Name: Sahil Makhija aka Demonstealer
Occupation: Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, chef & editor at Headbanger's Kitchen
Nationality: Indian
Current release: The new Demonstealer full-length The Propaganda Machine is out now.
Recommendations: Music pretty much rules my life so I would recommend two albums. One would be Blind Guardian’s - A Night At The Opera. That’s just a monumental album and a journey unlike any other.
The second album I would recommend would be Dimmu Borgir’s Puritanical Eurphoric Misanthropia. It’s just a sonic experience unlike anything else.

If you enjoyed this Demonstealer interview and would like to know more about the band, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and bandcamp.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Well it really depends on ‘when’ I’m listening. When I was younger I’d blast some tunes and just headbang along or sometimes I’d even mosh with this big steel cupboard in my bedroom on which I’d boldly carved i.e drawn with a sharpie ‘F*** your god’. I would even sleep with music playing.

As I’ve grown older I can’t sleep with music but I do love to listen when I’m working on things, going for a walk or lifting heavy at the gym. So it’s a pretty bad idea to do any of those things with your eyes shut. So it’s all open these days.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

My first steps were shaky and resulted in me falling over all the time. I pretty much learnt through my mistakes. Like I recorded just 1 guitar track for the main rhythm section on my first album when everyone knows you got to do two tracks at least and pan them left and right. So the first Demonic Resurrection album sounds very mono.



But to be fair there was the internet back in those days but there wasn’t any Youtube or courses you could buy to learn things. It was mostly just pirating music and downloading porn. These days you can go to school online for audio engineer, guitar lessons etc. But overall I think it just gave me an interesting journey.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

At 13 I was still interested more in cooking and computers and music really wasn’t anything more than just entertainment.

Once I discovered metal music, which was around the age of 14/15 that’s when I really started to find something beyond the entertainment. Music started to mean a lot more to me then, it caused me to feel feelings I hadn’t felt before. That coupled with puberty was probably what made it awkward.

But back then I was an angry teenager and often acted in haste and just was a normal 16 year old knucklehead. Today I’m much older, wiser, calmed and have much more of an understand of the world in which I live. I still don’t understand humans and the way things are but I’m more at peace now.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

My primary instrument was my voice. I started out just doing vocals but I quickly realised I couldn’t create music with just that, therefore the guitar became my weapon of choice. The guitar still drives everything I do, it’s what allows me to express myself musically.

I learnt both bass and keys largely to be able to back myself as a solo artist. I also started learning drums to be able to understand the instrument enough to program it correctly. Over the years though I fell in love with drums and if I could play only 1 instrument for the rest of my life I’d want to play drums because I have the most fun doing it.

Another super important tool has been learning the art of recording which is really what allowed me to record and release my music which is the driving force for me. To bring the music to life. I’m not sure how they have shaped my perspective specifically but it’s all had a part to play in my journey and evolution.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

I think there has always been a need to express myself. Whether that’s an emotional need or to put across a point of view or just call out what is wrong with the world today. Music has been my purest form of expression and that’s why I create it.

I also write the kind of music I want to listen to which might explain why unlike other musicians to desire to push the boundaries of the instrument or musically create something that is pushing the envelope, I write more instinctively which probably means I don’t take as many risks as other musicians.

But that is what drives me to make music. The ability to express my deepest darkest feelings.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I would say my personal sound is a mish mash of everything I listen to all my inspirations in one place.

I think I agree with Paul Simon. In general I listen to music as a whole and then I think I focus on the drums or any instrument that stands out. But for me it’s always the bigger picture, the song as a whole. Each instrument is playing the part it needs to and that is what makes a song great.

Sure if I want to geek out on it that’s generally after I’ve heard a song and fallen in love with it and then I can listen repeatedly while dissecting it instrument by instrument or listening for the chords.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

Honestly I think I’m too detached from most things so I’ve never had this experience. Maybe the closest is me singing along to this monotone note coming from the elevator as it goes down 6 floors or perhaps drumming along to the drilling I can hear from the construction work on the road outside.

I think though music can be found in anything, it just really varies from person to person and what they are able to hear and relate that sound to.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I think earlier on when I had different equipment I did often write clean guitar sections, acoustic parts even but as I stripped down to a 1 guitar + 1 amp with 1 sound I wrote more straightforward songs without those clean parts. I think my environment and gear dictate a lot of where the music goes.

For me I think the contrast that is constant is the brutal sections against the melodic sections and that is something I am draw too. I takes me through a range of emotions. Bands like Fear Factory and Soilwork have really inspired me.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

If there is any jazz in my songs you’ll have to point it out to me because I have no clue.

I’m very uneducated when it comes to my theory and being able to break down the music I write to be studied. I have fans come up and say hey I love that riff which you play in a diminished scale or in xyz mode or if they ask me what scales and modes do you use to compose and my answer is “f*** knows* I just play and keep what sounds good to my ears.”

I think when it comes to songwriting it varies again depending on what I want to say with the music or the track. Sometimes I just get a feeling and write based on that and where the idea naturally flows. Sometimes I have a set idea or lyrics or a story and then it is approached with that in mnd. My only rule to writing songs is that there are no rules.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

When I was 16 I would just pen down lyrics in a book when I was feeling sad. I had this whole book of lyrics. It’s something I do even today, though not in the same way. I pen down a few lines or an idea.

But back them I had a song called “My Misery” and one day I was just feeling really sad and lonely and I came up with some of these acoustic sections and I turned that into a song. I just kind of instinctively felt it was my misery and I worked along with the lyrics I wrote and recorded the song.

Another totally different way of working was with my band Demonic Resurrection where I wrote the main riff and a few other sections for our song “Dismembering The Fallen.”



We started jamming on it and then the keyboardist wrote some parts for the main riff and then he wanted me to break away from the main riff and follow the part he played over the main riff and then we broke apart the song and kind of put it back. That was like more collaborative .

More recently my new album The Propaganda Machine. I wrote the full song on guitar called “The Great Dictator” (it was called “James Song 260bpm” before I came up with the title).



But I sent it to drummer James Payne, just guitar and click track and he smashed out some amazing drums on it. Then I sent those drums to bassist Martino Garattoni who wrote some amazing basslines and then I finished up my guitars changing a riff at the end to match some of the drums. Keyboardist Anabelle then took over and orchestrated some keys over that while I finished the vocals and lyrics.

So there are just so many ways to the creative process depending on the circumstances.

Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I am my music. My music is me. I think it’s a good reflection.

My parents were never religious and never forced me to believe in god or follow any religion. My mother said just one thing to me, none of it matters, the only thing you need to do is be a good human being and I think that’s what I base my life on and my music hopefully follows that too. Whether it’s the message behind the song or the lyrics themselves.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

That really depends. I mean for a barista who spent year honing their craft and then they get to showcase their skills in front of an audience and do a coffee masterclass or workship or even enter one of those coffee brewing contests, it’s pretty similar. It’s just about our relationship to the art.

That same barista could be playing guitar and just jamming out and for them playing some music is like me making a nice cup of coffee in the morning. So my relationship with music has been one of expression and it’s something I’ve wanted to even pursue as a career but without having to compromise on the style or the ideology I have.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

This will change with album to album. It’s also something that will change based on my mood. For me unfortunately there isn’t one song or section that holds the same meaning indefinitely. Mine is much more variable.

Like right now for me it would be “Crushing The Iron Fist” and the message of hope it brings to the end of the album. But 3 albums down the line it’s gonna be something else.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would love for there to be a development in the music industry that makes it so that artists are fairly compensated for their work. I would love for it to be easier for bands to tour other countries.

I would love for it to become an industry where you can make a living and a career out of your art and not have to be the biggest selling band on the planet for that to be a reality.