Midhaven Launch Debut EP

Prog rock band Midhaven

With progressive rock and metal becoming umbrella genres to describe bands as varied as Periphery and TesseracT to Mastodon and Dream Theater, it’s interesting to come across Mumbai prog rock band Midhaven, which was formed in 2011.  The band’s songwriter, Karan Kaul, says he is mainly inspired by every kind of modern prog rock. “We’re influenced by everything except pop and hip hop, and our lead guitarist [Shreyas Rane] grew up on classical music and even plays the flamenco guitar,” says Kaul of Midhaven, who launch their debut three-track EP, Tales From The Tide tonight at Blue Frog, Mumbai..

Kaul, who started the band, says he was inspired by sludge metal band Mastodon’s concept album Crack the Skye when Midhaven started writing songs. “The EP is about my childhood and my brother, who passed away when I was young. It’s how a child can go away and escape that world with just his imagination,” says Kaul.

Midhaven plays an all-original 45-minute set, including new tracks such as “Spellbound” and “Maelstrom” from their upcoming full-length album, Above the Vile. “Out of the entire night, I want the crowd to have fun during these two songs, because they’re especially heavier and include breakdowns,” says Kaul. Takes From the Tide EP, which draws from hard rock, prog rock and progressive metal, is just a preview to their upcoming album in terms of the band’s sound and artwork. Fans of the band are in for a treat as Midhaven will also give away copies of Take From The Tide at the gig tonight. The last edition of Prog @The Frog featured fusion metal band Paradigm Shift and Coshish in November 2011.

Playing hour-long sets after Midhaven tonight are NerveRek and Silver Tears. NerveRek is performing with its original lineup, including drummer Ritesh Dharmaraj, with no guest musicians stepping on stage to fill in. NerveRek guitarist and vocalist Arjun Dhanraj says their 10-song set will include covers of Pain Of Salvation, who NerveRek opened for at Saarang 2011 in IIT-Madras. Dhanraj adds that the band will release their 11-track full-length album, Forever Endeavor, in September this year. 

Prog @ The Frog featuring Midhaven, Silver Tears and NerveRek takes place on May 5th, 2013 at Blue Frog, Mumbai. Entry: Rs 250. Event details here.

Listen to Midhaven’s song “The Third Eye” here