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Interview
KRYPTOS
(Questionnaire by STEFAN)
A talk with
NOLAN LEWIS (Guitars/ Vocals)
METAL TO INFINITY
Q: Hi guys, at this side of the line it's Stefan from Belgian based webzine Metal To Infinity. Patrick from Old School Metal Records told me about your new album and I'd like to know more about that plus, my curiosity to hear all about your background history, present and future plans seem good to know. Okay, start your engines by telling me how the band came to be. Who showed up with the idea to set up a band like Kryptos?
Nolan Lewis: Hi Stefan. Hope all is well with you. Well Kryptos was formed in 1998 by Ganesh K who was our former bassist/vocalist and myself. We were basically classmates at the same university and we shared the same passion for classic metal from the 70's and 80's like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Priest, Maiden etc so we decided to form a band. It then took us an entire night of cheap whiskey to come up with the band name haha.
Soon after that we got together with our first drummer, Ching Len, and started jamming on covers of Sabbath and Zeppelin and slowly started writing our own material and things just took off from there. Right now we have a completely different line up with just me remaining from the original version of the band.
Q: How hard (or easy) to find the right guys back then - what were the conditions for the ones came in for an audition?
Nolan Lewis: It was pretty easy because we were pretty terrible at our instruments back then so even our grandmothers had a shot at joining our band haha. Anyway since Ganesh handled the bass/vocals and I handled guitar duties all we needed was a drummer so we put out an ad in a local mag and voila, six months later Ching Len joins the band. I guess I should also mention he was the only one who ever answered the ad haha.
Q: Finally you were formed in 1998 - what about those days' line up?
Nolan Lewis: Those days were pretty tough but a lot of fun. We had a lot of trouble finding a decent practice space. We pretty much jammed wherever we could... at a friends bedroom, garages, a church hall, a spooky old run down house and even a shitty little shed in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Basically we jammed in one place until we got thrown out. At first we weren't too noisy since all we played were Sabbath and Zeppelin covers but once we figured out some Slayer tunes we ended up making one hell of a racket haha.
We used to gig everywhere and anywhere we possibly could and some were good, some not so great but our very first gig was an absolute nightmare. We were scheduled to play at a metal 'festival' (and I use the term festival very, very loosely) which was 4-5 hours away from our hometown. We got there in the middle of the night and waded through grass as high as our shoulders with our equipment and finally reached the 'festival' area, which consisted of a cowshed and a tiny stage set up in a small clearing.
Needless to say we had to spend the night avoiding stepping on cow poo and flapping our arms to ward off armies of mosquitoes. We played to about 10 people, nine of whom were stoned while the other guy kept rolling joints furiously. Yeah those were the days haha.
Q: As I am good informed, you guys are from India. It's not an every situation meeting a Indian Metal band, how's the scene there actually? Can you name a few other Metal outfits fulfilling the scene up there?
Nolan Lewis: The scene is quite decent here. It's picking up at a very rapid pace and right now there are excellent bands playing every form of rock and metal under the sun. I'm pretty sure in the next 5 years the scene here will completely explode and Indian metal bands will start making their mark internationally.
There are a lot of great bands here like Bhoomi, Inner Sanctum, Inviktus, Extinct Reflections, Myndsnare, Demonic Resurrection, Slain, Acrid Semblance, IIIrd Sovereign etc. Everyone out there who isn't familiar with metal from India should check these bands out. You'll be quite surprised.
Q: A particular band's source is not important to me - as long as the music is acceptable, I'm a lucky bastard. Please, spread the word of your own style of Metal. Mention a couple of bands to compare with.
Nolan Lewis: Even though it might sound cliche to say this but very honestly we don't really sound like anyone else. Sure we have elements of bands like Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Kreator etc but we have a sound that is 'familiar' yet 'different' at the same time. A lot of people call us melodic thrash, which is fine, but we also have some slow doomy stuff going on in our music and some of our songs are pretty epic as well so I'm not quite sure what tag we do fall under, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things anyway.
I've noticed it takes people a bit of time to get into our sound because at first they can't quite put their finger on who or what we sound like, but as they keep listening to our album they take it for what it is rather than trying to compare it with other bands.
Q: Started back in 1998 - what were the ambitions actually? Ten years later on, satisfied so far?
Nolan Lewis: When we started out our only ambition was to finish practice early and get a drink haha. At first we just did it to let off some steam and see where it takes us but once we started writing our own material we knew we had something going for us. Back then it was almost unheard of for a metal band in India to record and release an album professionally, but that's what we always aimed for, and when we signed with OSM Records it was probably one of our most satisfying moments ever. Just goes to show that if you work hard and stick to your guns you will come up trumps eventually.
Q: Before releasing a debut album ''Spiral Ascent'' in 2004 through The End Records, also worked out a few demos too?
Nolan Lewis: Actually our debut album was a self-financed effort and The End Records along with a bunch of other labels were just distributors. We had to market and sell that album literally on our own which was really tough. Prior to that we recorded a couple of tracks for some underground compilations and a 3-song demo, which was really low budget stuff and sounded like shit. We recorded it in a small studio, which just produced spiritual Indian music. It was pretty funny to see the look on the sound guy's face when he saw three skinny longhaired guys walk in and make some sort of bizarre noise haha.
Q: What kinda effort was it - has it sold well and how the world wide Metal maniacs have reacted? I suspect that the album has been spread both national and international or am I totally wrong?
Nolan Lewis: It sold very well in India and it did pretty well in other parts of the world as well, most notably in Germany and South America. We got a lot of mail from all over the world, which was really encouraging. A lot of them seemed to like the rawness and honesty in our music, which is sadly missing from a lot of over produced metal bands these days.
Q: If the album is still available, gimme an address where to order please.
Nolan Lewis: ''Spiral Ascent'' is sold out on The End Records as far as I know and it's been sold out in India for quite a while now. You could probably search on Amazon or it might even turn up on Ebay. Either way it's probably pretty difficult to find right now but we do have plans on re-issuing it sometime this year.
Q: How the promotion for this effort has gone? I guess you guys toured across the world to show the people what Kryptos is all about. Which part of the world had the most insane Metal fanatics while you guys walked the stage? Did you also played in Europe?
Nolan Lewis: Unfortunately we still haven't had the chance to tour outside of India as yet. It's quite difficult for bands from here especially to tour abroad since there are a lot of financial constraints as well as a bit of red tape to go through with the authorities. Hopefully next year we will be in a position to take our music to other countries.
Q: But the story goes on, everything went great - later on in 2006 Kryptos signed a deal with Californian based Old School Metal Records. For the very first time, an Indian Metal band teamed up with an international label - what about that?
Nolan Lewis: Yeah that was quite amazing actually. We were looking for a label so we sent our debut album to a few labels and OSM Records got back to us and everything just clicked. We both had the same outlook and the whole thing went through very smoothly. Considering we're the first Indian metal band to be signed by a label abroad, it's our chance to show the world that good metal can thrive in different parts of the world. Hopefully this will open doors for other Indian metal bands in the future.
Q: New label, worldwide distribution so the band's reputation will go ahead. How that feels guys?
Nolan Lewis: It feels fantastic of course. Ten years ago we were playing on crappy equipment in someone's bedroom and now we're signed to a great label that really supports us and is getting our music out to people all over the world. How awesome is that? haha....
Q: The follow up to ''Spiral Ascent'' is already released I guess - guide us through the entire process of writing, recording, mastering, etc... To keep it short, what to expect from that new baby entitled ''The Ark Of Gemini''?
Nolan Lewis: Yup our second album ''The Ark Of Gemini'' was released on June 13th this year. Apparently it was Friday the 13th so maybe we should've promoted the album by wearing ice hockey masks and threatening people with machetes haha. The album took quite a while to complete because the studios in India aren't particularly great for recording metal so we had to spend a lot of time and money to get it done.
Finally we ended up mixing and mastering the whole thing ourselves since we couldn't get the right sound in any of the studios. One thing people can expect from the new album is that it's gritty, honest melodic metal. Sure it might not be the greatest sounding album in the world with fancy production and shit but it's got a lot of soul to it. I think people who miss the rawness and old school charm of the 80's will really like our album.
Q: Hopefully, this new effort will be also available in Europe - worldwide distribution or not?
Nolan Lewis: Yeah it's available in Belgium through various online stores and the Metalzone stores. Either way it won't be hard to get a copy of our album since it's practically available on most of the major cd sites on the net.
Q: From where the title - is there a certain meaning behind a title like this?
Nolan Lewis: It's open to interpretation actually. It could mean many things to different people. To me the Gemini twins represent the past and the future, which are constantly at odds with each other. Humanity still refuses to learn from it's past and is blinded by delusions of a better tomorrow and the earth is the 'Ark' which carries our world through these troubled times.
Q: What about the cover art - what's on it and who's the creator?
Nolan Lewis: If you look at the album cover it depicts two 'faces'. The mummified face on the left signifies the past, while the robotic face on the right represents the future, while the earth beneath it represents the 'Ark'.
The mummified face has a blank or mute expression on it, which shows how mankind has ignored history's warnings and has practically smothered it completely, while the robotic face on the right shows mankind's future, which is cold, emotionless and almost mechanical. And if you look closely at the robotic face, the eyes still show a shred of humanity in them but with a look of sadness and regret.
Q: Which type of Metal maniacs this album is able to charm?
Nolan Lewis: I'd say it'd definitely appeal to people who grew up with the 80's metal and thrash scene. It's got something for everyone actually. There's some old school thrash, some great melodic moments, lots of memorable solos, twin guitar bits and even some doom thrown in. I guess people into bands like Sabbath, Kreator, Coroner, Manilla Road, Candlemass etc will really get into it.
Q: A new album most of the time will be followed by a tour - what about your plans for the next couple of months? Perhaps a passage through Belgium?
Nolan Lewis: As much as we'd love to do that I doubt it will be possible this year. Hopefully next year we'll be able to come to Europe and kick some ass on stage. Belgium would definitely be one place we'd love to play at. I visited Belgium and a couple of other European countries a few years ago and it was brilliant. I must say you guys have some fucking great beer haha.
Q: Nothing left to say than all the best guys - take the world by storm with your way of 'Metal' music. I look forward to hear the new album, followed by a fair review that comes straight from the heart... thank you very much for your time and collaboration. Last remarks, go for it brother.
Nolan Lewis: Thank you very much Stefan. To everyone out there, we'd like to thank you for your awesome support. Our new album is out now through OSM Records and you can visit us at www.myspace.com/kryptosindia to check our music out and to order your copies. Cheers and keep it Metal!!!!!