If you ask me to name a few metal bands from India. Then I must be honest, I know not one metal band [sorry]. I think that the [Christian] metal scene in India is more ‘underground’. But the metal scene in India  is alive and growing,  proof of this is WhitenoiZ.  Recently I came into contact with Sam Thomas John , singer of WhitenoiZ. In the following interview we will get acquainted with these gentlemen.

[TMR] Hello to you from ´The Metal Resource’ Holland, how are things going there in India?

[W] Hello from all of us at WhitenoiZ! Things are looking up in India, we have a huge following for Metal, hundreds of metal bands, We have biggies like Metallica, Maiden, Megadeth, touring here. What you see in the TV about slums,  elephants and snake-charmers, we are much more than that. We have the largest English speaking population in the world and many of us dig metal!  For WhitenoiZ, we are busy with our debut album “Sovereign Name”. and To all the metal bands in the world, Tour India!

[TMR]  Will you Introduce yourself and the band please ? (name and instrument)

Sam Thomas John aka ‘SatansAgony’ Vocals.
Moncy Eapen Abraham aka ‘Monzta’ on Guitars,
Ranjith Eapen Abraham aka ‘Wizard’ on Keys,
Godson Gigin aka ‘Godzy’ on Bass and
Sujith John Abraham aka ‘littledrummer’ on Drums.

[TMR] Can you tell us something about the origin of ‘WhitenoiZ’ please?

Sam We were originally part of a Christian Rock/ Praise and worship band named Faith Warriors. Some of the band members left the country for pursuing other things, 3 of us were left in Bangalore.  We thought we will give it another shot, the guys let me try vocals, I was the drummer till then, and we got another friend to drum for us.  During our initial practise sessions, they figured, I didn’t know how to sing (I suck at singing) and we became a metal band.. lol. That’s how we formed WhitenoiZ, Indias first Christian Metal Band in 2004.

[TMR] Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or school do you do beside the
band  ? [for everyone personal]

[W] Well, two of us are right now outside the country. (Sam) is based in Bahrain, with his wife and kid, working for a retail company as the GM. He’s also part of Christian Metal band, named Waiver  in Bahrain and involved with youth groups, church, Sunday school etc., Ranjith is based out of Philly, USA with his wife. He is working in a Pharma Co.  He is involved actively with his church, and busy hoarding gadgets, keyboards and such like.  Godson is based in Bangalore, with his wife and kid. He is working as Assistant Manager for First Financial Bank. He’s also actively involved in church activities and youth groups. Moncy is based in Bangalore, with his wife and kid. He is working as a Software Engineer with Etisalat Bangalore. He’s is also involved with another band named Scarlet Robe, and is also actively involved in church. Sujith, the only bachelor in our band is a Graphic Designer.  He’s into photography, drumming, art and much more. He’s also currently based in Bangalore, looking to move to the US sometime mid 2012. We are currently waiting to release our album, and see how we can take it from there.

[TMR] Is this your first band ? [for everyone personal]

Sam This is my second band, First being Faith Warriors. I gradually got involved in other side projects after I joined WhitenoiZ.
Ranjith and Sujith  Our second band, the first band was a Progressive Rock band named Destiny.
Godson Second band after Faith Warriors.
Moncy Third band, besides my local college band and Faith Warriors.

[TMR] Why the name ‘WhitenoiZ’ ? Is there a story behind it ?

[W] Moncy our guitarist came up with the band name WhitenoiZ. He had some geeky Physics idea behind it, which till today, none of the others have been able to comprehend. Lol..
Sam For me, we played White Metal.  We spelt it as WhitenoiZ, with noiZ written the other way would read Zion! So WhitenoiZ .

[TMR] Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘WhitenoiZ’ ? .. how do you get in the mood for writing
music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?

[W] Writing lyrics in WhitenoiZ is a bit complicated as you may call it.. lol.. It’s a mixture of lyrics written by Sam and Moncy.
Sam I mutilate Moncy’s lyrics and use it as per my convenience.On a serious note, certain songs were in my head for years, like for ex: Crush.. The Devil’s head, from our song CRUSH. Moncy had this thing from Psalm 144:2, which is included in our song, IN YOUR FACE. Defender, Protector, My Shelter, My Saviour. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit under the moon, look at the stars and write those kinda mushy stuff, we rather wrote moshy stuff from sitting in our sweaty jam room coupled with mosquitoe bites and neighbours and their dogs barking alike. Oh the mood!

[TMR] How do you describe the music of  ‘WhitenoiZ’ the best ?

[W] Well that’s a toughie, coz if we were to really dissect it, it would really span into a lot of sub-genres, mainly we would say death metal, melodic death, thrash, metalcore with some old school leads and twin leads! Let’s just safely brand it metal. You can brand it yourself, once you buy our album.

[TMR] How does ‘WhitenoiZ’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in
which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?

[W] We as a band hold a neutral stand in regards to do with religion and politics in our music. We play metal and we write lyrics based on our relationship with Jesus Christ!
Sam I don’t really believe the news in the newspapers and other media. I believe there are a lot of conspiracies which the common man is not aware of. The biggest murder mysteries and that of leaders!! .,
I don’t believe in religion either, a set pattern, a set rules, beliefs or tradition.  I believe in a relationship with my creator, who became my father by me accepting Jesus Christ as Lord over my life.
Politics, I find it a game by the media. One day Gadhafi and Sadam are the good boys, the next, they are the enemies!  On careful analysis you will understand there are consipiracies behind every political move.

[TMR] For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use
them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘WhitenoiZ’ ?

[W] We use it as our way of expressing ourselves. We have had the church tell us play music this way, we will worship God this way. Many others tell us, Christ and Metal? Metal belongs to Satan. Most Christian metal bands are walking the narrow path. On one side, we have the church labelling us Satanic and the world, they label as Gospel.  We love Jesus and we love metal.

[TMR] What is the message you want to bring with ‘WhitenoiZ’ ?

[W] The message is about the Cross, the message is about our Saviour. The message is about eternity. The message is about people starting to think about life in a bigger perspective.

[TMR] Is there a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning of ‘WhitenoiZ’ ?

[W] Our beginnings, where we had to beg for equipment, save up from our pocket money, the sweaty jam rooms, mosquitoes who made our drummer learn to play faster on his pedals, and most importantly, the lives that have been changed, which makes it worth living for!

[TMR] And the worst thing were ? [if there is one]

[W] Nothing!

[TMR] Name some of your favorite bands to play with live [past and future] and tell us why ?

[W] As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, Becoming The Archetype, Extol, Stryper, well a lot of them, we would love to meet them and open a show for them someday. In this part of the world, they are nothing short of heros!

[TMR] What is your favorite food and drink? for everyone personal [no idea why people always
want to know that]

Sujith Food: Beef Steak & Chilli Pork
Drink: Iced Tea / Lemon Soda
Sam Anything spicy and tasty. I love meat.
Drink- Chai (Tea) lately trying out different varieties of Tea!
Ranjith  Steak (Medium Rare!),
Drink- Strawberry shake
Moncy kappa meenkari.. (which would mean tapioca and fish curry, Kerala style)
Godson Anything living or dead

[TMR] First record you bought? [for everyone personal]

Sujith  I guess it was Petra – On fire
Sam My Biology record book for 7th grade. On a serious note, To the Limit by Whitecross
Ranjith Beyond Belief by Petra
Moncy aerosmith – get a grip
Godson Beyond belief by Petra.

[TMR What makes you laugh? [for everyone personal]

Sujith  hanging out with friends and pulling each other’s leg makes me laugh
Sam I trip on people who think they are the best and they own the best gadgets in the world. Basically poking fun at anyone who shows up with an attitude! I love Malayalam comedy, then a bunch of joker friends, and bitter sweet memories from my past *wicked laugh
Ranjith People and old malayalam movies.
Moncy Sam John
Godson Join Sam at poking fun at others

[TMR] How do you prepare for a show? [for everyone personal]

Sujith Warm ups, fine tuning my gear (pedals, sticks, cymbals, etc) and praying
Sam warm up, drink water and for deeper growls (icecreams and pepsis) lol and then pray
Ranjith Practise my parts, check my gear and ofcourse pray!!
Moncy honest answer? we don’t!
Godson I do push-ups.. lol

[TMR] Favorite movie(s)? [for everyone personal]

Sujith The Blind Side
Sam Braveheart, 300
Ranjith Blind Side, Fast Five
Moncy Finding Nemo
Godson Saving Private Ryan

(TMR) What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked? [for everyone personal]

Sujith ~~
Sam Do you believe in God?
Ranjith What shampoo do you use? (I have a shaven head!!)
Moncy can’t think of any at the moment. My boss at work asks dumb questions everyday though..
Godson hmmmm.. Nothing

[TMR] Do you have a life philosophy? [for everyone personal]

Sujith  I believe in Jesus. He has changed my life. he can change yours too..
Sam In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, everything is vanity. I believe so too. Most of our lives we have been taught to run behind things we will not own for more than a couple of years. God has eternity for you and me and what am I doing for it now!
Ranjith  Live life by doing what I love the most (Music!)
Moncy They that wait upon the Lord shall not grow weary, they shall renew their strength and fly like eagles.
Godson Live and Let live for the Lord

(TMR) Are you visiting many gigs by yourself and what do you listen to these days? [for everyone personal]

Sujith Mostly alternate stuff and a lot of funk
I follow closely a few indian bands: Guleej Gurus, Motherjane, All the Fat children, Solder…
Sam– We don’t have Christian Metal bands come over to our part of the world except that I could attend Petra and Delirious? . So yeah other gigs I have been to, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Machinehead, lamb of god, Sepultura, Opeth, Enslaved and many many more.  I have been listening to all the latest albums of AILD, ABR, TDWP and many more.
Ranjith Yea! Dream Theater, Eric Clapton, Toto, Kutless, Steven Chapman etc..
Moncy not really. I rarely attend gigs other than my own these days..I have been listening to some old Rob Rock, Impelliteri, Bon Jovi, etc
Godson Petra, Delirious? Been listening to lot of choir performances, hymns, rock and meta

[TMR]  I know few Christian metal bands from India. So tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?

Sam Its always an honour to play alongside other Christian metal bands, specially when we know that we are here for a purpose. A couple of bands, which I can remember..
Slain- progressive rock/ metal.  Some tight, melodic and groovy material, great musicians.
Crucifix Guide- Metal. I love these guys! I hope they play soon.
Final Surrender- Hardcore/ Metalcore. Currently doing a lot of gigs in India. Good friends and had the privilege of recording a song with them. Intend to do many more!
Transit Point- Rapcore. Got an EP out recently. Great band. Insane vocalist with some great lyrics.
Onslaught/ In Heavens Eyes- Hardcore. Got albums out sometime last year. Good friends and a crazy vocalist again 
Blood Covenant- Death Metal. Insane band.. Insane riffs and Insane drummer, friend and partner!
Crimson Wood- Nu metal/ Alternative. Great music. Great energy and good friends.

There are some bands I have heard of, still have to check them out Incarnadine, Cross Legacy, Prodigal Returns. You guys should check out these bands.. We are proud to be part of the movement and to have kicked off the whole Christian Metal scene in 2004!

[TMR] How do you think about downloading music from the Internet ?

[W] All of us when we were younger, bought tapes from music stores with our pocket money in school, we tripped on them, made us love their music. But slowly we realized there was more music than what was available to us at the music stores. Slowly the internet came to force, we had no choice but to download stuff from across the world! With time, CDs, DVDs and now Digital albums could be bought from anywhere in the world. So now the options are many! Buy the music please, lot of hours, talent, hardwork, ideas have gone behind the product that listeners enjoy! Money is well deserved.

[TMR]  Do you already have a demo / EP or CD released ?

[W]  We have recorded our debut album “Sovereign Name”. It is currently in the mixing phase. It did have quite a lot of hiccups and has taken a lot of time and effort in the bargain. Everything is slowly but surely progressing. We are hoping it would be out by Mid of 2012.

[TMR] Do you have an website / myspace or facebook profile, or whatever ?

[W] You can check us out at www.myspace.com/whitenoizindia  For band updates, you can get in touch with www.facebook.com/SatansAgony

[TMR] What about the (near) future, any plans ? 

[W] Our primary focus right now, is our Album. To get it out in the market. Do some gigs. If God wills, Tour …

[TMR]  Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘WhitenoiZ’ all the best ……Is there
anything you wanna say at last? [any final statement ?]

[W] Hoping to meet everyone who reads this interview someday! Till then, Shalom and Unto Jerusalem.

Weblinks: Facebook / Myspace