Interviews

Raoul Kerr - Bloodywood 'All Our Music is Mainly Instinct Driven'

Kayla Hamilton

Jun 14, 2025

8 min read

Few bands have garnered the attention that Bloodywood have. Their unique blend of heavy and nu metal stylings, combined with their traditional Indian roots, they have truly carved their path in today’s metal scene. Their latest album Nu Delhi takes it a step further (check out our review here), zoning in on not just their Indian heritage but their identity around being from New Delhi and their musical and cultural influences.

Wall Of Sound’s unofficial Asia correspondent Kayla Hamilton caught up with the band's resident rapper Raoul Kerr to dissect the album’s background, how their collaboration with BABYMETAL came to be, an ETA on their first Aussie tour and everything in between.

Thanks for taking the time to chat. Congratulations on the new album. It's been out for a little while now. What's the overall feedback been so far?

So it's hard to tell at this point because first of all, as in I would like to say that it's always good. We've been lucky enough where all the energy that's coming back to us when we put our music out there has been really good. But what we're doing differently with this album is we're trying to give it a longer lifespan. Last time we released three singles, we dropped the album and then we just toured. But the thing is, we dropped three singles from this album. The only difference is that it's completely new start to finish. Unlike our previous album, Rakshak, where we completed the picture having released singles over the years. So as a result, we've released three songs. They've been received really well.

The album also, it's been cool to see people responding to just videos of songs, as in it's just the album picture, the cover over there and the song playing. It's not even a lyric video and people are still commenting on all the songs. So it's nice to see that. But the lifespan of this album is way bigger. We have multiple singles that we have music video ideas for, so there's a lot more coming. So, so far it's a really good start, but we'll only know once we've done the entire run. And this is set up to be pretty exciting.

We've done a couple of big tours so far and we have a few more lined up for the year.

And in between that we'll still be completing the story of the album by releasing more music videos. So exciting times ahead.

‍That is exciting because a few people have commented on, and I've read in a few different reviews, that it is quite a short album as in compared to a lot of others. But is that because you guys have so many that are a continuation of the story and the videos as well?

No, as in it's probably because we're perfectionists, all of us, we really spend a lot of time on each song. So it's a quality over quantity thing. And actually this is us being twice as fast, even though people are saying it's a short album. Last time it took us a year to make four or five songs, and now we've done eight songs in less than a year. So yeah, we're definitely speeding up, but we'll see about album lengths and the amounts of songs we put into an album in the future because every song is very deeply thought out in the grand scheme of the album. So that's the reason it's probably short, but we hope we still did the city justice.

‍I think that's beautiful because I think having a shorter album these days with attention spans as well is sometimes a little smart.

That's also very true. No, there's another argument that you have to have more songs out there just to get people to be streaming your stuff more. But that's a level I wish we would prefer to not get technical.

We wouldn't want to go technical down to that level where we are just doing it for the sake of doing it. It's more like this is what felt right and that's why we did it.

Yeah, that's brilliant. So obviously, even the title like Nu Delhi representing your culture, country and everything plays such a huge role in your music and your sound. What does it actually mean for you as artists to be able to do that?

It's everything.

It's what we dreamed of doing since, I mean, all of us had hopes of becoming musicians at one time or another growing up. And for us to be able to do it is amazing, but to be able to put ourselves and our culture in it, it feels naturally.

It's not a privilege. It's not a luck based thing either. It's more something that came naturally to us to fuse cultures. And the difference between this album and the last is usually we talk from the Indian perspective. This time we narrowed it down to the Delhi perspective. So India is still very much in the mix. Delhi is the capital of the country and amalgamation of the country as a whole. But yeah, we're very much talking about the Delhi experience and the Delhi perspective when we talk about all the topics we cover in the album.

That's brilliant. Just out of my own little slight cultural ignorance, you use English and is it Hindi or Punjabi?

Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. So it's like a mixture of three languages you hear from India.

So there is no sense of obligation for you guys to carry this torch? It's actually something that comes naturally.

As in the thing is we take our position, as in we understand the responsibility, that comes with it as a band that's representing the country. So it's something we embrace and we're happy to carry. But at the same time, yeah, people talk about the premeditation in terms of adding our culture into the sound and fusing Indian music with traditional heavy metal and hip hop and all that. But it's something that came to us naturally. I think all our music is mainly instinct driven because when Karan [Katiyar] and I first met and we talked about, I was doing purely hip hop at the time and he had just started Bloodywood and we were talking about doing a song together. It felt like it was always meant to be. We grew up with the sound, we grew up with nu metal, like hip hop being in metal and all that. So it was more about bringing that sound back and try to push it further because we hadn't heard something like that since we were kids. So it was a subconscious mission.

Because you guys, I think it was, pardon my pronunciation, ‘Machi Bahsad- Expect A Riot’. That was probably one of the first nu metal tracks I've heard in years and now there's been a huge nu-metal revival. Do you think you guys have kind of played a role in that?

I can't say for sure. I'm not very well informed on the scene in general in the sense I keep my finger on the pulse, but I don't dive in too deep. I'm more someone who focuses on creating, but if we did play a part, I'd be happy. I mean, all I can say is that we are doing our best to really, like I said, it's both a combination of bringing that sound back, the sound that made us fall in love with metal and new metal, but also pushing it further and seeing how far we can take it.

And in your music you guys have, obviously there's been various songs where you have discussed a lot of social political issues and all those things. Do you guys often face much criticism for that, or any pushback?

The honest answer is no. It's negligible in terms of just the amount of positivity that surrounds that fills the comment sections. It's crazy. I remember a perfect example of this is I was told my grandparents were looking through our YouTube comment section and my first instinct was, fuck get them the fuck out of there, the internet, it's YouTube and all that. But then thought, and I said, wait a second, we read almost every comment, if not every comment, and I'm talking thousands, 12,000 I think was the most or 15,000, I don't know. But we read almost every single one of them. Even at times we just revisit songs and just read the comments both to understand the impact of the song and to understand what people are responding to more and what we can do better and just soak it all in as well. But the thing is the amount of positivity is overwhelming, and I think that's a reflection of the intention with which we make our music.

We are doing this to try and create a positive impact. We may not disagree. I mean we may disagree with people politically and socially, but at the same time what we're trying to do is do something that will benefit everyone, do something that'll leave a positive impact on the world.

When all the issues we talk about, it's often mistaken that we're talking about problems that exist in India. The difference is actually that we, or the truth is that we are talking about problems that exist in India and the world and we are writing from the Indian perspective to gain insight and to gain inspiration, to want to do something about these issues. Sexual assault is a really big one in terms of something that's associated with India and rightly, but it's something that exists all around the world. So in the northern when we talked about that, it's something that we want to eliminate from global society as much as Indian society.

So the thing is, I think people get that, people get behind that and they also see how much fun we are having and the energy we're putting out there. It's not about putting other people down, even though we do lean into that analytically, it is to make a point, but at the same time it's about the intention behind it is the benefit is something that'll benefit everyone. And I think people understand that. Again, we have a lot of room to grow, so you never know. You never know how people are going to perceive it, but the intention will always be the same. We're trying to do something that's going to help everyone.

I feel that your band has also, I know as a woman, there are a lot of female friends of mine that have really grabbed onto Bloodywood and gone, yeah, this band is sick. I thought I should let you know that. Especially in places like Japan, I've noticed. Well you've got some serious topic songs, but then we look at the album and you've got songs like ‘Tadka’, which is what about cooking and even ‘Nu Delhi’ feels like a little bit more fun and everything. They feel like they're really paying homage to where you're from. Is it important for you guys to be able to balance that seriousness with the more lighthearted music?

As in it is subconscious? Even when we talked about the food and the food song idea, it was just like, hey, wouldn't this be so funny? Like a metal song about Indian food? And we all just laughed about it. And then I was like, hey, the track kind of sounds a little too intense for food though. It sounds like combat. And then everyone was like, yeah, cool. Let's just give it another listen. And then when we heard it, we couldn't shake the idea that this is a food song and the chefs are in the middle of combat trying to do justice to a thousand year old recipe. So it's a really good mix. And then we kind of lean into it with the music video that when we were thinking about, Hey, yeah, let's have fun with this. We're always putting in a serious side of ourselves. And again, we don't have any second thoughts about doing that. Of course it's always going to be like that, but we said, hey, it'll be cool to have some fun with this one. And it was great that the reception to the song was also the one thing about that though it was a bit of a curve ball in terms of we felt it had way bigger potential that it was something that people who didn't listen to metal or hadn't heard about the band would just be interested in as an Indian metal song about Indian food. It just sounds funny when you hear it. You want to see what that's like and that's not what happened with the song. So that was a little disappointing, but at the same time, it became a cult favourite in the sense where everyone who already knew about the band was totally down with it. There was fun for them. For someone who was so familiar with our sound and our style and how we're always putting this really positively aggressive side of ourselves out there and smashing it on camera and on the track to just having fun in the kitchen and fucking around and getting our ass handed to us by the grandma, it became a classic. And really I think it was a bonding moment for all the existing supporters. So maybe it didn't turn into what we hoped it would, but we're still happy nonetheless.

I love that. And obviously another song that is one of the most talked about on the album is obviously your collaboration with BABYMETAL. Can you talk a little bit about putting that song together?

Yeah. As in it's a testament to the power of manifestation. It is so funny that we'd heard that BABYMETAL had been playing our song as part of their playlist before they started their set. And that was pretty exciting because all of us had been fans of BABYMETAL and had heard about them at one stage of life or another. And that was already a cool thing for us to know that okay, cool, we're on the radar. They like it enough to play a song. And then we became friends with Koba, who's the producer of BABYMETAL, but it was all social to the point where he came to our show in Tokyo. The girls were also supposed to come, but they were unwell that day. But the thing is he was there, he hung out, and again, it was all social. We were just chilling and sharing our admiration for their band and all that. And they brought us presents, all that kind of stuff. But the thing is Karan had worked on the instrumental in its entirety. Usually, it's just the first half and then all of us discuss the theme, and we go and write our parts. But the instrumental was made start to finish, and we were talking about it and he said, this would be a crazy track for BABYMETAL to be on. It sounds perfect even in terms of that. Okay, oh, that I would do this part and Jay [Jayant Bhadula] would do that part. But then there felt like there was a part for someone else in it. It wasn't like, oh, we come back to either me or Jay and 48 hours later, Koba DMs us saying, “yo, you guys want to work on track”

Just like that?

Yeah, no, we just said hold up. We have something for you. Instantly sent it back and the track was done two months later. So yeah, it was all synergy and they really helped fulfil our vision of the track. They just, Karan had even written melodies and stuff that he'd had in Jayant’s parts in Hindi that he'd asked them or requested them to sing. And they obliged. And the track really reflects the synergy between the two bands.

So when it came time for us to work on a song for them and their album, we did the same thing. They give them full creative control, let them steer, and we'll do whatever we can to help fulfil their vision.

Brilliant. Is there any other artists out there that you would like to collaborate with?

That's a tough question. It's a long list. Yeah, as in, yeah. But I'd say the top two right now, based on what we've talked about though, would probably be Daron [Malakian] from System of Down and Corey Taylor.

Yeah, perfect answers. Perfect answers. And speaking of Japan, you've just finished a three-show run in Japan. And by the way, I am very jealous. I was trying to make it to that one and I couldn't quite swing it.

Oh damn. Yeah, it was great. It was unbelievable. So next time!

You have toured there quite regularly, but do you think an Australian tour is on the horizon?

It is always on the horizon, always on the cards. It's just that we've never managed to get it right because I forgot what it's to do with, I think it's something to do with taxes, but that's the only complication. It's like a heavy tax situation and it's a big operation when you have to get seven or eight Indian guys with all the gear. We fly with 400 kilos of gear. So as in it's a lot of, again, it's not big by other bands, comparisons by any means, but we kind of travel with it in our hands. We have your suitcase and the piece of gear you're carrying. So we roll out very hands on. Yeah, DIY.

So the thing is, yeah, it is just a tax situation that's been stopping us so far, but we hear and love all our supporters in Australia. We see the comments, we feel the pain, Australia and Canada are places that we really have to visit at some point. And we are doing our best.

And the only reason is these kinds of, sometimes it's taxes, sometimes it's documents. I mean it's all the behind the scenes bullshit. It's not because we don't want to be there. So it's happening and we'll make sure it is been a long wait, but we'll make sure it's more than worth it when we finally roll up.

Amazing! And anything else you'd like to add before we finish up?

I think just talking about Australia and the support from Australia, not gone unnoticed that, like I said, we read all the comments, so we see everyone in Australia out there representing and supporting and asking us to come and tour and all that. So I want everyone know that we are just as enthusiastic about coming down there and playing for all of you. So we'll make it happen.

Well, we'll be waiting for you. I'm definitely waiting for you!

Yeah, it's going to be awesome.

Interview by Kayla Hamilton @kaylazomboid

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