Infivictims :: Kathir - RUDRA

By Ritesh

Rudra have been at the forefront of the Asian metal scene for quite a while now. One of the most popular metal bands from south-east Asia, they are the pioneers of Vedic Metal—their own brand of music, that has its roots firmly installed in the ancient Indian Vedic philosophy. Their latest album ‘Kurukshetra’ has fetched them quite some amount of international acclaim, and we thought it would only be fair to InfiVictimise them. According to Kathir, the Rudra frontman, they aren’t really a musicians’ band, they’re just musicians with a passion. Infinity Music caught up with the vocalist / bassist of this one-of-a-kind metal outfit for an exclusive interview…

For all the uninitiated, what is Vedic Metal all about? Also, how do you feel the name ‘Rudra’ relates to your music?

Rudra is the name of Lord Shiva in the Vedas. He is sometimes depicted as a fierce storm god who howls and brings fear into the hearts of people. Such an image kind of complimented the aggressive music we played. Moreover, we are inspired by the teachings of the Vedas. So the name ‘Rudra’ for the band fitted in perfectly. Our lyrical theme has been always been the Non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy and it made more sense to distinguish ourselves from the hordes of extreme metal bands out there playing the same thing. So we had to give a name to better describe what we play and that was how we came up with the Vedic Metal tag.

What’s currently up in the Rudra camp? Any new albums, concerts, etc in the offing?

Nothing much lately except that we have started working on the new album. We are currently working on two songs. And we are pretty sure that the next will be our heaviest and most aggressive effort. The album will be based on the ten principal Upanishads from the four Vedas. We are also booked for a Metal Festival in Malaysia in the first week of March and another gig the following week in Singapore. So currently we are also preparing for the shows.

Rudra is one of the most popular bands in South East Asia… when can we expect you to be on the top of the world wide metal scene?

That only time can tell. Fortunately we have been receiving good reviews on our latest album and that also won us a feature in the Terrorizer Magazine. Hopefully more people will get to know about us and enjoy our music. But apart from effort, luck too plays a big part. Sometimes being in the right place at the right time does help a great deal. I call it Karma. Let’s see what happens.

Can you share your India tour experiences? Which metal band from India, in your opinion, is solid international stuff?

It has always been a very pleasant experience playing shows in India. Every time we play a show there, it is our tribute to the land which made us what we are. I am of course referring to the Vedanta philosophy, which finds it genesis in India and also to our ancestral and cultural roots. So it is something very special for us when we play in India, the land of our forefathers. The Indian Rock scene is vibrant. I wish more bands record albums and be ambitious. I have watched about 40 bands in the Indian scene in the last two years. Among the bands I have listened to, I find MyndSnare with the potential to explode into the international arena.

Your brand of music is quite unique. It incorporates heavy death metal influences with traditional Indian sounds…

Yes. That’s another reason why we call our genre Vedic Metal. We love incorporating Traditional melodies into Extreme Metal. I learnt Carnatic music for a year and that helped us in feeling music instead of getting entangled in songwriting technicalities. So we are not really a musicians’ band. We are just songwriters with a passion.

Who are your major musical influences?

During the early years, it was Slayer, Sodom, Sepultura, Obituary, Bathory, Kreator, Megadeth, and Death. Now we listen to anything that sounds good. We don’t listen to Metal much. In fact, some of the guys in the band don’t listen to metal at all.

Your latest album ‘Kurukshetra’ has won you rave reviews, and a lot of new fans! Please tell us more about the album…

‘Kurukshetra’ has definitely expanded our audience. When compared with the other albums, ‘Kurukshetra’ is shorter but nevertheless lethal. The whole album is based on a battlefield theme. Most of us know that ‘Kurukshetra’ was where the Pandavas fought the Kauravas. However, we wanted to place Kurukshetra war in the human mind as how it is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita verse 13:2. We created a battle within the human mind where Truth is up against Untruth. We wrote the album having this idea as a backdrop. Every song in the album takes the standpoint of either establishing Truth or destroying untruth. If you were to take the first alphabet of each song in the album, you would be able to construct the famous Vedantic dictum ‘Jaganmithya’, which means “the Universe is an illusion”. The lyrics were written with this dictum in mind.

Getting serious (heh), when can we expect a Rudra thanksgiving speech at the Grammys for your genre of music?

You must be joking right? Hahaha… We never had such a dream. The most we wish for right now is to have our own private lives without commercial success ruining our solitude and privacy. But we hope to have enough listeners to support the band. We simply love the time and solitude we have right now to do what we like most.

How beneficial has the internet been for your music?

Internet has been a double-edged sword for us. It has of course popularized us all over the world but it has also affected our CD sales. People download our music through the internet and that’s pretty sad for underground musicians like us who don’t make much from our royalties.

Any final words or comments…

Satyameva Jayate.

You can visit the Official Rudra website at RudraOnline.org