Split Wide Open
MyndSnare: Changing Skins
Split Magazine caught up with MyndSnare’s Yasmin Claire, one of India’s finest metal drummers for an exclusive interview.
What has MyndSnare been up to in the recent past?
We’ve been working on material to complete our album for a while now, and we’re currently polishing off the last track required. We are going to be hitting the studio soon, with nine songs, following which we will be packaging and releasing our first full-length album, titled ‘Conditioned: Human’. All details regarding the album will be put on the various popular music websites.
One thing everyone wants to know is the story behind the recent line-up change. Who is the new bass player, and how did Narayan’s departure from the band come about? Does he match Narayan’s stage presence?
Hmmm… well, a band is said to be like a family, and no one likes washing their family laundry in public. So, let’s just say that Naru had to leave because of the circumstances he was in. As for our new bassist — Sandesh (also the guitarist of Bangalore based “Extinct Reflections�?), he’s doing a really amazing job of getting the songs down and tight, is quite a talented guy, and much to my surprise, makes the band sound tighter than ever! He will be recording most of the bass tracks in the studio with us. The songs for which he won’t find time to learn the bass parts, we’re having Phenom’s drummer, and our producer, Mrinal fill in for us.
As far as stage presence goes, you guys will have to tell us about that. But surely, we will miss Naru’s presence in the band and on stage.
Looking back, from the days of Visahan to Narayan, and now the new bassist, which line up do you think is/was the best one yet?
Another tough one. If you leave out Sandesh, Narayan was in fact the best guy we’ve worked with so far. He fit in as a person and a musician and was quite a maniac on stage! I really enjoyed jamming with him, and so did KP. As for Sandesh, I can’t really say yet, except that in the last two weeks he has been with us, we’ve all been having a blast! He certainly shows a lot of potential… and knowing our trials with bassists in general, I just hope this lasts. And just for the record, this is our fourth bassist per say, though many more auditioned and then vanished! Seriously though, what is it with bassists? : )
You recently played with Acrid Semblance at the Great Indian Rock X festival in Delhi. What was that experience like?
It was great! Though I have to admit I really screwed up in a few places during the set, which I still feel rotten about. I was quite unsure of some of the song structures, having learnt it all in nine days. But that’s just an excuse! I had a great time with the band members though, who are all close friends. I ate some awesome home-made food, took a lot of walks and lost some of the weight I’d put on! (Which by the way, some people have been complaining about on our RSJ guestbook!!)
Even though there are some songs I wish I’d played better, the experience on the whole was very educational and fun-filled. And of course, meeting with and seeing the Freak Kitchen drummer play was an experience not likely to be forgotten for a long long time!
You’re widely considered to be one of the best metal drummers in India, if not the best. How long have you been playing the drums for? What inspired you to pick up a pair of drumsticks in the first place? Do you have any advice for any aspiring drummers?
Yeah, right!! But seriously, rating myself or anyone, for that matter, is thankfully not my job… :) I first picked up the sticks about seven years ago. But I didn’t really start practicing till 2000 June, when I joined MyndSnare. That’s when my drumming experience really began. So, I’d say about six years. While I was singing with local band Angel Dust, I used to feel rather jobless as a vocalist, (what with Chris Avinash trying to hog my mic all the time!) and decided to try and learn an instrument to allow more flow of feelings and thought. Basically, I got bored! So I tried playing the guitar at which I sucked phenomenally, then tried the keyboards at which I was barely passable, and then I just sat on the then Angel Dust drummer, Ryan’s (now Kryptos) kit and played some lame shit. I felt perfectly, wonderfully at home! That’s how it all started. But it’s become more than just a feeling of restless joblessness that needs be satisfied now.
And advice for young drummers, (or old beginners for that matter) would be to just keep at it no matter what, focus on the rhythm above all else. I think that at the end of the day, feeling the beat is more important than anything else. Playing it perfectly comes with a developed feel. Technique can follow.
Can you talk the readers through the following MyndSnare songs?
Layers of Hypocrisy: This song could be about anyone, though I happen to know that KP wrote the lyrics with himself in mind! It is basically what the title depicts. Its about all the hypocritical things we all do, every day, over and over again… it is more or less about all the shit inside of us that we are afraid to face up to.
Temporal Movements: This song was based on one of Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi books that KP had read a while ago. Since I don’t really know the lyrics, much less understand them, I won’t speak about it…
The Mirror of Nothingness: All of us have had at some point or the other (or still have) the tendency to visualize ourselves as a certain kind of person. We like to think of ourselves (as a general rule) as better than we actually may be. And some times, we look into the proverbial ‘mirror’ (which is supposed to lie somewhere within us) where we see ourselves as we really are. Or maybe, we see just the person we want to be… This song is about trying to see and acknowledge the real ‘me’ and not just the ‘me-I-want-to-be’…
Seeking the Maze: Well, we don’t play this one any more, and it isn’t going to be on the album either, so I’ll just let it drop.
Fans have waited very long for MyndSnare’s first full-length release. Can you tell the readers about what the status of the long-awaited debut album is at the moment? What can they expect from the album?
Like I already mentioned, we’re going to be hitting the studio soon. The whole process of recording, mixing, mastering, getting the art work together, printing it, pressing the CDs, and other stuff I have no idea about right now, will take a while though. Being tired of giving dates as to when the album can be anticipated, and not being able to meet any of those goals so far, I’ll just give that part a rest now. That it’ll be out this year for sure is all I know.
The album will be recorded in Bangalore, at a studio we experimented with and are mostly satisfied with. The sound should be better than any of our stuff hitherto, which goes without saying I’m sure! And as far as sound goes, our priority will be to try and capture all the energy we feel for the songs in the recordings. This is easier said than done, and as I have recently come to learn, is harder than getting out a good, clean sounding album. After much debating, we have decided to record all the tracks without a metronome. Though this may not be the wisest thing to do, it allows for more of the natural feel to be captured when you don’t keep have the ticking dictating your every move! So, basically, the album should sound, (according to our plan now) powerful and energetic and yet tight, random and yet structured… just like all things in life. We’re also going to try and keep the songs as close to what we can reproduce live, as possible.
Can you also talk us through some of the newer MyndSnare material?
There’s “Use the Pain�? which is about the well-known link between creativity and pain/sorrow. The more the pain, the more creative and full of feel the art becomes. This song is more or less straightforward in it’s feel, and has what everyone assures me is a very catchy part somewhere in the middle…
Then there’s “Within a Mind; Misshapen�? which clearly, the title suggests what it’s all about. This one is a convoluted song with lots of crazy stuff happening on the guitars and in rhythm section.
And then there’s the song “Altar Ego�?. This song took root in KP’s and my head in a pub. We were looking at and listening to all our idols of our days of yore, when we were just fans and not musicians, and drew some parallels with some of our own fans, and we came up with the lyrics. Its about being on someone’s altar. Being someone’s idol. This is my favourite song yet. It’s very punchy and quite intricately woven. I enjoy playing it every single time.
The last song, the one we’re currently working on, is called “Changing Skins�?. Now, we all know that I’ll be ripped on, with this song’s title… you know, Mynd “Snare�?, changing “skins!�?… but whatever. It’s about how sometimes a person changes their ’skin’ almost every day. As in you wake up one morning and you’re different somehow from the day before that… to quote, “Every day a new skin, every day a new me…�?. As for the song itself, I’ll have to wait till it’s done to say what it’s like, but so far, it’s turning into a pretty weird song… and to me at least, it sounds kinda “Corpse�?-ish in places…
Now, it’s time for the last of Yasmin.
When was the last time you got really drunk?
Oh! God! That must have been when those crazy sumbitches from Bhayanak Maut had come down here! It was after the IIMB gig. I was happily pasted! But so was everyone else! ;) (small consolation!) But it was awesome fun!
When was the last time you dabbled in suspicious substances?
That must be at least three years or more ago. I used to smoke up a lot then. But of late, the worst has to have been yesterday when I ate this local pani puri. I really didn’t want to see the guy squeezing all the potatoes and what not into one big gooey mess before he packed them into the puris. It really looked suspicious!
Which was the last CD/cassette you bought?
Well, the last audio CDs I bought were at GIR, of Zero and Descant. The last international CD I bought… wow! It’s been a while! It would have to be Konarak Reddy’s ‘Searching For The Goddess’, YES — ‘90125′, a Steve Morse album and a Janis Joplin album.
Who was the last rock star you shook hands with?
It was Bjorn (drummer) and Matthias (guitars/vox) of Freak Kitchen! :)
When was the last time you signed an autograph?
Er… maybe at GIR? I don’t remember…
Do you have any final words for the people reading this? What can they expect from you and MyndSnare in the near future?
From me, hopefully a much better… and slimmer drummer! ;) And from MyndSnare a whole album of tight mayhem!!!
koool………………! as far as i know yasmin is one helluva drummer but i hav e certain queries about her technique and gear she uses, being a drumme rmyself : ) bu t she is awesome rock on………………………………………
I think the interview could have asked a few more insightful questions. Still, all in all, an interesting interview. One doesn’t get too many like these on Indian rock.