Being a thrash metal band in the city is not easy, but that has not stopped the influx of a number of bands of this very genre in the city over the last few years.
Blind Fate, a city-based, four-piece thrash/groove metal band, is one of the few that has survived long enough to make a name for itself and awaken youngsters in the city to the noise of heavy guitar riffs and chaotic breakdowns.
Started by Technopark firm employee Sandeep Nair and his schoolmate Vimal Velayudhan as a small after school project called ‘Time Zero’ in 2008, the band has grown and changed beyond recognition today.
Says Sandeep: “In the beginning, Vimal and I were just taking our experience of participating in youth festivals at school a little further, and starting a band was everyone’s dream then, especially after seeing the rise of Chaos, one of the first recognised metal bands of the city. Though at that time we had not ventured into the kind of music we play today, this new musical change in the city was something we wanted to be part of.”
Time Zero’s first official gig at P.A. Aziz College of Engineering and Technology, alongside bands like Heretic and Crimson Wood, was not the dream outing they had hoped for. It was in the following period of uncertainty that their existing drummer was replaced by R. Jairam, a final year Civil Engineering student of Marian Engineering College and their junior at school. The months that came after saw the band participate in many college fests, and as people began to take notice, the musical tastes of the members themselves started changing in favour of heavier music with darker themes. With the arrival of bassist Vineeth R. Nair, a third year student at Model College, the current four-piece line-up of the band became complete.
So how did Blind Fate come about? “By the time the four of us got together, we took some time off and began to work on our own music. Our new influences were bands like Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, Opeth and Lamb of God and with all these changes we figured a new identity was needed. At that point we thought Blind Faith made sense but later realised the name had already been used by a band in the sixties, which included Eric Clapton. So we made a minor adjustment and arrived at Blind Fate,” grins Vimal.
Hitting the music scene
By 2011, the band had emerged from this period of transition and hit the scene with renewed vigour. The year saw them take part in college fetes all over Kerala and in other parts of the country, bagging prizes and winning respect from their competitors. The money saved from these events helped in creating a basic jam set-up for the band’s own musical experiments in creating their own compositions. This year, Blind Fate has already played at IIT Saarang and B-School of Rock at IIM Bangalore.
When asked about their plans, Jairam responds, “We’re currently working on a three-song EP that we plan to release later this year. That’s the main focus for now, and beyond that we intend to continue working on the music despite wherever our personal and professional lives lead us. This is something we intend to see through.”
The band has high hopes for the metal scene in the city as well, despite having had to struggle for the last few years owing to the scarcity of sponsors and organisers. “Things are beginning to change. The crowds are getting larger, and people are starting to make sense of the music we play, where it all comes from. It may take a while yet but there are initiatives like ‘Trivandrum Rock Revolution’ that are trying to make a difference. Also, we have been lucky to have been supported by a lot of people in our journey and that in itself is a sign of the changing times,” concludes Vineeth.
With a large section of the youth in city colleges now coming under the category of metalheads, the change hoped for by the band may not be far off.
(Get more details about Blind Fate on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/blindfateindia)
