By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal
Over the past few years, a culture for underground extreme metal has been brewing in the Indian city of Bangalore, thanks to the efforts of organizations like Cyclopean Eye Productions, a record label and distribution company that took it upon itself to do metal shows in the city of Bangalore and started a series of annual festivals called ‘Trendslaughter Fest’ in 2011, bringing together the best of Indian underground metal and bands from South-East Asia and other parts of the world traveling to Bangalore to play these shows. After three successful editions, the TSF and Cyclopean Eye crew is ready to unleash the festival’s fourth edition on February 1st at Bangalore’s No Limmits Lounge & Club. This time, the show will be headlined by Impiety from Singapore with support acts Dying Embrace and Necrodeity from India, Orator from Bangladesh, Serpents Athirst from Sri Lanka and Ugra Karma from Nepal. I did an interview with Cyclopean Eye/TSF mainman Sandesh Shenoy to discuss this year’s skull-crushing lineup, the history of TSF, his take on the Bangalore and Indian metal scene, the organizing process behind such gigs, and future plans. Read the conversation below.
Sandesh, it’s good to have you again on Metal Assault. First of all, I’d like to talk to you about the upcoming fourth edition of Trendslaughter Fest. How did you arrive at selecting these five bands for the lineup and what are your expectations from the gig?
Aniruddh, thanks for having me on your webzine. As you probably know, Trendslaughter Fest started in 2011 with the first edition and it has always been our desire to bring down the best underground extreme metal bands to India. Every year is a progression from the previous year and we’ve always tried to up the ante a little more than the previous edition. With this upcoming fourth edition, I wanted to do something really special since we never really expected to get this far when we first started out. Shyaithan from Impiety and I met on two occassions in 2010 and 2011 and we’ve been planning an Impiety show in India for quite a while now. With the success of the third Trendlaughter Fest, we felt we were ready to step up and bring a powerhouse like Impiety down to India. With reference to the rest of the lineup, which incidentally now is 6 bands with Nepal’s cult death metal act Ugra Karma joining the line up, I wanted nothing but best bands from South Asia to play along side a world class act like Impiety.
How did Cyclopean Eye and TSF come about in the first place and what was your aim with it?
Strangely enough, I have been connected to the metal scene for a very long time now and besides knowing most of the old extreme metal bands in India, I actually was running a small ‘nameless’ distribution for underground black, thrash and death Metal for close friends since 2002. A few years later, I started a label called Soul Erosion, which I had to discontinue after a couple of years because I got ripped off by a very big Italian label for a lot of money.
As time passed, I had the urge once again to start a full-fledged label as the addiction to do something worth-while in a relatively stale metal scene here was too strong, and thus Cyclopean Eye Productions came about in 2010. After organizing the first two Trendslaughter Fests down the line, I signed Genocide Shrines from Sri Lanka in 2012 (which is a side project of my good friends in Funeral In Heaven) and launched their debut EP “Devanation Monumentemples” which won rave reviews in the world-wide metal scene and had them featured on magazines like Iron Fist (U.K) and Zero Tolerance (USA) besides many other online webzines.
As for Trendslaughter Fest, I first traveled to Thailand in 2010 to watch black metal legends Inquisition and I managed to catch all the Asian supporting acts like Mantak (Malayasia), Grindbuto(Indonesia), Zygoatsis (Thailand) and Surrender of Divinity (Thailand) who flatlined the place by their powerful performances. It was amazing to see so many metalheads from all parts of Asia and Europe at this fest and the seeds of doing a similar kind of fest on a smaller scale were sown in my mind. A few months later on my second visit to Thailand, I had a long chat with my good friend Whathyakorn of Surrender of Divinity (whom I consider as the godfather of the extreme metal scene in Thailand), a man solely responsible for bringing down so many thrash, black and death metal legends to Thailand.
In your capacity, what have you learnt from the past three editions of TSF?
Well, I think there is currently a good following for extreme metal here in India and it’s important to engage this following by putting up quality bands, good sound and an accessible venue. It’s also important to keep adding new bands to the lineup, so that the fans never get bored of seeing the same acts. And lastly nothing but rigorous planning and hardwork is the key to having a successful gig.
I’d like you to shed some light on the logistics behind the ticket prices. What are the factors involved in deciding the ticket price for an event such as TSF?
The funding for all our shows are done from our own pockets with zero contributions from any advertisers or sponsors (a lot of bigger gigs in India get sponsorship from liquor, denim, soft drink companies, etc). The logistics are based on the the cost of flight tickets (the biggest expense), band fees, transportation, food, stay, venue costs, sound, flyers/promotions, artwork/graphic design and many other miscellenous costs. The bigger the band, the more expensive the show as most of these bands have certain conditions to play gigs (which mostly involve advance payments and expensive back lines).
In all honesty, through the past TSF events, do you think you’ve been able to build as much of an audience and fan-following for extreme metal in Bangalore as you expected or hoped to?
I’m really proud to say that we have been building a steady and growing audience in the last few years. We started out with 150 people attending the first Trendslaughter Fest (which we didn’t expect at all) and then 255 people turned up at the last one which I think is a great display of support by people in Bangalore and other places. Not to mention that we’ve had fans coming as far-off metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and neighbouring smaller cities like Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli. There has also been a few people from Australia, Norway, Germany and Singapore who have frequented our shows in the last three years.
You mentioned to me in a conversation that as a promoter/organizer you need to take care of the flight, food, accommodation and other expenses for bands that fly down from other countries to play your shows. As far as I know, the norm is slightly different in America and Europe, where bands have to pay for their own travel, at the very least. Would you say that India definitely won’t international bands if you weren’t to cover all their expenses?
The problem with India is that it is very far from places like Europe, US and even places like South East Asia. Even if the band wanted to come and play here for free, they would certainly require their flights, stay, food and local transport being covered. This is the very reason why bands like Mayhem, Marduk, Tankard, Napalm Death, Inquisition, Behemoth and so many other countless bands have gone to South East Asia and have never stepped on our shores. Not to mention bigger bands require bigger sound, better equipment and bigger backlines which most local promoters find very expensive. There are plenty of examples in the recent past where organisers and bands have burnt their fingers when they were unable to cover costs.
For the international bands that you’ve brought down for past TSF gigs, are you satisfied with the arrangements you were able to make for them and do you think all of them went back with positive experiences?
Trendslaughter Fest prides itself in being a fest that has a “band first” policy. We never make promises to bands that we cannot keep and honestly we’d rather let go of a band at the very beginning if we are unable to cover their expenses and fees. I can proudly say that every single band that came and played at our shows were treated with utmost respect and the best hospitality, and these same bands will come and play our shows time and again. The best part is that several of these bands have recommended other bands to come play our gigs.
But on the other hand, do you think organizers lay too much focus on the international bands and the local bands are at times mistreated?
I’ve actually noticed that with some organisers in India and they have not only mistreated local bands but even small international bands. Needless to say such organisers lose face among the bands and fans, and lesser and lesser bands want to play their gigs. At TSF, we have always treated our local bands on par with the international ones.
In your opinion, how has the Bangalore metal scene progressed in the past few years?
I would have to say that bands in the Bangalore metal scene have progressed by leaps and bounds. From starting out as cover bands in the late 1990s who barely had a few original songs to writing and performing albums worth of original music, Bangalore bands these days are serious about recording with good equipment, marketing themselves well, and touring both the country and abroad to play gigs. It’s also great to see that labels abroad are taking interest in signing these bands.
You know the Bangalore scene a lot better than me, so I’d like to ask you this: What makes so many Bangalore bands gravitate towards doom metal and could you pinpoint a reason why doom has become synonymous with Bangalore metal?
Well, Bangalore has had a long tryst with classic and heavy metal unlike the rest of India. Most people here have been obsessed with classic acts like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, Saxon, Accept, Helloween, Manowar and in time graduated to bands like Candlemass, Cathedral, Trouble, Paradise Lost and many other classic doom acts. In time, the same people who were listening to these bands started their own bands and stuck to the same style and sound of the bands they worshipped. Added to that a lot of people here are avid readers of fantasy, occult and history which are the key ingredents of doom music.
A lot of international bands have broken out to Indian shores in recent times, thanks to organizers like you. But I see a disparity when it comes to Indian bands playing abroad, and nearly not enough number of bands have done it. What would it take for Indian bands to be successful outside of India?
The biggest problem with the Indian metal scene is lack of originality in terms of sound and music. Most bands here make music that sounds like a 1000 other American or European bands and that too not in a good way. Since originality is a scarce quality among bands here, it’s natural that record labels and promoters outside the country are least interested in signing or promoting bands that sound like every other American or European band. Another thing that is Indian bands have it too easy – they have easy access to music, recording equipment, gigs, etc as opposed to countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where censorship, political instablity, war and a hard life drives most bands to create really hateful and powerful extreme metal with far more passion. Bands there are not consumed by a materialstic desire to just play college fests day in and out and make money, but instead concentrate on making music that appeals to a much wider audience abroad. So it’s no suprise when record labels or promoters outside the country have no second thoughts on releasing their music on expensive formats like vinyl or putting them on tours with bigger bands.
Finally, what plans do you have after TSF IV?
As a label, Cyclopean Eye Productions, has a few very cool releases in the offing. The Genocide Shrines/ Manifestator live tape titled “Maha Bharat Terror Attack” should be out this month. The release is a live recording of their respective performances at the first Echoes from Beneath gig that was organised in November 2013. I will also be releasing a Blood Division (Singaporean Blackend D-beat band) hoodie in the same month. A split CD release with Dying Embrace (India) and Dusk (Pakistan) should be out as soon the bands have wrapped their mastering.
Other than the above, there are plans to sign another talented Sri Lankan band in 2014 and I also have my eye on another one from the same country.
On the Trendslaughter Fest side, 2014 will be a busy year for us as a LOT of International underground metal bands have approached us to support their tours passing Asia. If things pan out well and we have enough local support, we will bring these bands down. I must add that these shows work purely by support of the fans, and if we continue recieving the support like we have in the past, there’s nothing stopping us from bringing some world class extreme metal bands in 2014.
Links:
Trendslaughter Fest IV Official Event Facebook Page
Cyclopean Eye Productions Facebook Group