A thirst for heavy metal music

Varun Kanwar, Ishan Kanwar and Mohnish Kumar, members of the heavy metal band ‘Nurotia’, share a passion for music that runs deep and goes beyond record labels and gigs. “We do this because it gives us happiness, makes us happy. It doesn’t matter that the music isn’t that popular, it’s what we do,” says Varun, the guitarist.

Talking about beginning, he says, “Ishan and I are originally from Shillong and there, it’s hard to come by rock or heavy metal music when compared to Bengaluru. In school, we happened to hear ‘Nirvana’ and we were blown away!” Currently, ‘Nurotia’ is a three-piece band, with Ishan on bass and Mohnish on drums. Varun adds that they used to have a vocalist but he left for the UK.

Introducing the band members, says the guitarist, “Mohnish comes from a family of musicians – he has grown up listening to different kinds of songs. Ishan and I, on the other, decided to take up our instruments a bit late.

But by the time we were in college, we were good at it.” He adds, “We started listening to rock music, then moved on to punk and then heavy metal. But we listen to almost everything...from classic rock to rock n’ roll; ‘Led Zeppelin’, Elvis Presley, ‘Mudvayne’, ‘Lamb of God’ and more. Mohnish, although he doesn’t draw influences from everyone, listens to all kinds of music, literally. He likes EDM, Bollywood item numbers, heavy metal....”

How did the band begin? “We started in 2012, after I came back from Chennai. Before that, we used to play but it was more for fun and as a hobby. After 2012, we got serious about our music,” says Varun. So far, they have four own compositions.

‘Acolyte’ is about why people blindly follow a religion and it questions faith and existence. ‘Blink’ is a song about revenge and murder, and is a more fast-paced song. According to Varun, ‘Geometry’ and ‘Izanami’ are more “mature” compositions because they came after the band members made their transitions from school to college and
work.
“‘Geometry’ took a year to compose because we had to connect with it. ‘Izanami’ is song inspired by ‘Naruto’, a Japanese manga series. It is a genjutsu technique that can send a person into an endless loop until they accept their destiny.”

What kind of songs and music do ‘Nurotia’ write? “Angry music! With a lot of distorted guitar sounds, double bass and growling vocals. We write about the negative emotions that people feel – anger, mismanagement, annoyance with the government...,” ends Varun.