PROTOCOL
Shweta and Rahul from the Mumbai sextet have watched India’s prog scene expand over the years.
While the world of Indian prog might still be unfamiliar to many people in the UK and other Western countries, the inspiration behind Protocol’s debut album, Friar’s
Lantern, is something most will have heard of.
The Mumbai-based sextet took their launching point from the natural phenomenon also known as jack o’lantern or will-o’-the-wisp. This ghostly light can be seen at night over marshland and it’s caused by rising gas.
“India has a very strong metal scene and prog is equally appreciated by metal fans,” Protocol singer Shweta Venkatramani says. “The prog scene itself is a bit more restricted; there are not so many prog musicians. But when TesseracT, Opeth or Steven Wilson play here, you’d never think prog has such a small fan base. The audience goes crazy! I do feel like prog’s audience has grown in the last five years.”
Formed in 2013, the band have gone through many line-up changes and now include Sandesh Rao and Desikan Gopalan on guitars, Rajiv Menon on bass and Rahul Kannan on keyboards.
Venkatramani explains:
“Friar’s Lantern speaks about the journey of an individual who decides to embark on a path of self-introspection. Despite an easy start, it becomes pretty difficult at one point, as there are certain things that you can’t really face. When you see these lights, you think they are leading you somewhere good – but instead they lead you to a more dangerous, mushy ground. In the end, they’re just an illusion.”
Protocol’s eight-track debut contains soulful melodies close to Leprous and Porcupine Tree, heavier metal riffs and a light production touch à la Radiohead. Their imaginative use of those melodies certainly seems to be influenced by their surroundings. “We have never consciously tried to put any Indian influence into our music,” keyboardist Kannan says, “but in hindsight I feel like that a lot of elements sometimes reflect our origins. We do not stick just to the pentatonic scale – we digress into something a bit different, which reminds us of feelings that can be associate to ragas and all of that.” GMA
Friar’s Lantern is out now. For more visit www.protocolband.in.
“India has a very strong metal scene and prog is equally appreciated.”