The People

 

Deepak Rao

Lead guitarist and vocalist of Shrapnel, Deepak is an active member of the Bangalore music community. His highlight of his time with Shrapnel, was the launch of their debut album “Intellectual Pursuit” on India’s Independence Day, August 15th, 2004 in front of thousands who had gathered to celebrate India’s Independence, with a night of live music. Deepak was lucky enough to hand a copy of Intellectual Pursuit to Bruce Dickinson, frontman of Iron Maiden and a huge influence on Shrapnel, when he flew with Bruce to Stockholm, Sweden on BruceAir.

Deepak moved to London in 2004, to pursue a Masters degree in Advanced Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London. He now works as an Investment Banker in the City of London and remains passionate about music.

Deepak is the founder of The Resonate Music Award, and is extremely excited at turning a long term desire into a reality. This is one of many steps he plans to pursue to give back to to the music community that gave him so much.

Chris Avinash

He has written music for and fronted some of Bangalore’s best bands including Angel Dust and Document Done among others. The music he wrote and performed with them has won the same bands every single college and semi- professional festival around the country – BITS Pilani (Oasis), NLS (Strawberry Fields), IIT Powai(Mood Indigo), IIsc (Vibrock), Radio City Live etc. He currently is frontman and lead guitarists for Retronome – a band that plays out classic rock and hits from the 80’s and 90’s.

Besides composing, arranging and recording albums for independent artists, he has taught music at Jyothi Nivas College, Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College and conducted numerous workshops for the corporate sector. He has also conceptualized and managed music-related events such as Touch Bass (7years running), U rock (3 years) and Underground.

He has an MBA in marketing and has worked in various capacities for companies like BPL telecom, Hindusthan Times etc.  He is currently entertainment director of Kyra Theater – the city’s first supper theater destination. He also teaches broadcast media at St Josephs Post Graduate Center besides running his recording studio ‘christortion’. Chris Avinash is married to Kavya – the features editor of DNA (newspaper) and they have 7 year old daughter.

Chris is excited to be associated with The Resonate Music Award, and looks forward to sharing his wisdom gained by nearly 12 years in the music industry with the winner.

Nolan Lewis

As the founding member of Kryptos, one of India’s most explosive Heavy Metal bands, Nolan remains actively involved in the Indian music community.

“I was born in Kuwait on Dec 3rd 1979 and spent  17 years of my life there before moving  to Bangalore in 1997. I’ve been an avid music lover since I was 10 years old and although metal is my preferred choice of music  I love everything from hard rock and blues to ambient and classical music, just as long as it’s done with absolute feeling and conviction. I formed Kryptos in 1998 and have recorded  two albums with the band, which have been released internationally. I am also currently endorsed by ESP guitars and I love to spend my time reading, watching football, cracking dumb jokes and drinking lots of beer”

Sahil Makhija

Sahil Makhija more popularly known as ‘The Demonstealer’ , was born in 1982 and started his musical journey at the age of 15. Just out of school within months of picking up the guitar he started writing material and after 2 years and a few not serious musical attempts he formed Demonic Resurrection at the age of 17. At that point the music scene was filled with bands playing covers, Demonic Resurrection took the bold step of playing only original music.

The Demonstealer is one of the most well known people in the Indian scene today and his contribution to the genre of Metal is unmatched Demonstealer is a brand name on its own and he is idolized by many metal heads and is known as to be one of the most approachable people today. He is known as a marketing wiz by most people on the scene and is famous for the relentless promotion that he does for his band, the music and the scene in general.