By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal
Bangalore-based old school metal band Kryptos are all set to grace the Ronnie James Dio stage at the inaugural Bangalore Open Air on June 16th, and they’ll be opening for Kreator and Suidakra. Their latest album “The Coils Of Apollyon” was released earlier this year, so Kryptos will not only provide an apt warm-up for the crowds eagerly waiting to see Kreator and Iced Earth for the first time ever, but will also give everyone a taste of their dynamic new material. In a series of interviews I’m doing to promote this killer festival, I caught up with Kyptos frontman Nolan Lewis to talk about what to expect from them at this show, the new album, the band’s history and Nolan’s thoughts on the Indian metal scene. Enjoy the conversation below, and make sure to check them out at Bangalore Open Air next month.
First of all, how does it feel to be a part of the Bangalore Open Air lineup?
It feels great. We get to play alongside two of our favourite bands in Iced Earth and Kreator as well as have a blast with all our friends backstage. If I’m not mistaken I can hear the sound of hundreds of beer crates calling out our names already. Sounds like a good time whichever way you look at it haha.
Kreator and Iced Earth will be performing in India for the first time, but have you had any chances to meet or interact with them during your European trip in the past?
No, not really. I watched Kreator live in 2005 when I visited Wacken and they brought the place to its knees. That was by far one of the most intense shows I’ve ever seen. I haven’t had the good fortune of watching Iced Earth yet but BOA should put that right pretty soon I hope.
Since you’re opening for Kreator and Iced Earth at this event, will you be doing anything different as compared to your other shows, in terms of the set list in particular?
We’re playing almost our entire new album for this gig as well as a couple of older favourites plus there should be some pretty striking visuals to back up the music. Other than that it’s going to be pretty much the same as every Kryptos gig. Lots of leather, denim, sweat and beer stains.
Your new album “Coils Of Apollyon” came out in February, and from what I know there were some delays in setting up the online orders. Would you say the album has finally reached the fans by now?
There were some initial delays but that was more due to a few hiccups we went through with the people who were commissioned to package the album. But we’re pretty happy at the way things are set up now. We’ve released it exclusively in India for the time being through Iron Fist Records and it is currently distributed by local merch store Hysteria who have been doing a stellar job so far, making sure the album gets to even some of the most remote parts of the country. Anyone in India interested in picking up our album and merch can do so at www.hysteriaonline.com.
I would say your music is more dynamic in both extremes – the aggressive and melodic side – as compared to the previous two albums. Would you agree with that?
We always try and keep a balance between aggression and melody in our music. You could say it’s almost like a ‘coming together’ of our thrash and our 80’s metal influences. The trick is to write music where one side doesn’t overwhelm the other. Luckily it comes pretty natural to us and it’s way more evident on our new album for sure.
I think the album’s title and album cover give it an evil look. Do you think this darkness reflects on to the music as well?
That depends on the listener actually. Our music isn’t very dark per se but lyrically and thematically it definitely is. But that’s the whole ‘light and shade’ aspect of our music. A song like Starfall for example sounds really epic and melodic and has an almost upbeat march to it but lyrically it’s pretty apocalyptic. Either way the ‘darkness’ in our music is more representative of an unseen ‘sinister force’ that lurks in the ether rather than a big red guy with pointy horns and a french beard. (Wait that’s South Park)
Besides Bangalore Open Air, what are your plans for promoting the album?
The album should be released worldwide in a couple of months. We’re right now in talks with a couple of labels and if all goes well the album should be in stores all over Europe and the U.S real soon. As far as India goes, we’ll decide how to take things further once BOA is done and maybe work on playing a couple of gigs in the more northern parts of the country.
As I mentioned earlier, you did a European tour in 2010. What was that experience like?
It was incredible. The experience was like no other. We got to play some great gigs with some amazing bands and made a ton of new friends there. In short we just had an aboslute blast. We were pretty shit faced for at least half the tour so my memory is pretty fuzzy (laughs).
Coming back to the history of the band, you took on vocal duties after the first Kryptos album. How big of an adjustment did that require from you?
It was a huge adjustment at first. We couldn’t get a singer who fit what the band was looking for so I decided to take over. In fact I went straight into the studio to record the vocals for ‘The Ark of Gemini’ with just a few weeks of practice under my belt, which was clearly not enough. That’s why it sounds like a really low rasp as compared to what I do now, which is a hell of a lot better. Vocally I’ve always been a huge fan of Ron Royce of Coroner so I try and emulate a lot of things he does, especially that awesome sneer that he has. It’s fairly evident on our new album but at the same time I try and mix it up a bit with a few things of my own.
Kryptos has been around for a while now. In that sense, do you consider yourself as veterans in the Indian heavy metal scene?
We would be verterans if there was a scene in the first place. Over the years I’ve tried to be optimistic about the ‘scene’ but it just never got any better. All we have now are thousands of bands who just scream their balls off. No subtlety, no finesse, no melody, no nothing. There are just a handful of bands and a few hundred people who know what heavy metal music is really about and in a country of over one billion people that’s pretty pathetic. It probably has more to do with the fact that the ‘scene’ here evolved (or devolved) in parallel with the internet in India. Fairly old farts like me grew up buying tapes and cds and really getting INTO the music, the lyrics, the art…everything. And that’s the stuff that has shaped some of our lives and is a part of who we are unlike today where kids download terabytes of music off the net, listen to a few seconds of each song and then beat their chest about how metal they are. Then you have bands here who cry about how no one buys their music but then don’t think twice about downloading their favourite albums off the net. Sorry you’re not metal, you’re just cunts.
Finally, I’d like to ask you this: Old-school heavy metal in India definitely doesn’t ‘sell’. So, what did it take for you guys to keep your integrity for all these years and not move towards a more commercially viable musical direction?
Metal in India doesn’t sell no matter what you play. That’s a given. We do what we do because we love what we do. It’s as simple as that. I’d rather sell 200 albums to 200 genuine fans of this music rather than 10,000 albums to a bunch of idiots who just bought it because it’s ‘happening’ at the moment. As cliché and corny as it may sound, heavy metal really is in our blood and I doubt it will ever change, which is why we do what we do on our terms and no one elses. What happens with other bands and with the rest of the country doesn’t influence us one bit and personally I couldn’t give two hoots if the entire ‘scene’ dies the slow miserable death that it’s destined for. We’ll still be around to stub our cigarettes on its twitching corpse.
[Buy Bangalore Open Air tickets at this location]