A ‘Pay What You Want’ metal gig to popularise the genre

Death metal quartet Godless put together a unique show at a Hyderabad pub

Extreme music has often been accused of remaining largely inaccessible. One of the reasons, of course, is attributed to the sound not being what many would call “radio-friendly”. While the ‘aggressive’ music may not be one’s cup of tea, Hyderabadi death metal quartet Godless recently experimented with introducing the genre to newer people — those who are typically not part of the heavy metal sub-culture or ardent listeners of its myriad sub-genres. At a city pub, the band put together a ‘Pay What You Want’ gig.

It is quite self-explanatory. Metalheads and those who wanted to explore the genre could enter by paying whatever they wished. “On one hand, we wanted to do an intimate gig; something along the lines of an old school punk show. On the other, we wanted to make it accessible to everybody by asking them to pay whatever they wanted for the gig. We played at Giggle Water, a pub. Pay ₹10, or ₹10,000, whatever you like,” says Godless bassist and metal evangelist Syed Abbas Razvi.

At a time when tickets are priced usually at around ₹500 at venues, some of those who turned up paid ₹100, while a few others were more generous. The idea was to have a personal connect with the audience — a smaller stage and with only the drummer having a raiser. The Classified Sessions, as the gig was called, saw Godless playing with Hostilian, another city-based metal band comprising passionate musicians with several years of stage experience.

“We expected around 30 people, but close to 70 showed up. Some of them were those who would not usually listen to metal. The idea behind Pay What You Want was for people to come, pay what they wanted, and just check out the band and sample the music. If they like it, then that’s great. If not, well, that is okay too,” Mr Abbas says. 

The format has evoked some interest and could lead to an arousal of curiosity about the genre among music aficionados who are looking to add newer bands to their playlists.

Metalheads opine that to sustain an interest in metal, there must be a cycle of concerts in the city. “Frequent gigs bring about an increased interest in bands. This fosters talent. That way people go to shows and bands do not break up,” a metalhead says.