EMQ’s With Miruthan
EMQ’s With Miruthan
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Australian Melodic Black/ Death Metal band, Miruthan. Huge thanks to their Guitarist and Spoken Word Vocalist, Demigod Nzambi, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Demigod Nzambi, I play guitar and spoken word vocals in Miruthan.
Our history is short at the moment. In real life we are only 8 months in but have had some major achievements already, the folklore we have written dates back hundreds of years.
We have 50 years of touring in the band between us all, in other projects. So we are not new to this but with Miruthan we are doing it as we feel, the right way. The songwriting has lots of experience behind it as well as marketing and playing.
How did you come up with your band name?
We sat down and had maybe 30 names written, we had a very specific style and direction we wanted it all to go but Miruthan sat out quite prominently. We were looking at old folklore and stories from all around the world and this obscure name came up and it meant “Zombie” or walking corpse in Tamil. An Indian Dialect.
It resonated with us as a folklore that has traveled the entire world, we landed there and we are super happy we did.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from the Hunter Valley of New South Wales in Australia.
The scene here is thriving at the moment. We have done some all ages shows that absolutely pumped, and some club style festivals that we have sold out. As well as our first gig being an opener at an outdoor festival.
What is your latest release?
We are just releasing the “Cult Of The Dead” EP which is out on the 26th April 2024.
It is a 4 song release but makes its way up to nearly 20 minutes of Blackened Death Metal. “Death Hymns” as we like to call them.
Who have been your greatest influences?
I play lots of styles of music but in Metal I think Nergal from Behemoth is up there. I love his writing style. I am a massive Motörhead fan and have met Lemmy before so I think he would be a huge influence too, and Slayer have been a massive influence. I love Corepsegrinder and Cannibal Corpse too.
What first got you into music?
My Dad was massive on playing music at home, he was a drummer in England but decided to have a family instead. I did both those things but music has always been a big part of my make-up.
Lots of Ska and Reggae early on then onto Metal and Punk, I played in a heap of Punk things and even Rockabilly. I have toured the world playing that style, but have been working on this project (Miruthan) in my head for a few years now. All the intricacies..
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I think it would be Nergal from Behemoth, I would take as much inspiration from him as I could. I am someone that likes to give back if I take from anyone, so hopefully he would use some of my past influences and we could create something that Metal hasn’t seen yet!!
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
I have a love for Wacken, and it actually drew me to creating the band in the way I did. We have put that on a band bucket list of sorts, playing that would be a dream come true.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I have been drugged once, that really was quite weird haha. I had a fan in another band that was a huge fan and they wrote a response song and sent it to me as a gift. That was pretty special.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Our folklore is being written and built on each show so come and see the liturgy live and come meet us and become part of the folklore we create.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Johnny Cash, he is one of the earliest storytellers that are related to Metal, Punk and any hard music.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love all parts of it. Touring, recording and live shows and gear, I love all parts of music gear. I live for it and have for many years. It isn’t all easy though so there is some hate in there. Bad sound guys, lack of money around. But all in all I can look past all the negatives for the positives.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Money and greed, money just for bands that work hard as we do to at least be able to make a nice living. But then the greed of people like promoters that skim all the money from the top etc..
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Motörhead – “Ace of Spades”, just a killer set of songs and attitude.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
I would say Vinyl, I have a huge collection although I listen to digital more as I am usually on the road or working so playing and flipping vinyl is hard to do most of the time. It just has such a resonance to my youth.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
I think our first show was such a great one, opening an open air festival, we were so well rehearsed for the first show that it came off really well and was packed out, bit of a story to go with it as a first ever show will always hold a special place in my heart.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I love riding motorbikes, so maybe travelling around on that and camping from the bike across the world.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Lemmy, Johnny Cash, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Nergal, Mike Muir.
Would make for some interesting conversation and stories.
What’s next for the band?
We are mid-tour at the moment, so touring and building the cult, but during the EP Tour we are starting to track the album as well.
We have another music video planned as well as a live video and some playthroughs for the fans.
We really won’t stop. We have so much on the horizon it’s not funny.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Spotify seems the be the biggest music link for plays for us.
https://www.facebook.com/Miruthanband
Facebook we do more video content instagram
https://www.instagram.com/miruthan_band
Instagram for the kids haha, the younger crowd seem to like us over there, sound like a boomer don’t I?
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
A bun as far as I know. I grew up with an English family and we said bun, but roll would be the Aussie way. It could also be cob, we have cob loaf here in Australia and fill ‘em with cream and bacon and onion. It’s the best!!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I thank you also for your time and hope I said some interesting answers. Come see Miruthan if you get the chance. It is quite the energetic spectacle, we love what we do, take it in a tongue in cheek way but also put on a pro show. We hope it resonates with old fans as much as with new fans – we like to call them Cult Members.
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.