Interview with Demonic Resurrection

 DEMONIC RESURRECTION – INDIA

Interviewed by: Fonda

This band is a great pride of the UG metal scene in India. Music varying from death, black thrash and power metal, this band has a lot to offer. The members are:

The Demonstealer- vox and guitar
Husain- Bass
Mephisto- Keys
Pradeep- Lead guitar
Viru- Drums

I really love this band, and I got the chance to interview the man behind the success of this band.. Demonstealer! Read on…

Lets start of with the greetings… hails! Hows DR? Whats the latest update with you guys?
Demon Stealer: Hey DR is doing good, we’ve just started touring again since August with our new Drummer Viru and we’ve started writing some new material for the next album.

Great, cant wait for your upcoming new album! The band’s name is DR because it was resurrected after various line-up changes? Can I ask the reason behind the fall-out? What made you decide Demonstealer to continue this band?
Well I had already named the band back in 2000 when I started looking for members to join as I had been writing a lot of original music and wanted to play it live. So I managed to form Demonic Resurrection with the help of an old school friend Prashant (now Scribe & Exhumation) and Aditya (Exhumation) who bought in Yash (Drums) and another friend of mine Farhad (Keys) decided to help me by filling in the last spot. The line-up for the 1st year changed with almost every 2nd gig and finally we had a stable lineup for almost 2 years which had Nikita(Keys/Vocals), Aditya (Bass), Yash(Drums) and myself (Guitar/Vocals). We had many lineup changes because members left due to studies or work also sometimes personal and musical differences took place which is why in around 2002 towards the end of the year it was just me and Husain (Bass) left in the band. Then in 2003 we found ourselves Mephisto(Keys) and JP(Drums) and in 2006 Pradeep (Guitars) joined. Our last lineup change was when JP (Drums) left in 2006 and was replaced by Viru (Drums) in August 2007. Since I had started the band more or less on my own I thought it was fine to continue.

Good thing you continued DR, it was worth it. Who’s the song writer ( I have high respect to Songwriters who takes time in making a lyrics). So you are also into medieval times, prophecies, love & war, and LOTR? =)
Initially when the band started I was writing and even recording most of the music myself, however in 2003 when the new line-up came into being it was more of a band effort. I still however am the primary songwriter in the band but all the other members are equally involved in the part of writing and arranging the music. The lyrics are still written only by me. I am into Lord Of The Rings etc, mostly it is fantasy inspired lyrics and I use my imagination more than anything else, rather than base my lyrics around already existing stories. Also a lot of my lyrics have some personal connection to my life.

I do notice your style of writing that it specifies those categories. I know that you get positive responses in your album, but what if a well-known metal band would criticize you hastily? How do you react to this?
Well it’s okay if some well known band says something about us because at least they have noticed us and actually taken the time to make a statement about us. Frankly we understand that not everyone will like the band and its music so we would just take it in our stride and carry on doing what we do.

Such a passive thinker. How can you distinguish a false believer of Satanism? Do you notice how some B.M. claim themselves as a believer? Do you think it’s a requisite?
I can safely say no one in our band is a believer of Satanism nor do we try to be. We keep all our religious beliefs aside when we play music, though most of us are atheists. I’m okay if black metal bands claim to be believer’s, its their life and choice and as long as they are true to themselves it doesn’t matter to me. I would like to point out that DR is NOT a black metal band and nor do we claim to be but yes we are influenced by certain bands of that genre mainly Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Old Man’s Child etc and I am even aware that most ‘True’ black metal fans think the bands above are nothing but poseur bands. But we don’t care we just like to listen to good music.

What’s the band ritual before starting? Drink beers, Yoga or group prayer? Ahehe.
We don’t have any rituals as such, in fact all the drinking is done after the gig but none of us are big drinkers. I think just before a gig everyone does their own thing and prepares for the concert and we just like to go out there and put on our best show possible.

Your songs had been covered by many International bands! Do they ask permission from you guys before they do that? And your song DARKNED MOON being aired in Indonesia radio station? And also in London and more. Do tell us more details!
Well I would not say so many its barely a few that have decided to cover a song but it’s extremely flattering when some band does that. I think the radio play for those songs happened many years ago when DR released the 1st album ‘Demonstealer’ after that we’ve had good things happen and some underground radio stations do play our music but we’d like to do a lot more than just that. Sam Dunn the man who made the documentary ‘METAL: A Headbangers Journey’ came to India and filmed us for his next one called ‘Global Metal’ so its things like this which are far bigger achievements for us now.

All the best for you guys, you deserve it. Hey, I heard the song “Frozen Portrait” was supposed to be for your GF? (ooohh..) Do you agree that when metalhead falls for love, its really fucking deep? You guys have your own family?
Well yes it does have some connection to her. I don’t think love is affected by the kind of music people listen to and it depends more on the kind of person you are. We all have our families yes but none of us are married yet.

Well, I still believe metalheads are great lovers, hehe. Hows the UG scene there? Damn, lots of great bands there that I didn’t expect! What do you think is your country’s advantage when it comes to metal music?
The scene here is picking up now, 5 years ago we had no international acts playing here, no local bands even wrote original music, we had only bands playing cover songs. In the last 5 years everything has changed, bands write their own music, release albums and finally metal bands have started to come here, we had Iron Maiden, Enslaved and in March 2008 we will have Megadeth & Machine Head. So things are looking up. I think being from India the advantage is that no one expected us to be so good but also I think for labels etc it’s bad because they look for some Indian sound in the music. So it has its advantages and disadvantages.

But still, I am really impressed and amazed with bandz hailing from your country. Let’s talk about D.S. records… What’s your category in selecting & accepting a band? How long have you been doing this?
When I had just started DR and also calling myself ‘The Demonstealer’ a friend of mine said that ‘Demonstealer’ is a better name for a record label and after that when I released DR’s 1st CD I said let me just write Demonstealer Records on it. That was the unofficial beginning of the label, I released 2 more CDs ‘Reptilian Death – Total Annihilation’ and ‘Various Artists – Resurrection: The Best of Indian Extreme Metal’ on CD-R. Finally in 2005 when DR was ready with the next album I said I’ll formally make my label and release the album through that and that’s how it was born. After that I signed Acrid Semblance, Bhayanak Maut, Scribe, Narsil, Exhumation and many bands and started releasing their music as well. I basically just sign bands that I really like musically; it’s as simple as that.

Well, you did manage the Demonstealer records pretty tight. Who do you think is the most despicable so-called icon (in music, politics or whatever!). Anyone you want to meet up in the future? (like me! Ahaha!).
I quite dislike almost everything to do with politics but I won’t single out anyone really because they aren’t really worth my time and effort. Musically I’d love to meet all the bands whose music I draw inspiration from. Otherwise I’d love to go on a date with Drew Barrymore. :D

Yeah, fuck politics! Most of the guys I know would do anything to go out with Drew.. hmm..If you can describe DR through a painting, what will I see?
Well I can’t really see the band through a painting but if I have to it would be some sort of a struggle, maybe something that symbolizes that struggle, hard work and determination.

That’s a great description of Dr’s painting! So, what’s DR future plans? Touring across the globe?
We would love more than anything to tour across the globe and we really hope that this year we can at least have one gig outside India. Maybe in a year or so we’ll be able to tour Europe at least so lets keep our fingers crossed. We are going to try and finish up our 3rd album this year and then follow it up with more albums.

Ok, that’s about it! Thank you for your time! I wish you guys the bloody best! So do say your last words for our NBzine readers and your undying followers!
Thank you for this interview, and to all the readers: Cheers & Stay Demonic – The Demonstealer!!

Horns up!

BANDSITE: www.myspace.com/demonicresurrection & www.demonstealerrecords.com
BANDEMAIL:demonic.resurrection.online@gmail.com or demonstealerrecords@gmail.com

Discography:

Demonstealer – 2000
Demonstealer (re-release)- 2001
A Darkness Descends -2005
Beyond the Darkness (EP)- 2007