Garza Podcast - 90 - BLOODYWOOD: Folk Metal, India, Bollywood & Making Dreams Reality

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

Garza sits down with India folk metal band BLOODYWOOD. https://www.bloodywood.net NEW PODCAST COFFEE: https://www.conceptcafes.com BLOODYWOOD is: Karan Katiyar - Guitar, Flute Jayant Bhadula - Vocals Raoul Kerr - Vocals Vishesh Singh - Drums CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Other Bands From India (Skyharbor, Keshav Dhar) 04:24 - Band Member Introductions, Early Tour Experiences 07:12 - Breaking Out in India’s Metal Scene 12:22 - Quitting Law & College to Play Heavy Music 13:38 - Early Viral Videos, Writing Heavy Music for the World 21:41 - Louder than Life, Aftershock Festival 25:03 - India Population vs USA Population, Cultural Differences 28:05 - Metal is Popular in India, but Hard for Smaller Bands 31:00 - Law Enforcement in India, Differences in National Problems Throughout the World 39:33 - Being Disciplined as a Musician 43:37 - Practicing 6 Hours a Day Before Tours to Give Fans Ultimate Experiences 47:53 - Weight of the Mind - Ross Robinson Theory 50:02 - Suicide Silence Self-Titled (2017), Internet Narratives & Resurgence 01:01:22 - Future Plans, New Record 01:01:55 - Drummer Vishesh Bouncing Back From Extreme Hand Injury

Only had singles and then you do like these shows and you expect 20 people and then like and then you see this like reaction. And not only that, but it's a international reaction. And I was like, they're going to be 200, maybe 300 people because I mean, club shows I understand people are going to come for us who listen to us. But Warkin is a different territory altogether. There are legends playing at every tent. The curtains open. They're like 15,000 people there. There were alerts that do not head over to the wet arena.

What's up everyone? the Garza podcast coffee is officially out. Head over to conceptcaface.com and get your caffeine on. You might have been the first band I ever heard out of India, to be completely honest. I mean, so, I mean, how many bands have came out of there? I mean, honestly, I don't know. So the first band that comes to my mind is Sky Harbor. It was a gent band.

Gen. Gen. Yeah, I mean, progressive. Sure. Okay, sure, sure, sure. Got it. Yeah, but, you know, they, I think they were the one who broke through.

Yeah, first. Yeah, they were the one that really started touring. System? You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's them, that's them. Actually, it was Keshav that initially broke through with Hydrogen, the guitar player, producer of the band.

Sky Harbor? Yeah. Sky Harbor, yeah. That's Dan Tompkins from Tesseract. He used to be the vocalist initially. Really? Yeah. Oh, shit.

Let me write this time real quick. Dude, first minute, already writing down a new band. This is sick. Yeah, yeah. Sky Harbor. And this is, for those of you listening, you can't see it. This is one word. Yes, that's one word.

Okay. Sky Harbor. It's a pretty name. Also, I think Anoop did drums. Yeah. Anup Shastri. Yes. Anup Shastri was on drums.

But he wasn't from India, right? Yeah. Marty Friedman did a solo on a song as well. Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. In the first album. because so Keshav exploded onto the scene

like this genius guitar player because he was initially just him recording in his home making heavy ass instrumentals and just dropping them and that's how he got international attention so much that he eventually just made his own band with all these people from not from India from India

for example the bass player Krishna is also a very known base player in the Indian scene because he just works with so many other artist so he stepped in so the lineup was perfect it still is in my opinion yeah yeah you know chris you'd relate to this uh you remember the forum days seven string dot org oh course yeah seven string org oh yeah the form oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you're on there i used to be okay i was like same yeah yeah and then and then and then and then we grew up right and then facebook happened and you know

oh yeah yeah true on seven string dot org uh keshv was massacian So, you know, and all these other forums, the guitar player Keshavov of Skahab. So people used, there used to be threads on Reddit where people used to say that Keshav is the next Misha Mansur of the progressive scene. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, but, you know, I think then just life happened and, you know, half of them being from India and the other half from, you know, other parts of the world, you know, just stuff happened. and you know I think I think they will be working on more albums soon but right now Keshav is in the Indian music industry mostly like it's called Bollywood you must have heard of it that's where our name comes from yeah wow okay that's him the

legend himself yeah and he's super humble as well super sweet to talk to but he's just he's just a ripper so so for those they might want to check him out the way you spell his name is K-E-S-H-A-V and its last name is D-H-A-R yeah yeah wow okay I never I never heard Sky Harbor so I love hearing new bands man yeah especially from like a different country yeah you know it's cool yeah and you guys can we do a quick intro so people can know like you know that they could attach your voices to a between name sure my name my name's my name's Karon I am the guitar player, producer, composer for the band.

I am Jayant. I am the vocalist for the band. Sick. I'm Vishishish. I play drums for the band. You play that double bass. Yeah, I try to play double bass. Oh, no, he rips.

Yeah, and we've got a very interesting story about him, which we will get to. Okay. And what's even more impressive about your band, you guys don't drink, unless it's a day off. Well, that wasn't the case on our first tour in 2019. Oh, okay. That's where we learned all the lessons. Okay, what was the main lesson? Don't drink on tour.

Absolutely, not. Yeah, we, I mean, it was our first time. So it's a funny story because, you know, the tour that we did in 2019, it was our first time ever playing live. And we were booked to play Wakan Open Air and another festival called Dong Upenair. And we played, you know, like 13 club shows. Yeah, yeah. And we went with zero expectations because.

you know we were just this internet band that got picked up you know some guy thought it was it was a good idea to put us on tour and you know when we announced the tour it got sold out so yeah so yeah it was it was wild and you know we were just you know it was happening so fast and we were just having such a good time we were drinking a lot partying really hard you know almost dying in hurricanes and they almost got me kidnapped by a german dude there were this really tall like mountain of a man who was drunk so drunk that he was like, I want you to go drinking with me.

And they're like, we won't, but he will. And he was like, let's go, friend. I was like, absolutely not. Yeah, and that was the first show ever we played after that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there are so many stories that, you know, from 2019 that, you know, we'd like to forget also. But, you know, I'll remember them as life lessons. Absolutely.

So you guys, did you guys like talk amongst yourselves, hey, I mean, that was fun, but we should probably stop. Yeah. You know. Yes. Basically. Yes. Because once you come from someplace like India where, I mean, metal isn't that big right now.

And you are going out. And so selling out shows, people were, we did a documentary about the whole experience. Literally, there were people telling us that, oh, maybe 20 people are going to show up to your club shows and whatnot. And then we see the numbers they're sold out. So even for us. And this is, by the way, back of three originals. There is no album, nothing. We were doing covers so we could get like international eyeballs.

So when we put our originals, finally. We'll have an audience. And this is on the back of just three originals. We were planning to write an album. We weren't there yet, obviously, in the process. But that was it. So we had three originals and a few covers. Yeah, yeah.

That was our set. Just three originals and a lot of covers. Man, you guys only had singles and then you do like these shows. And you expect 20 people and then like, and then you see this like reaction. And not only that, but it's a international reaction. Yeah. Wow. And Warkin on top of that was so when we were going in our.

to mini bands like towards the what was that the backstage area of our stage so in my head I was like they're gonna be 200 maybe 300 people because I mean club shows I understand people are gonna come for us who listen to us but Wakan is a different territory altogether there are legends playing at every tent so how are you gonna you know assume that you're gonna have at least like two three thousand people but the curtains open they're like 15,000 people there

there were alerts that do not head over to the wet arena. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They put out like an alert that the tent is full, don't try to go there. And there was a line outside the tent. It was nuts, man. You know, Wakan, I mean, everyone knows about Wakan Open Air, right? If you're a metalhead, you know, you know that that's one of the festivals that you absolutely have to play.

And we went there again with zero expectations. And we didn't expect the tent to be full in an afternoon. Yeah. So, yeah, we knew that we're on to something here. But, yeah, you know, so that, yeah, that's it right there. That's us on. I had a luck and yeah

that was so many people that's that's so many fucking people dude just and your first time playing that festival

you guys are doing way better than than we did that's sick wow dude I had to pee so bad

during the set oh yeah it happens it happens man I didn't pee on myself though yeah yeah I did not

I was I held it yes and what's and what's really interesting about about your

band is like you you already understood that you needed to get recognition and be recognized outside of India first. You know, why, why is that? Because you can't really do much with metal in India. You know, if you're a metal band in India, the most that you can do is play like a couple of local shows, maybe one festival and that's it. There's no touring scene.

There's no no merchandise per se, you know, people. aren't into merchandise at all in India. They don't know CDs, say as, vinyl don't exist. You know, so if you want to do something in middle and if you're from India, you have to go global, man. There's no other way.

I mean, people do buy merch. Don't get me wrong. There people ask us for merchandise as well right now, but... Yeah, like 10 people. Yeah, but majority of the audience is actually college students. And college students are broke.

I'm telling this from my own experience. So now you've got either you pay for the ticket or you buy the merchandise so it becomes that question can't you both yeah because you don't have beer money oh yeah

you need beer money that's way more important than a show hey man people pre-drink I've done that in that parking lot before you get in to the show

so but again that's the situation because all of the metal heads are this newer generation every time and by the time they get old enough to like maybe earn

for themselves or whatever they're just like oh I'm out of metal now. I was like, where? That was a face for you. Really? Yeah, most of them. Like, you don't, like, some people get older than actually they might come back to it at some point. It's just, some people just grow out of it completely. It's, it's funny because we're seeing that happen with us. Like, you know, when we play shows in India, we get, like, really young kids who no one has seen before in the scene or at any show. And then these really old people

who come and tell us, oh, we had a band in the 80s. And because of you guys, we got into. do it again. So that's very surprising, you know, because the general, the general metal community within India, we don't really see a lot of them at our shows. We see, you know, really, really new, fresh faces all the time. Yeah. Which is great, you know, in my opinion. Okay. This is what promoters say every time. He's like, who are these kids? Where were they? Why weren't they win like that show two days back or whatever? Yeah. So really? Yeah. But a lot of people also say that we listen to bloody word we don't listen to metal but we listen to you guys so that's also there which is a big big compliment yeah you know absolutely yeah and you guys also it explains a lot that you

understood that you know your own community and and and your own scene and okay we need to like we we can't do this here like we need to be known globally and um you know people don't like hearing this but i mean you guys did it like you literally like you you both dropped out of college No, no, no Who did? Didn't drop out of Because I wanted to I was dropped by the college

Oh Me too It was not me The college gave up on me Oh, he's a corporate lawyer And you were a corporate lawyer Not only lawyer but corporate Which means

I could be wrong But corporate means bigger money Oh yeah Wow Yeah yeah yeah A lot of money but not a good life You know Yeah

Dude, was it like being a lawyer but also involved in the corporate world? What's that like, man? It's like, you know, taking a shit in Walmart. Because I just read. Okay. It's horrible. I thought I'll do it here. It's horrible.

You know, it's a desk job primarily. Yeah. But, you know, you got to deal with, you know, office politics and all this bullshit. And, you know, they tell you that it's a nine to five. but it's basically a 12 to 12. So, I mean, not 12 to 12. 9 to 12. It's like a 24-7 job.

Oh, that sucks, dude. It sucks, man. The money is good, but, you know, when are you going to spend it? You know, there's no time at all. So, yeah. Yeah, it spends a lot because, I mean, you're working all the time, but then you get the money and it's like, well, I don't even have time to spend this money. I can't even go to have fun.

Yeah, exactly. Now, you spent a little bit on me when initially I met him. I was, again, like, college broke student. And I meet him. in him and it'll be like let's go have beers i was like i've got no money he's like i got you i'm gonna get you beers that's cool as soon as he left the job yes everyone each man for himself get your own beers no one no bears there anymore yeah then we used to just smoke cigarettes yeah i mean yeah so how do you guys meet uh through him yeah through him so we had a band earlier

like he had a band yeah and then they was a need for a drummer so of course yeah And we played a gig earlier and that's how we met. Then we met at another gig. It was like a college competition kind of a gig. Oh, yeah. There, like we, we, I mean, it was really nice bonding with him. So I knew like he was searching for a vocalist and he was the perfect match. Yeah, and you know how this happened?

He called me one day, he's like, do you have a mic? I used to have this really cheap $20 mic. It's a PG-50. No, yeah, some show or something like literally. And I was at his house. I was like, hey, he called me to do a song. Do you want to come along? So I had this bike that my dad used to have back in the day.

And the mileage on that thing was perfect. Like you literally, a dollar worth of fuel in it would take you to like 200 kilometers. Which is about 80 or 90 miles. 90 miles. Yeah, okay. And it's not even a gallon. But whatever. So we get back on that bike.

We go to my house. We pick up the mic. We go to his house. And we just record one. Bollywood cover just like that. It was basically the video would be of the music video, but the audio was ours and it was metal. And we just,

whatever on the spot we'll do like goofy stuff, like make weird sounds also and whatever. And just put like big squeals at a part with blast beat, which clearly looks like it's not happening. But it's just funny to see that. Yeah. Yes. So that's going to be way.

Way down. Oh, way down. Way down. I go Sinba the Slayer. Yeah, Sinbad the Slayer. I came out after that. So these are actually, so if you know about Bollywood,

they're big on songs within movies. Okay? It's a weird concept, but it works in India. Yeah. So what we do is we take the music videos, right? And we just put metal music over it,

like our own compositions. Not our own compositions, but our versions of those songs. Yeah. And they're doing. be hilarious because you know you expect this guy to sing and you know sing in a very melodious way but then suddenly there's growling and all that shit you know it's gonna hit in a bit yeah you have to check this is this is a part from a

movie based about rock bands in India which was pretty cool the first movie was yeah so this is just the part where you know it's from the movie but when the beat drops come any minute now wow even i'm listening to this after so long yeah yeah now we've so that's our okay it sounds sick those are freaking chubby riffs dude that's a proveback yeah and this was seven years ago correct oh yeah wow because you guys formed in 2016 so it's a this is around like okay yeah yeah yeah on the end of 2015 yeah hitting in 16 yeah so you guys are basically going viral in india Yeah. No. No.

Like 15,000 views was like a good day. And it was a little bit of a lot. It was a whole course of like two months or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so what used to happen was the composers of, you know, the original music to these videos. They'd share our stuff. Oh, great. And they'd be like, loll.

Okay. They'd share it with the, you know. I mean, they'd share it in a very positive manner, but also making fun of it. So we were cool with that. You know, we were like, yeah, cool. you know, it's getting some eyeballs. But then eventually we moved on to original music and that really blew up.

So, yeah, yeah. Thankfully, it worked out for us. Yeah. It's pretty rare that that works out because, I mean, you guys like basically knew what... It seems you were very strategic. First, like, okay, like we need to build our own band. We need to build something outside of India.

And not only that, but it's like you planned it. Was it like a conscious choice? Hey, I mean, you guys, I'm going to correct myself. You guys got kicked out of college and then you quit your job. And you guys were from day one, we're going to do this. Yes. It was also in college. I mean, we were trying.

So when we started doing all of this, I was still in college. And he had quit his job. So, I mean, we were still trying. We were still going hard into it. But we were also like conscious that we have to build. So that's why the planning part comes to the play, because if you're going to make money from a genre that is obviously not doing anything in your country. But if you see the global scene, if you just push that boundary and be like, hey, but what if the world hears us? And this is also the time when YouTube is exploding in India, every guy that has a phone and internet connection is making a channel uploading videos.

It's doing good for them. So might as well try it. What's the harm in trying? And that's what we did. So we gradually moved from Bollywood covers to some more popular songs outside of India. From there, we went over to because the conscious decision was to get people to listen to our music. And in this process as well, we found our sound. He found our sound actually with like constant experimentation in the studio.

Yeah, you know, I mean, the aim was obviously always to keep growing, you know. We used to upload videos. We used to check the comments. We used to see what people like, what they don't like. And the missing element was obviously like what makes us unique. And we found that with one of our semi-covers because it's a folk song.

It's called Mundayatabachari. You must have heard the tune if it plays. The typical Indian, you know, taxi driver music. Oh my goodness. So we made a metal version of that and that blew up on Reddit. Okay. And because what happened was

we incorporated a lot of Indian instrumentation and we made the song in swing instead of, you know, straight-fold. And that's when we discovered our sound. We knew, okay, this is it. This is what, you know, our sound's going to be about. You know, the Indian percussion, the Indian instruments, the swing, you know, the rhythms, the melodies. And right after that, we started putting out originals

and, you know, it just took off from there. Yeah. Yeah. It also explains a lot why your music has resonated because it seems like you guys you guys found you were you're experimenting and then to experimentation you finally found okay this is this is our sound this is like our unique sound and then it sounds like you guys start with like a melody first and then you guys correct me if I'm wrong but you have a then you communicate amongst yourselves you know

what is what are we feeling yes and then and then you build a song musically and lyrically from yes from there that I mean that it that explains why people feel it I mean, we're in California and you're going to play a show and you're from India. That doesn't really happen, you know. So it explains a lot, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've always wanted to write songs with meanings behind them, you know. We don't like to write, you know, arbitrary songs or, you know, open to interpretation kind of stuff.

Sure. So, you know, because we've been so direct, I feel that's why, you know, and direct and very simple with our music, you know, it's not very complicated. the lyrics are just straight up, very simple, out there. And I feel that's why, you know, we're here playing shows in the U.S. of A. Yes, great success. Yeah. Yeah, and this is, I mean, your first show was Loddard in Life.

The first first. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here in the States, what, wasn't that, shit, wasn't that last year? Like, like a slip-out play. let me god mischiga we played i think this is uh i think this is after shock i get yeah this is after shock that's after shock

yeah that's after shock yeah yeah what the fuck what are you guys doing just jumping having good time it's just crazy that you guys are getting such a reaction yeah i mean we're just lucky no we did expect because we did get a lot of support

from the US so yeah yeah you know So we did expect that there will be some people. This we weren't expecting. I mean, so it's a funny story. Dustin would, he'd tell you about this. When we were about to go on stage, it was after shock? No, no, louder than life.

Yeah. Dustin was very apprehensive about what's going to happen. He's like, guys, don't expect too many people. And I told him, listen, I've heard that before. That's happened before. And you know, what we know is that since the starting of this project and whenever, you know, things have worked out for us, you know, we've had so much support from the US. So much of it. So I knew that it's going to be great.

And it turned out pretty well, you know. Yeah. How was that for you to play to play drums? I'm sorry? How was this show for you? It was pretty nice. I mean, for me, like, there's one different thing, like, when we tow anywhere outside India,

is like that you have to set up your own drum kit. Yeah. So that was fun. But yeah, it was crazy seeing so many people and, you know, like listening to our songs and jumping along with us. It was really nice. What did this dude? That's wild.

That's summer breeze. Yeah. That's our favorite show ever. Is it? There were 30,000 people there and we were opening the main stage. We weren't like, this isn't like, this is like at 12th. the festival representatives came to us and said that they've probably never seen an opening that large which was insane because right after us was lona shore and you know the crowd was still there it was

the opening was amazing yeah like everyone went wild sometimes the energy is there yeah you know what are you guys doing and holy shit you know i was on stage we we all jumped during this portion yeah so i could see this like little orange thing at the back someone wearing an orange jacket just going up and down and I was like, oh my God, like that was a human. That's not something like a cone or something. That's a human jumping on our song. Yeah, those were waves. You know, it kind of reminded me of this very old video of Metallica playing in Russia.

Oh, the Moscow. Yeah, yeah. It's a very famous show. A fraction of that audience, but still like on stage, we've never seen so many people. And we're from India, you know, we have a lot of people. So when we say that, it means something. Yeah, that's probably the entire Indian metal scene in one picture out of 1.4 billion people.

Yeah. But yeah, it's small but tiny. Yeah. How many people are in India for? I think close to 2 billion now. Yeah, we're the largest. We just surpass China in terms of the most number of people. Two billion?

Oh, I guess. Close to that. Pretty close to that. I think it was 1.4. But yeah, we have surpassed China. That's the bottom. That's a lot. India's a lot.

Yeah. Nothing to be proud of. Number one. One point four. Someone's brains working. That's because you guys aren't drinking. You're focused. That's sick.

I'm drinking. I'm not focused us again. Oh, you got to catch up. Yeah, we're going to go back home soon. It says China has, oh, I mean, not by much. India is at 1.408 and China is at 1.412. Yeah. And where, and the United States is only,

331 million? Yeah, we've got three times the man for us now. He's going to buckle up. Man, we better not go to war anybody else. That's like by billions, dude. Wow, I didn't know that. Holy moly. I thought the United States had more than a billion people.

I'm just an idiot. No, no, no. What that heck? With the size of your country, that's what anyone would think. Is it just we were yesterday? Yeah, yeah. You know, last year, when we came to the U.S. for the first time we were like there is so much space everywhere yeah everywhere you know we're

just not used to like just so much space and people drive in their lanes yeah they know that this is for the purpose and not some weird art by the government perfect how do you okay so i've been there once yeah yeah uh 2017 yes good good memory i think it was uh backladesh uh no this was bangalore this was cult festa cult something i can't remember this umajit was the omanjit was the I was like, how are people driving? Oh, yeah. People were walking barefoot everywhere. There was like no road.

And like the way like the energy was was flowing with vehicles. Like cars, small cars, big cars, people on top of cars. They're not motorcycles, but they're like, you know. I was like, how is like, there's like a flow to it. People were just going. And it looks like it looks like it looks like. like it's chaotic but it was like kind of like this it looked kind of organized. Organized chaos is there's a method to the madness. Yeah. Everyone's just communicating telepathically.

With the horns as well. In the cars like, I mean, are horns even did, did that have any purpose? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like saying hello. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, what for here is like, fuck you. Yeah. You can say that too. Oh, yeah. It depends on how frequently you press. also how the longer you know if it's just that's a fucky but it's like it's like hey

hey wait it's up yeah wanna have a beer together yeah or maybe let me pass whatever it's convenient it's uh what's interesting is that

since there's there's so many people I mean I wonder why it seems like metal is still underground there even like massive bands yeah

um no I'd say for massive bands, there are a lot of listeners. Oh, yeah. So, um, for example, we've had Lampcord, we've had Gojira. Metallica, you guys, you know, we've had like cannibal cops come in to play, you know. And when they show up, Iron Maiden, when they show up, there are like thousands, thousands of people coming to their shows.

But having said that, um, within the, within the, the scene within India, like for, for local bands, um, you know, I'd say, maybe 300 or 400 people may show up if there's a collection of low-banks on a good day on a very good day actually yeah yeah yeah it's like 150 on a good day yeah and a very good day is 3 to 400 that's what will of mya did when they came to india really yeah because venues cannot accommodate more than that yeah yeah yeah yeah we have very small venues in india yeah yeah so it's okay it's okay every venue is like a 200 to maybe 400 cap right yeah yeah yeah 400 is a nice thing to have in india only a few venues yeah only a few venues yeah only a few in this but you know otherwise you have to book these amphitheaters which need a lot of licenses

and stuff like that sure yeah yeah and then that's for like the slip knots and oh not an amphitheater that would be if you do it in Delhi that's jail and stadium yeah that's that would be a stadium yeah really slipmott yeah yeah for sure not only indian's going to be there there there would be people from russia nepal sri lanka manmar if they can get a visa that pakistan like all of them are going to be there yeah so when corn came to india I was there since 11 in the morning and I met so many Russians there who weren't working or doing anything in India

they were just there people from Nepal they were just like hey it's gone we gotta see this and by the time it was like evening and the first man boomerang was opening for them it's a band from North East yeah yeah so by the time they started playing there was literally a wave of people

just heading inside like really fast yeah in fact Bono Osiris just played in Bangalore Oh yeah Yeah I think there was talks about We were gonna do that again

Oh nice Yeah I think we're we're supposed to be there But our drummer Ernie's an idiot He broke his ankle He's fine now But it's like a small Small fracture Okay

Wow Look that fucking stadium Dude So this is where Slip my wood I play huh Yeah And it's gonna be a little Little bit small

Any of those big ones You know They play these stadiums I never even thought about that Like if there's a show Yeah people going to fly in from essentially yeah yeah the entire Indian subcontinent all of these little nations all around everyone's going to come there yeah holy shit yeah so your record came out

2022 yes last you know how uh like uh how like how like how are you guys writing songs i knew i knew i knew so we uh we made very good use of the pandemic uh you know when everything was on lockdown in India it was a very very strict lockdown yeah so um you know that's that's a real lockdown probably all right yeah absolutely like you know if you go out there if you go out on the streets police and the the indian policemen they don't have guns but they have these amazing bamboo sticks yeah i saw video is that real shit i saw videos that people for bamboo getting smacked yes yeah it was you right no yeah i got saved but so this is what happened so i'm i am i just need cigarettes i don't have any sure

I was like, I'm just going to take out my bike and get something. I will surely find something. So this is the main road. There's the service lane. I am in the service lane. I just left my house. I'm on the way. I see a barricade.

This guy going in a bike. And I see this policeman just like smack him in the back. He falls. I turn around, go back home. Like, I think this time we're going to quit smoking. A lockdown is a lockdown. You know? Wow.

And you can't fuck with the Indian police. They're like, they're extreme. If there's a if yeah if there's a lockdown they're gonna beat your ass Basically they're immediately in force if there is something up immediately and you know they they they've got really good aim they can use those as javelines also they're bamboo sticks Yeah if if they had to aim at him yeah he'd have one through his stomach yeah they can't do that Yeah one time I'm coming from college with a friend of mine both of us don't have helmets and it's It's a law you need your helmet so I'm just like I'm gonna just fucking go for from the barricade and what are they gonna do?

This guy on a super bike goes really fast right next to us without a helmet too. I see the policeman literally just like throw the stick, hits him in the back, falls down. Wow. I immediately went there parked, I was like, we both do not have helmets. Can you just like find us so we're good to go?

Yeah, that was scary. And he did pick him up and he didn't be like, oh, are you finding his leg? Oh, no. You can try to run. Yeah, if you, if you break the law, you get your, the law will break you. Yeah.

It's like you don't get arrested, you just get feet down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my goodness. How do you guys... You will get arrested also. Yeah. But you had beaten up first. That's a pleasure they can have.

Yeah, yeah. How do you guys feel about, like, when you see, like, I mean, us, like, Americans, like, just complain about, like, oh, like, we, like, we, like, we, like, we, like, we can't go inside and eat, like, I, like, I can't go outside and you're just complaining about dumb shit. I think America and every other country for that matter has their own set of problems. Sure. And we have our own set of problems. Yeah. I don't think there's an element of privilege or something like that. It's just that we've got different problems and you guys have different problems.

Interesting. Yeah. That's how it is, you know, because like our problems are still at a very nascent stage, you know, stuff like earning a living. Yeah. Surviving and all that stuff. So, you know, we haven't progress to the next set of problems, which is like, you know, actual rights and all that stuff. So, I mean, don't get me wrong.

It's not that bad. But, you know, that's the best way to look at it, I feel. You know, it's just a different set of problems. And everyone's going to get there, you know, eventually. That's a very healthy perspective. Yeah. It's like, you know, everyone is a human. They have their own set of problems.

they have, you know, their own goals. They're just trying to be human, which is hard enough. We all have our own shit. Yeah, we all have our own shit. Yeah. Every person has your own shit. Yeah. You know, and I said, I'm all trying to fucking just be decent out here.

My goodness, try not to smoke. It's hard, man. It's hard, man. You know. Yeah. But that's, I never heard that before. Yeah, you kind of blew my mind. It's like, why, yeah, we're all.

No, it's true. Like, for example, in India, right now, the biggest issue would be poverty. Yeah, there are a lot of poor people. Okay. What we don't see in India is a lot of what I've seen here is probably maybe the use of drugs. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's the problem that America's dealing with.

There are drugs in India. There is usage, but it's not as widespread. So we have our own set of problems, which is, you know, just like people are just very poor. You know, they're trying to make a living. And here it's, I think one of the comparisons is there's a massive drug problem. which, you know, America's trying to cope with. So it's just, it's problems, man. You know, every country has their own.

You're not going to focus on anything until unless your tummy's full, and that's what everyone goes for the first thing. You got to get food, and everything else comes after that. Because at the end of the day, you're going to survive to see the next day. Yeah, and we will have a drug problem. We will have problems with, you know, LGBTQ right. Convierte your passion in a new business with Shopify, and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay for,

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coms bar records. Which are currently coming up in India. Yeah. Um, you know, so that will come

But that will come once we are probably at a level where we can start dealing with those problems also. Yeah. So that's how every country is going to go by, I think. Yeah. And it's so hard to deal with multiple problems. It's tough to deal with like just one problem. You know, as as humans, we're so like this addictive. We're so addicted.

Especially like, you know, I brown here you just said it. Like, you know, we're all just, you know, there's like a people are just, you know, addicted to drugs. You know, and it's hard. That's so hard to deal with, dude. Yeah. It's so fucking tough. Remember, like, I was, I did. cocaine for a quick second.

This was like, you know, early 20 is so, all idiot. And then once I quit, and then it's where when like you, like you improve something. It's fucking how we're wired. Like you improve something. And then this other problem arises.

Yeah. Then you fix that problem. Then another one comes up. It's like, damn, what the? Yeah. It's like, why are just deal with problems? It's so tough, man. Yeah, yeah.

So there's this saying, I'm not sure if I'm going to get it right. There are no solutions, only better problems. Yeah. So you solve something and you have a better problem. problem to deal with after that. Like, it applies to everything in life, you know, every single thing. So, you know, for example, uh, if you, if you solve the issue of, let's say, um, come on guys, help me out here.

Give me a problem. No, no pizza. No pizza. No pizza. No pizza is probably not a problem. Talk to there. Yeah. Let's let's just, let's just, let's just, for example, say.

diabetes. Wow. Hit enough. Yes, it did. So if you, once you, it's a problem, but you take your medication and everything. Now, the next problem is, how do you stay healthy? All right?

How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle, which is much more difficult than just taking pills, right? But it's a better problem to have. Yes. You know, fixing your diet, staying healthy, you know, staying. It's a jab at. Okay, oh wow. It's type two, I'll reverse it.

But yeah, that is the problem I have right now. How to eat healthy? Yeah, yeah. It's tough, man. Yeah, it applies to everything. You know, if you solve the issue of poverty, all right? The next step is, okay, how do you create employment? Right.

That's how it goes, you know. It keeps going. But they are better problems to have. So, you know, there are no solutions, only better problems. We should always try for better problems. Yeah. Yeah. And you're just trying to write heavier riffs.

And that's a problem too. What do I do with so much? Yeah. What a problem to have. I know it's tough, man. Like, uh, dude, especially when you're out, when you leave your, your house, it's so hard to be disciplined. You know, you just, I mean, you're just surrounded by temptation, which is, I mean, when we're going on tour, it's food. Like, man, how I, how I, how I not eat like shit all the time? It's just always around.

It's fucking 3 a.m. You're like, I'm hungry. Yeah. There's McDonald's. I don't want diabetes. I'm hungry. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Actually, I'm, I'm, I'm going to eat it. Yeah. It's tough. No, it's tough. It's like, it's an everyday battle. Yeah, every day battle. Especially on tour. Yeah. Every day, dude.

Yeah. Yeah. And some days your motivation and willpower is more than others, but most of the time, it's just fucking brute discipline. And that, and that's hard to have, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this guy's pretty disciplined in that matter.

I can tell. He's so much disciplined that he could, he actually, I lost three KGs on the European tour. He lost five because he just. Yeah, he helped us. Yeah, he helped us with disciplined diet. These guys are working out together. I didn't even do that. I still lost weight because our food was so disciplined,

like literally calories where he counted everything. He was like, hey, whoever wants to lose weight, this is the time, I'll help you out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if we've got to do this for the long term, we've got to take care of our bodies, right? Yeah.

Was that the source of it? Okay, I need to eat healthy so we could do this? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Really? Yeah. Like I said, again, like it comes from India, you're doing something that nobody has done before,

at least from our part of the world. I mean, people have done some of it. but what we are getting to see is those guys only tell us that, oh, even we haven't seen this. Sure. So when you've got something like that in your hands, you just cannot have, you know, wrong decisions ruining it. Like, and by wrong decisions, I just mean like eating unhealthy all the time.

And I hate it. Let me just make it play. I hate it. Because I want to eat everything. Wherever we go, I'm just like, I want to eat the local stuff. Of course. Yeah, the greasy one that will probably give me a heart attack. I want that because I want to experience that.

it's hard for me to do that but even then I'm just like I just we do it for the love of the art and yeah I mean we've learned from even though you know we're not connected directly to the international scene like we don't live here but yeah

we've learned from all the stories you know that bands put out that you know someone's dealing with this or they had to cancel the tour or the album's delayed or something like that we can't we can't let that happen to us you know I mean it may happen like there are things you can't avoid

But you know, whatever's in our hands, we will do everything to take care of it. Yeah, I was wondering, like, it seems like your band has like this insight. I mean, did you have like a mentor at home? Did you have someone kind of nothing? Just mistakes. I mean, well, we will give a lot of credit to our manager, Rob. Yeah. Rob McDermott, he used to manage Lincoln Park for 10 years when they started out.

So we keep getting insights from him And you know we always keep our eyes open and our ears open to all the things that we should not do Absolutely you know in terms of you know whatever Goes wrong and whatever goes right we need we we constantly learn from them So you know because this is the only thing that we want to do for the rest of our lives Yeah, all of us Yeah, I mean I mean you're you're you're if you quit that job man like there's there's there's there's there's literally no other option.

Oh, I'm not going back to that. Oh, yes, absolutely not. I'm not going to die before this band becomes a legacy band, so I will eat that lettuce. Oh, my goodness. When you have to eat lettuce. Oh, shit.

I hate lettuce, too. I used to like broccoli, but now I just feel it's weird taste. Yeah? Yeah, just weird. Sometimes what it helps is like, I don't know. I mean, I guess we're all different, but sometimes, like, just looking at food

as fuel and gas. Sometimes, sometimes it works. Sometimes for me it works. I don't know, like it might not work for like somebody else, but sometimes I'm like, I see that. I'm going to hang out with this band called Bloody Wood. I don't know. I'm tired.

I need to. This is fuel. This is going to fuel my brain. Sometimes it helps sometimes. Yeah. You know. I seem, I think as humans, we always, what helps for discipline is you either have logic or emotion. And you could kind of pull from either one.

If you don't have the emotion to drive you, then you go to pure. boring logic. You know, this, this is what's going to get me there. And you just fucking, it feels like you're going through emotions, but just that logic. You know, I'm like, this is fuel. I'm doing this, but to get here. Yeah, that's actually very deep.

That's subject logic. Yeah, just logic, man. Or that could go with that practicing. Practicing sometimes it's boring as fuck. Oh, tell us about. We need to six hours a day before we leave. For any, for like two months in advance, we'll just do six.

Six hours a day. Every day. I heard about that. So you guys practice two months before tour for hours. Yeah. Yeah. So our schedule generally looks like, so when we head out on tour, we book this rehearsal space for two months and we practice six months every day.

Oh, six hours. So, fuck. Six months every day. Come on. Sorry, six hours every day. I'm running low on Omega 3s in my life. So, yeah, six hours every day. And, you know, by the end of it, we can play the songs in our sleep.

you know we can we want to like that's that's the aim you know just go very very very very prepared you can't be too prepared but as close as you know too prepared because it takes care of everything from a part that you find is difficult so how to work around that for example i i've got a sore throat but i already have a backup plan for it how do i avoid sounding bad or he's got his own because he plays the flute as well on stage and then he plays guitar as well so We all have like our little plans in the back of our head say, I can do this if something goes wrong on stage. Because at the end of the day,

people have put so much trust in us that again, like being an independent band, we're sitting here with you. So I mean, it's because of them. So if they've paid money to see us, it has to be way worth more than whatever $20, $30. They've paid for the ticket. It has to be.

So that's why we have to practice as much as we can. So they don't feel disappointed. They don't go back home and be like, like, hey, well, that was shit. Yeah. That's a great way to put it. I never heard someone say it like in that way. Like you want to be, you, you want to be worth more than what they're paying.

Yeah, absolutely. They need to come out of the show thinking that that was worth way more than the ticket that they paid. Or yeah, because we've heard this a lot of times, a lot of people like I've been going to concerts for 20 years. That was the best show I've ever seen in my life. But I think every, almost every band hears that. Yeah. I mean, but for me, that becomes like a. of motivation that I have to work hard

and eat lettuce. It sounds like your fucking struggling. I am personally like there are time where you're just like it's okay. If you want to do this for a long time, eat this. Or there's a hot dog stand outside.

Whatever you're like. Oh my good. When they have a hot dog stand outside, I get pissed. Man, why are you going to put temptation right there? And they're really good too.

Yeah, yeah. And that's what? We had our dogs last night. They were really good. Oh my. What was last night? L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A.? Yeah. The HECOplex.

Yeah. Echoplex. Oh, yeah. I mean, if it's L.A., for sure, it's going to be hot ducks and outside. Yeah. Right outside our bus. I came and looked at it. I was like, I'm eating it. Because we didn't try this in like the step time I was eating this. Yeah. I ate it and I was like, it's really good. And we were struggling to order something. We were like, fuck it. 24 of those. 24? Oh, my goodness.

But there were a lot of people. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. See, that's where, oh, my, look, those hot dogs. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Wow. Oh, see, street hot dogs, dude, you cannot fuck with a street hot dog. Okay, so this is where logic also comes in.

Okay, if you have a hot dog past midnight, you ready? Okay, this might help you. This is logic. If you have a hot dog past midnight, there is a scientific fact that if it's past midnight, it will, if you eat it fast enough, it'll go to your biceps. Really? Yeah. And then you have two of them, it'll transfer over to your, to your triceps.

And then, and then you have alcohol on top of that. It'll turn on your fat-burning hormones. And now I'm kidding. I said, you thought it was. No, I was. I was just going to take alcoholism here I come. You got to look at me like, oh, this is here. This is a pure, this is a pure wisdom coming in.

Yeah. I like, he's toward a lot. He knows what to say. Oh, my, no. That's what I tell myself. oh my goodness I was thinking about I was like

yeah I ate two hot dogs really fast it was past minute I skipped the alcohol I woke up ripped dude yeah like is it

is it ultraming stink now you know what I did I did do a experiment this was like when I was late 20s

and then I was like literally I was you know when you first struggle like when you first get into dieting

or like food and stuff like that it's a big struggle and him what I did I did a experiment sometimes you know nighttime you like you like you like you like you you go off the rails like a little bit I did I did it was a mental I forgot I forgot where I heard it but it was like you know like don't beat yourself up over it because you know when you have that like okay I have this hot dog and you mentally just like you know you fucking loser you're fucking stupid stupid

loser and but for some of me I'm like okay I ate this cookie or this ice cream or just Ben and Jerry's or whatever it was and For some reason, I just kind of let it go. You know what? It's fine. Yeah. And then I, I mean, I didn't like gorge myself, but you know, okay, you go off the diet. And then the next day it was like, there was like this, I didn't gain any weight.

Yeah. And then I heard from Ross, shout out to Ross Robinson. He calls that weight of the mind. Where it's like, you're just kind of, like, you have like this weight. It's just stress. Yeah. And like, and your body will fucking carry that like stress. you know

weight of the mind like damn Ross look at the Ross Robinson dude yeah what a fucking legend dude

imagine on the picture of me it's weird those early corn records dude amazing look at that the weight of the mind that's deep

yeah weight of weight of the mind it's true man it shows up I mean wherever you are mentally

it will show up on your body yeah that's true you know for like for me I'm I don't know I don't know what it is mean do you like the work I mean it's just like it kind of shows up on like your like face you know if I'm stressed out I look at me I'm like oh my god dude what the fuck you're doing at home dude you fucking chill out you know bross Robinson dude we did it we did a

record with him mm-hmm it was really fun but it's just too bad it flopped oh yeah yeah we did uh did you hear about our self-titled record yes okay I actually did like it Thank you. For the record. Yeah. Thank you. It came on 2017. Yeah.

You weren't in me. Oh, cool. Oh, yes. Yes. I remember that. And I liked it too. Is this what we were talking about? We had a discussion about it when it came out because there was a lot of internet hate and I was like, but what is wrong?

Because I'm enjoying the fuck out of it. Yeah, yeah. In fact, I remember him coming over to my place and we were talking about it. And we were like, dude, I like it. We like it. You know, it's just it's the internet man. The internet will take something Oh my goodness

Yes it was different from your sound But that's the beauty of it You're gonna grow as individuals and musicians Yeah We put ourselves on the cover like a bunch of idiots I would have bought that t-shirt by the show Yeah It's a cool cover man

It would be a new party by five other people Dude when that record came out of you We lost all our money Disappeared Literally like people stopped buying merch People stopped going to shows It was fucking wild That's weird

Wild You know Would you mind if I ask you a question about it Sure Do you think it was because of the internet Yeah I mean it's I realize that people can be

Influenced by comments And I think I learned it There Where like comments aren't exactly a joke Sometimes people will Re comments and they'll get out Then they'll form their opinion Based on a comment

And then there was something that happened which I mean I mean we're friends But this whole thing happened with suicide silence and Jerry Dines I'm sure you were so of right Which it was funny to us. It's just funny yeah, but people took the videos he was making and would took that into a fact Yeah, and when it gets a million of views Yeah, it's yeah it affected us everyone joins in. Yeah, everyone joined in dude. It was nuts People are ready to take a dump on you It's it's exactly like you know what I feel about Nickelback you know it's I like that band okay I will say that on

camera say I do yeah they write good music if you actually listen to their album and not just the radio hits sure yeah but just because of the general perception that one guy started which was I think I read I read something it was he was some comedian who said something on one TV show and then it just took off you know people just made an opinion without even listening to them yeah you know I think I think that's something that we every needs to be very aware of that, you know, opinions matter. Yeah. Opinions matter.

You know, it's just, it's so weird how the internet works. But, you know, yeah, it's just unfortunate also that. I was actually, when that record came out and I saw all of that, I was actually hesitant to listen to it because I did not want to tarnish the image because it was just so much. It wasn't just one guy like, you guys thought about so many. But then I heard it and I was like, that's bullshit. Like, not the record, but the people who are saying shit.

Yeah. just I couldn't make sense. And like he said, we discussed it. We were like these little Indian metal historians. I think, I think 2017 was where, you know, the cancel culture thing was really starting to. Yeah.

And people didn't have, I don't know whether the word was invented at that time. Yeah. But we were being exposed to that without knowing what it is. Yeah. You know, if one guy or, you know, a group of influential people say something about your band, that can become the general opinion without people actually giving,

you know, So I think, but the internet definitely needs to learn to be more respectful, but also we're moving away from that culture. I see that happening also. Now people are actually thinking about things themselves and holding their own opinions. So that's a welcome change. Yeah, that's great. It's always, there's always like a, there's always a price, you know. If there's something good happens, there's, you know, this whole other wave that can happen with, like, without the internet.

You know, it's helped, you know, both our bands, you know, a lot. And when it goes other way, is it, holy shit. This whole thing go away quick. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I think now people are forming their own opinions. Yeah. And hopefully it keeps going in that way and less away from the cancel culture.

Because people don't realize when you cancel someone. Like, you're just not canceling them. It's like their family. Yeah. They're like innocent family. Yeah. Like a really good people, real good people. Yeah.

Yeah. Humans aren't good with a group of humans aren't good at F-Forsight. One human is, along with your thoughts and they could process, this means this happens, but humans in a group aren't good at like, oh, if we do this, that's going to happen, you know. Unfortunately, like when you kind of, you bring in innocent people. I mean, it affected, I mean, our whole lives. Yeah.

I mean, that era came out, people stopped buying merch, people stopped coming out to the shows, lost all the money. Yeah. And then I moved back to boom back in with my parents after that record came out. But as you guys learned, you know, from your mistakes, it sucks that the way life is, but you learn the most from your failures. And then you come back better on the other side. It sucks.

We had to get fucking dragged through the fucking dirt in the street. But that record definitely stayed that career in like a weird way. it has brought brought us back to or me my I guess my guess myself and then and what the band stands for you know yeah you know and I hope uh no one else has to go through that yeah you know you know the saying right whatever doesn't kill you yeah it's true it sucks but it's true man if you if you get through a rough time it doesn't I'm not mean talking about me anymore the band but if you get through that rough time there's just an undeniable factor that it just makes you better yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah man I can't even imagine how much mental fortitude

you guys must have developed after that oh yeah must have been like it's it's probably you know one of the hardest thing that an artist can go through yeah you know so but you know yeah yeah yeah man those those those lessons that you must have learned like all of those you know all of the callous you made it must have made in your brain I kind of envy that you know just learning all of that and you know learning how to deal with all of those things things. Of course. Yeah.

We callous our minds. Yeah. You know, it's like just fucking, what's up what, but the good news is, I mean, I mean, we are capable. I mean, we are, we are capable of a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. And we, we have a lot of emotional and mental capacity. Yeah. Which is really cool.

You know, we could, we could, uh, handle a lot of stress. We can handle really terrible moments in our, in our lives, you know, that that's, You learn if you go through something, it was kind of cool. It was all shit, you could go through this, but you come out on this side. You just didn't know you had that fucking capacity. Yeah. And then when you figure that out, it was pretty fucking cool. So this was last week actually.

Oh, nice. So this was a hometown show about it was funny. So this was sold out. We played it last year, too. I'm not bragging. It's part of story. but last year also sold out oh nice right before the pandemic yeah uh so before the pandemic after the self-titled we couldn't draw 50 people here in our hometown our hometown we

we we played a bar down the street from here because we couldn't play anywhere else oh man it was nuts dude and then years passed and then you you just keep pushing keep pushing and then yeah man you know that's that's the story that you're going to tell yeah of course yeah you know yeah you know Yeah, you know, when you come back stronger, that's the story right there. Yeah. It's the first time I ever told it here, but it's funny, you're right. I mean, I'm not talking about any other good times. You don't talk about the good times.

So why do we, why do we do that? You talk about the bad times because that part after is so sick, dude. Because you learn through that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But again, it's so cool of you to actually talk about this as well, because we're getting to learn a lot just through this conversation. Yeah. And that's priceless.

Man, that makes me so happy, just those photos of the soul out. sure that's it's it's nuts dude yeah 50 people it was like 50 people dude it was like it's like is this shit are we done is the shit over but then there's like that which you you know you guys can can relate to like there's just something i don't i don't know where it is but there's something that just keeps you there yeah and i don't know i don't know what it is yeah i i want to quit so many times but something that keeps you it to drive you i don't know where it is yeah yeah What is it? I don't know, man.

I don't know. It's just, it's just there, you know. It's, it's there every day, you know. You know, it's the times when, you know, you feel like, oh, man, I've had enough. And then you still put on your show clothes. You still go out there. You still give you a 1,000%, you know. And then you go back to sleep thinking, oh, I may, you know, tomorrow might not be good because I fucking cringe my neck or something like that.

And then you go harder the next day. I don't know what it is. I don't know. It's just there. It's just there. Because you've thought about it since you were young that this is what I want to do. And when you embed yourself with the thing like that, that's what I have realized, at least for me, that if you had that thought since you're like a kid that, no, this is what I want. You cannot stop yourself.

It's just that constant craving. And even if you're on the top, you just still want to keep climbing somehow. Of course. Yeah. That's how I think of it. I have rationalized it for myself. It's weird. Because I mean, I mean, think from, it's funny how, like, you.

you like you like look back at when you guys were kids like think it back when you're just listening to like Lincoln Park yeah yeah like singing those words to where you guys are at now now you're out now you're out doing doing it it's just listening to you know a band rage you know rage or like it's like man it just from it just ingrained something in you it's nuts yeah yeah yeah that's true that's true it's I think it's like you know one of those feelings where you know as as teenagers we're not or maybe even kids we're not able to put words to our emotions or we're not able to tell exactly what we're feeling but then we hear that through a song yeah and then you think wow that's exactly

what I'm feeling and someone actually you know put melody to it someone put you know rhymes to it and you know then that's when you really develop that connection to music and you know that's I think that's that's one of the things that you know builds you and yeah you know just forms you as a musician and maybe as a person too. Yeah. Well, I know you guys got to get back. I'm honored to chat with you guys, you know,

a band from a different part of the world playing heavy shit. It's sick, man. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you so much for how much. It was our honor. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Anytime, man.

I mean, so you have any new future plans that you guys want to put out there? What's going on? I mean, so we have like, how many shows left in the US? I think around 13. 13 shows left. And then we're going to Europe for a month and then to Japan and then back to India, write an album for a year and a half at least. I know it's a long time, but we got to really make every song count.

And then maybe continue touring after that. Yeah. So that's the plan right now. But before we Before we end this Are you okay with me Telling a short story About our drummer here

Please Wishish, are you ready For the For the grand exposure Of your back story Yeah Of your life story Is this like

It's the The story No no You want to do it? The story You want to do it now? I mean he I think he has a better version

of it He was telling me yesterday Oh no no no No no The real one We're talking about the real one Yeah All right

Let's let's you okay with that yeah all right let's pan the camera to his hand right there that's a drummer and he fucking shreds on the kid you know he's one of the best if not the best drummer in india for sure i can tell you that they're being very kind right now but uh yeah like this happened like in a bike accident about i think 10 years ago uh 10 or 13 years 2012 yeah in a bike accident he lost two of his fingers. I'm not going to tell you a very short story. Okay.

Let me tell this. He lost two of the fingers. One of his fingers got thrown in the river for some reason. And the doctor he went to first. Actually, I think, put the wrong finger on the wrong place. I did that. When I picked up the finger, I thought, like, I had lost only this one. And I picked up, like, the pinky one.

And I tried to, like, stick it in this one. But, like, I had no idea. I thought it was pretty death metal, though. Yeah. And then it gets worse or better. So then the doctor who tried to fix him, said, I can't do shit about this. You've got to go to a better hospital. But wait, I will stitch your hand inside your stomach so that you can make the journey to the hospital.

So he has a cut in his stomach where his hand was stitched inside. Yeah. So if you see what? What? Okay, that's a little bit. Slightly different portion. I mean, that didn't happen. Yeah.

So they had to basically do a surgery over here. It's called a flap surgery. And if you see this, there's hair on my finger. So that's from my tummy. So they had to like stick it in for like three weeks. Yeah, his hand was stitched inside his stomach for three weeks. So. And he had to grab a flight to another hospital where they didn't speak the local.

I mean, the, they didn't speak Hindi. Your songs helped. I mean, I listened to a lot of metal when I was in hospital. So it did help a lot. like, you know, to bounce back. Oh, and bounce back he did. Yeah. When his fingers were finally capable of holding a stick,

he fucking... They weren't. That's the thing. He used to tape the stick to his hand. I've seen him doing that. So he had to relearn the drums. And we tell this very excitedly because we've seen this happening.

So he used to tape the stick. Remember that with that doctor's tape or that black, whatever you got it at cheap as stuff? Doctor tape. Yeah. It's just like wrap it around and then play with it. And I think he told me like now I can hold the stick properly with this hand again. So now you should see him play.

And I mean he what he plays for us, then he goes even extreme. Yeah. Like our stuff is light. The stuff he plays is fucking next. No, I mean, that's not true. That is true. Yeah. So in.

Quickly before we leave, I'll tell you this. So in Delhi, the staple of being a good drama is playing bleed by Masuga. Of course. You are a legend drummer if you can do that. I've seen him playing it like this with blast beats. Just like he's actually resting behind the wall and playing it. I've seen that happening. That's why I have a tummy.

So that's his story. So for people listening, you lost your in the bike accident. You don't have a pinky or a pointer finger. Yeah. All forward actually severed. And I can't move these two like beyond this. So it's like a crab hand. Yeah.

But yeah, does like it does. job. Fuck. Yeah. What did you think when the accident happened and you fucking look down? Yeah, I was like I wouldn't be able to play maybe. So that was the first thought. But yeah, the first thought was like it's pretty metal.

That was the first thought. No, the first thought was fuck. That was the first thought. Because I initially thought like it was like a near death kind of an experience. Yes. And I thought like, okay, this is it pretty much. But when I woke up, I was like, I might have busted. my head or something.

Then I saw my hand and it was like quite fucked up. Yeah. But it helped. I mean, all the things after that helped a lot to do this. His parents still think he got into a fight. Yeah. No.

Yeah, because he comes from Varanasi, which is a pretty badass place in India. Religiously, it's very high and so is. It's cancer, blades, like, you know, country made guns. So his parents still think that he got into a fight and someone cut off his fingers because he was a drummer. But we know that didn't happen.

So basically, the state I live in, it's like Florida of India. Okay. A lot of shit happened. Okay. Oh my goodness. Well, are you ever going to tell your parents? This was actually a bike accident. I did.

They don't believe him. They don't believe him. They think he got into a fight and someone actually chopped his fingers off. They won't believe you? My dad doesn't. My mom does. I mean, my dad is like, he overthinks about shit. He wants his son to be a badass.

He wants his son to have a bad ass. But how much more baddest can he be? At this point, how much more baddest is can he be? That's sick, dude. That's sick, man. You tape, you fucking tape the drumstick to your hand. Yeah. I mean, I used to.

Now, like, I can hold it. So it's pretty cool now. Man, I'm afraid for you guys to be like, okay, that we better fucking step up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In like a word way that's, like, inspiring, like a word way, right? Oh, do all of us, absolutely. I mean, so now, you know, now that, like, we've been together for quite a while. We have our own little jokes about things and you know all that stuff.

But at the end of the day, you know, it just reminds us of, you know, where we came from. Yeah. Yeah. From places where, you know, we were like, this is just not going to happen, dude. This is never going to happen to, wow, this might just happen. You know. Wow. So, you know, so yeah, it's just these little stories, not little, of course.

It's a major story. Yeah. But, you know, they're they just keep us grounded, man. And, you know, we love telling them. And although this is the first time it's been caught on camera. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We have a weapon. Every, any time someone gets cocky, he just be like, what did you say? Yeah, this is the, no, no, he, we haven't done that. Yeah. He slices throats with that. Yeah. It's like when it's like you guys can't, like, you guys can't even complain because you'll be like, you see this? Yeah.

So we have a lot of dark jokes. Like, see this? Stop complaining, you fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Sick, dude. That's sick. Well, again, Bloody Wood, thank you guys for being here, dude.

It was fucking, it was really cool to learn about your backstory and your band and to hear some new badass music. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Chris. Our pleasure. Where can people find you guys? On Instagram, on Facebook, on YouTube, on Patreon, everywhere. Sick.

We're everywhere. Except TikTok, though. Oh, we're going to be bad. Yeah, TikTok's band in India, so we can't. I wanted to use it, but yeah. Is it really? Yep, yep. Oh, shit.

India's response to China. Oh, wow. That backfired for sure, but. Dang. Yeah. Well, all right. Well, thank you guys again. All right, everyone.

That's it. Later.