MUMBAI: In an initiative bringing together art and metal, Pepsi MTV Indies and Bajaao have joined hands to create the Indies KVLTure Project. This initiative aims at providing a platform for visual artists to showcase their work which is inspired by metal music. For this purpose, Indies picked few artists to create special artwork for BIG69, the upcoming metal music festival which will be displayed online as well as on ground at the festival.

Among the artists roped in are, Reuben Bhattacharya's design project Visual Amnesia, Gaurav Basu's Acid Toast, Nuclear Puke by Aaron Pinto, Avinash Jai Singh and Anirudh Singh, and Aaquib Wani. Of these, Basu, Bhattacharya and Pinto spoke to Radioandmusic.com about the project and their contributions for BIG69.

Bhattacharya's Visual Amnesia is his art project where he designs graphics, digital art and illustrations for various bands. He does so while balancing his roles as a bassist in the metal band Undying Inc., which is performing at the two-day festival. Visual Amnesia is also creating all of BIG69's designs including the festival poster as well as on-ground designs visible at the festival. "The seeds of Visual Amnesia's participation in BIG69 were actually sowed during last year's Control ALT Delete. In addition to BIG69, Visual Amnesia is also designing another piece of art for the KVLTure Project. Through this project, I aspire to bring back the "90's cool of MTV," said Bhattacharya.

"Along with just pop music, MTV of the 1990s also exposed people to different genres of music. MTV introduced people to alternative music, independent music and the not-so mainstream music too," said Bhattacharya of his project for Indies. He further added that he has designed the art keeping in mind today's generation. He also hinted that there might be a Walter White reference from ‘Breaking Bad', the television series. This particular design will be available for pre-order at BIG69.

Pinto, drummer for Providence, another metal band, is designing the Pepsi MTV Indies stage at the metal festival. He said, "It all started when in 2012, we won the Rolling Stone Metal Award for Best Artwork for ‘Vanguard'. The designs for BIG69 are done. There is one with a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur looking down at a small warrior. The theme for this is ‘friend or foe'. Either the dinosaur is the warrior's friend or he is his foe. I am a huge fan of Jurassic Park, so I designed this keeping that in mind." He said the additional artwork that he designed should be available soon. Pinto is also designing the art for Bengaluru-based metal band- Escher's Knot.

Basu, the lead vocalist of Inner Sanctum, also has his own visual design portfolio called ‘Acid Toad' through which he creates album art and merchandise art for various bands, including his own. Basu said that designing artwork came very early to him. "I noticed that in the West, there is a parallel visual art team creating the artwork for the band. And I was very intrigued by that. That inspired me to develop posters and merchandise which can be monetised, which helps funding the band." He also said that the design he created for BIG69 is very colourful. It has a lady dragon rider and a half goat, half dragon being.

Bhattacharya, Pinto and Basu are all anticipating the country's first heavy metal festival. They are, especially looking forward to watching UK based death metal band Carcass perform live. Bhattacharya stated that he grew up listening to Carcass, an opinion shared by both, Pinto and Basu. Also eagerly anticipated are performances by local bands- Demonic Resurrection and Devoid.