If you like your music dark and heavy, you’d be hard pressed to find any band that does it better than Zygnema. If you’ve heard their incredibly high energy live performances at one of the many music festivals or listened to their two albums, 2010’s ‘Born of Unity’, 2015’s ‘What Makes Us Human is Obsolete’, you can be sure that they are hard core heavy /thrash/ power metal gurus. They’re India's only metal act that flawlessly packs venues on any given day.

Zygnema was formed in December 2006 and since then, have been grooving steadily to the tunes of success and uncompromising determination. They started out playing in as many college competitions as possible to find a new way to make their name. 

The band that presently consists of vocalist Jimmy Bhore, Sidharth Kadadi on guitars, Asxem Dlean on bass and Mayank Sharma on drums have won accolades at the Rolling Stone Metal awards in 2011 for Best Metal band and Best Metal Song in the popular choice category and also represented India at the Wacken Metal Battle at the Wacken Open Air in 2012. Since then they have been on a metal thrashing spree making music leaving an impression on the Europeans thus resulting in a growing fan base mainly in countries like Germany, Norway, France, Poland, and many other countries.

Zygnema has scooped up a bunch of awards for their albums and have embarked on their presence nationally and globally. They were winners of the Yamaha Asian Beat 2010 West Zone and All India Finals. The same year they also won the Best Drummer and Best Guitarist at Yamaha Asian Beat 2010 Global Finals (Thailand). Closer home, another accolade added to their collection was the Rolling Stone Metal awards 2011 where they won Best Metal band and Best Metal Song in the popular choice category. Five years later they were once again adjudged by Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2016 for Best Album (Critics Choice - for their album - ‘What Makes Us Human is Obsolete’ and Best Band (Critics Choice).

Verus Ferreira spoke to the band members to get a feel of how Mumbai’s metal veterans rock.

Could you introduce the band members for us?

Sidharth: We are a four piece independent act which consists of Jimmy on vocals, Asxem is our new bass guitar after Leon Quadros left the band in January 2020. Lastly, we have Mayank on drums and me (Sidharth) on guitars.

Most obvious question, when and how was Zygnema formed? 

Sidharth: Jimmy and I had been struggling to get a sorted line since December 2005. We did not do too many shows as we always had an inclination towards writing original music. We struggled with a few drummers and bass players for a year and then somewhere in December 2006, we found Mayank and Ravi Sapute and this line was rock steady until February 2013, when Ravi moved to Prague. Leon took his place. The band was on a hiatus from August 2007 to October 2008 as Sidharth was pursuing education in LA. So technically the band started gigging seriously and writing more stuff from November 2008 onwards.

Was it difficult to find like-minded musicians to put together a band like Zygnema?

Sidharth: Well we personally feel that you just need the patience to find the right people with right personality to fit in to the band. We weren't best musicians or buddies when we started off, but you get the vibe once you start jamming with each other. We need to get the best out of each other and complement each other. That takes a lot of time. You can't expect experienced and best musicians to come and join an amateur band. So yeah it is time consuming and patience plays an important role. 

Zygnema is also an alga. Is there any connection with your band name and this species?

Sidharth: Yes it is fresh water Algae. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Botany, so that’s where the name came from. The name sounded cool so it stuck. If we have bands that call themselves Anthrax and Nuclear Vomit and what not, then why not a fresh water algae?

Would you like to share something about Zygnema’s musical journey so far, like the best days and the days when you guys feel things really went bad? 

Sidharth: Well as a band from India, we are truly blessed to still be under promoters Radar and we keep getting inquiries for gigs. Whether we take it or not, that's secondary, but that is the best feeling. Having shows and being kind of recognized for your work, is a blessing in disguise. We always take back some great experiences and keep learning from our own mistakes. It doesn't matter if the show was good or bad. It’s about pushing ourselves to do the right thing for us. The best days are those when you accomplish something as a band on or off stage,  whether it is a tiny thing like a photo shoot, or a good jam, song writing process, working on imaging the band right and so on. Bad days are those when we are thinking to do something better, but then we realize this form of music is yet to be accepted whole heartedly

How have you matured in your sound, from releasing your second album ‘What Makes Us Human is Obsolete’, since your first album ‘Born of Unity’?

Mayank: Definitely. We as individuals have gotten better with our instruments and we keep working on new ideas and patterns. The whole idea is to keep working on our sound and to ensure we hit people in the right place with our music. We keep bringing something new to the table every week. Hence evolution and change is inevitable.

What are your song lyrics about and who writes them?

Sidharth: Jimmy writes most of the lyrics. I did try to help him out with two songs for the second album. Our songs are just about regular issues, social, personal, political. Whatever needs attention and light is our topic of interest.

Any specific reason for choosing socio political lyrics in your songs?

Jimmy: Not most of them have socio political edge, but ‘Born of Unity’ did have two songs that focused on socio-political reasons. ‘59’ is solely about how this city fell to the terrorist and how the system failed to cope up with it. ‘National disaster’ speaks about everything that is wrong in this country. ‘Theory of Lies’ and ‘Negation’ is a song based on ones feelings that he/she goes through post break up. Other songs speak about just standing up for what's right in general. 

You also wrote a powerful song I Am Nothing on the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case. Can you tell us something about it?

Sidharth: It’s just not about the Nirbhaya rape case. It is a direct shot at the way violence and crime against women and children are handled in this country. Do you remember the Jessica Lal murder case? Sadly we don’t know what justice is and what it feels and means to the family of the victims.

You have been on the music circuit for close to 15 years now and have played gigs on a regular basis, some outside India. Can you tell us some of your overseas performances?

Sidharth: We wish we could shorten our experiences and explain it over here. Just to make it short, performing abroad always has something new to offer us and teach us. The audience out there is much more open to Hard rock/ Heavy Metal music. If they are watching the band for the first time and they like them, they immediately buy their merchandise. They have a different way of greeting foreign acts and they are all the more flabbergasted to see bands from India playing heavy metal. Its great and we definitely want to tour abroad more often.

So yes, coming to merchandise, you have some interesting t shirts.

Mayank: Honestly, Aaron Pinto (Gut slit) came up with the design all by himself. We just mailed him the lyrics and it was his baby from there. Full marks to our man for doing such a fantastic job. With CD sales down, we have our albums for sale on our website.

Have you guys been writing any new material lately?

Jimmy: Yes. Finally. We get to meet often and rehearse. We have recorded a few songs too. Just taking a different approach this time to make sure our songs are different from what’s already out there and a lot more impactful.

Do each of you guys also have a regular job besides being in the band?

Sidharth: We all ‘Had jobs’ a few years back. Thankfully we all are blessed to have our own things going. I run a small Guitar school ‘Guitar Garage Inc’ with close to 50 odd serious students learning all styles of music.

Jimmy: I am a businessman and also own Jimi’s Burger.

Mayank: I am a fulltime sessions drummer and play with a bunch of popular artists like Amit Mishra, Sreenidhi, TuBlue and others.

Asxeem: I am a full time music composer/producer and also do commercial work.

What’s in store for 2022?

Sidharth: As of now, none of us know. The ongoing pandemic has been quite scary. With lot of bands cancelling tours and shows, it only points us in one direction. The jam room. We want to finish our new album, be completely satisfied with the output and then plan to head out. That’s the plan for 2022 for now.

Your message for our young readers? 

Music is a beautiful way to express your emotion and a very powerful tool to voice a message. It brings all the like - minded people together and forms a close knitted community. If you are a musician or a music lover from any community, and have been struggling with motivation to release or complete your music or anything related to your art, remember. You are NOT ALONE. Just reach out to people who understand this process and they will help you sail through this. Be honest to your art and never give up.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira