MUMBAI: Metal is spreading wide across the country, and this time it is making a stop at Aurangabad under the moniker ‘Aurangabad Listens to Metal’. Organised by Pune based Think Metal Corporation the event is set to take place on 29th November at the Riviera Executive, Aurangabad. The event will be headlined by Mumbai based Trash metal band- Sceptre, along with performances by doom/death metal bands Primitiv, Vinaash Kaal (Aurangabad) and Dirge (Pune).

This is first ever metal concert of this magnitude that Aurangabad will experience says Niranjan Deshpande, founder of Think Metal, who also happens to be the drummer for Death metal band Cruoris (Pune), and Black Metal band Vinaash Kaal. “We managed to rope in MTV Indies and Lokmat, Aurangabad as the publicity sponsors; the stage, gear and venue is being sponsored by Guitar n Gigs. Prior to this gig we organised a few garage gigs, but this is the first full blown metal concert. With a very humble budget we are trying to promote metal as much as possible. It is a ‘pay-as-much-as-you-want’ gig. So we are not looking to make profits; breaking even will also be difficult. In fact, I am in clear loss, but it is sheer passion for metal that drives me to do this,” Deshpande said.

Think Metal is a not limited to only organising gigs, but also has a social and psychological angle to it. They also run a website called www.gigupdates.in and a periodical by the name ‘The New Doers of Metal’. “When I started Think Metal I wanted to do more than just music. So with gigupdates.in we interview metalheads, bands, sound engineers, event organisers and post those. We also post motivational quotes. Think Metal is the psychology behind metal and how following metal helps an individual. Thinking Metal is just about following your own instincts and intuitions,” he added.

Also involved in promoting art and literature related to metal, Think Metal tries to cover the entire ecosystem of metal. In March 2015 at the Metal Expedition, Pune, Think Metal put up a stall selling art and literary work related to the must genre. “People write motivational and rebellious content and share it on social media, but it eventually evaporates into nowhere. So we launched an online booklet called ‘The New Doers of Metal’ which involves sketches, paintings and lyrics. There are many bands that write about the environment and social issues that we publish in our booklet. I also moved donation boxes around various events to raise money for orphans. The whole idea behind doing this is to create awareness that metal is not just about bands and music, but to show that the metal community cares about the world. We also conducted a short film festival called ‘The Short Film Junket’ in Pune,” Deshpande explained.

Think Metal plans to launch the second version of ‘The New Doers of Metal’ by March 2016. Giving a philanthropic angle to metal music, Think Metal endeavours to broaden horizons and change the way metal is perceived. They believe is not just about the way people stereotype it as noise, but it actually has a soul and a higher purpose.