Bringing Back the Eighties

They may not be old enough to drink and they’re barely old enough to drive. But that hasn’t stopped them from sweeping the competition circuit in the country with a near-unbroken string of victories all the way from the Kingfisher Octoberfest ’07 in Bengaluru to IIT-B’s Livewire in December 2008. Meet Slain, the newest prodigies on the rock scene.

Slain was formed in 2006 by vocalist Judah Sandhy (20) with his little brother Jared “Freddy” Sandhy (15) on drums and friends Bryden Lewis (20) and Naresh Nathan (20) on guitars and bass as just another freewheeling college band, not really adhering to any one style or genre. Feeling a need to widen their soundscape, Judah roped in Manek D’silva (19) as the second guitarist and keyboardist Jonathan “Dillu” Wesley (18). As Manek says, “In its early days, Slain was slammed by people for not sticking to a single genre. There’d be some heavy metal mayhem followed by power ballads, some punk rock escapades which flowed into jazz and blues and what not. But I think for any new band to find out what they like musically they just have to try everything.” After a few jam sessions and trial shows, the band found their common love for the music of bands like Van Halen drawing them into the vintage rock sound of the Eighties. “At the end of the day, when we’re all just sitting around and watching a Whitesnake concert, or listening to Van Halen anthems – it’s just a different world. We wanted to take that grand majestic emotion from Whitesnake and Journey, process it with the technical fluidity of Symphony X, and arrange it in the modern rock context of Slain,” says Manek. Slain’s music blends power metal harmonies with a stripped-down Eighties glam rock sound, bursts of distorted melody and shredded guitars with harmonised choruses and flamboyant drumming ”“ complex but anthemic. And, while most metal bands in the country are singing of evil, death and darkness, Slain prefers to dip into the Bible for references to their lyrics (the band’s name is derived from the phrase “The lamb was slain for the sins of the world”). Does that make them Bible-thumping zealots? “Most of our songs have biblical references, but we truly want our music speak to everyone, we want our lyrics to be able to touch any listener, and spread some sort of light and positive happiness in a rather cynical community. We speak of beauty and inner joy, not anger and bitterness; there’s enough of that around already,” clarifies Naresh.

While the band has won numerous accolades over the last two years there have been times when they’ve been debarred from competitions ”“ like the recently concluded Channel V Launchpad ”“ because of their ages, but they insist it’s had no impact on their music. “Within the band all of us are like little children, playing, experimenting, learning and encouraging each other. On stage we’re full-grown rock stars ”“ for us to really connect well with the audience and with each other, every single one of us MUST feel larger than life. Age doesn’t have a place in this game,” says Freddy, sounding a lot older than his 15 years. Teamwork is another recurring theme in the band’s philosophy, whether it’s composing songs or perfecting their musical skills and instruments. “The great part about this band is the amount we experiment with instruments individually and bring it to the table, get everybody to learn about the intricacies of music on a practical basis, get everyone to push themselves really hard, leaning about the true tonality of your instrument, the understanding of how music affects the listener”¦ we’re constantly learning from, and teaching each other, that’s how the band’s grown so much so quickly,” says Jonathan.

Slain recently uploaded a 4-track digital EP, Foreplay, on their MySpace site to be followed by a full-length album tentatively titled Here and Beyond, scheduled for release in April and the band is in the process of looking for distributors and retailers for the record. And while you can expect to hear more influences from the likes of Whitesnake, Queensrÿche, Angra and Symphony X, the band members also have their local favourites. “Moksha, Indus Creed, Parikrama etc have all done wonders for the national rock scene and continue to inspire us,” says Judah, “though I have reason to believe that good food inspires us most. The two most frequently asked questions within the band are ”˜What’s the next song?’ and ”˜What’s for lunch?’ ”