Dead Rhetoric: Based on your live abilities you’ve been one of the go to bands when international acts perform in India – can you tell us special standout moments you’ve had within Kryptos live, as I imagine opening for Iron Maiden in 2009 plus playing Wacken Open Air in 2013 would rate near the top of that list?
Krishnaswamy: Absolutely. I wasn’t in the band when they supported Iron Maiden, but I’ve heard stories. I can imagine if I was there I don’t think I would have the knees to get on stage because they got to hang with the band. Bruce Dickinson took them to the hotel bar and bought them beers and I heard the stories. Definitely a plus on the resume- Wacken was a miracle, out of the box. It was probably the largest crowd we’ve played to ever. We played to about 40,000 people at about midnight- that just blew us away. These things continue to just stay in your mind. Bands like Exodus who have been so good to us, and playing with Death Angel last year- we are playing with these bands across India and Europe. The first thing you learn about these guys is that the humanity in which these guys operate- they are just nice, normal people. You have this vision where you are supporting your idols, and then you go up to them and find out they are normal people- this makes for very special moments. When you find out they are normal 9 to 5 guys, it’s a very special feeling.
Dead Rhetoric: Does it feel great to get props from Exodus’ Tom Hunting comparing your sound to Def Leppard meets thrash in a recent Metal Wani interview after the two bands played together?
Krishnaswamy: Yes. That’s exactly what we are trying to do, the whole 80’s thing with the twin guitars, it’s what we grew up with in front of our mirrors with tennis rackets- playing around to AC/DC or in my case Rush. It’s amazing, such a great compliment coming from Tom Hunting who’s not only in such a great band like Exodus but he’s been with Angel Witch- another band that we just adore and worship. Very special comment coming from him.
Dead Rhetoric: What types of hobbies/ interests do you have outside of heavy metal – and is it a challenge to be able to devote time to your music endeavors while juggling time management with day jobs and such?
Krishnaswamy: It is a challenge with the day jobs. We’ve been doing this for 18 years, even though the first three years of the band we were in college, so for 15 years we’ve been juggling jobs and playing music. It’s sort of become a part of our DNA right now, we wish we had more time for the music to devote eight hours a day, five days a week to it because we have bills and rent to pay. Fortunately our employers have been good to us as well, giving us the time off we need to do our thing.
Nolan and I watch a lot of football, we are both Liverpool football club fans, so football is an interest that we have. Work takes so much out of us, on the weekends if we aren’t rehearsing we just spend time with our families- travel, go somewhere quiet to get away from the city, go on a trip or climb hills, camp out and go fishing somewhere. I like to get away from the noise of the city, that kind of thing. In terms of hobbies, I like watching a lot of films and reading a lot. If I’m not cooped up at home watching films and reading I’m with my wife just away from the city- or get into the kitchen and help with the cooking. There are quite a few things that interest us nowadays.
Dead Rhetoric: What is your preferred medium for listening to metal these days: digital or physical, and if physical what are some of your most prized possessions in your collection?
Krishnaswamy: Definitely physical, though what I do is check out bands on YouTube, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp- if I like what I am listening to, I just go out and buy the vinyl. The most special things in my collection I would say are a couple of vinyl records. There is this band called Three Man Army, they have an album called A Third of a Lifetime, a 70’s rock band, an amazing band. I have the first pressing of Iron Maiden’s Killers – that’s another prized possession. I have copies of Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny and Rainbow – Rainbow Rising– these are some of the top possessions I have. Other than this, I listen to a lot of progressive rock- old Genesis, Camel, and bands like that, and those vinyl records are worth a lot so I don’t even take them out very often, I keep them tucked away in a very safe place.
Dead Rhetoric: You are one of the people then that didn’t mind Opeth moving into more of a progressive rock direction over the last couple of records, I take it?
Krishnaswamy: No. However, I do prefer My Arms, Your Hearse and Morningrise – I am a big fan of the early stuff. I did listen to the new song and it sounds like they are experimenting with the whole stoner rock genre. I don’t mind them going proggy for a bit.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the current metal scene – do you believe the internet and social media/ instant technology have brought us closer and thus improved the promotional and distribution aspect of music, or are there areas you’d like to see improve?
Krishnaswamy: From where we were, I remember one of the first trades I had was from After Forever- I sent them a tape and they sent me back a CD. That was probably 1999 or 2000. And from there to actually having a chat with your favorite musicians on Facebook or chatting with people on apps, it’s made bands and fans interact more often and a lot better. Sometimes I miss the mystery behind the artists, everything is now out there but back then we used to struggle to find out what’s happening with Metallica. In India we had libraries that would get Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, and all these magazines- but they would come 3-4 months later. There was still the need and the desire to go to the library and find your favorite picture in the magazine, photocopy it and paste in on your wall.
The romance is gone from music today. I’m old and from that era. In hindsight, if you look at things today, I would not be able to talk to you otherwise if it wasn’t for this technology. We are getting so much positive feedback on the album from Europe, America, South America- it’s technology that makes this possible. As a fan of this style of music I try to maintain a balance between how much I use technology and how I still want some mystery to be there- but you can’t really escape this. If tomorrow Dee Snider does a piano version of “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, it’s there on YouTube within the next 12 hours and you already know that he’s starting to lose it. Technology has helped bands reach fans in geographies we thought they would never be able to reach, especially for Kryptos. Having said that, bands should continue to use it for the right purposes- especially up and coming bands.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you ever worry what will happen when many of these older bands retire, who may be able to take over headlining some of these larger festivals?
Krishnaswamy: I don’t know, I’ve never thought of that. Priest and Maiden are still around- but now that I’m thinking about this, there will be a time where they will have to call it a day. We were there at Wacken in 2013 and we saw Lemmy on stage and I was telling Nolan he just doesn’t look right because of the heat- and as expected they cut their set short. It depends, especially bands like Maiden. I really don’t know… one part of me says there are awesome bands like High Spirits and Enforcer, Evil Invaders, and bands like that deserve to be playing bigger festivals. At the same time, I would love to go to a big festival and see Rush, AC/DC- although with AC/DC now, I don’t know what they are (laughs). It puts me on the spot, I don’t know how I feel.
Dead Rhetoric: Where would you like to see Krpytos in terms of a career over the next three to five years? And how do you define success at this point?
Krishnaswamy: For us success definitely would mean albums reaching say the Falkland Islands, or reaching Alaska, New Zealand- every possible corner of the world. More importantly for us, success would be playing every night- whether it’s a bar in Budapest, Hungary or a motorboat cruise, it’s about playing and making sure I have food on my plate and a roof over my head. It’s as basic as that- we are not the kind of people who equate success to money. The materialistic aspect of success doesn’t bother us that much. We care about the music and the fact that we could get a chance to play to new audiences, we are seeing people come back to watch us and that for me is what I would qualify as a success. That’s starting to happen because the tour we just finished in Europe, we started seeing familiar faces from the previous tours coming again. A couple of people with the Kryptos t-shirts on from the previous tours, some of them know the lyrics from the old songs, it’s starting but we have a long way to go.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you see the next year going for Kryptos as far as live shows and promotion for the record- are you hopeful to set up shows beyond India into other territories, and possibly get to North America one day?
Krishnaswamy: The answer is yes. We know that next summer in Europe is going to be a busy one for us. We have been speaking with some promoters in North America, however because of the distance and a lot of paperwork that bands need to have to get into America, the process itself and having the time to make sure the process is done right, meeting with the right immigration consult, playing there is probably a year and half or two years away. Next year Europe is going to be very, very crucial for us.