the album as it is very much important from the promotional aspect? Are you making the album available in all the 4 - zones?
BlindImage: Well,. We are sending the album to few international labels like, century media , nuclear blast, metal blades etc. and we all have to wait and see what happens after that.
And yeah , we will be making a video . not sure when. And yeah we will be releasing in all 4 zones . we are working on release gig  in all the four zones. So yeah , it will be avail in all 4 zones.

IMR: According to you , what role do these music related websites supporting Indian bands play in focusing the bands potential and making them familiar in each of the zones for setting up a fan base ?
BlindImage: They play a very important role.. they are doing a great job in supporting bands and spreading the bands music. Publicity is important for all bands.  It’s a great initiative.. hope it grows and continues.

IMR: Describe "BLIND IMAGE" in one sentence?
BlindImage: Well , I’ l describe in one word. Contemporary.


IMR: What message would you like to convey to all your fans out there across the country?
BlindImage: We take this opportunity to thank all the fans for supporting us all this time... And we will deliver more music for you ppl….. We love you all and  thank you again… See you soon with our new album .

Keep head banging \m/  .

* Thank you "BLINDIMAGE" , hope that you guys recieve a very good response for your album across the globe . All the best from team IMR !!!

-Pravin Prajapati(LordMessiah)

Close contenders to win, Yeshua from Mumbai came in a close second followed by Ek from Bangalore. Rajarshi Sanyal from Faridkot (Delhi) and the sibling duo - Abhishek and Joyadeep Dasgupta from Shor Bazaar (Mumbai) won the title of Best Lead Guitarists and bagged hi-end guitars from Gibson. Enthralling a packed audience, the RC Live finals saw an evening of superlative performances from each of the finalists – Talaash, Yeshua, Ek, Faridkot, Aas, Shor Bazaar and Swarathma. The evening concluded with a rapturous performance by Indian Ocean.

IMR : Hi Gaurav ! At last a sigh of relief, your album is out. So how are things at your end?
GAURAV : Lol..yeah..it is a great feeling that the album is finally out! It had been almost a year and a half that I’d been working on it!..:) And I’m really glad with the way both the album and the video have turned out! At the moment, we’re doing a lot of shows to promote the album, most of them college fests and also quite a few public shows. The platforms on some of the music channels have also helped and the title track is catching up with college students!

IMR : What is the concept of your album & what message have you tried to spread through it? Any USP?
GAURAV : This is a Hindi Rock/Pop album with 9 tracks on it. It’s not a concept album; each of the nine tracks is independent of one another and has something to say! “Om Namah Shivaya” talks about living for the moment and for one’s dreams. We plan to make a concept video for it though! “College Days” reflects upon college life while “Fighting All Alone” is a song that talks about the life of a street kid! There are also a couple of love songs and a track called “Aaj Tu Yaad Aayi” which is my take on Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss”! The USP of the album is probably the simplicity of the songwriting and the arrangements!

IMR : What made you enter into the music stream, considering the fact that you are a MBA graduate
GAURAV : I was the vocalist of my college band in TSEC and absolutely enjoyed performing to a live audience! I also started writing songs during that period and realized that it was something I enjoyed doing the most! So while going to IIM-A, I decided to make use of my MBA degree in such a way that it would take me where I wanted to go! I think that’s what education is meant for! So I kept pursuing music whilst studying at IIM-A, and simultaneously planned my moves for the future.

IMR : Is it by your personal choice that this is a solo flick, or is it by fate that you don’t have a band?
GAURAV : Since I’d done all the songwriting for this album and hadn’t come across a steady set of band members at that time, it made sense to go ahead as a solo artiste. Today I pretty much have the band in place but I’ll continue to be a solo artiste. So its something like how Bryan Adams is!..:P

IMR : Any artists/bands that has been an inspiration through out the whole journey?
GAURAV : Many of them, and over different periods of time actually! When I was in my junior college, about 7-8 years back, bands/artistes like Strings, Junoon, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Euphoria, Lucky Ali, Silk Route, KK etc were a major inspiration. I still dig that music! It was during engineering though that I got introduced to rock by a few close friends. Some of my favourite bands/artistes include Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater etc. Played and covered some of them during engineering and MBA. It was only after I started learning Indian Clasical music and studying Urdu a couple of years back that I began to appreciate Indian music well. Writers like Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Gulzar etc are source of inspiration even today. Also composers like Shankar-Jaikishan, R D Burman, A R Rahman & SEL have created stuff one can learn from. Ghazals are also a great source of learning of Hindi/Urdu poetry though the topics they cover are usually limited!..:)

IMR : What comes deeper from your soul music or lyrics?
GAURAV : Hmmm…For me the music comes first and the lyrics follow. So it’s really the mood of the composition that generates the concept of the song! Writing lyrics is the harder part really, cuz most of my thoughts are in English and they need to be translated into Hindi while retaining the idea and avoiding clichés at the same time!..:) So for me creating the melody comes naturally and is more fun!

IMR : You are an old horse as far as concerts are concerned, any reason why Indian Rock Scenario is light years behind and very uncommon among the local crowd?
GAURAV : I don’t know if 1 year of playing live qualifies me as an old horse or not!..:) Anyways, as far as rock shows go, I can only say that they appeal to those who can appreciate this genre of music! And though it’s going in size gradually, it’s still a small number – mainly the college going crowd in cities. And that’s fair enough, cuz if you go to the interiors and have a look at the people there you’ll realize how far behind our country still is in even basic education, forget listening to rock music! So rock shows are restricted colleges and bigger cities only. Also in most colleges, 80% of the crowd still digs Bollywood or Pakistani Pop/Rock. So there is still some way to go before rock becomes more accepted. In the meantime shows like Channel [V]’s Launchpad etc are doing a lot of good for the scene in terms of increasing the commercial appeal of the genre. Hindi Rock meanwhile is doing great and is gradually becoming mainstream with composers like Pritam and SEL blending soft rock and Hindi lyrics together.

IMR : What made you select the album title as 'College Days’, or it is just a catchy title that suits the present music scene in India?
GAURAV : College Days was the best title the album could have had not just because the first video single is that of College Days but also since most of the tracks on the album were written during the period I was in college. Also from a marketing perspective, it makes sense for the album to have a name that can be easily recognized by the buyer, especially since I’m a new artiste and people may not know my name! So they might listen to “College Days” on the television or on Youtube and then seeing the album with the same name might prompt them to pick it up.

IMR : Tell us something about the "College days" video shoot? What is the theory behind releasing 3 different versions of your song?
GAURAV : I wanted to shoot the video at IIM-A not just because I had studied there but also because the Institute has a great architecture. We were given the permission to shoot for 2 days. The production house “Via Us Productions” (previously having done videos for KK, Abhijeet Sawant etc) and I did the pre-production for about a week in Mumbai where we finalized the script. The whole crew went in from Mumbai except for the actors which we thought we’d get from Ahmedabad. That proved to be a major problem since most IIM-A students were on vacation. We luckily managed to get people from NIFT and a few other colleges. The shoot was great fun and every shot produced great entertainment with the cast and crew joking around with one another. At the end of the shoot we had a great party on campus on the terrace of one of the dorms with the entire cast and crew. It was great fun! There are essentially 2 versions of “College Days” – the unplugged one (Track 2) and the fast one (Track 8) on the album. The video edit was also included cuz we thought there might be people who might wanna use that audio track too.

IMR : Many of the famous guitarist and drummers have played with you, how was the experience?
GAURAV : Certainly a highly enriching one! Ranjit Barot is not just a great drummer but also a great producer. He had a vision of how the album was gonna sound like and that really made a difference cuz he chose musicians accordingly. So right from getting Amyt Dutta to play on “Aaj tu yaad aayi” to Sanjay Joseph on “Alvida” & “Manzil”..they were all his choices. Chandresh and Nicolas Fiszman also played on the album. Its always nice as a songwriter to have such a high degree of musicianship going into your songs. Also I learnt a lot during the recording sessions at Ranjit’s studio (Nirvana) which I think is one of the best in the country. All in all, it was a great experience.

IMR :  How has been the overseas response so far?
GAURAV : The album is available in certain select stores in the US and UK. I really don’t know the sales figures there but there are people writing in from these countries saying that they loved College Days. My platform on B4U helped me here as it is the only Indian music channel broadcast in the US. College Days is also in the Top 7 on Radio 4 Dubai and will soon play on Radio Tarana in New Zealand. The fact is that there are a lot of young Indians who’ve just graduated from India and are working abroad. College Days will definitely appeal to them.

IMR : Your debut performance was in the IIM’s how was it ? What exactly did you feel backstage at that time?
GAURAV : My debut show actually was the JAM CAT Concert 2006 in Mumbai where I opened for Sona Mohapatra and Parikrama. Except from the die-hard rockers who cant stand anything in Hindi, we got a terrific response from the crowd. The real big show however was at IIM-A where my band and I opened for Silk Route and Junoon. Somehow that night we were at the top of our game and we rocked the place! It was great to share the stage with bands that have been my influences and also holding my own in front of them!

IMR :  What would have Gaurav been if not an artist?
GAURAV : Wait and watch…Gaurav is a lot more than just an artiste and will show all his sides eventually!..:)

IMR :  Any incident in college you really remember? (We expect some unexpected answers)
GAURAV : Haha..I remember this crazy incident during Engineering when some freak sent out a newsletter to the entire college that blew the lid off several secret relationships on campus including mine in great detail. It was really embarrassing and the girl never spoke to me after that!..:) I wrote plenty of sad songs in the months that followed!..:lol!

IMR : Rapid Fire (no half page answers please) !  

     ? Rock/Metal/Bollywood  :  Rock

     ? The place you would love to perform, Mumbai, Banglore, Delhi, your alma matter : Bangalore      (have never played there & have played at all the other places).

     ? Jal/Indian Ocean / None : None.

     ? MTV / Channel[V] / FTV : Channel [V].


“This is from team IMR, we wish you all the best, and May you get all the girl friends you want”.

This is from us. Regarding the girlfriends part, I have my hands full but thanks for your best wishes anyways!..Smile

-Mahesh Puttapaka  (K.I.N.G)

 

After weeks of anxiety and nail-biting anticipation, the winner of the RC Live’s Bangalore Regional Finals was declared. It was an evening of powerhouse performances from the top 4 bands at St. John’s Auditorium last evening.

'The First Mutiny: Dogmas of Indian Rock’  The first release from Bangalore-based record label DogmaTone Records  a compilation of the rock acts in the country.
Priced at Rs.100/- the CD is available at  all Music World stores across Karnataka.

Metakix,one of the finest professional band from Mumbai release their new single called Hand in hand and have made the track available for download on their webpage.