Headbanging to bass/trap music is a relatively new subculture of Music in India. For those Unaware of what the Headbanging scene is, its music scene where a DJ plays trap music with heavy bass that makes people rock their heads in a synchronized manner.

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Over the years, the number of people going to such gigs is rapidly multiplying. We decided to talk to a torchbearer of this movement, Bass Stud.

Bass Stud aka Saurav Kumar has been a part of this community since the very beginning. While he started off with a publication that writes about this scene, he eventually started playing sets at these gigs.

talking about this growing community, Kumar says, “ I feel that the Bass community is majorly supported by a lot of music producers. Over the years this has grown exponentially and it has become a scene where people come out mainly for the music. A lot of underground producers have not started producing trap music and playing at such gigs. A lot of international artists are also coming to India almost every month so this scene is only going to grow from here.”

But what makes people move their heads in a wild fashion along with the beat and what is the difference between head banging here and headbanging at a metal scene? Kumar Says, “Metal is always live, you have the singer who is growling, a mental guitarist and a crazier drummer. But in the bass scene, it's a DJ who is spinning either his original tracks or tracks from the genre. Our scene is more about the bass. You can’t see or hear the sound of the bass, you can only feel it.”

But its believed that Headbanging is only a phase that comes in every teenager's life, metal scenes often see oldies enter the mosh pit to get freaky. “ The metal scene has been here for years. Bass only started to pick up around 2012. So its a relatively new scene. Which is why there are no oldies in this scene. Probably after a few years, we would be the oldies of this scene!” says Kumar.

It's no strange news that the gender ratio at Bass gigs is heavier at the male end. But over time, the ratio seems to be balancing out. Kumar says, “It is really difficult to convince venues and clubs to let us do gigs because we have to ensure them that it's not going to be a sausage party. But over time, the ratio seems to be balancing out. In fact, in bass scenes abroad, women are more hyped than men!”

This Sunday (9th June) Bass Stud has put together a massive audiovisual experience with an interesting lineup. “Fourth Bass is more of an experience rather than a gig. We have an interesting lineup of artists who would take the attendees on a progressive journey through various sub-genres of trap music. And since head banging is a tedious activity, we are ending with Techno and the music will progress in a way that headbangers will start dancing to techno without even realizing it.”

Fourth Bass is happening at Kitty Su Mumbai on the 9th of June. (Sunday) You can book your tickets here.