When Kris Crummet is behind your music album, you know you're on the right track. It's a big milestone for Bengaluru-based Haiku-Like Imagination, for Crummet is the name behind acts like Dance Gavin Dance, Issues and Eidola, all pioneers of the genre. It's safe to say then, that prog-rock fans have cause to celebrate this weekend too, because Eat Lead Motherbuzzer is all set to launch. The 'pop math rock/ post hardcore' band, as founding member Siddhart Nair describes it, is a five-member ensemble, with a sound that's a "cohesion of pop-esque melodies with absurd, yet intricate rhythm structures."
Comprising Nair and Shiyasz Abdul on vocals, Alan Santosh on bass and Aniketh Ashok on drums, they're "pieces of the same puzzle," says Nair. Together, they fiddle with the extremities of happiness and chaos, symbolically representing the dynamics of life itself. Progressive music isn't a genre that's easy to understand and simplifiying it is what they aim to do, without diluting their music and alienating niche audiences either.
Their influences vary from The Physics House Band to Algernon Cadwallader and LITE and find inspiration in the rhytms of Mars Volta and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Their debut album, Eat Lead Motherbuzzer, was released on April 13 on all streaming platforms across the world. "The album took about six months to come to life," says Sucheth Ramprasad, and was then mastered by Crummet. "Lyrically, at its core, it speaks of change and focusses on the dynamics of life - of chaos and calm, of humanity and the choices we make because we crave change all the time. We even have a song in there about gun violence, how we should raise our kids better and how aliens run our government. We have said a thing or two," Sucheth adds.
Their debut single, Hey Dynamics, features Masayuki Takao from the Japanese metal band Cyclamen, on guitars and was released exclusively on Rolling Stone India. "We knew that Hey Dynamics! had to be the first single we droppd, simply because of the energy it brings and it because it has been a crowd favourite for a long time." Cyclamen is one of their influences and they took a chance on it, reaching out to Masayuki Takao for a guitar solo. "We sent him the track and in about two weeks, when we hearded, we melted," says Siddharth.
The weekend show is taking everything up a notch by partnering with a visual mapping company called Mantis Shrimp Creative. According to Sucheth, "We will be playing an immersive audio-visual set and we have some limited edtion merchandise on sale too. We will also be sharing the stage with the impeccable Stuck in November, who are playing live in Bengaluru after a while. We couldn't be happier to do this with them." And it's an exciting road ahead too, with lots of tours, music, new audiences, travel and of course, math rock!
What: Haiku-Like Imagination & Stuck In November
When: May 5, 8 p.m.
Where: Fandom, 100 Feet Road, 4th Block, Koramangala
