When Metal and I met - Part IV

Hello everyone!
We're back with the 4th episode of the series "When Metal and I met"!
Now where were we? Oh that's right, we had stopped at just around the time  when my 2nd year pre-university college was coming to an end. I've got to narrate a few incidents here. Around that time,  my duty was to study 24/7 so that I'd able to get excellent scores no CET,AIEEE and IIT entrance exams. Well, all kidding aside, I did work pretty hard and man, it was worth it. So there was really no time for fun when you're a serious candidate competing to get into an IIT or an NIT. And the class that I was in, man, it was filled with people with enormous IQs. No kidding, they were dedicated and more so, very very intelligent. It was intimidating. So, we were sort of stuck in a mad race for glory and excellence. And consequently, the amount of work we had to put in was inhuman and abnormally large. So, somehow we had to bear with putting aside all the fun stuff and get on with studying like crazy mfs. So I did that, and things were going just fine (apart from the fact that I was drained of all fun). And in this short window of time, I lost a digicam and a cell phone and a lot of money. Not all at once (Boy, that would've sealed my fate). But one after the other. Man, that was absolutely fucking insane. I was so ridiculously devastated, and all I could feel is regret and anger. My dad didn't like it at all (you really can't blame him). My mom played more of a supportive role and you know, consoled me and stuff (man, she's the best; what would I do without her).But still, there was a pretty hot ball of rage manifested inside of my chest that I had to let go of. And sadly, I would lash out and throw all my anger at people. My friend Anirudh took a few verbal blows from me. My friend Abhiram got the worst of it. We fought so bad, we did not speak for another 8 months or so. Fuck, that was brutal. So anyway, with all of this shit in my head, I had to go on; I had to study well and stuff. I managed to do that, and by god's grace, I got a fairly decent score on my CET, not so much on AIEEE and IIT. And it was really sad for me that I didn't make it to the IITs. It felt like a big part of my life and desires had come to an abrupt and dismal end. So, it was misery after misery that kept piling up on my head, and it was getting to be a really fuckin' big burden (at this point, I feel that most of you with a similar experience would be able to connect with my story well).
         
         So now what? I lost property, I lost glory, I lost my friends, I lost hope and worst of all, my self-esteem had hit rock bottom (it's an awful feeling, believe me; and to get rid of it, ain't that easy). The holidays had begun, and I was not very happy. We had a long holiday, something like 3 months. So I had no idea what I was going to do then. I had to sort of sit down and relax for a few days and get back to a small bit of reality.
Eventually, I figured, it's time to do something new. I loved music ever since I was a little boy, and I still did. So I thought, maybe I could do something more with music, other than just listening to it. So I went and bought an acoustic guitar. (Now that I mention it, I can't believe how ridiculously clichéd that sentence has become). I mean, back then there was a time when chicks thought that guitarists were cool. So it was sort of like a shortcut to getting laid or getting a girlfriend or something like that (but if you're thinking on the same lines, the shortest route would probably be money). Anyway, as you can tell, I was incredibly stupid and I had a skewed way of thinking and all that. But believe me, there comes a time in every frickin' guy's life when he thinks exactly on those very lines (if you don't believe me, you're in for a rude shock). So anyway, let's get back to the point.
I picked up the guitar, and I had no idea what to do with it, other than holding it and feeling awesome most of the time. But that came to an end very quickly. I decided to get on with actually learning how to play something on the guitar. So I watched a few basic video lessons on the net; stuff like up picking, down picking, alternate picking, e minor chord, etc. But then I came across a word called "shredding", and let me tell you, it blew my mind away. So when it comes to music, what does "shredding" mean? In simple words, playing an instrument incredibly fast. Not good enough? Alright, here's an illustration.

A Neoclassical shred by Rob Marcello

        That should give you a heads up. So where was I? Yes, like I said, I saw someone shred on a guitar, and I was like OH MY GOD! I was a loss for words, and I said to myself, "There's no way I'm gonna be able to do that!". So I had my goals set pretty straight, learn how to strum a few chords and stop. So it took me a few months to learn how to pick well and play a few basic chords like E minor, C major and A minor.

After that, I thought I should learn how to play a few popular songs or rather, popular and simple songs. Started off with a couple of Nirvana songs, and Californication by Red hot chili peppers. Let me tell you, it was no piece of cake. My fingers was perpetually and constantly in pain, and the skin of my fingers got peeled off every time I played. It took me months at a stretch to be able to play just those songs. 

         

          So now, as I was thinking about all this, it suddenly hit me that you must be wondering; Had I become a metalhead yet? Well, strange enough, no I had not. I was still only into bands like Nirvana, Godsmack, Reveille, Trapt, etc. And I was only eager to learn how to be able to play songs like the ones I used to listen to. Metal had still not made it's presence. And the bands that I mentioned really just played rhythms, so I only took me a few more months to figure out how their songs were played. It was really fun to realize that I had slowly begun to learn something new and I was getting the hang of it. But certainly not enough to make me happy, considering the fact that my personal life was so disoriented and I was a careless klutz. 

         

         Fellow readers, I'm going to take a rain-check now. I think it's safe to say that I have just about started sharing some of my experiences with y'all. Do not be mistaken, this is just the beginning, and I don't intend to stop. I will be back with part 5 very soon.

Till then,

Stay tuned and stay metal!

It's bye bye for now.

Quote1: James Hetfield, Metallica: “If I hadn't had music in my life, it's quite possible I'd be dead and I'd much rather be alive.”

Quote2: James Hetfiled, Metallica: "Call it anarchy or whatever you want to; there's times when you wanna be able to do whatever the fuck you want and, y'know, life's always short, so why shouldn't you?"

When Metal and I met - Part III

Hello everyone!
We're back with more stories on my series of blog posts "When Metal and I met".
Previously I gave y'all a brief intro as to how the musical part of my life ran its course. But that was only until about first year pre-university college time. 
         
         I think after 10th grade, it was no more just LP. My cousin Vivek, who had just moved to HeadBangalore from Bombay to do his engineering in B.M.S introduced me to bands like Nirvana, Guns and Roses and a few other bands who were big during the 80's. At first, I liked songs like "Smells like teen spirit" and "Come as you are" by Nirvana. But a while later, I watched videos of their songs like "Lithium" and "You know you're right", and I immediately concluded that Kurt Cobain (R.I.P) was an uncontrollable crazy freak! Strange enough; I was right. Why did I think Kurt was crazy? Because he wore bras to play live at concerts, because he took his guitars and smashed them to bits, because he rammed his instruments into his own band-mates, because he stage-dived a lot, because he always look stoned and high, etc. I conveyed this to Vivek, and he said that he knew it, and that's exactly what he liked. Now, that was new to me. For a few days, my mind was going 'How can people like stuff like this?'. And consequently I kept watching more and more videos of Kurt Cobain. And slowly I realized that it was Kurt's "freedom of expression" and "unique style" that made him SO UNBELIEVABLY FAMOUS! And not just that, he was the pioneer of 'Grunge'. Now, what is Grunge? Grunge, in my opinion, is a blend of rock-metal and pop music. Sometimes the music sounds completely out of scale and tune. But I guess that's the beauty of it. Gives a feeling of 'No restrictions'. And before I knew it, I was absolutely addicted to Nirvana; more so, Kurt Cobain. And what followed the Nirvana addiction was the further investigation into Kurt's life history. Mayn, he's had a twisted life, I assure you that. That's when I figured that it would not behoove me to lead a life exactly like Kurt did. If I did that, I would've probably ended up the same way he did - Dead at 27. So I decided that I'm only going look at the positive aspects of Kurt, and neglect the otherwise negative aspects. And I still think that it's the right way to go about it. 
         
        Apart from Nirvana, I was very much into the hard rock band Godsmack. It was the game Prince of Persia : Warrior Within that introduced me to Godsmack. (by the way, I was a total game addict too, a story for another time). The theme songs of this game were a couple of heavy Godsmack songs called "Straight out of line" and "I stand alone". A gang of my friends, which included Arun, Thejus and Anirudh, who were into playing POP:WW were discussing that Godsmack must be a good band after having listened to these songs on the game. And like they say 'curiosity kills the cat'...well, here, it was more like 'curiosity got me to listen to more of Godsmack'. As simple as that. And as it turns out, I loved them! They have a style that certainly projects masculinity! They rode on Harley D choppers, they sang with a rough attitude and a rough voice, and their lyrics depict a lot of antagonism.Their rhythms were particularly heavy with a lot of bass and distortion guitars, and the drumming was pretty good too; And the solos weren't all that bad either. All in all, it was a style that impressed me. That was that, and I've listened to all their albums.
          
          One can't help but notice that as time passed by, my musical influences, tastes and style have kept changing. 
Why? Was I fickle? Maybe.(Probably not)


         Over the latter half of the first year at college and the entire second year, there wasn't much music going on in my life. That was probably because we had LOADS of studying to do during those times. So music had to take a backseat for me. I would still listen to Godsmack, Nirvana, LP, Reveille, Trapt and a few other 
bands, but I never really expanded my musical horizon.
         
         Let's not forget that I still loved Kurt Cobain to death (Ironically he was dead even before I knew he was alive), though he wasn't a generic metalhead. It was only during recent times, that I realized that I'm heavily inspired by Pioneers. I'm inspired by people who start new things, no matter what the consequences are, no matter whether the idea's a success or not, no matter what people think or say. People who have the balls to start something entirely new, are pretty fuckin' kickass. At least, that's what I believe. Kurt Cobain certainly was one of them.
          
         I'd like to end Part III of "When Metal and I met" here only because at this point, where I've stopped, my life took a steep curve. It was when Metal slowly crawled into the blood that pours through my veins. I want to be able to give you a complete description of the story. I'll be back with Part IV and Part IV is going to kick your fucking ass! I promise you that.
         
          I guess there is a lot to take from this posting. First of all, its not that metal is the only genre I listen to(although metal is life, realistically speaking). And secondly, be open minded, do not criticize, learn how to learn. Be inspired. Be free. Be different, it marks your identity. And finally, be yourself. And these teachings...nobody better than Metal to have taught me that.
         
          Thank you for spending your time on reading this post. Stay metal metalheads! (And the rest, take care)


Quote: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) : "Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."

Kurt Cobain (R.I.P)

          

When Metal and I met - Part II

Hello everyone,
Hope you all have read Part I on "When Metal and I met".
Now lets get started on on the second chapter of "When Metal and I met"!

Alright, its time to rewind a long way back. We are going to travel on the twisted road of the history of my musical life now.

           I lived the first 8-9 years of my life in the city of Bombay, and after that I moved to Bangalore (HeadBangalore) and I have been here ever since. Back then, when I was a little kid aging about 5 or 6 years, I got the opportunity to actually pay attention and listen to music on cable TV. I think it was a music video of some Hindi pop band or a Bollywood filmi hit. And after that, it became a habit for all of us to watch music videos on Channel V or MTV or any other channel for that matter. And yes, it was routine for me as well to watch music videos of Hindi pop bands or Bollwood hits everyday. And for about roughly 4 more years, that was all the music I knew.

           Then I moved to Bangalore when I was in the 4th grade, and I came here with my sister and parents to live here with my grandparents. And this place was vastly different from Bombay! A major major factor was the language. Nevertheless, the people here loved the local national Hindi music too. So music-wise, the change wasn't significant. A year later, my dad moved to Florida for a couple of years roughly. And when he visited us every half yearly, he would bring goodies like cookies,chocolates,gadgets,clothes,sunglasses, and so on. So one time, he bought me a CD player along with an album on a CD by Backstreet Boys (a very popular pop band back then, and even now). So this was the first time I was exposed to "Western music". Strange enough, I loved it! And I think, for nearly a year I listened to nothing but the Backstreet Boys. After a while, my dad exposed me to some of his own collection of music. Some of which included bands like Boyzone, Westlife, Beatles, Pink Floyd, BeeGees (hated them all along), Dire Straits, Eagles, Santana, Britney Spears, etc. So basically, it was more or less the pop era for me back then. These were basically songs which were dominated by vocals and had a basic instrumental and percussion rhythm style to go along. But I had no idea what rhythm,vocals or percussion even meant back then! So till about 8th grade or so, my music was pop dominated.

         Now, having reached the 8th grade, my personal life was a little fucked up, but academics wise I was doing well. And it was in the 8th grade, that I was somehow introduced to rap music. I loved rap too! It was new to me, and I liked the idea of people rhyming with words and speaking/singing in a mono tone over a basic rhythm. (Now, don't worry if you didn't really understand any of that, its not important). Rappers like Eminem and Jay Z were huge back then. And I really dug their music. The sorrowful and angry lyrics had fitted perfectly into my life (But the monotonous singing somehow did not depict the full effect of the lyrics).

        Sometime during the 9th grade, I wanted more than just rap. Rap got a bit too monotonous, and you can probably understand that. I wanted more out of music. More feeling, more expression, more attitude, stuff like that. I managed to listen to rock bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Limp Bizkit for a while, and then out of nowhere, over the Internet, somehow I was introduced to the band LINKIN PARK. This was no ordinary band. This was the band I listened to for nearly 3 and a half years straight. Unbelievable, considering the fact that I hardly listen to them anymore. I thought, for sure, that LP was the band I would stick to, until death! Now, what makes LP different? Well, they mix rap and singing over a rock-like rhythm including instruments like the guitar, keyboard, violas, cellos, and a scratch-disc. And they have these vocals which vary from soft to harsh in a fairly melodic way. Interesting, isn't it?! Well, I thought so. And these guys came out with 3 fantastic albums which grew popular in no time! Let me tell you, they're the perfect band to listen to in your early teens.

       Although I cannot forget that it was around the 9th grade that I was introduced to metal. And let me tell you, I DID NOT LIKE IT! I was introduced to bands like Reveille, Metallica, and Godsmack. I liked listening to Reveille (an extremely unpopular band that deserved more credit, honestly). Reveille was a rap-metal band (sort of like Limp Bizkit), but with much heavier and darker rhythms, and aggressive lyrics. Lyrics by Reveille like "Curiosity has taken its toll; Empathetic- into the darkness i fall alone" seemed catchy to me. And the first music video of Metallica that I watched was probably "I disappear" (lovely song and video by the way), but no, I did not like it at all. The deep voice, the heavy guitar rhythms, the heavy drumming, the headbanging was all too much for me. So, meanwhile I stuck to listening to LP and a few other rock bands like Nickelback, U2, Papa Roach, etc for a very long time.
     
        So this was when the metal era for me had just about started. But sadly, I have ran out of time and it's time to call it a day. On my next post I am going to elaborate on how metal slowly made it's way into my life and narrate a few real-life incidents that brought several changes in me. Lots more to come; People, music, stories, art, emotional moments, addictions, and more Metal! So stay tuned y'all.

Stay metal metalheads! (And the rest, take care)

Quote: Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest- "Each country has its own character, but heavy metal fans all over the world have a lot in common. It's fantastic."

When Metal and I met - Part I

Hello everyone,
I've come here to write about something very near and dear to me. It has been a while, I was going through a bit of a dry spell and I got caught up in all kinds of work. Anyway, here's a little something for y'all to read during your leisure.

Well, I believe that most of you readers would know what to expect from this, after having read the title. And by metal, I do not mean copper or aluminium. I guess I'll start with a brief introduction about metal (for the genuine metalheads, you can skip the following paragraph and proceed).

I am a metalhead, and I am damn proud to say it! Who or what is a metalhead? A metalhead, what I believe, is a person who responds to Metal instinctively and positively. For those of you who think metal is merely a genre of music, you're only partially correct. In my opinion, metal is a Culture. I'm not going to look up the definition of metal in wikipedia or whatever, I'm going to try and put it in my own words. Metal, to me, is freedom. Metal is liberation. Metal is complete expression of emotion. Metal is inspiration. Metal is passion. Metal is a way of life. Metal is a way of style. Metal defines identity. Metal unites us. I can go on and on and believe me, I've not even started running off my mouth. So what exactly is metal?? Well, it is a genre of music primarily. (Now I will look up wikipedia and quote some of those lines in here, just for clarity). ---- " Metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues, rock and psychedelic rock, (which are genres as well) the bands that created metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo." ---- I would agree with most of that, except for a few things. It doesn't necessarily have to be too loud and does not necessarily promote masculinity. In fact, I damn well think that women should also try listening to metal and give it a genuine shot (It's good for you, believe me). The female metal crowd's growing in size, which is fantastic to see, and as it gets bigger......we'll wait and see. The rest is history.


Alright, I think I've given you a fair insight into metal. Henceforth, I will refer to metal as a genre and a culture. Little intelligence is needed to interpret it when I'm using ''genre'', or when I'm using ''culture''. And every now and then, I might even personify Metal.


I'm sure you've been waiting for us to get down to the point of this post. So, When did Metal and I meet?
Honestly, I don't remember. Haha. If I had known that metal would shape my life in such a massive and important way, trust me, I would've saved that entire day on videotape. But it was a long time ago. Probably in school...9th grade I guess. 


There are several interesting stories on "When Metal and I met" that I will share in my upcoming posts, including ones of meeting new people, discussing bands, music, artwork, warpaint, addictions, and lots more.
I'm going to cut this one a little short and end it here. 


But stay tuned! I'm only getting started on pouring out some of my "metal" stories of my life.


Stay metal metalheads! (And the rest, take care)


Quote: Corey Taylor of Slipknot, sending a message to Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit
"You might have a lot of money and be famous, but the next time you talk shit about Slipknot and it's fans ...we will kill you."