Raising hell eccentrically

The four-piece progressive metal band try to push their music beyond boundaries

March 02, 2014 08:04 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 05:48 am IST - Bangalore

Eccentric Pendulum

Eccentric Pendulum

Eccentric Pendulum are a four-piece progressive metal band who performed at the Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore on March 1, as a curtain-raiser to the annual Wacken Metal Battle band competition which takes place across India. More than a curtain-raiser, Eccentric Pendulum, comprising guitarist Arjun Mulky, drummer Vibhas Venkatram, bassist Arun Natarajan and vocalist Nikhil Vastarey, raised hell at the gig, performing their three-part, 20 minute epic composition ‘Tellurian Concepts’ which will be released as a single later this year. The band’s guitarist Arjun Mulky says, “The band has been recently signed to a European booking and management agency “Into The Pit” based in Spain and hence our main interest is to write a bunch of songs, release another full-length album and promote it with an Indian and a European tour that would take place next year.”

The story behind the band

It was initially formed by the former guitar player Ashish (Spit), Arun (Extinct Reflections) who was his classmate and Vibhas who was freshly extracted from Spitfire. All three of them had their share of musical experiences with respect to playing from their previous bands. Ideas that were too far-fetched or different to be realised with their past ensembles resulted in a mood to try something more advanced at that point of time. So the initial rounds of rehearsing with a new bunch of riffs began in the month of October 2008. The goal that was set out to debut onstage at NLS Strawberry Field, a month after the band’s conception. Soon the band tried out their one and only contestant to play the part of a vocalist Nikhil (Asylum) and he has been in the forefront ever since.

You guys play music because

The reasons might be many or just one. There are a few heavy metal bands in the world that have pushed the boundaries to infinity. There is so much quality of musicianship to look forward to in every aspect of heavy metal compared to any other genre of music in the world except jazz perhaps which is the fore father of technique when it comes to playing. Though people condemn heavy metal for being way too loud or violent, the sheer amount of hard work that goes into this, the not-so-simple nature and scale of the output, the final product, the amount of pleasure one derives from it has been the one source of inspiration, to know this and feel this for sure we had to complete our first album. It is always a musicians’ dream to see his effort go into a playable format, and that might have also been a reason we guys got into playing music. It is always a challenge to have new ideas, a sort of variety, a fresh sound, a newly found aesthetic in this genre for only then there is success or a chance to make a life being a heavy metal musician.

You’ll still remember the time when

There is no single memorable part; each and every show we have played is memorable for us, as the main purpose of a band, other than creating music, is to play them in front of an audience.

Having said that, the memorable times are always the journey that we have together, all the ups and downs, the travelling bit in between the shows – those are the best part of touring as a band.

The toughest part about being a young band

The toughest part is to stay young. Probably not tough, but it’s a challenge that we accept whole-heartedly. The challenge is to keep an open mind and not get confined to a particular mind set - which is probably easy for us.

We don't (at least consciously) try and construct songs keeping any genre in mind. I would say, structuring the song is probably a good challenge that we face actively in most of our songs. But that's a good puzzle to solve for the band, so no complaints there.

The story behind the name

Just as there is prose, there is poetry and just as there is a simple four by four beat there is also a complex dimension to music.

Eccentric Pendulum portrays that complexity or that multidimensional state of affairs, this name is a testimony to the many off time signature parts that the band employs in their music.

Musicians that inspire you

Nevermore, Tool, Hacride, Meshuggah, Cynic, Death, Soilwork, Between The Buried And Me, Testament, Devin Townsend, Psycroptic, Slayer, The Faceless, Cannibal Corpse, Indukti, Karnivool, Porcupine Tree and Textures.

Compositions over covers

It's cool to always have a few covers in one's live set, sometimes a band can be even recognized based on how well they cover a song and how well they choose which song to cover.

It's not really a bad thing, except it always is a better option to showcase your own music at the end of the day, because that's what it's all about, right?

Writing your own music, giving the audience a taste of what you have to offer.

We have nothing against it, but we prefer to play our own songs usually because we want the audience to hear as much of us as possible, hopefully in turn buying our albums and actually diving deeper into the music. We have covered a few songs earlier and will do in the future, but nothing on the cards for now!

Follow Eccentric Pendulum on Facebook.com/Eccentric pendulum1

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