I've had a rough childhood. With the social and family issues and the angst one goes through during those teenage years, I started listening to alternative rock bands like Limb Bizkit, Linkin Park and then slowly, thanks to my friend Xavier, I got introduced to some serious music like Dream Theater, Opeth, etc. 

Pune was an awesome place which hosted gigs for the local upcoming bands. One such band was AbraXas. I heard them first time at Campus Rock Idols and instantly became a fan. 

Apart from being a star in the mosh-pits, I developed my own headbanging style. This is where being a Sikh helped me a lot because I had super long hair which is...windmill-friendly. 

So what I would do is, wear the turban and the black rock tee + cargo combo while attending these gigs and as the music got louder and crazier, I would gather my friends around me and let the turban go! Out came the long hair and I headbanged my way to hell! 

I slowly started developing a reputation in these circles. I still remember, I used to be really excited when AbraXas used to play and if they were playing Eyes Of Disgrace, I knew the exact moment when to do this haha! 

Xavier is an awesome photographer and he knew the band members well. I was experimenting with movie making at that point and I shared my idea with Xavier about making a documentary about the metal scene in India - starting with Pune, of course. I was inspired by Metal: A headbanger's Journey for doing this.

Since AbraXas was one of the top bands in Pune, Xavier introduced me to them. I vaguely remember Xavier telling me that the conversation went something like this:

Xavier: You guys know Darvinder? He's been at many of your gigs.
Band member: Oh yeah, yeah! That crazy mofo who lets his hair lose and headbangs!
Xavier: Yeah, that guy! So he is thinking about making a movie....

So we got introduced and they mentioned they wanted to release a teaser out for their upcoming album - 7th Element. I think we had two cameras with which we recorded the super grainy raw footage and we both made the below video which, in our micro metal world in Pune, went viral by our own definition. 

This was a great learning experience since I not only learned how to reduce the noise from the project but also how to freeze frames and add text animations. 

After this, we all were hyped and wanted to create the next video for AbraXas. I put my documentary idea on a pause because this new video project was too exciting.

I shot the raw footage in parts with my Canon 60D and I used the handsfree headset on my phone to record the audio and then synced it up later with the main video because I didn't have a dedicated audio recording device. 

I saw a few more tutorials on video editing and adding effects in After Effects and we made the below video. 

I am super proud of this project and this developed into a long lasting friendship with all the band members and Mohanish who was generous enough to let us hangout and record at his studio. 

I put a lot of planning into this while I was capturing the videos and to make sure there was good storytelling. 

PS The bass player is Kenneth who visited me in NYC and we made a vlog here.