Hyderabadi band to open for the guitar god Jeff Loomis

The members of Hyderabad-based metal band Godless are quite the noise-makers. But there has been one new development that has left them shocked and speechless themselves. What is it, you ask? They have been invited to play alongside guitar god and metal icon Jeff Loomis at a gig in Delhi on December 12.
Guitarist Rohit Nair fights his state of daze, as he reflects: “I can’t even put in words how I’m feeling now.Jeff is like a god to us, and watching him play live is big enough, and now playing alongside him on the same stage... this will take a while to process.”
The big news follows what has been a year full of milestones for this 20-month old band which carved out a reputation as Hyderabad’s foremost metal act that has guitarists Rohit Nair and Ravi Nidamarthy, vocalist Kaushal LS, bassist Abbas Razvi and drummer Aniketh Yadav.
“We got to open for the legendary Behemoth a few months ago in Hyderabad. That was a ‘holy sh*t’ kind of an experience! Apart from that, we released our debut EP Centuries Of Decadence that got crazy reviews from all over the world. But the icing on the cake was that the bassist of one our all-time favourite bands Ne Obliviscaris sent us a mail on how he loved the music,” enthuses Abbas.
The band has also shot their maiden music video at the scenic Hill Fort Palace on Naubat Pahad. “It took a while for us to get the required permissions from the government to shoot in the building, but we were patient and persistent. The rustic vibe of that place suited the vision that we had for the music video,” explains Abbas.
Although these small battles for permissions and the bigger processes of creating EPs is a full-time job, the band members lament that they still can’t earn a livelihood with just music. “All of us have our day jobs. But metal is our passion, our calling. And we’re just grateful that we have a very loyal metal fraternity that wants to listen to us whenever we play. The scene might not be as big as mainstream music, but among all the genres of music metal heads are the most loyal,” says Rohit, who works as a software engineer.
Was that the anger that reflects in the name of the band? We wonder. To which Abbas replies, “God is someone people depend on. So ‘Godless’ is about being independent and getting strength from within. Also, it’s got a bit of shock effect don’t you think?” asks Abbas. It sure does!