G9 Band Winner of Sprite Band Challenge-3

Live At Basundhara Park,Rock in Pokhara Concert

It would take stretching the imagination to its furthest to conceive that a team of fine cricket players would one day turn into rock stars. This, however, is exactly what happened when a bunch of cricket players from Pokhara gathered together to play bhailo in the Tihar of 2006. Cricketers from the Shangrila Cricket Club were amusing themselves with jam-up sessions before they actually went about playing bhailo and collecting funds for their club when they surprised themselves with musical skills they had never shared with one

another.

Four and a half years ago, members of the band G9 were in Kathmandu playing cricket for the Shangrila Club. This year, the same men were here participating in the fourth installment of Sprite Band Challenge. In what might seem like a fairy tale ending to a fairy tale beginning, the band even won the challenge. “When we were here four years ago, we could never have imagined that one day we would be back in Kathmandu participating in a music contest,” says the band manager Shiv Subedi.” According to its members, the Sprite Band Challenge win is only a part of their growth in music. “To even be selected for participation was a big thing for us,” says the band’s GuitaristSanjay Nepal. We had never imagined then that we would actually end up winning the challenge,” he adds.  

The six member Pokhara-based band has Enoch tamang on the vocals, Sanjay Nepal on lead guitar, Bicky Karki on rhythm guitar, Sandeep rasaily on the bass, and Bhuwan K.C and Santosh Shrestha on the drums. Subedi is the band manager and Siddhartha Poudel is the band’s event manager. When asked why they call themselves G9, guitarist Nepal smiles and says, “We decided to call ourselves G9 because the band was formed on the ninth day of the ninth month of the year 2009.”

Getting together as a band was not a very difficult feat for the six members as they all knew each other from their cricket playing daysThe instruments the band plays with have all been bought from the money the band collectively raised through their various performances. The bhailo sessions—which origionally got the band together—were a major contributor to the band’s “instrument funds”. “Many of our friends and well-wishers in Pokhara recognise G9 as the band who got together while playing bhailo,” says Nepal. “We had actually taken a loan to buy our musical instruments. What we did to pay that off was collect Rs 30 every day from each member. We added the collected sum to the funds we had raised by performing and paid off the initial loan,” he adds.

The band members say they draw inspiration from a local Pokhara-based band The Edge. Among international inspirations, they cite Pantera, Bullet For My Valentine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lam Of God. Self-professedly on the road to learning and growing, all the members of G9, except their band manager, are students. “We were immature until we joined the Sprite Band Challenge. There, we learnt many skills and important techniques from the judges and other participating bands,” says Bhuwon KC. “We worked together and actually won the challenge during the process,” he adds. “We are still learning, but we would like to call ourselves a self-taught band.”

It is needless to say that this group of young learners have been fortunate in finding themselves, getting together to play music and emerging as winners in the first national competition they participated in. G9 hopefully has better things to look forward to in the future. They are currently working on their debut album that is set to be launched by the end of this year. 

Current Band Line up:

• Sanjay Nepal (Guitar) 
• Bikky Karki (Guitar) 
• Bhuwon Keicy (Drums) 
• Santosh Shrestha (Drums) 
• Enoch Tamang (Vocals) 
• Sandeep Rasaily (Bass Guitar)

Currently band is recording their debut album. Two songs , Aash & Aaideu are already recorded.

=E.Quals=

GBOB

E.Quals is a band from Kathmandu. It was formed in 2009 by a combination of Avishek K.C (Vocals) from Lost Oblivion and the band Vhumi. The band was the winner of the Nepal leg of the Global Battle of Bands and played, representing Nepal in the final event of the show held in London. The band has been described by many local Metal enthusiasts as being the most promising and tight band in the country till date.

Around September 2009, the band Lost Oblivion had been inactive for quite some time, even having to do mixed sets with the band Vhumi for some time before it. While the auditions for the Global Battle of the Bands were being held, Avishek K.C of Lost Oblivion was longing for a gig. A random talk in the practice-room of Vhumi turned in to the forming of a new band, and support from the fans alongside their brilliant performance led them to be winners of the Global Battle of the Bands. Pretty soon, the band was performing in numerous underground metal concerts in Kathmandu and was highly sought among the local metal fans.

E.Quals was formed as a coalition between the bands Lost Oblivion and Vhumi, and encorporates the music styles of both the bands. Their songs are generally a mixture of Thrash Metal and groove metal, in a pattern described by the band as New Wave. Although the band was originally scheduled to play at London in around January 2010, the show was postponed many times, with the actual show happening at the end of April, 2010. Alongside preparations for the London show, the band has continuously been active in the underground scene in Kathmandu. The band also played a show in Hyderabad, India. On April 27, 2010, E.Quals was declared 6th in the GBOB final round

Current Band Lineup:

• Avishek K.C (Vocals)
• Bikash Gurung (Guitar)
• Anil Dhital (Guitar)
• Bibek Tamang (Drums)
• Manil Shakya (Bass Guitar)

Currently band is busy on recording for their album.

Underground Scene of Nepali Metal Bands

Metal and it’s emergence in the Nepali music scene has never been properly documented in the past. Hence, through this article, an effort will be made to present a general overview of bands, musicians and the “underground” scene as a whole which was responsible for infusing the first seeds of “metal” here in Nepal, especially in the Kathmandu Valley.

Metal has come a long way in Nepal and despite the fact that it has never been embraced by the mainstream (and probably because of it) it will always exist in the hearts and minds of the fans and the few dedicated musicians who are in it not for the fame or fortune but for their love of the music. Metal is not tied to the changing trends in any given society so it is free from the web of ever-changing public opinion and “trendiness”. No matter how culture evolves, there will always be a few metalheads on the fringes of society embracing a culture all of their own because nothing else can match the sheer brutality, controlled chaos and dynamic intensity of Metal.

METAL lives forever. All hails to the NEPALI METAL SCENE!

All the Significant Releases:

Ugrakarma – Blood Metal Initiation 2001
Ugrakarma – Himalayan Metal Of Death 2002
Nemesis – Nemesis Demo 2002
Nastik – Nastik 2002
X-mantra – Crying for Peace 2002
Albatross – Hi Fly 2003
Nastik – Judge Death 2003
X-mantra – Kurshi 2003
Third World Chaos – Inferno 2003
Abattoir – Abattoir 2004
Cruentus – Massacre of the Holy Ones EP 2004
Antim Grahan – Forever Winter EP 2005
Antim Grahan – Tales from the Darkened Woods 2005
Cruentus – Aashantusta Aatma 2005
Epitaph – Barbaric Regulation 2007
Morgoth/Lost Oblivion – The Last Verse of Madness 2007