KRYPTOS - NOLAN LEWIS
💿 Hi, it’s a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal Nolan Lewis of traditional Heavy Metal band KRYPTOS! Hi, thank you very much for the interview. Much appreciated! 💿 Let’s start talking about the early days of the band. When is this all begun? Which bands have influenced you? We started the band in 1998 and it just kind of took off from there, although it was very slow progress because things aren’t easy in India especially if you’re a band. Bands don’t get to play many gigs here, plus there really isn’t any money in it. Me and Ganesh (bass) started the band and although we had a few lineup changes over the years, the core of the band has remained more or less the same. At first we used to just play covers of our favourite bands, but slowly we started writing our own music and eventually we managed to record and release our first album in 2004. It took that long to get things going because we had to save up a lot of money and also find time in between jobs and stuff to get the record done. But, it worked out eventually and since then we’ve been releasing albums on a fairly regular basis, although it’s still not as fast as we hoped it could be. Our main influences are the classic bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Accept etc, plus we also have some thrash influences like Kreator, Coroner etc. So, we kind of combine 80’s riffs and melodies with some of the aggression of the thrash bands we grew up with. 💿 In these days we’re listening to your last album BURN UP THE NIGHT, published last year. Are you satisfied about fans reaction? Yeah, the reaction has been great. It’s been pretty positive overall, and the most striking thing is how many people tell us that the album makes them feel really nostalgic. It reminds them of the good old days of heavy metal, which is what we set out to do with the album. We wanted to make an album that reflected our love for the 80’s and we’re glad that it connected with a lot of people as well. Of course, there were some people who said the album sounds too ‘old school’ and we’re ‘living in the past’, but hey, who cares? That’s the kind of music we like and that’s what we made. So, for people who ‘get’ it, it works great. 💿 Two albums out on AFM Records; Can you tell us somethin’about relationships with this label? Yeah, we signed with AFM Records a few years ago and it’s been great since then. They’re really supportive of us and they’re all very cool people to work with. Signing with them gave us a real boost in Europe because we could finally get our music out to people who are into this kind of music. That wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a label such as AFM, so it gave a bit of a push to get out there and give it our best shot. Timo, the label boss, has been great to us so we don’t have any complaints. 💿 The real “news” in music industry is the return of vinyl; What’s your feeling with this classic format? Personally, I only have a small vinyl collection, because I still prefer cds and tapes, but the rest of the band are big vinyl heads. They have pretty big collections of first presses and stuff like that that they managed to get over the years so they’re into it big time. Of course, I love the way vinyl sounds, but I’m too lazy to get up and flip it over every half an hour haha. In any case, everything also looks great on vinyl. Especially all the classic albums with all the amazing art and the inner sleeves and stuff. I think my Rainbow Rising vinyl is probably my favourite of the lot, because I can just stare at the album cover for hours on end. 💿 You come from India; Can you tell us somethin’about metal scene in your country? The metal scene here is a bit strange. Considering India has over a billion people, the number of people who listen to metal here really isn’t all that much. There are a lot of bands here though, but most of them are into extreme forms of metal. Interestingly most of the major cities have scenes of their own. Our city Bangalore has a good classic metal/doom scene, Mumbai and Delhi are more inclined towards metalcore and all that kind of stuff, Kolkata has a big thrash scene, while the North East of India has a lot of death, grind and even progressive bands. So, it’s a pretty eclectic mix. Unfortunately, bands can’t really tour here like they can in Europe, since there aren’t many venues to play at. Plus India is a pretty huge country, so travelling from gig to gig can be quite difficult and expensive as well. However, many big bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Kreator etc. have all come here, which kind of gave the scene a bit of a boost, but overall it isn’t as great as it should or could have been. 💿 Between July and August you’ll be in tour in Europe! Can you tell us about the setlists? Yup, we’ll be in Europe in July and August where we’ll be playing Wacken Open Air and a few other festivals as well as joining Sacred Reich on their European tour. Most of our setlist will contain material from Burn Up The Night and we might throw in a song or two from our previous album, and if we’re in the mood to just party, maybe throw in a fun cover as well. 💿 Are you working on new tracks? Maybe 2018 is the right year for a new full-length? We’ll start writing for the next album once we’re back from tour so hopefully everything will be ready by mid 2018. And if all goes well, we can head back to Europe again to support the release of the album next year. 💿 Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on HARDROCKHEAVYMETAL!
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