Kerala - Kochi

Swaying to their heresies

— Thulasi Kakkat

ROCK ON: Members of the rock band Heretic performing in Kochi.

Kochi: Heretic, they call themselves. And it turns out that they ‘really’ mean it. The four-piece metalcore rock band in the city doesn’t care a hoot what others think of it as the quartet churns out original music that is at once aggressive, self-reflexive and out of the box.

‘Bleed to heal’, their first composition, for instance harps on the significance of failure for better understanding of experiences. “It is important to understand failures to not repeat them,” says Abhijit Namboodiripad, guitarist and co-founder of the band that was launched about three years ago. “The five-piece dwindled to two about a year later, but we had faith in our music. The story of our resurrection is the theme of our second song, ‘Reprise’. We’ve just recorded three demo songs and uploaded them on www.myspace.come/hereticindia. The package bears the title, ‘Reprised’,” says Abhijit.

The first break for the band came in 2007 when it became runner-up in the Kingfisher Kerala Rocks competition. By this time, the foursome—Abhijit, vocalist Akhil Unnikrishnan, drummer Arpith Samuel and bass guitar player Ben Sam—were in sync. Akhil pens the lyrics, too. “So far we have composed about seven songs and we prefer playing them,” says Abhijit.

The band members nurture dual passions, as two of them are budding engineers, one an MBA aspirant and one a medical student. “But we are professional musicians who happen to be students and not the other way around. We are extremely serious about what we do,” avers Abhijit. “What is wrong in pursuing two passions? And, so long as we get from music enough money to have our meal, why should we think of taking up some other career?”

To their credit are performances at the Palace Ground in Bangalore and an ebullient gig at the Great Indian October Fest besides a host of performances in and outside the State. “Presently we get about three performances a month. But we practise religiously irrespective of that,” says Abhijit, who vouches to be a fan of musician A.R. Rehman. “Our music has been inspired as much by the evergreens as it is by Indian music,” he says. Two band members had formal training in Carnatic classical music during childhood.

Times were bad when they started out as a conservative Kerala wouldn’t accept them with open arms. “But as the world is shrinking, things are changing here, too. Bands such as Motherjane and Evergreen have been able to carve a niche for themselves here and abroad. We can discern it. The other day when we performed at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) even the usually reticent girls were prodding us to carry on. That is heartening,” says Abhijit. The band will now be on a short lay-off for a month with examinations around the corner. “It only applies to performances and not to our regular practice sessions. We are here to stay and thrive,” concludes a confident Abhijit.

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