Zohak has been on the metal scene for quite some time now, but they have really got their act together now and with the Megadeth Tribute Night coming, the buzz is really on. I caught up with the founder and lead guitarist for a small talk.
Me: Who are Zohak’s major influences?
Shezan: Everybody in the band are fans of Maiden, Megadeth, Pantera, Sepultura and Carcass. You can find a bit of all this and, of course our own style in our music
Me: What is Zohak’s current line up and also highlight the changes you have made till now.
Shezan: What can I say, we’re every bit the hardcore Megadeth fans. Jokes apart,the thing is we’ve changed around 2 guitar players,4 bass players,2 drummers,1 vocalist. That leaves only me from the original line up.Its a tough job to get like minded people together…and I think this lineup is the strongest…me on guitar, Jimmy on vocals, Ravi on bass and Tao on drums. It’s all about thrash and speed metal.
This line up is all about anger and aggression…We are all fired up to go out there and screw some new age balls with our music.
Me: Enlighten us on the bands musical direction and where the band is headed now
Shezan: Earlier we tried focusing on melodies, which worked, to a certain extent. But something was missing all along…but now with the inclusion of Jimmy and Ravi….we are going for more speed and grooves along with melodies. We’re experimenting a lot more these days…and just hope it works. What we are ultimately trying to do is get our own sound. Its a bit tough, but eventually we will get there. Lets just say we’ve taken the faster and heavier route
Me: Tell us more about your album and live performances
Shezan: We need to save up to record our songs first and I don’t see it coming for the next 4 months. We’ve got around 6 originals, to which the crowd has responded well. But we want to make sure the songs we put on our album are the songs we all believe in.
As for the performances, while playing live we try to have fun. If we have 30 minutes onstage, we know no one can take them away from us and we love to play live. What we are trying to do is establish ourselves as a live act. After all it is all about playing live.
Me: Tell us more about the Megadeth Tribute Night. Its been a long time coming now.
Shezan: Ahhh..the Megadeth night….everyone knows how we idolize the band….and we so wanted to do the Megadeth night. In fact its been 4 months overdue…but as my luck has it, with the line up changes and all, its been really hard for us to get our act together. We had planned it with Ninad in the band…but he had to leave due to his personal problems….that sort of left us high and dry. We had finished about 7 songs by then….
Then came in Mizad. We re-worked the whole set with him…but he had to leave because of his personal problems. That left me and Tao hanging and wondering what next?
Now there is no rhythm guitarist in Zohak and I’ll be playing using the rhythm of the bass guitar. It’s quite scary but I’ll manage and I think its going to take a month or so…because the night is for us and more for the Megadeth fans. We want to make sure that we have to be so tight that even a cockroach can’t squeeze through!
Me: Which are the Indian bands and musicians you idolize?
Shezan: Well there’s Xenon, but they don’t exist any more. I like Sceptre…the grand daddy’s of Indian thrash metal. I’m desperately waiting for their album. They have awesome musical sense.
From the newer bands I really like Brute Force. I think they have done something which no other band has done. They have won every major competition they have entered and have come out with some kick ass music. Wayne, Anand and Akshay are kick ass musicians and they make a great live act too….
I am not a hardcore Brute Force fan to say the very least…but they have kept the metal flag flying in the face of all this nu-age and grindcore nonsense.
But…one thing we want to do is open for Sceptre.On a good day and stage, that should be fun.
On that note we part and thats the end of my interview with Shezan. Hope to see you at the Tribue Night. Please do post your comments.
