Among the many
genres that are popular in Goa, there is one genre – heavy metal – that has garnered quite the
following in the state. Going by the phenomenal response the annual Summer
Shred concerts receive, one can say the audience is growing in numbers. But
what makes Goa different is the presence of one of India’s leading and much
sought after heavy metal bands on the national circuit – Within Ceres.
For years, the group has mastered the art and whenever they
play, be it in Goa or elsewhere in the country, the crowds go crazy. Unlike
other concerts, the intensity and interaction between the band and the audience
is at an extreme level. The screeching, the shredding, the head -banging, it’s
an adrenalin rush!
Within Ceres was formed in 2014 by Odin Desa, the guitarist and
producer. The original intention was to create an all Goan metal super band and
compete for ‘Searock’ - an all India rock competition. As time passed, many of
the original band members had to part ways due to various career and family
obligations, but the idea and the philosophy of the band has lived on and grown
over the years, with people from the metro cities and also the Goan rock and
roll crowd accepting and appreciating their music.
The band now consists of Odin Desa (guitars/production), Arnold
Carvalho (vocals), Kadesh Dsouza (guitars), Aaron Braganza (bass) and David
Rebello (drums) and have performed at some of the country’s top venues like
High Spirits (Pune), Antisocial (Khar - Mumbai), Indigo Live, Opus, Bflat
(Bengaluru) and many more.
“Watching the entire crowd headbang and form mosh pits makes us
feel we’ve succeeded in reaching out to the crowd”, says Odin.
They have headlined some of Goa’s best rock festivals like,
Summershred, Distort, Chase the Horizon apart from consistently playing for
‘Rock in Goa’.
In June 2016, Within
Ceres independently released their first single,‘State of Emergency’, which has
been received very well by the metal community throughout the country and
beyond.
Later this year,
sometime in September, they plan on releasing their first studio album,
‘Skyless’. To mark this, Within Ceres shot their first music video for the
single ‘Our Oceans’, which is set to release worldwide today, June 30, 2018.
The song is being
released worldwide digitally along with the music video. The song will be
released on all major stores and the music video for YouTube. There will also
be screening for the first time at 1930 Vasco, today, to coincide with their
worldwide release.
The video has been
shot at 1930 Vasco (Shopping Mall) and the lighting and sound set up was
organised by Saviotronics.The music video has been produced by Sunset Catchers,
a video production team from Goa, as an initiative to promote local artistEs.
The video has been directed by Arvin Vaz, cinematography/edit and VFX by Jules
Goes, with Aaryan Raane as Production Head and Prajwal Tari as Assistant
Cinematographer.
Odin is producing the
album ‘Skyless’ with various contemporary sounds and hopes to set a new tone in
metal music on the whole.“We are excited about reaching out to more people
across the world with this music video. We hope the video will be watched by
many. We want to reach out to new audiences and grow our fanbase in Goa as well
as internationally,” says Odin.
Commenting about the
music scene in Goa, he adds, “As the last standing metal band, we appreciate
the love and support we have been receiving by the Goan crowd. But there is
large scope of improvement in terms of people attending live performances. We
have been lucky enough to have packed venues in Mumbai and the other metros,
but in Goa, we are still longing to have a sold out show. There is a small
elitist metal community in Goa and we know most of them personally as friends
and fans of the band and they make sure they come in numbers for all our shows.
We appreciate their support immensely.”
This year, they
introduced their live visual set for ‘Skyless’, which again was programmed by
Sunset Catchers.
Speaking about their
future plans, Odin added that they hope to tour the US and Europe in the near
future, as they feel there is a large community of metal heads in those regions
and they have been getting good responses to their music from people there.
“We
plan to perform songs from this album at some of the festivals in India this
year to get people to headbang like they’ve never done before,” concludes Odin.
Talk
of the Town
"I've
had a chance to see the band a few times over and they've always been going
from strength to strength. I got to hear this track at their show as well as
now in its polished studio form and you can tell they're working on a cohesive
sound that is familiar yet fresh."
Anurag
Tagat, senior writer, Rolling Stone India
"I
heard Within Ceres live for the first time last year at The Goa Music Fest,
which we organised at Tito's. I was really impressed with their sound, super
production and great stage presence. Within Ceres is the band to look out for
on the Indian Rock circuit and i see these boys going really far."
Varun
Carvalho, singer/songwriter, Rise Nation
"Creative
insanity and there is no doubt that they are the heaviest band to come out of
Goa. Hope they tour the globe soon. They have a great future."
Elvis
Lobo, guitar virtuoso, Elvis Lobo Project
Band:
Within
Ceres
Members:
5
Place
of origin: Goa
(Vasco)
Album:
Skyless
Video: Our Oceans
Genre:
Metal /
Prog Metal / Djent / Heavy Metal
Date of Release: June
30, 2018