Metal Under Fire

Before Pune hopped on to the expressway of music,scooping up different genres from around the world,heavy metal music ruled the roost in the city. The local listeners reveled in all strands of heavy music,and many a metal band had its heyday. But the past five years have witnessed a decided shift in the musical landscape here – small and big venues supporting live gigs have mushroomed,especially in Koregaon Park; many international artists,playing a range of styles from blues to dub step,have visited the city for high-profile concerts; and listeners too have bought into the changes and have opened up to global musical styles. In this whirlpool of developments,has the local metal music scene been pushed to the back burner? “Metal music has faded a bit in Pune,yes,” says Avadhoot Ket,co-lead guitarist,of the metal-core band,Adamantium. “The public response to it has also grown lesser.”

A majority of the live gig venues in the city prefer to support easy listening rather than test the volume meters. One Lounge,Hard Rock Cafe and High Spirits,all in Koregaon Park,are a select few places which are still open to hosting heavy metal gigs. “When we started two years ago,there was less acceptance of our kind of music,” admits Raveesh Salelkar,vocalist of the death metal band,Dark Helm. “But now the scene seems to have opened up.” The band has been part of successful shows held as past of college fests,a trend that is helping to rejuvenate heavy music live playing. Through headlining spots and judging opportunities at college band competitions,the exposure of many metal bands has multiplied. “But at venues,shows still get busted by cops,or performances get canned altogether. Some venues ask us to play without distortions. Cities like Jaipur,Chennai and Bengaluru have accepted us a little more; the crowd there understands and knows the music,” says Salelkar.

The heavy music genre may have witnessed a shrinking of gig opportunities,but bands have continued to widen its scope by tweaking lyrics,language and styles. “Metal music can’t be monotonous,you can’t eat and dine and listen to it. That’s what the new genres are about,” reasons Saket Rao,drummer of Infidels of Sanity. The hypnotic/progressive rock band is currently in the midst of recording,but is also following a realistic path of earning through cover gigs playing classic rock. “There always will be hard rock fans,that base won’t wither out. But yes the venues are not very willing to play heavy music. They don’t allow electronic gear in. So we have to go underground,” Rao says.

Younger crowds at colleges and even malls have emerged as metal music’s redemption points in Pune. But bands understand the need to re-define their music to sell better. “Metal is about expressing anger and repressed emotions. But there are a lot of other emotions out there too; we are trying to include the feeling of missing someone,death in a family and other emotions in our songs,” says Rao.