Hardcore punk band from Shillong, Catatonic, shares details about its journey
Hailing from Shillong, Meghalaya, Catatonic has transformed its sound from an early deathgrind style into a dynamic mix of melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, and atmospheric metalcore. Drawing inspiration from bands such as At the Drive-In, Title Fight, Converge, The Cure, and Touché Amoré, the four-member band already has two EPs to its credit, Gardenia and Metanoia. A hardcore punk band featuring Nangsan Lyngwa on vocals and guitars, Noble Rapthap on guitar, Darren Majaw on drums, and Ningyel Lama on bass, the band made a mark with its performance at the Cherry Blossom Festival 2025. Its music focuses on raw emotion, existential conflict, repentance, and personal growth. Excerpts:
What drew you to create music that is dark and intense?
We write music based on our experiences in life — it can either be good or bad. However, it’s a very cathartic process for us to take all the bad experiences and turn them into music. We try to take all the negative energy and turn it into something positive.
Your songs are a blend of different heavy metal genres. What goes into creating the music?
All of us listen to a wide variety of music, and we try to write music that we think will sound interesting. It usually starts with an idea like a riff, a beat or a piece of lyric, and we start throwing more ideas into it and see what works. We make sure we are happy with the music ourselves first.
What led to the formation of the band?
We always wanted to make music together but never really got around to it until the COVID-19 lockdown happened. We had a lot of free time on our hands and decided to give it a go and just kept writing music and doing shows.
How has your journey been these five years?
Our journey so far has been really good. Thanks to the music, we’ve been able to travel around a little and make some new friends along the way. We’ve shared the stage with a lot of great bands that we have a lot of respect for. We are always grateful for it and don’t take it for granted.
Did you start the band with a goal or motive in mind?
Our goal was always to just make music. Whether we were successful or not wasn’t on our minds. We just wanted to make music that we liked, and hopefully other people might relate to it too.
Do you have disagreements while creating music? How do you resolve them?
We do have disagreements with the music sometimes, but we know that we all want what’s best for the band, so it’s never hard to work through them.
Did you learn music professionally, or are you self-taught musicians?
We went to music school when we were younger, but we found out quickly that we just wanted to get on stage and play music. We were not really interested in becoming virtuosos at our instruments. Your EPs don’t have videos.
Do you have plans to make videos for your songs?
Yes, we do have plans to make music videos in the future. We have some ideas and concepts for music videos and are hoping to do that with our newer releases.
Do you follow popular musicians? Where do you think Northeast musicians stand on the national music map?
We do follow a few national bands like Konflicts, Maneating Orchid, Pacifist, FTA, and Tryst. Also, to answer the next part of your question, we think the Northeastern states have some of the best musicians in the nation, producing some of the best music. There’s a lot of honesty in the music and a lot of talented musicians. We think Northeast musicians can do really great things with their music and art.
Do you have anything in the pipeline?
We are writing music for a new EP. We played a couple of our new songs at the Cherry Blossom Festival. We are hoping the new EP will be out soon.