{"id":1733,"date":"2013-02-06T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T01:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2013-02-06T02:08:55","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T20:38:55","slug":"in-depth-interview-with-eschers-knot-frontman-abijith-rao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/2013\/02\/06\/in-depth-interview-with-eschers-knot-frontman-abijith-rao\/","title":{"rendered":"In-depth Interview With Escher’s Knot Frontman Abijith Rao"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite being die-hard supporters of classic heavy metal, we at Metal Assault also keep in touch with the relatively modern styles of metal, and bands that play such style always bring a different perspective which makes for an interesting listening experience. Bangalore-based extreme progressive metal band Escher’s Knot is one such group. Besides their solid music they are known for their high-octane live shows, as I witnessed for myself when I saw them open for the mighty Lamb Of God in Bangalore last year. Since then, I’ve kept an eye on their updates and was looking for an opportunity to feature them on the site. It has finally arrived, and yesterday I caught up with vocalist Abijith Rao to discuss all things Escher’s Knot. Read the in-depth, honest conversation below, visit the band on their facebook<\/a><\/strong>, twitter<\/a><\/strong> and reverbnation<\/a><\/strong> pages, and people in Chennai can catch them live at the Star Rock this Friday.<\/p>\n

I believe you\u2019ll be playing some new material at your Chennai gig this Friday. How much of this new material do you already have and what has the writing process been like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey Aniruddh, First of all thanks a lot for featuring us on Metal Assault. Just 2 days to go and hell yeah! Really kicked about the Chennai gig. It\u2019s going to be our first gig of 2013 and also in Chennai – our home turf. We\u2019re planning to play two new songs and in total we have like 6 new songs. Writing process has been a little slow as of now with Anshuman working now in Delhi. But lot of writing has been happening online, and it\u2019s going to be our first gig as 4 piece with siddarth and Anshuman.<\/p>\n

The band is based in Bangalore now, but you guys started out in Chennai. Can you tell me about that transition and how different you found the two cities to be in terms of the metal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t know what to call it now, Bangalore or Chennai. as two of us are in Bangalore and two of them in Chennai and Anshuman in Delhi (laughs). All of it is slow, but yeah as long as it\u2019s happening, no worries. Chennai and Bangalore are totally different in every possible way. Metal scene in Chennai is really starting to pick up now. Bangalore lacks venues. Chennai people are accepting all genres of metal than being selective like Bangalore folks is what I feel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I saw you guys open for Lamb Of God last year, and I was impressed by the high levels of energy demonstrated on stage, particularly by you. Has that always been an important aspect of your musicianship or did it come to you gradually gig after gig?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks a lot Mr. Bansal. Since the beginning it\u2019s been like that. I mean, playing live can be the best ever feeling one can experience. That too being a front man of a metal band, I would want to make use of that opportunity to the maximum. The whole rush, those energy levels just liberate me. Being in this scene for over 8 years now, It\u2019s always been this way, Intense.<\/p>\n

The music itself is experimental. Exactly how experimental do you allow it to go while writing? Is there an underlying idea or theme, or just about anything goes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our music is complex and simple at the same time. I mean we just try to fiddle around people\u2019s mind with the straight forward stuff (laughs). There is no extra fancy shit involved.\u00a0 But with a drummer like Manu and guitarist Anshuman, the inputs have always been out of the box, and yeah, you call \u2018THAT\u2019 experimental.<\/p>\n

You released the \u2018Tessellations\u2019 EP in 2010. When are you planning for the next release?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re almost there, we ARE taking our own sweet time. 2 more new songs and probably Late this year is what we\u2019ve planned for the album . We\u2019re looking at March for our release of a single which would actually determine our sound which is a little bit different from the EP.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Experimental, djent, progressive, whatever you want to call it, has become quite popular in India and lots of international bands of this genre are coming down to perform in our country. Do you see that as the ideal opportunity and platform to launch your music in front of more and more people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hate classifying our music into subgenres. Well metal it is. And to be frank. I don\u2019t know how well people have accepted the music we play.\u00a0 We\u2019ve always got mixed reviews. And being a metal band in this country it doesn\u2019t matter whether the genre helps thouroughly. If you get a venue to play, that itself is like a jackpot.<\/p>\n

Talking of international gigs, you were supposed to play the Indian Metal Festival last December and open for Gojira, right? I wasn\u2019t there but I heard it turned into a bit of a nightmare for the Indian bands involved. Can you talk about what exactly happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were all geared up and set for one awesome evening with none other than the mighty\u00a0Gojira. But we were treated like shit and weren’t allowed to play because of some permit issues by the organizers ‘Sweet Leaves Entertainment’. The whole scene could’ve been dealt with us in a better and a professional way. But fuck that, Gojira killed it and it did made our day. I hope when the organizers are doing a gig of this scale, they better think of all the cons and be prepared for a spontaneous damage control.<\/p>\n

Upon reaching the venue, were told that we cant play because of\u00a0some time issues that were supposed to be sorted at least a few\u00a0days before the show. I understand why we couldn’t play, the same coud\u00a0happen to me as an organizer, but instead of apologizing and owning\u00a0up to their mistake, their attitude was more like “this is my show, I do\u00a0what I want\u201d. After begging and pleading and chasing them, we got our\u00a0artist tags that allowed us to keep our gear backstage. I was shocked most of all when an ignorant member of their team asked us\u00a0Indians not to eat the food that was meant for “foreign bands only” but\u00a0was kept in the common green room, By the way, this happened in their\u00a0presence. There was no arrangement for food for Indian Bands. Overall it was a real amateur effort by the organizers and everything went wrong.<\/p>\n

Have you had any similar bad experiences in the past, or was this a one-off?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortunately we haven\u2019t experienced any such treatment in the past.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the other side of the spectrum, what are some of the most memorable gigs you\u2019ve played?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had some really good gigs in the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Opening for Lamb Of God<\/li>\n
  2. All the Pub gigs in Chennai , we literally brought the roof down with Cypher 16. (Laughs) I\u2019m not kidding.<\/li>\n
  3. Opening for Dark Tranquillity at Hyderabad<\/li>\n
  4. IIT saarang, opening for \u2018 Hammerfall\u2019.<\/li>\n
  5. Also the Pub gig scene at Hyderabad alongside good buddies\u00a0Skrypt and Eccentric Pendulum have been the most Epic-est.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Escher\u2019s Knot started out in 2009, but metal shows took place in India before that too, albeit sporadically. When you went to such shows purely as a fan and a member of the audience, at that time did any of you imagine starting a band of your own?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Like I said, I\u2019ve been in the scene from like early 2004-05, I had a band back in Bangalore. So Maiden\u2019s tour in 2007 was like the turning point for the whole shift up in the graph for the local scene as well.<\/p>\n