The Indian Prog. Metal Band "Noiseware" Makes A Comeback!

Noiseware was certainly one of those bands that created a huge buzz once they came out into the independent music circuit in 2009. They were one of the first Indian bands to incorporate the new "Djent" based Progressive Metal sound and they surely perfected it. The music was raw, powerful, yet extremely groovy and meticulous at the same time. They were ripping on 8 string guitars when Indian bands were slowly venturing and trying to figure out music that was tuned that low. Sadly, due to work and personal commitments, they didn't release any music for quite a while. BUT THAT JUST CHANGED! Before the year ended, the band announced that they would be releasing their first full-length album titled 'Clouds At Last' on 18.1.2018, and IT'S AN ABSOLUTE RAGER!  We had the pleasure of talking to Adhiraj, the guitar player from Noiseware about the album and more importantly, the whole process behind making and releasing a record - something that is usually kept at a hush hush with most bands in the country. Here's what he had to say: Loudest: Not many people know much about what goes into making/recording/releasing a full length record, especially the financial side of things. What did you guys decide on in terms of the amount of finance put into the record vs. the quality that can be achieved, in light of eventually making some money back from sales? Adhiraj: As a metal band, I'd say the Return on Investment (ROI) is super minimal. We are lucky that our expenses on the audio front aren't much at all. In the sense, apart from the consumables like strings/heads/etc, it's all done in-house at my studio, so we do save a huge sum of money there. We were also very fortunate to have help from many parties - Furtados supported us with the Drum Kit for the recording and Levi's Lounge let us use the studio for tracking. However, the expenses on the music video were a fairly considerable amount which has all been from our pockets. I think for us, the Return of Investment is more if people just listen to the music, watch the video and support what we are trying to do. I think after all these years, we've realized that metal in India will probably continue to be niche. The one avenue for us to kind of break even on all these expenses has of course been playing the handful of shows live. But I think ROI from content is a long shot in India, in the sense, I don't see it being achieved anytime soon. [caption id="attachment_3424" align="aligncenter" width="606"] The Drum Recording Setup for Noiseware at Levis Studios![/caption]

THE ADVANTAGES OF PUTTING RESOURCES INTO A TOP QUALITY MUSIC VIDEO!

It is evident that there aren't many Indian Rock/Metal bands that have made professional, top quality music videos - either due to lack of finances or the low expectancy of resources, as Adhiraj explained. Their goal for the band with their music video was simple - in whatever maximum amount of finances they could spend, create a world-class video. They wanted to compete and be at par with videos made by bands internationally. They took help from "their unofficial 6th member" Kaushik Sinha, someone who's been around with the band since the Noiseware TV days. They also took the expertise of DoP's Amogh Deshpande and Arshad Khan. All this was topped off by Rajdeep Paul, who worked on the VFX for the video. It was something that Noiseware put a lot of attention and time into.  Although it's a straightforward video where you can see the band playing, you can certainly see that a good amount of money was put into the video. It sure looks like a professional, top-notch production! The biggest takeaway from this easily is this - it is important to consider the visual aspect of your music and further, more important to make sure that the process for the same is done very diligently and professionally. It might seem something beyond the process of making a record, but putting a face on the record is as important as the whole process that happens before it. Adhiraj further added,

Video content is absolute king right now, and kind of always has been. Look, I grew up on music videos and discovered half the bands I listen to because of them. So whatever may be the video, it's super important for a band to put in the time and investment in making a quality music video. Yes, the spend is a lot and the ROI not so much, but it's kind of like the spend on putting the music - equally important.

THE EVER-GROWING IMPORTANCE OF PR