BAND INTERVIEW by Vijay Narayan
Q. What ’s the story behind the name CORRODE?
A: When the band was first formed, we went by the name Atharva. Later on, Sidharth our former vocalist decided on the name Corrode, for a more ‘metallic’ feel. We were fine with the name change and it stuck.
Q. AND THE CURRENT LINE-UP OF THE BAND IS?
A: Aditya Rajan on vocals and guitars, Vinay Ganesh (Goldy) on guitars, NIkil Kumar on bass and Ashwin Alexander on drums.
Q. How did You guys meet? How long have you known each other?
A: That’s a very complicated answer to be honest. Goldy, Nikil and Aditya have known each other for a little over a year, but Ashwin has known each of them individually at different points in his life. Ashwin was Nikil’s junior in school and was Aditya’s junior in college. Ashwin and Goldy have known each other for three years now, i.e. since he joined Corrode in late 2008. The way we all met is another story altogether. Ashwin and Nikil were in a band called Macabre Intent together since 2008. Macabre Intent and the old line up of Corrode had headlined a gig in Mysore’s Purple Haze. That’s when they met Goldy.
Q. If you had to pick a genre for your music, what would it be? And who are your major influences?
A: Melodic Death Metal. Plain and simple. Our individual influences are varied. The band as a whole is influenced by bands like Arch Enemy, Opeth, Ensiferum, Wintersun, Dark Tranquility, Insomnium, Inflames and the likes although we abstain from using keyboards in our music like they do.
A: When the band was first formed, we went by the name Atharva. Later on, Sidharth our former vocalist decided on the name Corrode, for a more ‘metallic’ feel. We were fine with the name change and it stuck.
Q. AND THE CURRENT LINE-UP OF THE BAND IS?
A: Aditya Rajan on vocals and guitars, Vinay Ganesh (Goldy) on guitars, NIkil Kumar on bass and Ashwin Alexander on drums.
Q. How did You guys meet? How long have you known each other?
A: That’s a very complicated answer to be honest. Goldy, Nikil and Aditya have known each other for a little over a year, but Ashwin has known each of them individually at different points in his life. Ashwin was Nikil’s junior in school and was Aditya’s junior in college. Ashwin and Goldy have known each other for three years now, i.e. since he joined Corrode in late 2008. The way we all met is another story altogether. Ashwin and Nikil were in a band called Macabre Intent together since 2008. Macabre Intent and the old line up of Corrode had headlined a gig in Mysore’s Purple Haze. That’s when they met Goldy.
Q. If you had to pick a genre for your music, what would it be? And who are your major influences?
A: Melodic Death Metal. Plain and simple. Our individual influences are varied. The band as a whole is influenced by bands like Arch Enemy, Opeth, Ensiferum, Wintersun, Dark Tranquility, Insomnium, Inflames and the likes although we abstain from using keyboards in our music like they do.
Q. When did you form the band? What inspires you to make music together?
A: Corrode was formed in late 2007. Goldy and then vocalist, Sidharth were in engineering college together and spent their free time jamming and making music. Sid was more of a Black Metal guy. He did play the keyboards for the band at one point but only on cover songs.
Q. How do you go about writing & composing songs?
A: Well, for a long time it was Goldy who’d write the skeleton riffs to which we would all add our own parts. If there was something amiss, we’d change it. Now, all the work starts and ends in the jam room. Everyone brings ideas to the table and we collectively take decisions on what to keep and what to discard.
Q.What are the main themes or topics for your songs?
A: By and large all our songs have a fundamental base on themes dealing with despondency and melancholy, although some songs like The Others, Hecatomb deal with more abstract thought processes but still retains the element of melancholy.
Q. Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you play any covers?
A: Back when we first started off, almost every gig we played had a 15 minute time limit. We’d barely get to play two songs which was usually the title track Corrode and The Others. Of late, almost every show we play gives us a good 45- 50 minutes of stage time, excluding set up time. This allows us to play our entire set, sometimes even including a cover. There are three songs we perform most frequently - Laconic, Casting Shadows and Corrode. Hecatomb is more of a tentative song, which we love playing but, there are times when on stage we decide to just go ahead with it.
Q. How do you guys rehearse and practice?
A: Like most bands in Bangalore (and probably India) we don’t have the luxury of our own jam room. So what we do is rent out jam rooms that are well equipped with amps, drums and a mixer and jam there. Jam Hut in Hennur is our favourite place to jam.
Q. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE AS AN UPCOMING BAND IN INDIA?A: We as a band have faced tremendous challenges us an upcoming band in India. Firstly, metal is not a genre that sells so well here. People don’t readily take to our music and there have always been biased opinions of metal bands in the competition circuits. But what we feel is most ironic is that we spend THOUSANDS of rupees renting out jam rooms in order to practice and till date, there hasn’t been even ONE show that we have been paid to play. What’s worse is that there have been times when we have had to pay money to play shows. We think its high time Indian bands get paid to play.
Q. How long have you been playing your respective instruments (leave the vocalist :P) ?
A: Haha, the joke’s on you, because our vocalist handles both vocals and guitars. Well, Goldy has been playing guitars for close to a decade now. Nikil and Ashwin have been playing bass and drums respectively for four years now. Aditya has been ‘experimenting’ with his strings for close to three years, but has picked up quite a bit during his tenure with Corrode.
Q. What’s your take on the present day music scene in India ?
A: Well, to reiterate, I think we give more than we take. (Haha) Honestly though, the Western music scene in India is absolutely brilliant. There are numerous bands out there with such amazing music that is on par and sometimes even better than those of their Western counterparts. Bands like Eccentric Pendulum (who very recently performed at Wacken), Motherjane, Avial, Kryptos, Inner Sanctum, Infernal Wrath, Junkyard Groove, and various other alternative/rock, funk and metal acts have put India on the map. People can criticize all they want but the fact is that this country does have a lot of talent in it, much understated and what we need to do as Indian music enthusiasts is start supporting them, if not financially, then at least by listening to and spreading their music. It is very rare to find an Indian band that does not offer its music for free or dirt cheap rates so you can’t really complain. All they want to do is be heard and be recognized for the time and effort they put into their music whilst handling both academic and parental pressures.
Q. What do you have to say about the rise of pop music or “easy sweet mix music”?
A: As long as you are listening to that music with conviction then by all means go ahead. What I don’t understand is how someone can listen to songs like I Wanna Fuck You, sing along to it at dance bars and then take feminist stand points and call all males sick and chauvinistic. But yeah, if you identify with that kind of music, then you don’t require our sanction to listen to it.
A: I think we’re still in the process of finding our sound. On so many occasions we as a band have had hour long discussions on this exact same topic and have ended up nowhere. I think people tend to over-intellectualize ‘sound’ and ‘genre’. As long as our music is made with conviction and as long as we are able to connect to it, I think our music will continue to evolve.
Q. ANY LAST WORDS?
A: I can think of a barrage of platitudes to make your evening meal, but enough with that. We as a band would like to use this opportunity to thank our fans who we call Corrodepathis, for their unending support and all Indian bands out there that are fighting the good fight. And before we sign off, we would like to inform you that our debut album will be released shortly and the process is well underway.
