This story is from November 28, 2014

The Black Regiment vocalist: The main challenge for most bands is to stick together

The main challenge for most bands is to stick together,” says Abhishek Jain, vocalist of Bengaluru-based The Black Regiment.
The Black Regiment vocalist: The main challenge for most bands is to stick together
The main challenge for most bands is to stick together,” says Abhishek Jain, vocalist of Bengaluru-based The Black Regiment. The band — that also includes Darshan Hegde (guitar), Akshun Kumar (guitar), Amar Rajan (drums) and Gitu Hazarika (bass) — aims to connect with the everyday Indian.
On their a-ha moment: It all began when Darshan and Amar started jamming causally. They wanted to come up with a project in the heavy/ thrash metal genre and were looking out for other people to join them.
Abhishek responded to an advertisement on an e-commerce site for a vocalist and joined the band, along with Akshun, who he used to play with in another band. They started jamming and even though everyone had different tastes in music, they soon found their flow and were in-sync. They first got together towards the end of 2013, and began making music in April 2014.
On their brand of music: “Heavy/thrash metal is an extreme genre. The sounds are heavy, drum beats are fast, the lyrics are loud, vocals are distorted and the sound comprises a lot of screaming and growling. We dabble in old-school heavy metal music — the kind pioneered by Iron Maiden and Megadeth,” says Abhishek. He adds that the band wants to address the issues that people face in their everyday lives and tell them to stand up for their rights. Their first video Upheaval conveys that very message, as does their first full-fledged song, We Are One.
On their influences: The Black Regiment lists bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as inspiration. “Idea-wise, we believe in writing something that can connect with everyone — even those who don’t listen to metal — through our lyrics. The idea should be easy to grasp and we should be able to convince the listener. We want to keep it simple and not make the lyrics too complex. Also, we stick to issues that are current and easy to understand,” says Abhishek.
On their way forward: The band is currently focused on releasing its first EP. The members are also in the process of working on their next track, Raise The Black Flag, which is slated to release soon. He adds, “We will start hunting for shows once the EP is out, but at the moment, we are not focused on doing shows and want to write some heavy music. We also want to experiment and get the attention of fans.”
On Abhishek’s iPod
Painkiller — Judas Priest
Master Of Puppets — Metallica
Symphony Of Destruction — Megadeth
The Number Of The Beast — Iron Maiden
Walk — Pantera
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