Transitpoint is hailing from Bangalore, India. Formed in 2008 by Jeven and Mark. The band believes when a person meets Jesus (Yahweh), there is a transition from death to life. The band has been recognized for their positive and aggressive stage acts and a unique way of dressing. Musically they have a Rapcore and Thrash Rock influence with liberal doses of Reggae and Melody and has come up with their own sound. Their debut album “Hayath” is released last month.
Recently we conducted an interview with founder and vocalist Jeven John, he speaks about the history and future of Transitpoint, the recording of “Hayath” and personal things as his faith, biggest fear and much more”
TMR: Hello Jeven happy newyear, this is The Metal Resource from Holland, how are things going there in India ?
Happy new year. Well its great its all about change and it looks good.
TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the band please !
I’m Jeven John founder and vocalist of Transitpoint. Mark von reddy slaps the bass, Luke Sarkar takes duties as lead guitarist, Liben on drums and suvish shreds the rythm guitar
TMR: How did you get into metal?
It was in my younger years through the introduction of metal and nu-metal bands I heard and watched on tv and with friends and when we hung out together. I’ve also watched several live bands during this period.
TMR: What is your musical background ?
I Grew up in the middle-east where my Dad introduced me to Rock , Country and even pop genres. Later in high school I developed a taste in classic rock and rap. I’ve listened to all kinds of music from Hard rock, Classic rock, Death metal, Nu-metal, Punk, Blues, Jazz and I even was an ardent fan of rap singers like Snow and Vanilla Ice to even Pop Bands like Ace of Base, Boy bands Europe, Simply Red, Deff Leppard, Bon Jovi to Limp Bizkit, POD, Papa Roach, Korn to Lamb of God, Sepultura, As I lay Dying, Dimmu Borgir. I’ve always felt that each genre had so much to offer.
TMR: Tell us the brief history of Transitpoint.
Transitpoint was formed in 2008 when I had approached my old friend Mark (bassist) and told him about the idea of forming a rap rock numetal band. Since we had similar tastes and had played years ago in another band he joined me and we picked up a few musicians along the way. At the first year we brought out 2 singles ‘yahweh’ and ‘Zealous Detest’ after the first year we had lineup changes and then came in, Liben, Luke and Suvish. We released a 4 song EP and last year 2016 December we released our debut album “hayath”
TMR: Why the name Transitpoint ? Is there a story behind it ?
Transitpoint was actually an undecided moment in Marks and my life where we felt it was gonna turn into something new and then i felt the leading to name the band to what i felt reflects the vision of the band that is to be a bridge for people to cross over to eternal life through Jesus the messiah who we write about in our music.
TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in Transitpoint ? … how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influenced you for writing music and lyrics ?
We work collectively as a band when it comes to making music. I write the lyrics and vocal compositions which have a lot of numetal and raprock influence and I love to wear my heart on my sleeve that is place a lot of honesty coupled with aggression and passion into the way i spit rhymes on live shows and at the same time keep a stark difference in the way I sing and harmonise on the record .Mostly the music is written by Luke as he is influenced a lot with metal and loves melodic riffs he brings a lot of shredding into the music and his lead solos and intros are quite catchy.Mark is a jazz lover he’s a bit complex on his own tastes as he has been playing quite a lot of genres in bass for a long time.He is a perfectionist like me and he is quit picky about the sound he wants. Suvish is a blues beast and he has brought in his uniqueness into our music with his leads and shredding. Liben is the rhythm master and is heavily influenced by metal core bands he is very innovative on his drumming style and i have personally seen him bring something new to this album Everyone basically pitches in with their personal influences they grew in to create a very unique flavour .Moods do apply but mostly it has to do with a message that has to go out or something we deeply believe in.
TMR: Is there a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning of Transitpoint ?
The highlights are always the different shows we have done and each of them being unique from how I jumped and almost popped my knee from its socket and I had 2 friends help me off the stage after the show was over as I was limping due to the high jump and bad landing onstage, Mark would wear a nice hat as he comes in onstage but unfortunately it goes rolling off his head as he starts headbanging ;). There were times when we would actually go off timing and we would just keep playing along and Liben (drummer) would actually be left to do the math and he always figures out a way to put in an extra roll and get us back in groove and the audience would never be able to find out coz we pump the adrenaline so much that they r already distracted. Then there was this other time i had done a crowd surfing and one of them in the crowd decided not to let me sail by i ended by dangling upside down with my feet around his/her neck.He\she must have had a very strong neck no broken bones and no hurt feelings it was all good 😉 I still do crowd surfing so watch out next time yall!!
TMR: And the worst thing were ? (if there is one)
The worst thing we faced sometimes were last minute gig cancellations due to deadline of timings with venues or neighbours complaining that the sound was loud and organizers stopping us from playing further.
TMR: What is your favorite drink and food ?
Food is biggie for all of us from home cooked meals, wraps, to continental cuisines, we also love lots of junk food but me personally I’ve cut down on most junk as I go jogging most evenings.
TMR: So what makes you laugh?
We don’t always need a reason to laugh couple of them are cracked during jam sessions by all of us. Mark and me connect a lot on humour as we do our own impersonations of people we know among ourselves and also we do laugh a lot about our differences as people and we don’t offend each other at all as we’ve been buddies for more than a decade. The rest of them share stories during jam sessions and when we hang out, their experiences with different people they met during the week and other funny things that we all have a good laugh at .
TMR: What is your biggest fear ?
My biggest fear is the “fear of heights”
TMR: What is the last album you bought?
The last album I got would be a album of a local artist from Bangalore city itself.
TMR: What are some of the things you like to do away from the band?
I’m a travel freak and I love hanging out with friends planning events, I love urban fashion, watching movies, Do adventure trips swimming, trekking, Mountain climbing, Riding quad bikes, riding the harley and eating some cool food
TMR: Are there some key principles or phylosophies that you hold onto as foundational stones as who you are as a person?
I hold the bible as my map to life.I have a personal relationship with Jesus and I believe in his teachings I always loved to talk to God and hear Him speak to me through the word of God and life situations.
TMR: Speaking of recording, your debut album “Hayath” is released last month. what can you tell us about the album [such as the recording process, the songs/lyrics, record label etc.]
Hayath ” took almost 1 and a half years to complete. After we located a few good studios here in Bangalore an old friend of ours helped set the right tones for the guitars and we also used a few bands which we followed as a reference to what we wanted to sound like in the record. We actually reworked a few of our old songs and being about 5 years as a band we worked a lot on structures in the jam room and our individual homes for a few days using our Ep also as a reference.I felt the need to do so much more prodution on the vocals. I wrote so much more on top of what i felt was already done including a variety of vocal sounds i wanted to use as I sing the verses I also introduced a bit of skat vocals. Luke brought in a lot of stuff to the table in his guitar riffing being the main line of music in the band he had layered his guitar riffs in a way to add flavour to what he had composed. Mark rendered the best of his creativity on some of the songs. Liben brought in a strong backbone in the music it made it so whole especially by deciding to play live drumsto feel that human effort over programmed drums.He had bought in some of his best cymbals and took a day to set up his kit before he recorded .Suvish also played some of his best work on leads in the album. We took a few months to work this album as we aimed at perfection. I had later got in touch with Marcos Curiel of the numetal band POD. He was generous to lend me his time and patience and after a few minutes of conversation he introduced Dan Shike to me who did the mastering for our album. As of now we havent approached any record labels as we just released our albums and people have just begun to hear our music
TMR: About the cover artwork. Do you think it is as important as your music? Does it visualize the lyrics of your songs or what’s the actual story behind its concept?
The cover art is inspired by the old numetal bands we used to listen to as it shows the cartoonized version of all 5 of us under the bloodied hand of God as puppets. Our eyes are white as our faith in Christ has filled it with light and we are wearing white apparels reflecting righteousness through Jesus Christ, our hands spread out as a sign of surrender to our master and we have been raised from the dead as the coffins lay empty below. It is the picture of the song “Hayath”. Hayath means life in Arabic.
TMR: How do you promote your band and shows ?
The band shows are promoted through facebook, word of mouth, radio jingles, posters and local newspapers in our city.
TMR: Tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?
Unfortunately these years the hardrock metal scene in our city has been kind of dead with occasional outbursts of some show or 2. Most pubs and open air venues have a problem with sound and we have had pretty bad experiences with neighbours trying to shut down shows because it is loud. There is still some metal bands playing coz of some metal revolutionaries but all of them suffer heavy persecution by general public,
TMR: How do you prepare for a show?
When it comes to prepping for a show we go all out with rehearsals we select a jam room that suits our needs and we pick a few covers and include it with our originals mash it up nicely and we have 10 days of loud thumping music in a closed jam room till we are tight and ready to explode for a live show.
TMR: What is your favorite Transitpoint song to play live?
I don’t think i have a favourite song that i would like to play because all of them are my favourite hahaha.I just love the difference in music and the emotions that kicks in and to see the crowd go nuts and sing along at the chorouses that makes our day.
TMR: What is your favorite concert that you saw and what made it so good?
One of my favourite concert i saw was when Korn had played in 2012 in bangalore. I just felt the pure electricity and raw power in all of them and to see Johnathan davis kicking up a storm in his vocal prowess man! that made my day i actually jumped a barricade and dodged the bouncers to get in the front because i had to see it upfront and i didnt care if the bouncers were gonna pounce on me and take me down by God’s grace they didnt hahhaa.
TMR: What is the most embarrassing music on your phone or in your collection and how do you justify it to others?
The dumbest song on my phone would be a few song ideas of mine mostly outta tune coz I must have dreamed and woken up liking it and just recorded it on the phone to check it out when I wake up in the morning and then when i finally wake up and i love the stupidity of how it sounds!
TMR: If you could pick a band to tour with, who would it be? And where would the tour go?
If i would pick a band i think it would be my favourite numetal act POD as we even used to cover a few of their songs i dont think there were any bands in India that were bigger fan of them than us haha!! id love to tour America ,Middleast ,Australia and all across europe!
TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked?
The dumbest question that people keep asking me is” is your hair original” i mean when it coming outta some of these people who probably seen me in the same neighbourhood for a couple of years and know that i am a singer !!! hahah buti find it cute they asking like that
TMR: What are the biggest obstacles for bands ?
The biggest obstacle with bands would be staying united and focussed.We as a band though we had tons of differences we decided to bring an album out and we decide to hang in their be focusssed and work very hard even when things looked grim.
TMR: As a band today, what do you think is the biggest challenge you face?
The main issue we face is “Time” with all the boys involved in their own work nd higher studies we do find it a challenge to have number of jams in a week but we do work way around it somehow.
TMR: Any plans for the near future ?
Plans for the future is to do some local tours and just go out there and promote our album.Getting some cool Transitpoint merchandise too!!! .We are more focussed to getting our message across to the new faces coz people matter to us a lot and we connect with our audience on and off stage.
TMR: Jeven thanks for your time and the interview. We wish Transitpoint all the best for 2017… Is there anything you wanna say at last ? [any final statement ?]
As a final statement a few things to say stay focused always find a way to keep ure passion burning and always keep your eyes open for oppurtunities.work aith the right people who will build your vision and always Failure has a time but its only for a season and one day when u win u know that its all worth it!!!!
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Video below: ‘Reasons’