Metal Bands Head To Nasik For Winter Metal Fest

Bevar Sea

So what if we have an excuse of a winter in Maharashtra? The Winter Metal Fest is just another excuse to get a moshpit going. Up until a few years ago, the annual wine and music event SulaFest was the only live music that came to Nasik, but it didn’t draw locals, who, according to Rock In Nasik [RIN] founder Akash Watekar, were more inclined to support local bands.

“Between 2008 to 2010 Nasik has only seen three gigs. If there are no gigs, there’s no survival for bands. A lot of bands just play one gig and can’t carry on,” says Watekar. That’s the reason why Watekar and his friends formed a group called Rock In Nasik in May 2011. After promoting local bands so far, they have set their sights on bringing the national scene to Nasik for the first ever Winter Metal Festival on November 17th.

Winter Metal Fest’s lineup features Mumbai bands Albatross (horror metal) and Ascendere (thrash metal), Bengaluru’s stoner/doom quintet Bevar Sea, and local bands from Nasik including prog metallers Sense of Tumour and Watekar’s own metal band, Diabolic Lords. RIN’s co-founder Sangram Bhandari says, “Albatross and Bevar Sea are famous here in Nasik. The aim is to introduce new metal and also promote local metal.”

The Nasik rock and metal scene have come out in good numbers before, and Watekar is expecting many more to show up for the Winter Metal Fest. “The prime motive is to keep the bands coming. We’re sure that 350-400 people will attend, so we’re working to set things up at an outdoor venue,” Watekar says.

Bevar Sea guitarist Srikanth Panaman says that things fell into place for them to play in Nasik soon after their show in Thane on November 18th got confirmed. Panaman says the band were open to choices, including Pune. He says, “But we got way more enthusiasm from people in Nasik, and we would rather play to a very hungry, deprived bunch of metal fans than a bunch that has just witnessed and spent all their month’s drinking money at the NH7 Weekender in Pune. We hope to play more such smaller cities in the future.”

Albatross bassist Riju Dasgupta says he’s always known that the band has a following in Nasik. He says, “I track them online, and a substantial part of them are in Nasik.” Dasgupta also commends RIN’s work for the local scene, saying, “Every time they organize a gig, they incur a load of costs we can’t imagine and go the extra mile to ensure no difficulty [for the artists].”

Albatross’ set at Winter Metal Fest will contain five originals and two covers, one of which may involve “a special impromptu collaboration” with Bevar Sea vocalist Ganesh Krishnaswamy on a Motorhead song, according to Dasgupta. The bassist also confirms that this will be a part of their mini-tour, which starts with the Winter Metal Fest in Nasik, followed by Bevar Sea’s album launch gig in Thane on November 18th. Later in the month, the band plays at the day-long Harley Rock Riders alongside Swedish heavy metallers Wolf on November 24th in Bengaluru, and then at Furtados in Juhu, Mumbai on December 7th.

Winter Metal Fest takes place on November 17th in Nasik. Venue: TBA. Entry: Rs. 200. For details and updates, join their event page here.