WMC x BLOODYWOOD

Bloodywood are an Indian metal band taking the world by storm. They are currently on their Nine Inch Naans tour in Asia, Europe and the USA. WMC had last spoken to Bloodywood’s Jayant Bhadula in one of our webcasts at the height of pandemic lockdown back in 2020. We finally caught up with him in person at Bloodstock Open Air 2022 to talk about festival dreams, musical direction, and the importance of keeping paperwork in order. And of course, naan.

WMC: Hi, Jayant, good to meet you in person finally. We’re at Bloodstock Festival and you just came off the stage. I was watching in the audience with thousands of people in the scorching sun and people were singing along to your lyrics. How do you feel?

Jayant: We feel at home, the heat, it’s Delhi heat, we feel absolutely at home, it doesn’t feel like we’ve left India.

WMC: That’s great, but it also probably feels at home because the audience seem to know who you are.

Jayant: I was feeling bad for people because it was a nice feeling, people singing along and everything, but I was like, it’s too hot, I don’t want someone to faint or something to happen. I even thought I’ll pass around some water bottles because that’s what we do when we do a club show. Then I was like, it’s going to hit someone (laughs). But yes, absolutely, the love, it was flowing, they were singing along and it’s the best feeling ever. It doesn’t get old, no matter what.

This is our second time in the UK. But it’s the first time at Bloodstock, we were scheduled to play Bloodstock in 2020 and then Covid happened, then 2021 couldn’t happen, then we’re like, we’ve got to do it in 2022, at any cost. We were meant to be headlining the Sophie Lancaster stage and then they bumped us to the main one.

WMC: That’s amazing! This is probably a historic tour for Bloodywood, considering only two years ago we were speaking to you at the height of the pandemic when everyone was stuck at home.

Jayant: Yeah, absolutely because Bloodstock is a dream for us. Getting here, finally doing it is a dream come true. I’ve been literally counting days to get here.

WMC: Well, not just here, but the whole tour. I mean you’re touring Europe; you’re touring the US.

Jayant: Yeah, the dream started off with just hitting the road. We just wanted to get out and start touring again. But then the amount of shows that we’ve gotten, plus the follow-up tour in 2023, it’s going to be crazy.

WMC: Can you tell me whether you thought you would be doing this much in 2020, or was the plan for 2020 a bit more modest?

Jayant: The plan for 2020 was a lot of tours, we weren’t thinking of completing the album. And then as soon as Covid happened, we were like, you know what, we’ve got time on our hands, so instead of just waiting, we straight up write the album, and that’s what happened.

WMC: You released the album in 2022.

Jayant: Yes, it took a long time, because before that, we couldn’t leave our homes. When the restrictions were a little loose, that’s when we basically started writing the album. With every single week, we built the momentum and yeah, finally dropped the album in February.

WMC: Now you have albums to sell during the tour, which probably would not have happened in 2020.

Jayant: Yeah, that’s the silver lining, that’s the way I look at it. That if there were no restrictions, we wouldn’t have been able to finish this album by now. And the album actually did a whole bunch of things for us. At that time people used to still think of us making covers. But now they’re taking us more seriously because there is more original content out, and that was the plan all along. From the beginning, when we started doing covers, we wanted to then present our original music.

WMC: Nine Inch Naans, what a great concept. Has anyone eaten your album by mistake yet?

Jayant: I don’t think so. I hope not! We made naan-print vinyl. But yesterday in the London show we distributed naans to the crowd.

WMC: Oh, actual naans?

Jayant: Actual naans! I met an Indian restaurant owner. We were eating at a Thai place, he’s like, why didn’t you come to the Indian place? Because we’re coming from India, we need other food. So we talked to him, he gave us a whole bunch of naans after listening to the concept. And me and Raoul just went out and handed over naans to people,

WMC: In terms of the Indian elements of your music, are you getting a sense of how the audience around the world is reacting to that? Because you’re blending Indian folk with nu metal. Are you trying to make a balance between the two or are you feeling that your music is heading more in one direction rather than the other?

Jayant: We do try to have a balance between both, but it purely depends on what the best direction for the song is. For example, if you listen to a couple of our songs, there are not a lot of Indian elements in them, they’re straight up metal songs. So it depends on wherever the song is going and that’s about it. We do not actively try to put more Indian elements because we don’t want to force it down people’s throats. It has to come naturally or it won’t work.

WMC: Is it too early to talk about the Nine Inch ‘curry dish’, meaning the next album?

Jayant: It’s a little bit early but we are working on a few concepts and hopefully there will be an album soon. But we never know, it can take time as well. We are trying our best to give something out again, but let’s see, once we’re done with touring.

WMC: Yeah, because this tour is going to last until 2023. You’ve probably now toured in places that a lot of fans around the world can only dream of.

Jayant: We did tour Japan, that was an experience on its own, where it was fucking amazing. Brutal Assault, that was the first show of this tour. I never expected such great reception from an extreme metal festival. Like people were still jumping, still dancing and I was like yes! Because some guy told us that if you play something like nu metal at Brutal Assault, they might throw eggs at you. And I was like, we’re ready for eggs, maybe there’s a curry there (laughs).

WMC: When life throws eggs at you, make a curry.

Jayant: Absolutely! But the crowd was warm as hell. I couldn’t make it to the other tent because people were just taking pictures, shaking hands, giving compliments.

These are the festivals that I’ve seen pictures of… seen the line-ups on my phone on Facebook from I don’t know how long. And I always thought, I’m going to save money and I’m going to go and see one festival. Now we’re playing them!

The love we get from people, that’s next level though, nothing can compare to that. As much as I feel tired, I also feel like… I’ve been there, I’ve been the kid when you see someone, you know, you like their band and then you do not talk to them, you’re hesitating... So when people give me that sort of love, I make sure that they know, hey, I am there, and I am with you.

WMC: How easy or hard has it been coming from India and handling all the logistics, with all the travel around the world?

Jayant: Hectic. Hectic. Hectic, but worth it. Because it’s not just like travelling or just logistics, it’s immigration, it’s visas, you’re declaring all the equipment and then they’re going, oh, this particular box is not stamped, so we cannot let you take it into our country. Then we have to make a whole bunch of calls, like Indian customs and whatnot. Like oh, you missed this box, so send us an email saying that there was an omission from your end. So all of that, all of that, you have to…

WMC: So for any band from a country like India that is not in Europe, not in the west, so to speak, but who have a dream, like the one you had, which you’re now realising: Word of advice?

Jayant: Keep your paperwork sorted. Your music will do your work on stage, but keep your paperwork sorted. If you have that sorted for you, you do not have to worry about anything. And keep a whole bunch of water for yourself, we learnt that the hard way.

WMC: That’s very sensible advice.

Jayant: Yeah (laughs), that’s literally what we’ve learnt.

Listen to Bloodywood: YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY // APPLE MUSIC // DEEZER