One of the finest NWOTHM bands to come from Asia and a band taking India by storm is a band suited and booted in leather and covered in metal. I had the pleasure of of interviewing the one and only Kryptos. These guys mean business and they have got a lot to say about the band and what they have in store for 2023!
THE NWOTHM: For those who do not know who you are, can you tell us your band name,
who is in the band and where you are from?
KRYPTOS: Hi there. This is Nolan Lewis. Thanks for the interview. It’s a real pleasure. We are Kryptos and we come all the way from sunny India where the food is great and there are WAY too many people
haha. We are: Nolan Lewis – Rhythm guitars/Vocals, Rohit Chaturvedi – Lead guitars, Ganesh K. – Bass and Vijit Singh – Drums
THE NWOTHM: How did the band form and is there any interesting story surrounding its
formation?
KRYPTOS:We formed the band in 1998, which now seems like an eternity ago. Ganesh and I went to the
same university together and since we listened to the same music, we decided to form Kryptos.
Initially we were just a three-piece band with Ganesh handling vocals and bass, and back then we
started out playing a lot of Sabbath and Zeppelin covers before we eventually started writing our
own music. I think the most interesting thing about the band’s formation was how we came up with
the name because we were really drunk one night and just randomly wrote the name on a piece of
paper without knowing what it even meant. It was only a bit later that we found out that it meant
‘hidden’ in Greek, which suited us just fine haha.
THE NWOTHM: Since the bands formation what big milestones have you achieved?
KRYPTOS:Well, as a metal band from India, just surviving for almost 25 years is a pretty big achievement in itself I would say, especially since it’s so hard to tour abroad considering our geographical location
and how expensive it is for us. But yeah, we’ve done alright I guess. We’re six albums down,
signed to a good German label (AFM Records), toured Europe many times over the last 10 years,
played some really huge festivals like Wacken, toured with some of our favourite bands and had a
ton of fun along the way. So, we’ve done a fair bit but there’s many more miles to go.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us any fun/ interesting facts about the members of the band?
KRYPTOS: Haha, well our drummer Vijit is the youngest member in the band. He’s just 25, which is a bit
strange because the rest of us are old enough to be his dad haha. Rohit is of course the most
attractive member of the band, so you’ll see all the women on his side of the stage while the rest of
us are left with hairy, balding men hahah. There isn’t much else interesting about me or Ganesh,
except I have this extreme urge to repeatedly jump out of our tour van and run into random forests
whenever we’re on the road. I’ve never been allowed to do it though, which sucks, but there you
go.
THE NWOTHM: What bands and artists have influenced you and helped you to carve your
sound?
KRYPTOS: I’d say pretty much everything from the 80s. That includes music, movies, video games, comics
and all that good stuff. As far as bands are concerned, our main influences are Priest, Maiden,
Sabbath, Accept, Thin Lizzy, etc., but we also draw inspiration from a lot of 80s movie soundtracks
as well. But overall, I would say we’re generally inspired by anything that brings back that feeling of
‘nostalgia’ that seems to have disappeared these days. It’s a feeling of ‘better days gone by’ that
we try and latch onto and infuse into our music.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about your most recent release(s) and any background
information to the music? How did the songs come about?
KRYPTOS: Our most recent release was Force of Danger, which we released in 2021. It was a bit of a
challenge to record that album since everything took place during the midst of the pandemic and
we had to really do everything in a rush to get it out in time. In hindsight, we maybe should have
taken a bit longer with it, but it is what it is and we’re glad that we managed to put some killer
songs on that record.
All our songs are usually written by me and Rohit. We come up with riffs and just jam on them and
see where they go, and more often than not, we end up fleshing out complete songs from a single
idea that we have floating around. However, we usually spend most of our time with song
arrangements, making sure everything is in the right place and there’s no ‘fat’ or ‘excess’
anywhere. Once that’s done, me and Ganesh come up with the lyrics, which, over the last few
albums, have had a very Judas Priest vibe to them. But then again, that’s just the space we’re in
right now, so things might change for the next release. After all, there’s only so many songs you
can write about Terminator-like characters and things like that haha.
THE NWOTHM: What shows have you got coming up for 2023? Any major performances
you would like to highlight?
KRYPTOS: We are putting together a European tour for 2023 as we speak, which should take place in
May/June 2023. We’re super excited for this one because we’re hitting Spain for the first time and
playing a bunch of amazing festivals like Into the Grave in the Netherlands, Muskelrock in Sweden,
IronFest and Metalheadz Open Air in Germany and some more in the works. We’re also heading
back to Malta as well for a one-off show, which was amazing the last time we were there, and of
course we’ll have a string of club dates strewn about across Europe. We’re really looking forward
to play the festival dates this time because we get to play to bigger crowds and also hopefully get
to watch other cool bands and catch up with a lot of friends. The weather should be great,
everyone will be out for a good time and the beer is sure to flow, so yeah, we can’t wait to get
there.
THE NWOTHM: Any other plans for 2023? With it being a new year, what do you hope to
achieve in the upcoming months?
KRYPTOS: Our main priority this year is to build on the momentum of our 2022 European tour and play to as many people in as many different places as possible. We had such a blast the last time that we
just want to really go out there and kick some ass and get everyone along with us for the ride.
Once the tour is done we can then get back home and concentrate on writing a new album, which
we’re hoping will be ready by early 2024.
THE NWOTHM: Where can people check you out on social media and buy your
music/merch?
KRYPTOS:Everyone can check us out and say hi on Facebook and Instagram at
https://www.facebook.com/KryptosIndia/
https://www.instagram.com/kryptosindia/
and buy our merch at
https://kryptosindia.bandcamp.com/
THE NWOTHM: is there anything else you would like to mention?
KRYPTOS: Thank you for the interview and thanks to all our fans and supporters for keeping us on the road
over the years. You guys are the absolute best and we can’t wait to see you all again real soon.
Stay safe, take care, have a great year and keep the metal flowing!!!!!!!! Cheers!
#kryptos #kryptosindia #thenwothm.com @krytposindia
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