Bevar Sea: In-depth Interview With Ganesh Krishnaswamy

By Mikhail Madnani, May 26th 2011, Mumbai, India: Read this interview as Mikhail catches up with Ganesh Krishnaswamy, vocalist of Bangalore-based stoner doom metal band Bevar Sea.

Hi Ganesh, thanks a lot for taking the time out for this interview on Metal Assault.
No worries, man. Buy me a beer in return haha.

I had no idea about the stoner doom scene in the country and was pleasantly surprised with the songs I heard on your page. Give us a brief history of the band, Bevar Sea.
Like all good things, Bevar Sea started off as a modest bedroom project. It was started by Srikanth 'Olo' Panaman (guitars); he along with doom-brothers Kaustubh (keys) and Sriranjan Thirumalai (drums) put the idea together. Olo then got JP and Rahul Chacko to take over bass and guitars (respectively). They got Indu Anthony on vocals and continued to write and jam. Nothing serious. Then the band went through the 'Great Indian Splits'. Doom-brothers went-a packing - one to the States, the other - Sriranjan - to study elsewhere in India (replaced by Deepak Raghu). Indu left to the States as well. I've known Olo from the old days. Fate put us back in touch; actually it was Facebook and Twitter. And I immediately fell in love with the chunky Sabbath/Saint Vitus-ness Bevar Sea was writing. One day Olo asked me if I knew of a vocalist. I offered to try out. The first songs we rehearsed were 'the Smiler' and 'Zero the Hero' - Black Sabbath. And that was that.

How did you come up with the band name?
'Bewarsi' in Kannada, our local language, means 'Bastard'. Couple of modifications, change some spellings and voila!

Which bands have influenced you and the band from the start?
I grew up listening to bands like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Rush, Iron Maiden, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Sodom, Slayer, Motorhead, Bathory (got into them much later - RIP QUORTHORN), Venom, lot of delta-blues and New York's early be-bop gets me hard. The Band as a whole (the sound) - Black Sabbath, Grand Magus, Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, the Melvins, Saint Vitus -the Obsessed (all Wino bands), Corrosion of Conformity, Kyuss, Earthride, Trouble, etc

What's your take on bands performing cover songs live?
In the beginning of their career to establish a certain connect with the audience, yes. But I loathe covers. With Bevar Sea it's fun because we do 'tributes' (some may call it splitting hair, but). And most of the covers we are doing now are songs I had performed with my tennis racket in front the mirror, so it's all fucking good!

You'll have 2 live recordings up on your band camp page that have brilliant artwork. Are there any plans to release a full length studio album soon?
The way we see it we want our fans to know what we are up to. They come to our rehearsal space and they watch us do our thing, hang out and see how we go about doing our shit. Not everyone can come and watch us rehearse, which is why we are persistent with the rehearsal demos that we upload. A live studio album is on the cards. But the key here is that we want to record 90% of it live, except for double-tracking solos, additional rhythm parts, etc; in order for us to perform live in the studio, we need to hone our skills on stage and replicate that energy on to tape/digital format. The album will be out late 2012 - if the Mayans don't do us in by then.

What has been the response to the live recordings on your page?
Very heartening. It gives us a reason to want to write more doom for our fans. Those guys (by guys, I include the fairer sex too), our fans, are the fucking best. They have supported us from day one and we aren't a 20 year old band, you know. DOOMHEADS, YOU GUYS RULE!

Tell me about your musical career after Kryptos.
After Kryptos, I formed a blues-rock outfit (Parachute XVI - now defunct) with Ananth Menon (Galeej Gurus). Since we both adored the blues, we decided to give it a shot. And we did quite well actually. Played a lot of gigs, etc, but the direction started to change and Ananth had some personal shit that he wanted to sort out and we are on a sabbatical. Come July 2011, we'll be back in action. New line-up, new avatar, but the same ol' rock n' roll music \m/

Given a chance, would you want to be a part of a thrash metal band again?
Definitely, but it depends. The thing is people have forgotten that the form of music we are doing is primarily about have a ball, raising hell and annoying the fucking neighbours. They have gone and complicated shit up. I'm not into that. I definitely would like to be part of a thrash band, again, in the future, if musically it's about Sodom-Venom-Black Sabbath and other such straight-out, 4/4 motherfuckers.

I know you are a huge vinyl fan. What's your take on the resurgence of Vinyl and the decline of the CD?
Yea! It's great isn't it! I think vinyl is like doing it in the backseat with Led Zeppelin blaring without a condom - that's fucking vinyl. The pure, in-your-faceÉy'know it fucking killed me. And ever since the day I heard Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Motorhead's Bomber on vinyl, I knew that this is the shit! I don't want to get all pretentious about it because vinyl, like a great bottle of Shiraz, doesn't get everyone, and everyone shouldn't get it. With CDs, I mean after doing it in the backseat with no condom and power-drunk on the kvltest Shiraz - why would you want anything else?! BUT, there are bands that continue to release in the digital format - so, I still buy CDs and not everyone can afford a turntable and afford to buy vinyl every month, so CDs will be around too, but the format won't die.

On that note, the current piracy scene has many bands picking sides. What's your take on it?
Whatever rocks your boat, man! Really it is that simple. I can tell you one thing though - Bevar Sea will cater to all needs.

Which recent albums have influenced you?
I mostly listen to a lot of 70s rock, man. Or current bands that play that shit. But, couple bands and albums that I like in the genre nowadays are Fen-Trails Out of Gloom, YOB's the Grand Cessation, Shrinebuilder - s/t, Earthride's Something Wicked, The Crystal Caravan-Against the Rising Tide, Solace-A.D., Sasquatch-III, Lonely Kamel-Blues For the Dead, Bongripper-Satan Worshipping Doom

Which Indian and international musicians would you love to work with in the future?
Indian bands (fuck there are too many, man. I'll restrict this to an unholy 7) in no particular order - Kryptos, Devoid, Inner Sanctum, No Safe Word, Drones from the Turbine, Dormant Inferno, Albatross. International - way too many, man heheh - Motorhead tops the list.

What are your plans for the remainder of this year as a band?
Drink beer. Get high. Write. Drink beer. Get high. Gig. Drink beer. Get high. Rehearse. Drink beer. Get high. Gig. Drink beer. Get high. Release rehearsal demos. Drink beer. Get high. Gig. Drink beer. Get high. Rehearse. Drink beer. Get high. Gig. Write. Drink beer. Get high.

What can someone expect from a Bevar Sea live show?
F.A.C.E.M.E.L.T. We also have this thing called the 'Your Barkeep' - 5 lucky mothers will get free fucking beer if you can rock out (re: headbang, scream, shout, y'know the drill hehehe). AND let's not forget - free stickers!!!!

What's your take on the current Bangalore v/s Bombay v/s Delhi band scene?
It's very funny because when I'm bored at work there's always entertainment. Also bands and the real fans should/will know that all this crap is created by kids whose voices haven't cracked and their testicles haven't descended (and if they keep at it, probably never will). This shit will always be there. But, having said that - some of these competitions/awards/yadayadabullcrap DO look like there is a certain bias - but then, bands with an idea should/will not do these competitions/awards/yadayadabullcrap - unless they want to be tagged on Facebook haha.

Leave us with a message for your fans.
You guys are the fucking best. Drink beer. Get high. Come to our gigs. Buy our records when they come out.

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