Interview with Virendra Kaith
We had a chat with Virendra Kaith, about how he picked drums as his instrument, his music, association with Zildjian and much more.
You have been collaborating with many artists across genres?
How have they influenced your music?
Right from the start, when I used to just listen to music, I
would always listen to a lot of styles of music. I remember I
had a mixtape where there was a Napalm Death album on one
side and a backstreet boys album on the other side. (I know
that's too extreme though)
I have appreciated music from bands like Death and also from
an artist like Lucky Ali.
So when I was collaborating with different styles of artist. I
would notice that I need to be in that mental state where I can
just feel the music and enjoy playing it. I think, if you don't
enjoy doing what you are doing, then it becomes a job.
What made you pick up the drums first and how has your
drumming evolved over the years?
Music was always in our house. My uncle, Mathan Kaith,
is a drummer himself. So the moment I would get up in the
morning, there would be music being played through the tape
recorder, or by my uncle through his instruments. I used to
participate in dance programs in school. I guess that got me
grips with the timing and rhythm sense. In college, I started
playing drums on a regular basis coz of my friend Mithun
(Pin Drop Violence guitarist). He had literally all the musical
instruments at his house and in the garage on the ground
floor. So he would play the guitar and I would play the drums.
We would bunk college and just jam on different tunes from
Eagles to Metallica to Iron Maiden to Prodigy to Sepultura.
That is when I started listening and playing heavier styles of
music.
Then Mithun joined PDV and I joined a death metal band
called Abhor (which I met through mutual friends). That
got us to start playing at college festivals and venues like
Razzberry Rhinoceros. The metal scene was niche, but
strong. I got to see and meet other musicians from the scene.
There came a point, where I even joined PDV in their last
year of existence in the year 2006. In 2007, I was asked by
the Demonstealer to join Demonic Resurrection. I had met
Demonstealer way back in 2000 and had performed with
DR once for the Independence Rock competition as well.
However, on the side, I was also associated with different
genre of music, like Prayag was a hindi rock band. And
Khiladi was a punk outfit by Pman from PDV. Even MJB was
a blues rock cover band with Mihir Joshi. So I was always
associated with different genres right from the start. In 2012, I
quit my day job, and from then on I have been freelancing as
a session drummer and have been teaching drums whenever
I get the time from my session drumming schedule. Once I
started freelancing, I got associated with more commercially
popular bands (mostly bollywood, coz that is where the money
is :)
Right now, I am still an integral part of Demonic Resurrection
and Scribe. On the lighter (music) side, I am associated with
Sparsh and Manu & Chow. And then there are other session
work that I have been regularly doing with popular bollywood
singers like Neeti Mohan, Jonita Gandhi, Ambili Menon,
Aditi Singh Sharma and the likes.
Your band Demonic Resurrection has recently released a new
video. Tell us something about that album and what should your
readers be looking for in that album.
The new DR album is more brutal and fast paced than any
previous DR album. (Exactly like how the new iphone is
faster and more powerful than any of the previous iphones.
The album is called Dashavatar and every song is based on
the different avatars of Lord Vishnu. Lyrically as well as
musically we have tried to depict the different beings of Lord
Vishnu in the album.
Tell us about your association with Zildjian?
I have been endorsing Zildjian cymbals since 2008 now.
However, before that, I was always fascinated by these
cymbals. Zildjian has always been my choice of preference coz
they just sound right from the moment you take them out of
the box.
How does Zi