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petaDishoom Kicks Off ‘Month of Rock’ With Granada Guitar Giveaway
PETA India’s Youth Division Teams Up With Furtados and Animal-Friendly Bands Who Sing the Praises of Compassion on National College Tour
Thanks to Mumbai-based Furtados music shop and petaDishoom, PETA India’s fast-growing youth division, aspiring rockers have a chance to start the new year with a bang. That’s because all visitors to petaDishoom.com can register to win a brand-new Granada acoustic-electric guitar complete with a whole list of accessories generously donated by Furtados. Also, during the month of December, the Web site will feature a host of animal-friendly bands, including Pentagram, Parikrama, Demonic Resurrection, Pin Drop Violence, Sceptre and Vayu. It’s all part of petaDishoom’s “Month of Rock” in support of all the bands who have teamed up with petaDishoom to help stop animal suffering.
Several of the bands have supported petaDishoom on a national tour of college festivals to help spread the word of compassion for animals by wearing PETA t-shirts while performing, speaking to their fans about the importance of protecting animals and other ways. Visitors to petaDishoom.com — eager to try their hand at winning the guitar — will get an added bonus: exclusive interviews with many of their favorite bands and musicians.
Known for their fast riffs and aggressive lyrics, Sceptre define thrash metal. But underneath their hard exterior, the four-member Mumbai-based band have a soft spot for animals. When asked for his opinion about how animals are beaten and forced to perform in circuses, lead vocalist Teemeer Chimulkar got straight to the point. “We are totally against it; it is indeed very cruel,” he says. “For someone who cannot express himself, to be whipped or beaten is the most inhuman thing to do.”
Nu-metal band Pin Drop Violence is known for wowing the crowd. Just ask any of the throngs of young fans who have flocked to the band’s dozens of concerts that they’ve headlined since forming in 2000, not to mention their victories at competitions throughout the country. But one place you won’t find these guys is at a circus or zoo, where animals are deprived of everything that’s enjoyable to them and mistreated as well. “We are against zoos and circuses. The condition of animals in zoos is pathetic. They are almost dying,” says bassist Rohit “P-man” Pereira.
When it comes to Demonic Resurrection, there’s no need to ask what’s in a name. In their case, everything! Known from throughout the Subcontinent to the UK and the US for their breakout album ‘Demonstealer’ to their recent release ‘A Darkness Descends’, DR show no signs of slowing down. But front man, The Demonstealer, was anything but demonic when he sat down with petaDishoom to talk about protecting wildlife. “If forests and jungles are destroyed, the Earth will eventually die, and so it will benefit all of us to preserve the wildlife and its natural habitat,” he says.
The Demonstealer’s tone sharpened when he was asked for his thoughts about killing tigers for their skins and other body parts or killing elephants for their tusks. “I say that it must be stopped, and the governments of the world should put in the extra effort to stop this illegal trade of animal products.”
Parikrama’s manager and keyboardist, Subir Malik, talked about his respect and love for animals and wishes everyone felt as he does. “I wish everybody in this world could be kind to animals and love them,” he says. “They are all a part of us, and we are in it together.”
Palasha Sen, lead vocalist for Euphoria, addressed the connection between human beings, other animals, and nature. “We should protect the creations of God in whichever form — animals, plants, trees, human beings,” he says. “It is very important to our future that everybody lives in harmony with each other.”
Indian Ocean’s bass guitarist and vocalist, Rahul Ram, believes we have an ethical obligation to treat animals with kindness. “Ethically, animals are to be treated with a certain amount of respect,” says Rahul. “Animals do have [feelings]; we clearly know this.” Adds fellow band member Amit Kilam, “I am absolutely against cruelty to animals. One of the ways of being in harmony with animals is to show respect to them.”
Vishal Dadlani, lead vocalist for Pentagram, expressed his disgust with the massive killing of animals for their skins and other body parts and talked about why he hasn’t eaten meat for 13 years. “I turned vegetarian in 1993, specifically because I like animals. I am unhappy with the idea of eating them.”
Visitors to Furtados music shop may try out the guitar all through December and January. For more information, to register to win the guitar and to read the full interviews with the bands, please visit petaDishoom.com.
I love Peta!
i trust all the animal -freindly-band members are vegetarians :P
@Ritesh: Hey man I am a vegeterain too!!!!
Cheers!!
Im vegetarian too