A few days back, I remember a chat with a musician from an up and coming band in Europe, about the Indian Metal bands that have torn down the European stages at Inferno Metal Festival a while back. Obviously, I bragged about how I watched these stalwarts raise hell too many times at local venues and how I was even acquainted with a few of them; the usual jibber jabber. Not until this friend of mine mentioned a memorable anecdote about Polish giants Decapitated did it occur to me: Damn! Our Indian bands must have such stories to share too, right? A first-hand account of the scene behind the scene and what-nots. These questions kept spinning round my head, until I came across the teaser for “Yeh Hai Metal”, the documentary about Indian Heavy Metal. The teaser for the same whet my curiosity enough to jump at the opportunity to speak with the brains behind the initiative: Mehr Singh.
Mehr Singh , the mind behind Yeh Hai Metal
It all began when Mehr, a pass-out of Symbiosis College, Pune, still an undergraduate in Communications Design (specializing in Film and video), came up with a film/documentary for her degree project. From conceptualization till the then-final cut, the project took a mere three months to complete. “Thankfully, I had my father’s support, morally and financially. I was a one person crew. I saved up by staying at friends and family so the only real expenditure that I did incur was on traveling. The co-oporation of friends, family, very polite band members and Enter Guerrilla Films is what made it possible to work out the finer details.”
“Yeh Hai Metal” caught our attention for being the first of its kind; the prospect of travelling around the country, documenting bands from four different states, and pulling it all off single-handedly is something that many would love to do but few have the stomach or the patience to ultimately execute. The fact that there really weren’t any such existing documentaries in India further strengthened Mehr’s case. In her words “This film is about who the folks are behind the music; a peek into their music and lives, for those who don’t know what this little community is made up of.”
A conversation about Heavy Metal documentaries cannot go without a mention of Sam Dunn and soon enough we arrived on the topic with Mehr. “Haha, I doubt I can pull off a Sam Dunn, as you will soon realise, once you see the film. But yes, a better researched, more geographically focussed sequel within India would be something I would love to do. Metal bands exist in any part of the country you go to. Depending on circumstances, venues and opportunities, the popularity of the bands vary from state to state. I am no one to claim knowledge or announce culture shifts on these things. Shimla has metal bands. The North east is another metal producing continent in itself. “
Making a documentary single handedly does not sound like a cakewalk exactly, and given that it is a documentary on a genre that in nine cases out of ten brings a frown on the Junta’s face, it is not all roses and ribbons as Mehr further stresses: “Contacting the musicians wasn’t as difficult as I’d thought it would be. I messaged them on Facebook and most of them replied instantly. I couldn’t meet a lot of the bands/members I intended to due to dates and unavailability but most of them worked out pretty well. As Sahil Makhija mentions during his interview, this genre can never be commercial or have mass popularity. It’s not meant for the masses, that half the people would stop listening to it if it became commercial. The point is that it is different and not everyone can understand and relate to it. That is the charm of this genre, and I’d have to say I agree with him. I don’t know how profitable it can be. If more venues become open to it, more bands can find the resources to tour regularly, then who knows, in time it could be. Sequels – hopefully yes. I would love to make them. But not all of them can be produced by my father.” Casting all seriousness aside, Mehr eloquently shares her war-stories from the days put into “Yeh Hai Metal”: One of the first interviews was that of Inner Sanctum. It was a surreal experience being in a city I had never been in. I pretty much travelled the length and breadth of Bangalore to seek them out, fortunately met the entire band, and they even gave me their T-shirt as a gift! I saw Suidakra, Opeth and Eccentric Pendulum live and I attended my first ever metal concert standing in the first row surrounded by eager fans who’d been waiting in line since seven in the morning, and oh, did I mention I was probably the shortest one there?” For obvious reasons, I was under the impression that given that she pulled off a feat like this, Mehr would be someone who knows her Metal, and knows it well. Evidently it was quite a surprise to know how varied her taste in music taste is (not judging, merely stating). “I started guitar classes which is where I started to discover a lot of music. I went from listening to My Shirona to Smells like Teen Spirit to St. Anger in one week. At that time I used to listen to Superfuzz Big Muff (as they were called back then) and PDV. I’d bunk classes with my drummer friend and we’d sit in the green room of our school auditorium listening to Pantera and Korn. It was a matter of company. I did listen to an equal amount of Avril Lavigne as well, I admit. She was the rage with all the cool kids. Right now I’m listening to anything that suits the day really. Sometimes it’s Linkin Park, Karnivool, Amit Trivedi or even Skrillex. On most days, Dylan.” On asking her which Indian artists are doing the rounds in her playlist presently, she is quick to answer that, “It’s very difficult to point out one favorite Indian band. I am currently listening to Scribe, Goddess Gagged, Pangea, Dualist Inquiry, Ankur Tewari, Gandu Circus. I really couldn’t point out one favourite.” Most of those who are reading this article would be familiar with the music videos from the Goddess Gagged and Rectified Spirit camp. The cameras have not stopped rolling there, from what we have heard, because more and more Indian outfits have taken up promoting their works seriously. Bands have started treading uncharted waters by venturing into production of visual media to go with their music. Keeping a realistic approach to the context, we asked Mehr if she believed in the viability of the prospect, given the current trends followed on the music channels on Indian telly: “Of course, it is a viable option. It may not help them recover the money spent but it definitely helps them reach out to a wider audience. Why does any band make a music video? Again, it isn’t specific to a metal band; a video just means more reach and a visible presence for all audiences.”
On most occasions, when we ask an outsider’s (for the lack of a better word) opinion on Heavy Metal, they are quick to stereotype it with the done to death nuances the media have come to associate with heavy music. We were quite happy to know that Mehr was one of the few who took the time to understand the dynamics of what she was getting into. “A typical metal band functions like any other band does,” she suggests, “they just play faster, heavier music. The most common property I found in metal bands was that they were all very happy playing the kind of music that they did. They have to struggle a lot more than an EDM artiste but they still happily growl away and do it.” While we were on the issue of the role played by the fairer sex in the genre, Mehr was quick to highlight her stance: “I do not think that gender has anything to do with the quality of music. But I’m sure an all-girl metal band would attract a lot more crowd! Being a woman, the only challenge was and is safety. Apart from that, from what I gathered during filming, everyone wants to see more women come out and be part of this community. It’s not as if the women are missing from the scene, Pratika Prabhune and Yasmin Claire Kazi are just a couple of names. Reasons are several: parental issues, safety or just personal choice. If out of fifteen, four people like metal, then one out of those four will definitely be a woman. ”
Freelancing on a few other projects to stay in the thick of her actions, Mehr is currently working with Srinivas Sunderrajan from Scribe, who incidentally is the one behind the name “Yeh Hai Metal”. While most of us in India have been cribbing about what our community do not have, Mehr Singh has been travelling back and forth across the country’s length making the best of what we do have. “Yeh Hai Metal” is, again, the first of its kind documentary to be made in India, and if you are one of the many whose devil horns have been pricked by the teaser that was launched a while back you know what to look out for, lest you feel you are better off ensconced in your cave of ignorance. As for you Mehr, massive props to you from Team Metalbase for your initiative; Metal on, Lady, Metal on. \m/
