I was born on November, 1st 1971, in London, England. My parents had immigrated from Nairobi, Kenya to the United Kingdom in 1970. My parents, Meena and Arun Devani met in Nairobi, Kenya (better known as East Africa within the South Asian community.) I lived with my parents in Brixton until age two, at which time we relocated to another suburb of London known as Tooting Bec. We resided here until 1976, at which time we moved to a much cleaner family oriented suburb of Burnt Oak, North London.
At the tender age of 5, I was exposed to popular soft English rock and Indian film music, but did not have any such interest in any particular type of musical styles. As a child I was always into playing with the neighborhood kids and spending time with my immediate and extended family members.
At the age of six, my parents decided to move to USA, Los Angeles, California, in particular, due to its milder and not so cold and damp climate. One of the reasons in the whole family moving to the states was to get me into an environment whereby I could live a healthy lifestyle as opposed to being constantly sick from the common cold due to the cold and damp conditions I had endured in the United Kingdom since birth.
After moving to Los Angeles, California, I was still into hanging out with my newly met neighborhood friends. At the same time, I was more exposed to the Indian Film music soundtracks as well as the more popular music formats on the top 40 music format radio stations in Los Angeles.
Now, at the age of seven I showed a keen interest in what I heard on the radio as well as on my parent’s cassette player when they played their Indian Film soundtracks. I enjoyed listening to music, but this was as far as it went as I was more akin to playing with my Star Wars action figures and other toys such as toy trains, electric race cars and Hot Wheels. I was also into riding my bicycle around the neighborhood along with my friends.
The kids in the neighborhood were all into hanging outside with one another, and so I, too followed along as this was the coolest thing to do at the ages of 7 and 8. Every one of the kids in the neighborhood always got together on Friday and Saturday evenings to play kickball, which is something I really enjoyed. The team spirit of such sports as well as water gun and water balloon wars made for even more fun during the summer months when school was in recess. At this time Atari 2600 was the latest craze in home video gaming, and I was pretty good at many of the games I had in my collection. I also played games against my friends and school mates too, sometimes stealing the spotlight away from them.
Little to my surprise, I was not going to be the only child in our household as me and my parents welcomed our newest addition, a baby brother. When my brother Neerag was born, I was only 11-years-old. This was an exciting time for the Devani family as everyone’s lives changed for the better, but with many challenges that come with a new born. Neerag was a lot of fun to be around and very playful. He was always curious about his surroundings and the world in which he came into. Of course, as a newborn, many of us went through this phase, but he lived it to its grandest, ha, ha.
As he got older, like around 6, 7, and 8 years of age, he got more and more into video games such as the Super Nintendo gaming console, after perfecting his talents on Sarjoo’s Nintendo Entertainment System. I think I had a lot to do with Neerag’s becoming a video game expert as I influenced him in his youth. By the time he was 10, he was a master player and a champion in my eyes with such killer games as Mortal Combat, Street Fighter and many more. He kind of treaded on his older brother’s footsteps when it came to playing and championing video games. He was also into hanging out with the neighborhood kids and watching WWF Wrestling matches, The Power Rangers and movies such as Batman and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Despite the 11-year age difference between Neerag and myself, there were a couple of things in common we both shared. One was our mutual liking of video games and going to the movies on a Friday evening, to check out any action packed film. We had many differences due to our big age difference, but for the most part got along with each other, but every now and then we would get on each other’s nerves. This aspect made time only fly as we’d always tease each other and get our parents all revved up – how fun!
It was during these times, whereby I started to get into the world of heavy metal as I started out by listening to soft and hard rock music prior to my fondness of heavy metal.
I have been into rock and heavy metal since the age of 13. Starting out with the likes of Journey, Genesis, Nightranger, Scorpions, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, and others from that time period, but my penchant for the heavier side of metal and rock just steadily grew over the coming years. It’s pretty interesting to take note of how I got into most of this music. The heavy metal groups were introduced to me by a couple of my heavy metal classmates who were huge fans of metal at the time. From what I heard through my metal maniacal classmates, I was instantly hooked. I was first introduced to Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Scorpions, Ratt, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. This was around during the 6th grade of my primary school years. This was quite an experience for a sixth grader got deeper and deeper into heavy metal, and just took my breath away with every listen. This was basically during the mid 1980s, and pre-recorded music on Compact Disc was still two years away from mass popularity, but vinyl and cassettes were the norm within the pre-recorded music scene.
Times were tough for a 13-year-old into heavy metal as there were plenty of concerts and shows to go to, but what teenager at the age of 13 has the ability to drive and get around to concerts. So, this aspect was completely out of the picture for me. I would just pocket my lunch money, save it for two weeks and support the bands I was into by buying their latest releases. Talk about total dedication, as a 7th grader by now, I was completely transformed into a metal head. However, I still did not dress in all black with the black heavy metal t-shirts and the killer motorcycle leather jacket. All of this image of a true metal head would come later on…
As time went on, throughout my high school years I was introduced to more extreme forms of heavy metal such as thrash, speed and death metal. It was the more extreme forms of metal, which made me dress and live the heavy metal life style, drinking some good beer and vodka on special occasions. The circle of extreme metal like-minded friends, which I had were always into going to shows and having a good old time by rocking out to some great heavy metal.
My first heavy/thrash metal show was during my 11th grade summer vacation in London, England, checking out Onslaught, Annihilator and Horse London. I was pleasantly surprised as to the strong camaraderie among the metal heads at this UK concert in July of 1989, as everyone respected one another and banded together to show the general public and passers by as to how dedicated of a crowd they were to the bands they’d come to see in concert on this day. Sarjoo himself was blown away with sheer excitement of the loud, heart thumping and head banging music, and yes, Sarjoo did headbang and raised his fists into the dense concert hall air. It was the wildest show of his dreams with people stage diving and slam dancing all around him. Wow, this was the concert of my life at the time as it fucking thrashed my world completely, but in a positive way.
All of this just got better as I entered my senior year at Walnut High School near our home in Walnut, California. My first heavy metal show in the U.S. was checking out Testament, Nuclear Assault, Voivod and Wrathchild America at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (a city located on the west coast of Southern California). This was one wicked show witnessed by me and all the metal maniacs in attendance. It was here too, I was so elated with the loud, headbanging guitars and heart thumping drumming antics of all the bands. It felt like World War III had started, with the drums sounding like bombs and guitar riffs sounding like rapid gunfire from all four bands, wow!
My parents and brother made the move to the United Kingdom in 1993. I went to live with my aunt for a year. This was quite an experience for a 22-year-old metalhead as I had to do everything on my own, including manage my own checkbook and finances. And yes, I attended all of the concerts by myself as I used to when I lived at home with Mom and Dad. This one year, sort of on my own and sharing a room at my aunt’s condo made me even more responsible as a young adult. After spending a year sharing the condo with my aunt Asmita, I was accepted at Cal State Northridge, a state university located in Northridge, California., just 20 miles north of Los Angeles. During my university days, I got together with my heavy metal friends and checked out at least several killer shows a year.
So, one can infer from all of this background information on my love of heavy metal that it was a life altering experience for me. Having spent 2 and half years in university, after realizing journalism is what I wanted to pursue, I acquired my degree and mainly focused on The Explicitly Intense Newsletter as it was called in early to late 1995. And, yes, as a 25-year-old metalhead I did graduate from California State University Northridge, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. I had a vision of starting a diverse heavy metal publication when I was attending university. This desire to start such a publication also influenced my longing to study journalism in the first place. What an interesting turn of events for the now 26-year-old. What makes me a well-rounded metal freak is the fact that I make every to know many of the bands from all subgenres of metal and more. I am not afraid to check out any metal group, which defies and transcends common conventions among heavy metal music and songwriting formulas, and I am always open to checking out newer talents within the vast ocean of what is called heavy metal and eclectic metal.
After graduating from University, I worked fulltime and on the side focused on my fanzine, which turned into a full-fledged glossy, professionally designed and printed magazine in April of 1998. Issue #1 of Explicitly Intense started it all, which featured My Dying Bride on the cover as the main band. By the summer of 1999, the magazine grew from 36 pages to 42 pages in 2000.
By this time I had met my future wife to be – Nimisha, who was residing in Carpenders Park, England, with her father, mother and older brother. A mutual friend introduced us in August of 2000. We corresponded with each other via email for a good two weeks, and then were speaking with each other on the phone. We finally met in November, and I proposed to her on the train on the way to Central London. We got married in April of the following year (2001). Nimisha liked popular rock music but was not into heavy metal, with the exception of Def Leppard and some Ratt, if one could define these two even being heavy metal, would have been a miracle, ha, ha.
It was Nimisha’s support, which motivated me to make Explicitly Intense a quarterly publication, so with another page increase, this time to 64 pages, and releasing an issue every three months made Explicitly Intense even more visible on newsstands, plus an audio CD of tracks selected by record companies and artists was also given away for free with each issue starting with issue #13. The magazine started to do quite well financially and layout-wise as Nimisha’s support and encouragement greatly impacted me to do even better than I had when I was single. Nimisha’s help with the accounting side of things also lifted up a big burden from my shoulders. In June of 2005 Nimisha and I made the bold move to Tampa, Florida for a better life as the crime and gang situation in Pasadena, California was quite rampant and out of control. After spending almost one year in Tampa, they decided to make the move to Plant City, a quaint, small farming town (known for its winter strawberries), only 30 miles northeast of Tampa, and yet still close to all of the clubs and concert venues.
Some of the most memorable interviews I conducted would have to be with Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Tim “Ripper” Owens, and the singer and founding guitarist of Tesla, Deftones, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Also, hanging out backstage with the guys from Morbid Angel, Dissection and At The Gates were some great moments in my life. Also, attending ProgPower 7 in 2006 was a lot of fun as this three-day festival was covered in the magazine. Explicitly Intense made a lot of headway into getting its product out at local as well as international shows and festivals. It was very challenging but made it all rewarding when fellow metal heads showed a keen interest in Explicitly Intense.
However, due to the sagging publishing industry, it was decided by me, Nimisha and my father Arun to take Explicitly Intense online as an internet, web based magazine. Issue #33 would be Explicitly Intense’s last ever hard copy issue, which featured on its cover Evergrey, with photography provided by Kaloyan Karageorgiev, who went on location to Sweden to do Evergrey’s photoshoot. Kaloyan was and still is a great asset and a huge fan of Explicitly Intense even today. His photography of WASP, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Lacuna coil, Celtic Frost, My Dying Bride and countless others have only given Explicitly Intense a superior edge within its photography and artistic areas. Also, within the last few years they’ve also had the help of up and coming photographer Rachel Joannou, who does photography with more of a darkened edge.
Some of the other people listed in no particular order also made Explicitly Intense what it is today. Sarjoo’s cousin Saiju Devani was Explicitly Intense’s first real graphic designer, who worked on the premiere first issue. Ultimately we had the following wonderful people as part of EI’s history, to name a few: Dan Sindel and Massimo Cipicchia, Nathaly Merette (all graphic designers), Darren & Jo Johnson-Smith (a husband and wife team). Bruce Buchanan, Richard Conner, Holly King (freelance writers), and Nikhil Rughani (still a marketing consultant and WordPress guru).
The future for Explicitly Intense is even brighter and much, much, much bigger online, and will only grow in the way it delivers its content to metalheads the world over. Heavy metal fans will be treated to interactive CD reviews, HD video interviews with up and coming as well as more established groups as well as real time interviews whereby fans of the band being interviewed can call in and ask a question.
Popularity: 28% [?]
Follow Us: