Mahesh Raju- Vocalist of Bangalore based sludge outfit Shepherd, announced via Facebook that he will no longer be a part of the band.

In what seems like a controversial exit, Mahesh said-

“For those who’d care to read, I’d like to set the record straight about my involvement with Shepherd and I have to do this because I wasn’t tagged in the post made by the band page admin. It’s only a matter of time before this post is ‘untagged’. I’m no longer a part of the band. The reason isn’t the music but the fact that I chose and still choose to speak out against what I’ve always perceived as narrow mindedness driven by insecurity in the ‘BANGALORE SCENE’. My decision to speak out precipitated from what I observed while organizing Sonic Doom with DSimon Santiago and in the subsequent months leading to Bangalore Open Air where I chipped in to help Salman on the gig day at the ticket counter. The fact that the band (Or is it just one member?) wants to erase my association with the band right from it’s inception and in effect all of my contribution to this band, by not using the vocal tracks recorded for the debut album is disappointing. All said and done I hope ya’ll pick up the debut album and wish Namit Chauhan, Abhishek Michael and Deepak Raghu (who I can’t tag for some reason), all the very best with their endeavors. A big THANK YOU to all the people who have supported everything that I’ve done musically or otherwise.”

Shepherd’s vocal duties will now be shared by drummer Deepak Raghu and guitarist Namit Chauhan.

Vilasini Muralidhar