Interview with Nilesh from Bangalore based Death Metal Band Pisakas

Pisakas as many of us know they are one killer Death Metal band all the way from  Bangalore  India.  They will be touring Nepal at the mid of 2015. Without further delay, here is a short talk that we had with the bands guitarist Nilesh..

Greetings guys how are things going on?

Things are going fine, though everyone is busy with jobs and personal stuffs, we are managing pretty well to jam. It’s been long time since we went live and we are now finally on track. We are much exited about our upcoming gigs too. Officially Pisakas went Live and became active after 2011 when Pranaw(Currently in Chrematomania & Jhagra) joined in as the vocalist but he parted away in 2013 and then Nakhul(Ex-Reprisal) was handling the vocals. Nakhul parted away in 2015 due to some personal issues, since then Sourav(Our Lead Guitarist) is handling the vocals.

Pisakas what does the name mean?

Pisakas is an evil mythological character. It’s a demon who lives in cemetery and feeds on dead corpses.

As you have mentioned above the entire lineup and changes, tell us how has the journey been from 2011 until now?

The journey has always been memorable. Since the formation of our band, we have been trying to get better and better. We enjoy most of our time with our music and instruments. We really had some fun and killer time this whole journey but yes lineup changes are always awful and terrible, it slows down your flow. But we are always well determined and try our best to manage. No doubt, Pranaw and Nakhul were kickass vocalist with great potential, but now Sourav is kicking some major ass and we are waiting to unleash that soon.

Yeah i even heard that you guys are working on your E.P pretty soon. tell us about it?

Oh yes, we are struggling to release some stuff since a year and I think this time we are close enough to make a release. We are done with all recordings and mixing. All recordings have been done at our lead guitarist's place and he does all the software shit. I have been working on the album art and its almost done. We are doing a complete DIY E.P. Number of songs will be 5 and the E.P name will be announced along with the album art. I guess few more months and it will be out.

I hope to hear about it soon. Talking about the bands gigs update Pisakas will be playing in Vile fest this may and also you guys are touring Nepal in July. How is the preparing for the tour?

We are damn excited about our upcoming gigs. The last gig we played was in Jun 2014 in Hyderabad, India. We will be visiting Hyderabad again for the Vile Fest 2 this May. We get to share the stage with some of the best underground Indian bands. As a whole it will be a kickass evening. But the excitement doesn’t end here, In July we are touring Nepal for the 1st time. We will be playing for the Brutal Lunch Box Vol4 in Katmandu and the Line-up is sick. Also the other project “RIP OFF” is also in the list so it will be unforgettable evening. Waiting to hang out with wakk thuu and nude terror guys , Nischal and many more friends around there and of course you… We have been jamming rigorously and hope we deliver our best in these two gigs.

Yeah for sure waiting for your both projects Pisakas and rip of to terrorize Kathmandu during brutal lunch box.. In fact i was quite excited when the lineup was revealed.. Now coming beyond Pisakas, Nilesh tell us how your journey in Metal begun?

I come from a very small town from Odhisa so I was unaware of Metal’s existence until I was 18. My band mates introduced me to Metal when I met them after moving to Bangalore. Iron Maiden was the first band which I heard, and luckily got to see them live the very next year. For me Metal is like never-ending, it’s like an evolution that happening to me. After exploring Maiden, came across Sepultura, Megadeth, Slayer and many more. That’s where we decided to form a band and started learning our instruments. I wanted to explore more and came across Death Metal and Grindcore and many more underground genres. Since then I have never looked back. And in today’s world of Internet, finding out bands from different parts of the world and their music had become easier. So this keeps me occupied to learn new things.

For sure, so Nilesh tell us more about the scene back there in Bangalore?

Bangalore is the city that introduced me to Metal. Bangalore gave me the opportunity to see bands like Maiden, Megadeth, Sepultura, Slayer, Worm Rot, Destruction, and many more. There are some regular local gigs happening here and there. The Local organizers over here try to do their best. This year we have Cannibal corpse, Napalm death, Inquisition and belphagor in Bangalore. So this will be a huge year for me, seeing such bands and touring Nepal. But Underground bands have to struggle a lot in Bangalore. Lack of Venues, Cost and retarded society makes it difficult for them. On a good note, we don’t give a shit about such issues and keep on trying what we are capable of.

Yeah heard about that but trust me you guys do have some killer bands there in Bangalore grossty, rip off are some of my favorites to mention..

Grossty is killer and they are very good friends of mine. And yes we do have a lot of talented musicians in Bangalore…in recent times there are some new bands in the scene and also regular gigs happening.. Apart from musicians there are a good bunch of sick underground fans in Bangalore.

I they are on my list to witness especially vino and you guys here in Nepal. Hoping to grind with them soon as well. By the way, Nilesh tell us how hard is it for a metal band to run on in India having a same culture like that of Nepal where metal is considered a pain in the ear. Are you guys well equipped?

Its very difficult but not impossible for a Metal Band to run in India, especially for us as we all are staying away from our homes on our own. We try to make the most of it. Metal has always been taken in a negative way for harsh, abusive and noise. What people dont see is the effort behind it. My music shows the brutal side of the life. Its my way of speaking against inhumanity, religion, fucked up government and their rules. Here we have limited time in limited places for live metal shows. Again jamming place becomes an issue. We do have few jamming pads here but either, its far, or costly or crappy equipment’s. We jam at our drummer’s place. Its an apartment so we jam only for an hour or so for 2 days in a week. As its an residential apartment, sound becomes an issue and have faced a lot of complaint issue too. But its always fun to get stoned and jam, who gives a shit!!

I have seen that in some videos that you guys have shared with us. So talking about Pisakas tell us what do you guys do apart from music?

Well I work in a market research company, Our bassist Vicky and Drummer Arindam works at Flipkart and Sourav is a Freelancer. Apart from Music we hang out in weekends to booze and get stoned. We love cooking food so we do that quite often. Mostly we end up stoned, exploring more music and talking about some random bull shit topics.

Any message to the fans out here??

We are excited to visit Nepal and hope our fans are exited too. We will be serving them some Old school Death Metal with brutality. Also my other project Rip Off is playing so expect some crazy grind too. We will make sure Nepal gets something new this time. At last I want to tell our fans to keep supporting underground music and the local scene. Cheers to all the fans!! See you soon, till then get drunk and high!!

Nilesh thank you for your time

Hey, No issue bro, it was me who delayed it.