An odyssey beyond genres

He was a ‘rock and roll’ boy who idealised ‘The Beatles ’, ‘Led Zeppelin’, ‘Pink Floyd’, ‘Guns N’ Roses’ and many others. Now a vocalist of a well known City-based band ‘Dequma’, Mohak Sanandan’s journey into the music world began as a school boy and he says, “I have been chasing musical dreams ever since.”

A meticulous explorer of music, his taste shifted from RockN’ Roll to “faster, heavier and dark” genres and he had an urge to listen to bands like ‘Decrepit Birth’, ‘The Faceless’, ‘Megadeth’, ‘Children of Bodom’. The listening took him to play the guitar and one fine day in college, “One of the college guys, Santosh Yesudhas, was playing the graveworm version of ‘Fear of The Dark’ on his guitar and I picked up the barren mic and filled in before I knew it. I was pretty much moulded to be a vocalist and from here began the self-training,” he says.

His biggest inspiration is the lyricist and vocalist of the metal band ‘Cradle of Filth’, who he addresses as “Dr Dani Filth” and says, “Yes, he has a PhD!”  While Maynard James Keenan of ‘Tool’ inspired him to try his hand as a lyricist, ‘Sikth’ and ‘Cynic’ helped him explore his talent. He adds, “Chuck Schuldiner drives me to be complete musician.”

He has performed as a vocalist for many bands including ‘Chaotic Silence’ and ‘Brain Fall’ and he says, “All these bands and their members have helped me mould myself to what I am today.” His current band ‘Dequma’ started off in August 2011 as a metal band and he says, “It continues to be just that.”

 The band is noted to play “straight-forward and in your face metal music” and their tracks have been mentioned by the UK Radio and MTV website in the top 10 song list. The band, with a bunch of passionate and talented crew, play at various platforms in the City including ‘Humming Tree’ and ‘Garage Jam’.

He says, “The overall sound is not to be tied or bound by genres and sub-genres. As artistes, we are free and one can see this in the various songs the band writes. They are different and do not sound monotonous. It is challenging and inspires us to push each other every day.”

His talent is taking him by leaps and bounds as he is soon going to direct music for a film.
He explains, “I have been asked by Sridharan, an independent filmmaker, to direct music for his upcoming film ‘Soulmates’. I met him and heard the script and his ideas. No sane person would refuse this offer and I am looking forward to this venture.” He terms the music scenario in the City to be encouraging and says that his biggest achievement so far is that his band takes negative emotions such as anger, frustration and aggression, and composes music. He adds, “Creativity is the healthiest way to channel negative emotions and create something out of it.”  His talent is evident even in music compositions as ‘Dequma’s’ album will be out soon and he says, “The new songs of the band have so many elements that we haven’t experimented before.”

Ask him about his big plans for the future and he says, “‘Dequma’ is the big plan and it is closer than ever before.” He adds that the band does not want to rush into anything and ends with a note, “You couldn’t rush a mother to deliver earlier,
can you?”