KUNJAN JOSHI (ex-E.Quals and ex-Vhumi) is currently the bassist for Boston, MA based band Soul Annihilation. Kunjan was recently endorsed by Blakhart guitars and this happens to be a massive news for us people in ktmROCKS. We are all happy for Kunjan and wanted to know how this happened and rest of the stuffs.

Here’s an interview done by Pranjal Ghimire with this amazingly talented bassist.

Greetings from ktmROCKS, Kunjan! Before we begin, congratulations on being endorsed by BLAKHART guitars! You now join the ranks of the likes of Mike Flores (Origin) and Jack Owen (ex-Cannibal Corpse, Deicide). It must be a great feeling.

Thank You ktmROCKS! I wouldn’t call it joining their ranks but it sure does feel good when somebody appreciates your hard work. It is an honor to be a part of the Blakhart family and being associated with such great musicians.

Tell us more about the endorsement deal. How did it all happen? What model do you endorse?

I was looking for a custom guitar shop when I came across Blakhart Guitars. Initially it started with talks of making a custom guitar. Eventually we talked about an endorsement, and they were interested in me. I use a custom fretless Ash 5.

Let’s talk about your band Soul Annihilation now. For those who don’t know, please provide a brief introduction of the band.

Soul Annihilation is a Death/Black metal band. Musically we are hell bent on combining the brutality of death metal with the grim atmosphere of black metal while incorporating some thrash elements. Some of our already written lyrics have been very traditional for Black or Death metal in their anti-christian or just brutal nature. But we are now taking the theme in a slightly different direction. A lot of the newer themes deal with psychological issues and existential dilemmas, especially regarding the inevitability of death.

How did you guys get together? Also tell us how do you guys go along composing songs?

Originally the project was started under the name Clisthert. Sean McDonough (Guitars/Vocals) recorded the album with Anthony Lusk-Simone (Pathogenic) whom he had met through Adam Boudreau of the black metal project Adversarian.

Sean then started jamming and later performing with Mike whom he met through returntothepit (Local website for metalheads). While it was a two piece band, Sanket Lama (Killizm) recommended me this band and we arranged an audition and then I got in. After few months Mike left the band and then we contacted Anthony to play for the band again and thus we have this current line-up. We are trying to bring a second Guitarist, Adam Kluza with us to Nepal as well. Sean had previously been in a black metal band with him based out of Ware, Massachusetts.

As far as composition goes, Sean is the one who comes up with the title riff and then the rest of the song revolves around it. He usually tries to go for structures which have a chaotic start and ends resolutely or the opposite, while sometimes the song starts with a theme, strays from it and catches up again towards the end. There is usually a theme that the song grows from. Usually the guitars are written first, the philosophical concept and the lyrics are written or edited later to match the general vibe of the song.

Tell us more about the music you play with Soul Annihilation. What are your primary influences?

Soul Annihilation is a combination of both Death and Black metal. There is already a lot of blackened death metal, especially from Poland, but Soul Annihilation is combining the two genres in a way that we have not heard other bands doing before.

The musical influence on the guitar is influenced by Swedish Black Metal and Death Metal. Some of these influences include Dissection, Dark Funeral, Naglfar, Marduk, Necrophobic, Nominon, Tribulation, Bloodbath, and Watain. We are also influenced by some American Death Metal bands such as Origin, Vital Remains, Nile, and Morbid Angel. Some other influences include The Chasm (Mexico), Destroyer 666 (Australia), Ketzer (Germany), Azarath (Poland), Mayhem and Thorns (Norway).

How often do you guys play live? How are the gigs there?

We were playing live quite frequently with our old drummer. Since his departure we have not played any shows with the new line-up because we are working on new material. We are scheduled to play two shows in June and will likely play a few others before we come to Nepal.

The Gigs in Massachusetts are usually a small crowd, but all the fans are extremely dedicated. People come to the shows because they like metal and it feels amazing when they understand what you’re playing.

You must have familiarized yourself with the underground metal scene in Boston by now. How different is it from the scene here in Kathmandu?

I don’t see much difference in the metal scene here in Boston and in Kathmandu. I think the feeling of being on stage and playing your music in front of fellow metalheads is pretty much the same everywhere you perform. Like I mentioned earlier, the people who go to metal shows here are extremely dedicated and this reminds me of similar experiences I’ve had while performing in Nepal. When I remember being on stage back home, first thing that comes to my mind is the ever energetic and supportive Nepalese metalheads. It’s quite amazing how the energy circulates between the people in the crowd and the band on stage.

You have been a prominent member in popular Nepali metal bands such as E.Quals and Vhumi. You’ve also been a session player for Antim Grahan. Are there any fond memories of those days you’d want to share with us?

As a teenager I was influenced a lot by foreign bands but it was the bands in the local scene like Ugra Karma, Cruentus, Antim Grahan, and Vhumi that influenced me to form a band of my own.

My friend Surya Pun (Antim Grahan) and I used to jam in my room with him drumming on a table using pencils as drumsticks and me playing a guitar connected to an old stereo which we would turn all the way up and that was our first distortion. As we progressed, we were fortunate to get into established bands. He became the drummer for Antim Grahan and I started playing in Vhumi. If only one of us had gotten into a band, the experience would have been a lot different.

Later with E.Quals the chance to compete in the international stage and getting to know more about the music scene abroad gave me a whole new perspective on the international metal scene, bands, and musicians as well.

What, besides playing in a band, do you do in the US? How hard is it for a musician like you there?

Well honestly speaking, after playing with different bands all these years, I’ve come to learn that being a musician is not easy. I never expected it to be. It takes a lot of dedication, hard work, passion, and determination.

Besides playing in a band I’m studying music right now. I’m trying to focus more on the band and most importantly broaden my musical schema. Other than that, Sanket and I are writing songs for our long due goregrind project. Hopefully we will come up with an EP by the end of this year. I also travel a lot and do so whenever possible.

What are your future plans?

In the near future we’re planning on recording a new album, work on a new video and perhaps look for a Label that fits our style. We’ll be playing several shows here in the States before we head to Nepal. We are already booked for several shows and we will shoot a video there as well. After Nepal we have some shows in England.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans here in Nepal?

Above all, I would like to thank each and every one who has accepted our music and supported us as a band. We are touring Nepal starting this September and we will be playing several shows there.

To listen to our music and know all the tour dates, follow us
www.facebook.com/soulannihilation

SANGHARSHA – Sangharsha EP, 2012
Reviewed by: Samyam Shrestha

I love Sangharsha. I love their simple yet bold songs, beautifully penned Nepali lyrics and those riffs heavier than a sledgehammer blow. Kshitiz certainly knows how to construct an onslaught out of his guitar. I love his band.

And just seven months after they released their split with Jugaa entitled “The Sickness That Never Sleeps”, with a new drummer XDipeshXMoteX in the legion, they have awakened with yet another viral assault. This S/T is full of everything that a Sangharsha fan would wish for. They’ve offered the sludgy sound that was quite predictable after the band’s gradual shift of musical direction over the releases. If you’ve heard everything they’ve done before, you know that their sound was steadily moving towards sludgy hardcore. Call it experimentation or whatever but they’ve worked out to make this album sound sludgier and heavier than their half in the The Sickness…, and with a refreshed sound overall. Heavy, ultraviolent riffs are here in plenty that form a catchy base to the songs.

Three out of four tracks are in English this time – the four songs relating to the four basic elements of life – air, earth, fire and water. The tracks generally begin slow, and gradually build up intensity as they move forward and develop into vicious deathblow. Gloomier, the slower segments take you to another dimension of the songwriting, as in the outro of “Karma”. The mixing and mastering of the album was done by Kevin Bernsten of Developing Nations Studio, Baltimore, and the sound production and mixing is perfect – just what this style of music needs.

So overall, it’s a magnificent album. It’s always welcoming to know that the band is experimenting with newer elements, stretching their stylistic boundaries, and this is just another testimony that Sangharsha deserve this bloody hype!

And if you’re still unaware, they’ve released one of their tracks “Aperture” (which isn’t still the best track in the album, IMO) in their official Bandcamp, and here’s the album teaser they had released about a month ago: http://youtube.com/watch?v=IJqy2U8GwG4

The album is scheduled to be out at the end of this month. Watch out for the wreck, people!

Photos:

Album 1(11,Divine Influence,Imperium,White and Jindabaad)

Album 2(Severe Dementia and Lakhey Band)

Videos:

11 Band

Divine Influence

Imperium

White

Jindabaad

Severe Dementia

Lakhey Band

“Chhaka, Nika, Swoka, Pyaka” (Newari for one, two, three, four) – Ashish Maharjan screams into the microphone, followed by an instant boom of fast beats and riffs. The boys of Lakhey band are at practice in the basement of Metal Institute, Ghatte Kulo and their sound is unique.

Lakhey, the instrumental band, are Anil Dhital on guitar, Ashish Maharjan on flute and vocal effects, Yuson Maharjan on dhimeh, Rabindra Maharjan on bhusyah, Naresh Prajapati on khin, Gokul Atreya on bass, Sudan Raj Bajracharya on dhyangro, and Ashish Dangol performing as Lakhey, the dancing demon, and Guidoo Wyss of Commando Noise Terror as their guest drummer.

Incorporating sounds of more than 15 Nepali/Newar musical instruments ranging from the dhyangro that jhankris (faith healers) play to drive out spirits to kaa and pongraa played during funerals with seven-string guitar riffs and bass, most of the band members take on multiple instruments, creating what they call ethnic metal music.

As the band members seat themselves in the room adjacent to their rehearsal room for The Week interview, they cram the small space where Anil teaches his students the ABCs of music. On one wall hangs Goddess Saraswoti’s poster alongside the Ibanez poster that depicts Gods of Guitar from Joe Satriani to Steve Vai. The opposite wall is a white board scribbled with guitar chords and tuition timings.

The current ensemble of eight members in the room is a mix of musicians from different bands. Five of them come from Vairabi, a traditional folk music outfit who were lost in the shadows of Kutumba, the band that popularized folk music in recent years. And it was during one of the many concerts of Kutumba that Vairabi discovered their missing element in versatile guitarist Anil Dhital, then on stage with Kutumba.

“I first saw Anil dai when he was playing a set with Kutumba at the tattoo convention,” the always eager Rabindra says, “As soon as I saw him perform, I realized that his metal guitar riffs would sync with the aggressive traditional beats we played during Jatras in our hometown Kirtipur.”

The youngster then Facebooked Anil to get together and jam up. And because “No” is a rare species when it comes to the world of musicians jamming together, Anil agreed.

“I always had this idea of mixing folk with metal,” says Anil in his characteristic casual drawl, “So we got together one free evening. I had some of my own tunes ready, we then played along, and by the end of the session, we knew we had something khatraa (awesome).”

Soon they were looking for a name for their joint project and “Lakhey” stood out as they could associate their ethno metal music with furious sounds played during the Jatras with the vibrant dancing demon.

A year later, the band members share amicable relationship, always laughing and joking with each other. As they share how they had a full photo shoot with their costumes and masks even before they had a concrete composition, each one has a playful smile curved up his lips.

“It did push us to complete what we’d started, though,” says a smiling Anil. For the boys from Vairabi too it was an opportunity to do something new, something innovative and something different.

As most of the initial band members came from the Newar town of Kirtipur, Ashish shares, they were passed on the musical traditions by their forefathers and their Guthi where many youngsters were even obliged to take on the responsibility of playing the traditional instruments for the cultural occasions they endorsed for their sheer love of music.

“We’ve been playing (traditional instruments) since we were kids,” he says, “We never actually learnt to play these instruments but picked it up as we played along for fun during the several festive occasions and Jatras in our community.”

Even while playing traditional beats, the band says, the metallic sounds of the bhusyah and fast drum beats of dhimeh and khin sounded “brutal” to them, they say. The gennext couldn’t help but associate it with the metal music many of their friends and themselves were listening to.

“Many traditional music compositions, especially the ones played during Lakhey dance, with the aggressive tunes evoking a sense of fear and fright are very similar to the musical patterns of metal music,” says Rabindra, “As we delved deeper, it was like we already had metal pioneers playing the fast paced musical patterns way before Metallica.”

That’s where Lakhey stemmed from – the roots of traditional music that was already there and infused it with contemporary metal essence.

For skeptics who believe that metal is a recent phenomena in Nepali music, Lakhey brings to light the existence of metal in Nepali music roots. And it’s only Newar music the band has mostly explored which still leaves the potential of many different tribal music of Nepal untapped.

Gokul, the newest band member, adds, “It was tiring to see every other young band doing covers of the same old international metal bands. There wasn’t any originality. With Lakhey, I think we’re definitely setting a different track.”

With their single titled “Lakhey” that they released on the Internet just past New Year, they’ve already created a fan base for themselves. In the very first listening, from the eerie guitar intro to the crashing sounds of dhimeh, khin and ghungroo with piercingly sharp flute parts scattered throughout the track, the music leaves you with a haunting feeling that reverberates in the mind.

A year since the first jam session, Lakhey boasts seven completed compositions, most still untitled. Their plan now is to release an EP within a few months and follow up with an album.

Very selective about their gigs, the band hasn’t yet played at major rock concerts. “Because we have many band members, we need more sound gears, and moreover, the costumes and some masks we use are original Lakhey items of Kirtipur. So there’s a lot of logistics involved,” says Rabindra.

However, fully prepared and practicing daily, the band is all excited about their debut at Ides of March [Readers, the gig is tomorrow].

In the practice room, the excitement and the readiness is even more apparent not just in their furious sounds but also in their ecstatic faces, wild heads banging, body jerks, jumps, screeches and screams. Playing in a circle, all the while the boys pick up on each other’s cue, keeping pace with each other. And their Anil dai has all sorts of facial expressions, from creased brows to wide open eyes and crooked smiles to signal them exactly where they need to work on to sound perfect for their debut gig and an awaiting future in global metal.

Lakhey awakens tomorrow, Saturday, March 31 to the Nepali metal scene with their debut performance at Ides of March in Bhrikuti Mandap.

UJJWALA MAHARJAN

Published on The Week, Republica on 2012-03-30

Bay of Bengal in Kathmandu Valley

Severe Dementia, a death metal band from Bangladesh, is headlining the event, Ides of March, organized by ktmROCKS on Saturday. Formed in January 2007, the current lineup of the band consists of Saimum Hasan Nahian on guitars, Ahmed Shawki on vocal, Raef al Hasan (Rafa) on drums, Hythum Morales on guitars, and Kawser Ahmed Pervez on bass.

The band has already released their EP called “Epitaph of Plassey” in a split album, “Rise of the Eastern Blood,” in 2007. They also toured India the same year and became the first ever underground band of Bangladesh to perform outside their country.

The Week caught up with the four members of Severe Dementia to talk about their band and the underground music scene:

How has the underground band evolved in Bangladesh?

Hythum: You can always say it’s growing but it’s different how it’s been evolving in Bangladesh and other parts of South Asia. The influence is growing but there are very few gigs for the bands to perform.

Nahian: In Bangladesh, Rafa’s first band Dripping Gore formed in 2002 can be termed as the initiators of Death Metal music. I was heavily influenced by that band to form a band of my own. I’ve seen them as a fan, and they were the most fast-paced band at the time.

 Rafa: There was already a scene in Heavy Metal but  Extreme Metal bands were still lacking. Dripping Gore replaced that void in Bangladesh. It was the beginning to defy the conventional style of covering popular mainstream bands and was always out of the box. But there were very few people in the audience actually enjoying the music.

 Shawki: Though they didn’t continue as a band, it was successful in influencing people like us. And I think, after Dripping Gore, we’re the ones continuing the genre of music they had started.

 How would you like to see the scene change in your country?

 Nahian: One basic problem in our country is that we don’t have venues for underground gigs to take place. We have many good open air venues for mainstream but very less for underground music scene. Another problem is that we lack organizers solely dedicated to underground music scene, like ktmROCKS in Nepal.

 Rafa: I believe that maybe it’s because of the fewer number of extreme metal bands. If the number of underground bands increases, there will be more following.

 You toured India in 2007. How do you recollect your experience of touring outside your country for the first time?

 Nahian: It was a great experience. We headlined two gigs in India and it was there we released our EP, “Epitaph of Plassey.” It was good to see the audience excited about our album and they were buying it. It was a crazy experience of performing in front of 400-500 head bangers.

Rafa: We were the first band to tour outside of our country but we hadn’t planned in achieving anything as such. We did our work, we did the shows and it was only after the show we found out that people loved banging their heads to our music. That was a huge confidence booster for the band.

So what are your feelings about headlining Ides of March in Nepal?

 Nahian: I did some research from the ktmROCKS photographs and they showed a pretty good picture of the scene going on here. So I would say that my expectations are pretty high from the Nepali crowd.

 Shawki: I did a bit of my research, too, and I’m looking forward to the gig. I have a feeling that we’re going to have an amazing experience.

 Hythum: This is my first in Nepal. And I didn’t get into research because I like to be taken by surprise.

 Have you followed the Nepali underground music scene?

 Nahian: I’ve downloaded all the songs of Antim Grahan. Other bands I have yet to discover.

 Rafa: Actually, I’m not here just to perform. I’m here to watch the entire gig, to know the Nepali underground scene.

 What inspires your lyrics and compositions?

 Rafa: For the EP, it was Nahian’s idea. He came up with the songs that described the Battle of Plassey when the Bengal Nawab lost to the British. The design of the album was theme-based. And since then, we kind of found the track to composing songs with similar ideas.

 Nahian: Our later songs are basically inspired by death, torture and mythology. We’ve been exploring Sumerian mythology in our latest compositions.

 Hythum: Our lyrics and composition are like creating a movie but through music.

 After releasing an EP, touring India and now in Nepal, what are your future ventures?

 Nahian: We’re working on a full-length album which we plan to release this year. We have already released a single from that album.

By: ASMITA MANANDHAR / Republica

Interview on The Week, Republica on 2012-03-30