Yonsample to release their full length album later this year

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Kolkata based Progressive metal band Yonsample have had a pretty staid looking Facebook page recently what with updates going back to 2012. It was only on 25th May of this year that they finally put up a video update. The video shows the band jamming in the studios, working on the production of a new album. This comes as sweet news to all the long time fans of the band.We talk to Yonsample to find out more about this forthcoming album.

Quizzed about their long sabbatical and the reason behind it, Yonsample told us, “We stopped playing live and were inactive for more than a year. I guess somewhere along the line we were not really convinced about the stuff we were playing at gigs and thought we could play music which is more fun to us. Hence the decision.” When it wasn’t working out, the band gave themselves an ultimatum. “ ‘Third world metchul band problems’ occurred and everyone got busy with their own lives. Apart from a few songwriting sessions here and there, nothing much happened during this period. That is until Feb-March 14, when we decided it’s about time we made a record, or disband. So everyone took a break from what they were doing, and we started jamming again.” they say.

Yonsample working with Rhitabrata Kar at RBK studios on their full length album

The band has been in the studio since April working on a new album that they expect to put out by August or September. As part of preparations for the recording of the album, the whole band moved in to guitarist Anirban’s basement and started recording scratch tracks and demos. “We have literally grown up together as musicians, and as individuals as well, during the last 5-6 years. So we had a great time living together and writing music 24×7 after the hiatus. We were also jamming and writing together in our rehearsal space. We’ve uploaded a couple of videos which were shot during this time at youtube.com/yonsampleTV .”

On production duty for the album is Kolkata based producer Rhitabrata Kar who has previously produced the band’s ‘Paraphernalia’ EP in 2010 and is a close friend of the band. Kar informs us that we can expect some great music from the album. Describing the recording process, he says, ”Working with these guys is pretty challenging as well as fun. The song writing is very much non generic and that’s what makes it super interesting, learning something new everyday.” The band share Kar’s enthusiasm about the recording and themselves seem pretty excited about working with him. “We are really excited with how this record has started to sound like and we all are trying to give our best. We’ve just started laying down the guitar tracks with our dear friend Rhitabrata Kar, who has been like family to us throughout the years and whom we consider to be a part of the band as much as any one of us.” they tell us.There has been a gap of four years between the band’s last release and the recording of this album. There must have been a sense of evolution and growth that the band must have found within their sound and themselves. Kar tells us more, “Paraphernalia was released in late 2010 and this is 2014 so there’s an obvious musical maturity in the songs The overall sound has evolved quite a bit too.”

Soumik Roy tracking guitars for the Yonsample full length

Talking about their evolution, the band say “Our previous release was the very first tracks written by this band and which we were playing live in 2010-11. We wanted to release those before we started writing new tunes. This album is more like the material we would love to play live and have fun together, while maintaining the listenability aspect of the songs, which I think is considered by every one of us with great importance.” The production too has evolved from their early days, “Production wise, it is DIY as always, but things have improved quite a lot since then. For example, Paraphernalia was us plugging in our instruments straight into an audio interface in Rhitabrata’s bedroom. Who has since gotten himself a degree from SAE Chennai and now owns a studio, where we have mic’d up a tube amp and tracking the guitars ”

The band aren’t sure about the number of tracks on the album though they concede that there will probably be 10-12. A whole album full of tracks from an extremely promising act that has been lying dormant for a long time seems like a huge treat for fans. Here’s hoping that that Facebook page overflows with more updates very soon.