By: Aniruddh Nambudiri

Exit Wound started in 2024, when four people came together to form one of only a few punk acts in the combined music scene of Pune and Mumbai. The scene was the center to a lot of the first political punk acts in India with names like Punk on Toast and the Riot Peddlers. Now in the 2020s, it houses one of India’s most prominent queer punk acts too.   

The band would play its first show on 28^th December alongside Punk on Toast where their sound, drawing from places like 90s grunge, Riot Grrrl and hardcore punk, along with their loud political messaging on full display. 

The band is made up of four members, lead singer Doel, drummer Debbie, guitarist and backup vocalist Nilabja and bassist Kamran. I had the opportunity to speak to Doel (She/Her/Ze/Zir) and Debbie (They/Them) to ask about the political and social scene around the band and how it brought them together to make music. They also talked about the political and personal experiences that help inform the band’s message.

Okay, so I want to start with, how did you all meet and decide you want to make music together? How did the band come together?

Doel: Yeah, it’s a really long story, actually. So, Debbie and I knew each other for a long time over the internet because we met, like, we had many mutual friends, both in the feminist scene and the vegan scene. So, like, we had mutual friends, and we started following each other on Facebook and then Insta. I knew that they were a drummer. I have been like fan girling Debbie for a long time, but then in certain activism spheres, we got to meet each other. One day we were just chatting about music in general, and Debbie said that they wanted to get back to jamming. And there was a friend of ours, who’s a bassist, and they were actually working on a metal project together. So, Debbie said that they were just jamming with this person, and they’re getting back to music after a while. And I was like, “Do you need a vocalist, by any chance?” And they knew that I was into music, but they didn’t know that I was also into rock music. They didn’t know that I was that much into rock music to the, you know, to the extent of wanting to perform or wanting to jam so… but I said that, yeah, I am into metal, I’m into punk and rock music in general, and then I travelled to Pune, and we had a nice jamming session. So that’s how it started. But that project did not work out, or I won’t say it has not worked out, but it is on hold for now because our bassist shifted base. Debbie, you want to continue?

Debbie: Then again, we got back together and explored forming a punk band with my partner Nilabja, who also went to college with Doel. We started jamming and writing music, and then Kamran who we knew from bands like False Flag and Death By Fungi joined us on bass.

You mentioned that you tried to start a metal band. I have seen you live. You had done a Bikini Kill cover when I was there. You did a Nirvana cover to start off. How do those influences help your sound or improve your outlook on the band?

Debbie: Bands like Nirvana for some of us, have been an entry point into this style of music, especially in terms of the soundscape and also the way wrote music, the kind of things they spoke about – Cobain was very vocal about his stance against bigotry – racism, sexism, and homophobia. Nirvana wasn’t explicitly a political band in the same way like RATM or Dead Kennedys, but their music and public presence carried strong social messages. Also something that inspires us – because being a band is also about taking up space and when you have that space, how do you use it? Nirvana’s music talked about alienation, systemic issues, homelessness, poverty, and dismantling the status quo (Territorial Pissings, Breed, Something in the Way). Cobain was a fierce advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, wearing dresses on stage to challenge gender norms and openly supporting gay rights. These are things that we also wanna talk about – we embody some of these identities too. Otherwise what’s the point of doing a punk band in a third world country where things are so fucked?

We’re also deeply inspired by Riot Grrrl soundscapes and politics. Riot Grrrl bands condemned sexual violence through their lyrics, zines, activism, and performances. They talked about micro sexisms in punk scenes, which is still very real (or worse in our parts of the world where there are gender barriers also intersecting with caste, class, religion etc.) Riot Grrrl bands made DIY handmade feminist zines – spaces for survivors to speak out. So there are really so many ways that punk bands can become ways of resistance…we’re constantly learning from those who came before us!

Yeah, my personal favorite, like thing about Nirvana and like, sort of their political thing is, like, Kurt used to have a sticker on his guitar that used to that was like, a bunch of just, like, random quotes that he’d find from punk bands from Seattle

So that sort of political messaging that is so, like overt, right? I have personally seen that a lot in your music as well. It’s very in your face when it comes to that. Why do you make it so obvious and so overt in your music? 

Doel: So, the thing is, like, this is something, I mean, all of our band members are also kind of aligned with. We generally do not like our sugar-coating shit. That has been my characteristic as a person also, that has been my characteristic since childhood and I’ve been in a lot of trouble for that, in school, in college… right now, at my workplace, and in relationships. So that has been my way. I don’t know any other way of expression. Other ways of expression are always very clumsy and messy for me. I cannot be very subtle. And when it comes to Debbie… I have known them for a while, and they have also been very, you know, direct in their posts, in their communication, especially online, where they have always been, you know, talking about a lot of things, like speciesism, like patriarchy, and whenever they have attacked it with the help of posts or written expressions or stories, I’ve seen that they have been very direct about it. They never censored themself. Another thing is… it’s something very strange that Nilabja and I went to the same college. The college we went to is a very politically active College in Kolkata. So, so I think all of us in some way or the other. We haven’t seen a lot of, you know, sugar coating in our lives most of the time, and that is somehow resonating in our characters in our own way. And when we come together to make music that becomes a mode of expression because there are lots of artists talking in metaphors and being very subtle about things. Like, we also use metaphors, but even our metaphors are very direct. Our metaphors are on your face, like people will understand where it is a circus or where it is not. I feel personally, that it is 2025, there is no point of doing rebellion in a quoted form. That age is gone when everything needed to be coded. Otherwise, you could be killed right now, because he won’t be killed for writing these songs, I think, or nobody will maybe, I mean, I’m hoping so. So in that case, I feel that more artists should pick up, you know, these spaces and use it to express themselves in a way that is natural. 

My immediate question after that is with messaging so clear and in a country that has censored punk acts in the past. How do you all deal with that, that potential question that could come up of what music of yours will be heard and what music will not be later on?

Debbie: Honestly, we haven’t put much effort into avoiding censorship because the way it works in our political climate, you often cannot anticipate what kind of expression will be censored. So we gotta say what we gotta say. And things like censorship and violations of freedom of expression are reasons our band exists in the first place. Let’s be real – to do a band in the third world where there’s so much of socio-political bullshit, where marginalised folx aren’t allowed to express, there’s queerphobia, Islamophobia, casteism, and what not – it’s a privilege to be able to do a band here. And if we have this space and the opportunity to do a punk band, and are still apolitical and don’t talk about these very real issues, then what even is the point? What sucks is, a lot of alternative music that’s supposed to set out to question this status quo don’t do so despite having the privilege and the space.

We started this band because we were tired of things being this way. And seeing the same old cis het men take up space everywhere. It’s also about queering the punk expression and the punk scene. Every time we get on stage, it’s a middle finger to the idea that punk belongs to just one type of people or is just about one kind of expression. We want to create a space where people feel heard and seen and no one has to apologize for existing how they want. You don’t have to prove like you belong here – you’re welcome regardless. You have the right to scream back at the world—and we will scream with you. 

Doel: I would also like to add that right now, the situation of India for the last few years, I would say, for a decade now, it has been such that you don’t really know what you’ll be censored for. So, there is no way you can predict where you’re going to be censored, what you are going to be jailed or charged for. Having or trying to have a strategy in the first place is also not very practical in that case, because our entire living is censored, right? Being a trans person, like, if I have to look at censorship in a wider lens, it is not just about what we say and what we think or what we express. It is also how we live, right? Be it identity cards, passports, like the world is talking about the assigned gender of people on passports right now, because America has made that rule all of a sudden. But that has been the case in the third world for like decades, since the time the system of passport was there. Like in my case, I still don’t have my own identity on my passport. I have my internal documents all in place, but my passport is still not changed. So these kinds of things are delayed. My whole identity is censored. Whatever I do as an activist, whatever I do as a writer, those things are potentially censored all the time. Even within the queer community of India, which is becoming more and more mainstream day by day, which is becoming a hub of rainbow capitalism day by day, there are lots of censors within the community. So when it comes to the band, we feel that it’s a very safe space at least within this four people, the songs we are writing, and within the, you know, handful of people who are listening to us, at least there, we don’t have to be something else, don’t have to censor. And that’s actually a relief.

Thank you for the answer. The show you’re playing on March 2, it’s a bunch of female led bands in the sort of hard rock, more towards punk scene. Why is it important for women and queer people to be involved in the more extreme music scenes in India, considering it’s been quite a hard patch, seeing a lot of allegations come out against bookers in Mumbai recently?

Debbie: I feel like it’s about reclaiming spaces that are always trying to keep us out. Music scenes are very much a part of society. And they reflect similar prejudices. It’s important to challenge that by taking up space as queer people, trans and non-binary people, or women. That being said, there is also a habit of celebrating “female” musicians in these scenes. You know, “female drummer”, “female-fronted band” etc… but there isn’t equal acknowledgment of queer, trans, and non-binary people in those spaces. The celebration is often of cis women only. There is also a tokenism, sort of like a marketing strategy with those terms. It is not actually about holding space for cis women either. It does not really help stop things like sexual assault or harassment or misogyny in punk scenes, or do anything to hold people accountable. It sort of puts us all in a homogenous category, along with cis women. Trans and non-binary musicians like us feel strangled by this token inclusivity. And the burden again falls back on us to do the labour of barging into these spaces and reclaiming them.

I think the other thing I want to talk about is, I think Doel mentioned it. Debbie, you book shows, specifically a show called Dirtfest for how long now?

Debbie: Yeah, for two and a half years.

So, why is it harder to book music venues in a place, in places like Mumbai and Pune, which are much bigger towns compared to where I am currently, in Madison, Wisconsin?

Debbie: Yeah, I think the state of the scene in Pune has been quite sad recently with some regular venues shutting down, following a hit-and-run case where two people lost their lives. Also there’s conservatism and stigma attached to extreme music. There are certain venues only open to mainstream music but not punk or hardcore or metal because these subcultures are looked down upon. And the government and the cops always make things worse! It’s hard to sustain DIY gigs here with things being so volatile – but I’d say it’s community that still keeps these scenes alive and hopeful. DIY gigs are a community effort between bands, organisers, and our friends in the scene who do it for the love of it.

On the topic of punk acts and sort of the intersection of queer culture and punk, because queer punk is like such a massive bubble term. Why don’t we see more queer acts in more extreme music scenes? 

Debbie: Queer artists are often buried under a system that doesn’t want to hear us or acknowledge us – and so many queer people that I know have had terrible experiences with gatekeeping and anti-queerness in alternative music scenes, especially in metal and rock scenes. So we cannot expect more queer musicians to come out as long as the ecosystem is so hostile and internalises queerphobia. And also, it gets 2x 3x harder when you’re queer and disabled or queer and dalit or any marginalised identity – if at all, there are certain kinds or certain expressions of queerness that are accepted, and many aren’t. 

Another thing that I find a bit funny: I guess there’s not enough clout in doing punk bands – because a lot of people here who do alternative music – for example, the loudest voices in the metal scene are actually these rich dudes with generational wealth who do bands just for clout and social capital. Sadly, we have also come across bands branding themselves “punk” but not talking about any real issues and operating in a bubble – yeah, idk how that works. 

Also punk is often the tail end of a metal scene – metal takes up a lot of space. It’s also hard to sustain DIY gigs with all-punk lineups because it’s not so popular as metal. So often you’ll see punk bands playing shows where the rest of the lineup is metal.

You mentioned the risk, right? You mentioned the risk of being out in a country like India. How does that risk affect the band and how you think about your music and experiences?

Debbie: I think music is just an expression of your reality. So, what you navigate in life also seeps into your music. But when we talk about our realities, are there enough people really listening? It’s completely fine to just show up at gigs and have fun, but the music we write is also personal, intimate, and deeply political to us. And it matters to us that people really listen and unpack these things with us — which I’m not sure happens a lot.

Doel: You know, talking about queer lives, about Brahmanical patriarchy are not really encouraged in our society. Like, even though, like, there are, you know, mainstream and popular culture people are trying to tokenize these kinds of identities. But the narratives never come out, as is. The narratives are always, you know, either they’re tokenized in a way, they are whitewashed, but they are like, not genuine. And punk is such an expression, where you can be genuine, you can say things that nobody wants to listen to. And that has always been the history, the legacy of punk – that it has always, you know, it has triggered the system. It has triggered the establishment. And the time we were growing up, like when we were in school.. if you have to, you know, compare it with the time now, things are regressing each passing day. India is regressing as a society. I think the world is regressing, you know? So that is what I feel, that when I talk about things that we actually share, like a lot of things, a lot of experiences as queer people, that Debbie and I face in our own ways, and a lot of other things about politics, about how Fascism is becoming the reality of India… All these things are becoming the tropes of our songs. So, it’s a shared frustration, it’s a shared expression.

How have your personal experiences helped the messaging of the band?

Debbie: I have faced violence, queerphobia, sexual assault, especially in the metal scene–it’s why I did not go to gigs or play in bands for years. Once I was able to process a lot of those things, Exit Wound became a space for me to sit with these thoughts. Because of our shared experiences and the solidarity we have for each other, it’s a safe space for us. In the process of organizing gigs too, I started to see the politics of the scene more closely—and understanding the gatekeeping the organizers do which is why scenes are so rigid and unsafe for so many folx! I really felt we need to create more alternative spaces where queer folx and the “outcastes” find a sense of belonging and feel empowered to build their own scene. Where there’s no one way to be…no shame, no stigma, no gatekeeping.

Doel: I have had similar experiences. And there is a lot of frustration when it comes to the queer activism scene in India because I always felt like my rage was never channeled. Before this I felt, even in feminist and other activist spaces, especially urban activist spaces – those are filled with centrists, right wingers and liberals (who I do not really like that much). I felt that as a writer, I had done a lot of spoken word acts and performed a lot of other music like Bengali Folk Music. What I have seen is that the spaces where these acts are performed are very much corporatized, and the whole idea is about what is to be consumed and who is the consumer. It is very consumer led. A lot of thought goes into who is listening to us, what will they think. It feels like the artist does not have that much independence. They say it’s independent. But they are not like the rock and metal scene in India. They are more heard and more consumed. Those spaces don’t really say anything that the status quo won’t want us to say. You face more censoring, more limitations in those spaces. At times I felt that the things I was writing and what the people were listening to – there was a bit of disconnect. Maybe they are not able to keep up with my rage! Since school and college days I have heard that rage is not poetry. You have to leave the rage part out to write true poetry and that’s all bullshit. For a long time, I questioned if it was really that way! What happened was, the way we got to know each other and somehow Exit Wound happened and here I found that rage has a lot of meaning and a lot of poetry in it. That is how I feel rage has helped my music and my contribution to Exit Wound. 

How do you look at the future of this band in a scene that almost seems to want bands like you to fail, a scene that definitely leans more towards the right-wing side? 

Doel: Debbie can say better on this considering they have been in the scene longer than I have. One thing I would like to mention is that we need to question what failure even means in the true sense of the term. These concepts of success and failure often align with what the dominant discourses are. And the dominant discourse is capitalism. In India the dominant discourses are capitalism, Brahminical puritanism, fascism, and many other things. It’s actually fascism, a version of Hitler’s Germany but in a different way. Maybe it’s not going towards holocaust yet, but it can start at any point. Given the world’s situation and the situation in India right now, what society wants us to believe is NOT what all of us in the band perceive. Even if a few people are listening to our songs, even if a few are aligning with our politics, that is success for an artist. The society we live in, the Indian punk and metal scene is anyway underground. There is not much expectation or ambition that you will become mainstream ever. If we really wanted to do mainstream music, we would have done it. I don’t think mainstream music is that difficult in India. We made a very informed choice of doing punk music in India and that means our understanding of success and failure does not align with what the system or the society want us to feel about it. Hear from Debbie if you want a more objective perspective. 

Debbie: I think music is fluid and I don’t want to measure it by success and failure – I don’t even know what these words really mean. For a lot of bands success is about clout and how many big shows you play — but we don’t really care about that. Even if one kid finds a sense of belonging in our music, resonates with what we have to say, and has a good time at our shows, we’re happy.