Metal fans rejoice, Brahma is back and performing LIVE at Blue Frog on April 29th! Here’s the MissMalini exclusive interview with lead vocalist Devraj Sanyal.

Brahma was formed in 1993 and ruled the Indian Metal scene for almost a decade (between 1996 and 2006) they released 2 studio albums, one in 1995 called The World Beyond on Virgo Music and then a decade later in 2005 on Sony Music called Reborn. Brahma is now back with a vengeance after a hiatus of 3 years to kick some serious a** and give the country another decade of their non-comprising, pile driving, progressive heavy metal! Yes in deed, Brahma is back on the circuit and currently writing their 3rd studio album. Catch them live at Blue Frog, where for the first time ever in 2 decades they will perform a full acoustic set!

Also consequent gigs will be at Blue Frog Delhi and Opus Bangalore which will also be Brahma Unplugged sets.

MM: Brahma is back! Were have you been? And what’s in store for metal fans this time?

DS: We ruled the roost from 1996 (took us 3 years to get there) and in 2007 we then took a break for a few years to do our own things… we all did music stuff from a solo point of view, always knowing it was a matter of time to re-band. Last year we decided this was the time and now we are back full on!

Brahma will always be in-your-face, gut wrenching, ball blasting, honest, aggressive music. Unafraid to sing about the topics closest to our heart… but only this time now almost 2 decades in our direction of music both vocally and musically have matured and you’ll see a more complete writing process. So, much more melody driven riffs, crazy drum signatures and voice lines that thus far I never had the guts to write or just didn’t. Now that this is the direction we are all terribly proud of where this is all heading… The 3rd album should be done by end June and we should be in stores by October latest.

MM: You obviously get in a zone when you perform, where do you go? What’s going through your head when you sing?

DS: I emote depending on the song I sing… if it’s a violently aggressive song like Bomb, I am angrier than I’ve ever been and my entire personality resonates that emotion. If it’s a song of remorse and regret I’m so deeply hurt that I could cry unabashedly while singing. The more mature vocalists have learned that emoting to the highest level possible is the best way of showing your fans what your singing about. And we wrote about topics that enables change and you better be feeling them else your just a hypocrite and I’ll say this for metal vocalists… they’re a lot of things but hypocrites they are not.

Bomb – Brahma

This was the official video, won us VH1 nations fav band in 2009.

MM: Tell me something about Brahma most people probably didn’t know!

DS: There are so many stories but there’s one story that resonates (that a lot of fans don’t know.) So you know the eternal struggle for rock and metal musicians to sell their music as compared to the mainstream right? Since some of us are smart marketing blokes and we wanted to shift paradigm with our first album way back in 1996. We asked our dear friend Farhad Wadia to allow us to launch our debut album at Independence Rock 1996 which by then was a 3 day festival at the legendary Rang Bhavan and he did. What happened is that Brahma became the first and only band to ever release an album at I-Rock at a place where 15,000 of our most ardent fans are in one place over 3 days we then asked the label to allow us to discount our cassettes (yes this is from the pre CD era) and Virgo music said ok. I guess we sold 33 odd thousand cassettes over 3 days at I-Rock and then we hit the regular market. This probably became the highest selling metal record of the time and all times.

Independence Rock XIII – 1998 – Brahma

From Independence Rock 1998… Were some of u born then?

MM: Top 5 tracks on your iTunes right now?

DS: Sorry but being the MD of Universal Music sways my iTunes behavior but here they are:

1. Gimme All Your Lovin’ – Madonna
2. Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye
3. Video Games – Lana Del Ray
4. Ganga – Rabbi
5. Tattoo – Van Halen

MM: What has been your favorite Brahma performance so far?

DS: There have been a tad over 780 if u consider all small, big, mid-size… so super tough to put down one but I think the first I-Rock we ever played will remain really special. The other gig that we loved is when we performed with Brazilian metal super heavies Sepultura on stage in Bangalore at the Palace Grounds.

Facebook Like! Brahma
Twitter: @BrahmaIndia

Independence Rock XVI – 2001 – 14.08.01 – Brahma

Brahma – Lords of Darkness : Live at Independence Rock XXVI

Brahma – Bomb : Live at Independence Rock XXVI

Brahma – Bomb the Bastards @ Independence Rock XXVI

So I’ll see you there then, Sunday April 29th? Stay tuned for LIVE coverage from the gig via MissMalini! xoxo