Skyharbor Go On Debut UK Tour
The prog metal band has a packed October calendar including gigs across the UK and their second appearance at the Euroblast Festival in Cologne, Germany
(from left) Nikhil Rufus Raj, Devesh Dayal, Dan Tompkins, Keshav Dhar and Anup Sastry.
When Keshav Dhar, producer and guitarist with Delhi-based prog metal band Skyharbor, was down in Mumbai to pick up Skyharbor’s sweep at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards in June, he mentioned the recognition the band was getting in India, with just a handful of shows they’ve performed so far.
But Skyharbor, which includes drummer Anup Sastry based in the US and vocalist Dan Tompkins based in the UK, are finally set to launch themselves on their first ever UK tour, starting October 13th in London and closing the five-city tour in Milton Keynes on October 18th. The prior week, Skyharbor plays in Germany, supporting Australian alternative rock band Twelve Foot Ninja, including their second performance at the Euroblast Festival in Cologne on October 11th (Skyharbor performed at the festival in 2012 as well). Considering their previous appearance at Techfest in July, followed by a two gigs in Russia earlier this month, Skyharbor has made good on international recognition, playing more gigs abroad than in India.
While their last show in India was at Blue Frog, Delhi in December last year Dhar says, “We keep getting requests [to play in India]. I’m being brutally honest here, but we’ve had enough time to look at the reality of things ”“ sales in India have been low and while that might be because the CDs are imported [Skyharbor released their debut album, Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos, via UK metal label Basick Records] and digital sales bring in little. Then again, we barely sold 10 T-shirts at our Strawberry Fields gig [in Bengaluru last year]. At Tech Fest, we actually sold out all merchandise before we even played.” The guitarist feels the band’s international audience is growing much quicker than in India, and laments the lack of tour infrastructure here.
Perhaps living out of different parts of the world also explains why Dhar doesn’t particularly yearn for an Indian tour either. “We’re a global collective. There’s no sentimentalism [to play in India],” says Dhar. The global collective, however, does stick together and work over the Internet. Skyharbor’s next release will be a concept album, but Dhar adds that it’s “not one long song.” With recurring themes and a few songs fading into each other, Dhar says that the new album is a work in progress. Says Dhar, “We’re reconsidering a lot of the material. So right now, we’re halfway there.” With guitarist Devesh Dayal leaving to study at Berklee in January next year, the band hopes to set a deadline to finish the guitar parts by the end of this year and at least have the entire album down in demo form, according to Dhar.
Skyharbor October 2013 tour dates:
Supporting Twelve Foot Ninja
October 9th ”“ K17, Berlin
October 10th ”“ Headcrash, Hamburg
October 11th ”“ Euroblast Festival, Cologne
Skyharbor UK Tour
October 13th ”“ Barfly, London
October 14th ”“ The Cavern, Exeter
October 15th ”“ Aslyum 2 ”“ Birmingham
October 16th ”“ Audio, Glasgow
October 18th ”“ Craufurd, Milton Keynes
