There are two types of bands — those that are high on the ‘rockstar’ act, and those that stick to their signature music. Godless definitely belong to the second and they are proving to be one of the India’s best metal bands — specially after representing India at the Wacken Open Air 2018, Germany, the world’s biggest heavy metal festival. Godless came out best in India, to win the rights, amongst more than 100 other metal bands aspiring to play alongside legendary bands from around the world.
Breaking the metal myth
“While our band is just three years old, we have all been part of the heavy metal scene for more than a decade, having started out in our teens,” says Abbas Razvi, the band’s bassist. While Abbas’ long hair and tattoos — excuse me for stereotyping — give it away, he is down-to-earth, like the rest of the band members, almost smashing the prejudices about heavy metal bands. “Metal is all about being happy. It is a myth that they are dark. Well yes, the music has some angst and emotion but that is partially because of the themes we pick for our lyrics — politics, society, religion and contemporary issues.”
Godless at Wacken Open Air 2018 in Germany
In just three years, Godless have come a long way. Currently, they are on their seven-city tour, one of the longest for a metal band in India as they proudly declare, and on November 17 they will be launching their second album Swarm at the Hyderabad Heart Cup Café.
The seven-city tour included pit stops at Imphal and Delhi, and will go on forward from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Kochi. The band, though, is fond of the metal scene in the northeastern parts of the country, especially Imphal, where turnout and merchandise shopping are impressive, because of the huge awareness for metal.
- The band includes two former players of Skrypt, Abbas and Ravi Nidamarthy, who is the guitarist. Aniket Yadav is the drummer, while Kaushal, who shuttles between Bengaluru and Hyderabad is the vocalist. Sound engineer Sri Varun completes the band, which meets for practice at least four times a week. Abbas explains the process succinctly, “We set out with specific goals. We had absolute clarity over the kind of music we want to make. We had no qualms about not wanting to play covers for money. We all have our separate professions and we wanted to be thorough about the kind of music we were going to make. Importantly, we wanted to reach a stage where metal-heads could listen to a track and say “that’s Godless”. We also have a lucid vision about the styling, the imagery, the design elements which will add to the aura of the band.” Commitment is something the band members swear by, and their intensity was motivating at several levels. “Finding the right members is tough and we lost Rohit Nair, who had other professional commitments, but we like to be intense about our rehearsals,” Abbas, who has been playing bass for 11 years. now, adds.
The beautiful part about Godless, who are excited about Swarm’s release — the EP’s name inspired by the song From beyond is that they aren’t happy with being the best in the country. Having hired a PR firm from the USA, Godless is going all out to compete with world-class metal bands.
No compromises
Things came full circle for them when they played on a multi-city tour with Psycroptic, having earlier worked closely with its guitarist Joe Haley, who had done the mixing and mastering for their first album, Centuries of Decadence — the album itself receiving acclaim, and being mentioned by Rolling Stones as the ‘best metal release from the country in 2016’. While Godless worked with a record label Transcending Obscurity for their first, giving them some extra mileage, they have gone on their own this time: “We don’t like compromising on quality. Hertz Studio has done the mixing and mastering for Swarm . We have spent a lot on design and mixing and have stayed away from record labels to have our complete say.”
Godless, which is looking forward to travelling more of the world including Europe next year, says, “You can’t afford to throw attitude. That’s the difference between a college band and a professional band.”
Apart from sharing the writing and composing duties, the band also shares their tasks — from social media management to handling shipping and merchandise. “Producing an album could be expensive, especially if you are looking for quality as we did with Swarm ,” Abbas points out.
The members
Abbas owns plenty of sound-equipment as a sound engineer. Aniket teaches drums. Ravi is a sound composer for apps. “Some of our band members have quit jobs at the Amazons and Googles of the world to focus on music, but it helps that we are not dependent on music for our primary income, allowing us to adhere to our standards and style of music,” the band members explain.
While thrash metal is fast and groovy, unlike death metal which can be extremely aggressive, it needs a sound technique, and plenty of skills, the same way as jazz does.
“We have risen quite fast, touchwood. But, miles to go. The awareness towards metal here in India is a little low compared to other parts of the world, but we do want to travel more. We don’t want to make mistakes with our music and presentation as we did with the past bands we have all been part of. Helps that we have a common vision for the music we want to make,” the band signs off.
