Damagera to ‘thrash’ Bangalore

LOCAL BAND ‘DAMAGERA’ WILL BE OPENING FOR GERMAN THRASH METAL OUTFIT ‘KREATOR’ ON 16 JUNE

ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 08 June: Known for their high voltage and no compromise live performances, ‘Damagera’ the thrash metal band from Gangtok have made their presence felt in the national rock circuit by being the first band in the region to open for an international death and thrash metal outfit.
The five member outfit from Sikkim will open for legendary German metal band, “Kreator” at the Bangalore Open Air Arena scheduled for 16 June at AIT grounds, Bangalore the theme for which is “Insanity is Religion”. This achievement comes after their sweep at the Eastern Zone finals of the Wacken Metal Battle held in Guwahati on 25 May last month. Another international outfit to perform at the concert is renowned underground metal band Suidakra.
‘Damagera’ who casually call the music they play as “Happy Metal” will compete against three other metal bands, the winners of the north, south and west zones during the gig which if they win will take them to Germany to represent India at the battle of the bands where they will fare against the best thrash metal bands in the world.
The band has Kunzang Dorjee Bhutia on vocals, Siddhartha Bejoy Gurung on percussions, Victor on bass along with Leeyong Lepcha and Dibya Raj Mukhia on guitars. However, with the original bassist Victor not being able to play at the prestigious event his place will be taken by another hardcore metal fanatic, Hangso Wang Subba.
“We grew up listening to Kreator and others like them, these legends of dark metal have aspiring metal bands playing their songs like ‘Phobia’ when they start playing the six strings. It is a dream that we will be opening for them, this is a big break for us and for every youth from the region who have metal in their blood,” says Siddhartha before boarding the vehicle to Siliguri today.
Damagera previously known as Future History, the brainchild of Siddhartha (Flashflood) was formed in March 2011 in Gangtok. The band, relatively new on the scene is a new avatar of members from different bands who have since they took up stage played the prestigious Northeastern Rockers Contest at Gangtok, bagging the second place in its first outing ousting other good bands from the region, the following year the band also walked away with the runners-up position in the Red Ribbon Super Band Contest and in short have rocked at almost all the major venues around the country including the club and IIT circuits.
Damagera has participated and won accolades at Underground Unleash 2011 and Hellbound  2011at Kolkata, Darjeeling Tea fest 2011in Darjeeling, Metal Evolution 2012 which was the first metal band competition in Sikkim and the preliminary rounds of the  Wacken Metal Battle 2012.
The band is highly influenced by a lot of thrash bands from the 80's and other modern contemporary bands playing groove, hardcore, modern thrash and have plans to record and tour extensively.
Siddhartha adds that he and his band mates will jam and have practice sessions in Kolkata before reaching Bangalore for the event. “We are no longer the underdogs at the event, our demo tapes were sent to Germany and the organizers of the event are excited to see us perform. We know that the who’s who of thrash and rock music will be at the venue and we are sure we will raise some eyebrows!!’ he says confidently.