SUNNEITH REVANKAR TALKS ABOUT THE LONG ROAD TO RELEASING HIS DEBUT SOLO EP‘HYMNS FOR THE DRUNK'

The vocalist of metal bands Undying Inc. and The Silent Offensive floated the folk/indie project Shipperman in 2016 with the single “Pills”

- ANURAG TAGAT

BY ALL INDICATIONS, Mumbai-based vocalist and songwriter Sunneith Revankar's solo excursion as Shipperman was shaping up well in 2016, when he released his debut track “Pills."

It showcased a more vulnerable side to the former co-frontman of metallers Bhayanak Maut and the project brought in friends like guitarist-producers Nikhil Singh, R. Venkatraman (also from Bhayanak Maut) and Adhiraj Singh (from metal band Noiseware). An album was in the works but Revankar was also upfront about the road ahead. “With this solo album, there's a lot of coordination involved. It can get quite tedious, if I may be honest," he told Rolling Stone India.

As it turns out, Revankar - who moved from Bengaluru back to Mumbai and exited Bhayanak Maut, eventually becoming a part of metal band Undying Inc. and launching The Silent Offensive over the last six years was still unsure of Shipperman. He says, "I decided to just put my head down, stick to metal, and keep doing what comes naturally to me - running from responsibilities. But like a very sexy run.”

Interest in the project was sparked again only years later, which pushed Revankar to put together another team of musicians and record what became his debut EP under the moniker Shipperman, Hymns for the Drunk. Angad Bhatia helms guitar and bass duties, while Shezan Shaikh aka Ronin handles cinematic synth flourishes (and produced the opening and closing tracks “Killarney Deep” and the title song) and Siddharth Basrur took on co-producing Hymns for the Drunk, alongside adding keyboard and bass.