Bevar Sea Guitarist and Visual Artist Rahul Chacko aka Scribble Bandit on Metal Art

(from left) Poster art for Kryptos, Bevar Sea, Dhwesha and album art for Albatross. Illustrations courtesy of Scribble Bandit

Rahul Chacko aka Scribble Bandit, Bengaluru

Bevar Sea guitarist Rahul Chacko. Photo: Munz Photography

Projects: The Bengaluru-based guitarist for stoner/doom band Bevar Sea also started experimenting with art and design for his own band, before getting commissioned by everyone from Mumbai heavy metallers Albatross, old school metal band Kryptos and death metal band Dhwesha for posters and album artwork. Says Chacko about why artwork is important in metal, “To my knowledge, metal’s one of the few genres where the concept of physically collecting music hasn’t died out. LPs and CDs still get purchased, and there’s lots of space to come up with interesting visual motifs.”

Favorites: Like Bhattacharya, Chacko too started out reworking and perfecting band logos of Metallica and Iron Maiden. Says the artist, “[Iron Maiden’s principal album artwork designer] Derek Riggs was a big influence for sure ”” I remember drawing the Piece of Mind cover in black sketch-pen on a plain white shirt, and when it came out decent, that was a huge high point for me.”

From the drawing board: Chacko also says he prefers to listen to the music from the band he’s illustrating art for, but adds, “The scene being as miniscule as it is, it’s likely that I’d have already heard the band I’m going to work with. I’d personally find it more useful to talk to the band.” He says since most bands identify themelves within a subgenre of metal, including all the visual elements, it makes his life easier. Says Chacko, “After that, it’s just a matter of working within the framework of a signature look, and adding some elements specific to the band in question for the personal touch.”

Coming up: Although he’s currently collaborating on a sports comic strip with fellow Bengaluru artist Appupen aka George Mathen, Chacko adds, “Right now, I’m fully swamped with duties on the second Bevar Sea album, both recording and figuring out its look. It’s been a couple of years since the last album, and the music aspect has gotten better, so you’d expect some improvement on the art front as well.”