How Psychedelic Trance changed the way we perceive music, forever!

Part I – The Big Bang! How It All Began…

Every soul which takes a human form on this blessed planet, at some point in their lives does wonder – what is his or her purpose in life? What is it which keeps one awake whilst dreaming? What is the one thing you were born for and can’t live without? What is it that makes you desire? What is the one thing that makes everything else seem less trivial and lets all your sorrows, losses and failures seem minuscule? What is the one thing that drowns out the entire crowd, so you can hear your own voice? What is that one thing that makes you want to spread love, joy and kindness in the world and makes you want to add great value and make the world a better place for everyone? What is it that never lets you down? Thankfully, I found that thing early on in life, not sure though if it was destiny, a co-incidence, pure luck or some cosmic plan or just the universe’s way of being and letting things flow and expand.

Nevertheless, this is how it started for me and maybe for a lot of people as well. The journey did not even start with psytrance or psychedelic music, but back when I was a kid, about 11 years old is when it all began, without me knowing what I was looking for….it came into my life…like a calling, a soul search you might say, a path I stumbled upon without knowing what I was getting into. It was evening time when I and my little sister had come home from our school tuitions and watching regular TV was a common pastime and best form of entertainment in the ’90s. While everyone we knew was hooked onto Bollywood music, I used to listen to old pop tunes and cheesy boy-bands of that era, maybe some Yani or Richard Clayderman, little MJ here and there would make for a wonderful time with family or even alone, thanks to my Dad and uncles for introducing me to music beyond our country’s pop culture. So, that evening as usual I tuned into our favourite – MTV, yes it was the best thing at that time for music lovers….and on comes something I had never expected in my wildest dreams….it was Metallica’s song ‘Unforgiven 2’ from the album Re-load. Instantly I was hooked to the melancholic feel and visuals of the music video and never had I heard a guitar sound before that got etched into my memories and blood for life. The lyrics ‘Speak the words I wanna hear is something I wanted to hear I guess and I continued listening to James Hetfield’s fatherly voice echoing within the walls of my home. This song could be special to any growing child basically if you know what it’s about! Plus Who can forget his sinister, pale white face in that video? That moment was the birth of the dragon, an initiation of a rite of passage for a little, timid boy with dreams of success, peace and love all over the world and eventually the journey began of losing this boy and turning into the man his family, he himself and the world needed. It was now time to break out of the shell, to see the world for all its glory and dismay and to never look back, well except for now, just for you guys haha.

Holy smokes! 8 years, almost a decade went by exploring all kinds of heavy metal music like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth and also being involved in the local music scenes of Mumbai with the symbolic black printed T-shirts with torn jeans, long hair, alcohol binges, groupies, and bands as we traversed the universe with holy smoke, the everlasting brotherhood of the metal fraternity and a bond between all of us which was like none other I found in my other friend circles, family or elsewhere. I felt like I had found my home, cuz home is where heart is! I felt like I truly belonged here. Then gone were the trends, the long hair, but the love for the music stayed, the rebel inside was still hungry, maybe a little softer after exploring Pink Floyd though!

Fast forward to 2004, the year of the internet revolution! the Y2K, remember? So, I had just got a new job in a Call Centre, after my first couple of years in college to support my daily expenses, guitar tuitions and money for dope and that are when I meet Simmer Singh, the crazy dude who changed my life forever for good. He was the most talented, creative rebel and cool human I had met. One day when we were heading back home from our jobs, this guy pulls out his new iPod and suggests I listen to this new style of music, bear in mind, till this time I was a hardcore metalhead who thought that electronic music sucked. So there I am, partially baked and I check his screen…the track playing was ‘Black Widow’ by Ajax Syndrome. I guess I didn’t pay proper attention, but still thought it was cool and told Simmer that I did hear some cool riffs, not knowing any electronic music terminology and that it was alright. He didn’t care much for my reaction but hardly did I know that this music was soon going to change my entire life’s perspective and how I listened to music from thereon. A month went by, we didn’t talk of psytrance after that and we went our own ways after quitting our jobs. Weirdly that same month, I met some other cool people in my city, and we started hanging out together and eventually became friends. I’d also like to add, that up to this point I had never experienced a rave before. So, whilst hanging out at our usual place, this guy ‘Yogesh’ starts talking about ‘psytrance’ and I go ‘I have heard that shit before once’ and he hands me a couple of blue burned CD’s with psytrance music and asks me to give a listen at home. Excited for the listening session, I roll a fat doob of some dark brown Kashmiri hash which was my daily nighttime ritual for years ( Note* We do not promote the use of psychoactive substances for recreational purposes. Cannabis is deeply intertwined with religion in India and one of the principal deities of Hinduism, Shiva is given the title ‘Lord Of Bhang’.The consumption of Bhang is however is permitted under Indian Law. India developed a growing tradition of cannabis cultivation for medical and religious purposes). So, As I puffed on the black goddess, I realised that I hadn’t danced in about a decade at all and how I missed it like I did when I was a kid. The very first track that I properly listened to with a good open mindset was Audiotec’s ‘Magic Of Love’ and felt euphoric and uplifting emotions I had never experienced on any other forms of music. Later many great tracks graced my night with the joy of having discovered a type of music that really appealed to me. I couldn’t believe at that time I was finally enjoying some electronic music and didn’t think it was garbage. I remember listening to other great morning psytrance artists that night including the late Perplex(RIP), Artax, Astrix, Talamasca, Eskimo, Nissimyani, Tube, Xerox, X-Noise and a few others.

The unique thing about listening to psytrance was that you could dance any way you wished, there were just no rules. Whilst growing up and before listening to psytrance, we were all brought up learning dance moves by copying trends and popular dances. But this was different, people could express themselves in unique ways, not thought of before. So, after listening to this music for a couple of months, it was time for us newbies to experience the real thing. Also, I’d like to point out that up till this point in time, I and my friends had played and performed in various metal and rock bands providing vocals, drums or slamming the guitars till our fingers hurt and swole up due to endless jams and practise. So, we were hardcore music enthusiasts willing to explore more and go deeper down the rabbit hole. One fine day at our usual hangout, our senior Senor Yogesh starts telling us about the next season in Goa where the best psytrance parties were held and that it would be a great experience for all of us and that he had already been to one of those ‘raves’ and that he also had a friend there who can drive us around and can sort our accommodations. Being the experimental and adventurous lads we were, all 3 noobs were in for sin and ready for a week’s expedition to unknown musical realms and vistas from the land of Goa…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Written by Aditya Vernekar